Education leaders pray,
reflect on their shared mission
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published August 18, 2006
Detroit – Just as Catholic school students pause for prayer at the beginning of each school day, so the people in charge of Catholic education take a day to pray together and reflect on their Christian mission before the start of the school year.
That day was Aug. 10 for principals, directors of religious education, campus ministers, and youth and young adult ministers in the Archdiocese of Detroit. They gathered at Sacred Heart Major Seminary for business meetings, a keynote address by speaker and lifelong Catholic educator Gloria Reinhart Majerus, and finally Mass with Cardinal Adam Maida in the seminary's chapel.
"Even though our ministry is often behind the scenes and does not necessarily bear immediately recognizable fruits," said the cardinal in his homily, "we are planting seeds that will come to maturation and fulfillment in God's good time and in God's mysterious ways."
Photo by Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Cardinal Adam Maida presides over the Liturgy of theEucharist during Mass for catechetical leaders at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary chapel Aug. 10. Principals, directors of religious education and other catechetical leaders from the archdiocese gathered to pray and focus on the Gospel to start the 2006-07 school year. |
Cardinal Maida acknowledged the great diversity of Catholic educators, but noted they had a singular mission. He talked also about the importance of recognizing the diversity of the faith community, and urged educators to come together and consider God's Word and pray together as a part of their daily practice.
For a few moments, he left his scripted homily to talk frankly about the military conflict in the Holy Land, and the need for Christians to bring peace to the world.
Similar to the cardinal's remarks on Catholic education, Reinhart Majerus's keynote address focused on breaking open God's Word and remembering the sole purpose of catechesis.
"You have to say to yourselves as leaders, 'What do I want to happen?'" she said. "Because what happens as leaders is you start doing all the 'stuff' you need to do, and you forget what it is that you want to happen."
Reinhart Majerus, who has spoken nationally and authored books on catechesis, stressed that catechetical leaders focus on the main goal of bringing people to Christ, rather than accomplishing the tasks that come with their responsibilities.
"We are task-oriented people," she said. "We like something to start in September and end in May, and you'd better learn the faith by then. We forget that it's a process of basically introducing a person to Christ.… If they come out of that school with the love of Christ, you've done it."
During Reinhart Majerus's morning talk, attendees paired up or broke into small groups and talked with one another about their mission, and also reflected on the passage from Mark's Gospel on the Transfiguration.
"You are ministers of the Word, therefore you need to seek your source," Reinhart Majerus noted.
Those at the session found value in different parts of the day. For the most part, educators saw it as a refocusing on their mission.
"For me it was refreshing," said Debrah Davidson, principal of St. Dunstan School in Garden City. "I feel renewed. It changed my perspective a little bit and I realized that we do get focused on stuff and not what we're about."
Christa Laurin, assistant principal at Gesu School in Detroit, said there also was value in bringing together Catholic catechetical leaders from around the entire archdiocese, whether their missions are in the city or the suburbs.
"We all have our own struggles," Laurin said. "Our mission is common no matter where we are. You can get self-centered on what your issues are, but everybody has their own issues."
As Cardinal Maida mentioned in his homily, the whole goal is to be the teaching arm of the Church, using God's Word and contrite prayer to bring fellow Christians closer to Christ.
"Ultimately, we all have the same goal and purpose in our service — to form and shape the next generation in the ways of faith and to renew and strengthen all those who have already heard the Good News," the cardinal said. "We can do all these things only to the extent that we ourselves are people of deep prayer, people who are keenly aware of the Lord's call in our own hearts."
|
