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Welcome to the Catholic Newman Center at the University of
Houston!
Pope urges U.S. Catholic educators to lead
students to deeper faith
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI urged U.S. Catholic educators
April 17 not to simply transmit knowledge to their students but to bring
them to a deeper understanding of faith "which in turn nurtures the
soul of a nation."
"A particular responsibility ... for each of you, and your colleagues,
is to evoke among the young the desire for the act of faith, encouraging
them to commit themselves to the ecclesial life that follows from this
belief," he told more than 400 Catholic college presidents and
diocesan education representatives at The Catholic University of America.
The pope was cheered by several hundred students who gathered on the lawn
of the campus, and he was warmly applauded when he entered the Edward J.
Pryzbyla University Center. He delivered his address while seated on a
wooden throne designed by Catholic University students.
The pontiff also made an appeal to priests, brothers and religious sisters
to "not abandon the school apostolate."
"Renew your commitment to schools, especially those in poorer
areas," he said. His comment drew strong applause from the educators.
"I know from my own days as a professor, and I have heard from your
bishops and officials of the Congregation for Catholic Education, that the
reputation of Catholic institutes of learning in this country is largely
due to yourselves and your predecessors," he said.
That is not to say the pope didn't challenge the group representing
kindergarten through college graduate students. Several times during the
hourlong address he urged them to live up to their responsibility of
imparting truth to their students to enable them to live out their faith in
the modern world.
"Not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has
high expectations for Catholic educators," he said, adding that this
gives them "a responsibility and offers an opportunity."
The church, and those entrusted with a teaching role, also need to speak on
the role of truth, stressing that "truth and reason never contradict
each other."
As may have been expected, the pope highlighted the importance of Catholic
identity -- a key issue for Catholic colleges, schools and religious
education programs -- by noting what it is not.
"Catholic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic
students," he said. It also is not "dependent upon
statistics" nor can it be "equated simply with orthodoxy of
course content."
Instead, he stressed that the Catholic identity of a school or religious
education program "demands and inspires much more: namely that each
and every aspect of your learning communities reverberates within the
ecclesial life of faith."
The pope linked the current "crisis of truth" to a "crisis
of faith" and said educators must do more than simply "engage the
intellect of our young" but should instead help today's youths to
fully live their faith. "The difficulty or reluctance many people have
today in entrusting themselves to God" is a "complex
phenomenon," he said, adding that it is one which "I ponder
continually."
He stressed that teachers and administrators in universities and schools
have a "duty and privilege to ensure that students receive instruction
in Catholic doctrine and practice." To not do this, he said, would
weaken Catholic identity and cause "moral, intellectual or spiritual"
confusion.
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