Celebrating The Blessings Of Teachers And Catholic Schools
Bishop Charles C. Thompson greeted 600 Catholic educators from across the Diocese of Evansville on Aug. 1 with some thoughts on blessings.
“I give blessings,” he said, during Mass at Good Shepherd parish for the teachers and principals. “You ARE the blessings. You have been the blessings to our young people, and we come together today to celebrate that.” Nineteen priests from across the diocese concelebrated the Mass, which is part of the diocesan Catholic Schools Office’s annual back-to-school gathering.
Noting that God is present in every person, Bishop Thompson compared students to the dwelling Moses built, as described in the Mass’ first reading (Ex. 40: 16-21, 34-38). “Our first reading today is important,” he said, “because God dwells in every one of your students. We can give no less care to each of those dwellings than Moses gives in the book of Exodus.
“Each of your students is full of God’s goodness,” he added. “Your task is to celebrate that goodness and bring out that goodness as you work on transforming those areas in them that need to grow.”
Bishop Thompson also read a short passage from “Lumen Fidei” (“Light of Faith”) the encyclical Pope Francis recently issued. The passage concluded with this: “Faith, received from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our journey through time.”
“That light of faith is capable of illuminating every aspect of our human existence,” Bishop Thompson added. “We must be ambassadors of Christ. And we must develop the minds and hearts of our young people to be those same kinds of ambassadors.”
At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop Thompson joined Superintendent of Schools Daryl Hagan and Assistant Superintendents Gwen Godsey and Michelle Priar to recognize the group of teachers with more than 20 years of service who were featured in the July 19 issue of The Message.
Hagan also spoke on the annual diocesan theme of “We have 21st Century students attending our schools this fall, and we need to bring resources that students already know and use to the classroom.
“All the technology in the world cannot replace the core of who we are and why we exist – our faith in Jesus Christ and the sharing of that faith in community with the students we teach,” Hagan said. “With your help, iCatholicSchools can become the new terminology that means we are adapting; we do understand; and we are preparing the next generation to lead.”
Before Mass, Catholic educator and consultant John Findlater, of Detroit, Mich., kicked off the gathering with a fascinating talk – “The Prophet Margin: Making Your Catholic School Classroom a Dangerous Place to Be.”
“The students in our classrooms want to know about Jesus,” Findlater said. “If all we have to offer them is more ‘stuff,’ they’ll turn us off. We have to be radical – radical as in the true meaning of the word, which is ‘rooted.’ You and I are called to be radical about the message of Jesus in this historic moment.
“Your job,” he added, “is to teach all things to your students. But you must be radical – rooted – in the name of the Gospel for every child in your care.”
During the afternoon, teachers and principals attended training sessions on Sycamore, the new student information system diocesan schools are using this year.
The new Catholic school year opened July 31 in the diocese with the first day of classes at St. Theresa’s in Evansville.
