Catholic Education and Anthropological Truth


“If we are made in the image and likeness of God and if God is "community" (Trinity) then there can be no underestimating the importance of developing relationship among and between students, faculty, and staff at a school (and the world). If we want to "look like God", as is our universal Vocation, then this needs to be a daily goal for all who work in the Church, especially in the schools.” 
There must be a connection between the anthropological Truth of the human being and how we learn. Education is a “drawing out” of knowledge or Truth from within the student. It is the forming a relationship between new ideas/concepts and already exiting ontological Truths of the students that she or he may not even know. Education is the discovery of the anthropological and substantial Truth of the human being. Any kind of learning that is not working toward this idea is incomplete.
Trinitarian Abbey in Adare, Ireland. To think that Jesus had a mother like any other human being is to understand that He needed human relationship. Mary has always been centerpiece of Catholic-Christian Faith, not for her own sake, but for the sake of  knowing Jesus and the anthropological need of human relationship. (photo P. Smith)

The words at the beginning of this blog were written to a teacher after a “chat session” he had had with a small group of coworkers from different departments. The focus of their discussion was actually more personal…it was not related to the students at all. He noted that as he listened more intently on what others had to say about who they were and what their life was like, he realized that he could see them as more than just a teacher. This seems like a simple revelation, but it was more than just intellectual for him. He reflected that he could actually Love them better. He felt he could be more vulnerable to his coworkers and in that way he could be Loved by them better. He was describing the Authentic Self… the image and likeness of God… the anthropological and ontological Truth of who we are all made to be.
Trinitarian Abbey in Adare, Ireland. The Cross, itself, is s sign of relationship, first in terms of left-right and up-down, and then in terms of God-Man. (photo P. Smith)

The Truth of who we are can only be found within the context of relationship. Education as we seem to think of it today, focused on discernable and measurable knowledge, is a start. It is a discovery of the relationship between the student and the subject material we teach. Some of students come to “Love” that material and maybe they discover what their job or vocation may be, but no subject knowledge, job, or vocation can actually Love a human in return. It is incomplete to think that education is just about subject material, getting into college, or getting a job. Education, in order for it to “draw out” the full Truth of our own Belovedness must include the development of Authentic and vulnerable relationships with other human beings. The teacher to whom I was writing was starting to discover this; he was starting to discover that his job was not simply to teach how to Love…it was also to create a space where students can be Loved. This is the heart of True, Catholic education.

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