CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS: WITNESSING TRUTH IN THEIR WORDS AND LIVES

VATICAN CITY, APR 28, 2001 (VIS) - The Pope this morning welcomed the participants in the International Congress of Catholic Schools of Europe, organized by the European Committee for Catholic Education. He noted that their theme, "The Mission of Educating: Witnessing to a Hidden Treasure" points to "the basic demand of every Christian educator: not only to transmit truth through words, but to witness explicitly to it through their lives."

The Pope noted that "cultural turmoil, the globalization of trade, the relativism of moral values and the worrisome disintegration of family ties, cause great uncertainty among many young people, which inevitably is reflected in their way of living, learning and envisioning their future. Such a context invites European Catholic schools to propose a true educational project which will allow youth not only to acquire human, moral and spiritual maturity, but also to work effectively for the transformation of society, with care to work for the coming of the Kingdom of God."

The Holy Father affirmed that "educational communities have to highlight the formation of teachers, religious and lay, so that they will acquire an ever greater awareness of their mission as educators, linking professional competence and a freely assumed choice of witnessing in a coherent fashion to spiritual and moral values."

There must also be, he said, "close ties between the school and family, especially in this time where the fabric of the family is so fragile. Whatever the school structure, parents remain the primary ones responsible for educating their children."

In closing remarks, John Paul II emphasized two challenges faced by Catholic schools. First, vis-a-vis "the constructive dialogue in the multi-cultural society of our times," he insisted that "the effort shown to welcome in the heart of Catholic schools young people who belong to other religious traditions must be pursued, without, however, weakening the nature proper to Catholic schools and the Catholic specificity of these institutions." Secondly, he pointed out that "Catholic schools ... are called to be dynamic communities of faith and evangelization."

AC;CATHOLIC EDUCATION;...;...;VIS;20010430;Word: 340;