Our schools provide students a Catholic view of world

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The fourth essential mark of a school's Catholic identity is that a Catholic worldview is reflected in everything that is taught or offered to students experientially. What do I mean by "a Catholic worldview," and why is it an essential characteristic of a school's Catholic identity?

We Catholics see the world through the lens of divine revelation. We believe that God has reached out and communicated to us the meaning of the world (all things visible and invisible). We also believe that God made us human beings in His image and likeness and that He teaches us who we are as His children, the stewards of His creation.

As a result, we see things differently than unbelievers do. Our perspectives on life have been profoundly influenced by our encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and by the gift of the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus is the face of God and the meaning of our individual lives and the world we live in. Our school's curriculum and all its programs and activities reflect this fundamental conviction about God and His creation.

When we teach math or science, history or psychology, literature or philosophy, we teach from the perspective of men and women who believe in a good God who cares about His creation and who loves us, His children. A Catholic school teaches about God even if His name is not mentioned. We teach religion even when the subject matter appears to be totally unrelated to theology, Scripture or Church history.

A secular worldview would suggest that the universe and everything in it is the result of a cosmic accident. We disagree. We teach that all things (spiritual and material) are the result of God's loving plan. A materialistic worldview would convey an exclusively "this-world" perspective -- encouraging students to focus their energies on what's immediately available to them here and now. Our view looks beyond the present and beyond what we can see and hear and touch. We teach the spiritual realities, and we encourage students to be attentive to much more than they can experience with their senses.

A relativistic worldview would tell students that it doesn't matter what they do as long as it's "politically correct" or socially acceptable. We teach the opposite. We teach that there is such a thing as truth; that it's possible to choose right from wrong; and that wisdom comes through the integration of faith and reason in a conscience that is informed by faith and sustained by prayer and by the gift of God's grace.

Our Catholic worldview allows us to offer students an educational experience that addresses the needs of the whole person -- mind, body and spirit. Where some schools aim to prepare students exclusively for success in this world, we work to help students become successful as human beings who live in this world temporarily on their way to eternal life with God.

Do we care about helping our students learn the practical things necessary to be happy in this world? Absolutely. But our Catholic worldview teaches that this world, with all its material benefits, is not all there is to live for. We are called to care for one another, to grow in holiness, to build a more just society for future generations, and to prepare ourselves for our heavenly home.

That's why our Catholic worldview is populated by women and men who have gone before us. We call them saints. We honor their memory. We strive to imitate them. We name our parishes and schools after them -- to remind us that they are praying for us and working to help us grow in wisdom, holiness and service to our communities.

Catholic schools reflect a keen awareness of the presence and power of God in our individual lives and in the universe as a whole. The Catholic worldview is not always politically correct, but it reflects a passion for the truth that sets us free from all forms of political, cultural or amoral slavery (what Pope Benedict XVI has called "the dictatorship of relativism").

Catholic schools are blessed with the responsibility to hand on the Catholic worldview to future generations and, in the process, to help individual students reach their full potential as children of God and stewards of all His creation. A school that reflects a distinctive Catholic worldview in all aspects of its curriculum, as well as its extracurricular programs and events, truly is Alive in Christ!