What Eye Has Not Seen: A Vision of Catholic Education

St. James sent a strong message and warning to the Christians of his time when he advised them, “Let not many among you become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly [than those who are not teachers]” (James 3:2.) This warning was designed, no doubt, to discourage people who did not have an actual calling to the office and duty of “teacher” but it also serves as a profound motivator for those who do indeed have this calling of reflecting Christ the Teacher. If one aspires to this office of teaching fellow Christians about the doctrine of Christ and the truths attainable through human sciences, then he must be very careful to do so as one above reproach in both conduct and speech. Not only is a teacher supposed to be a reflector of the truth in what he says to his students, but he must be, in a real way, an icon of what it looks like to live the truth.

Teachers are most effective, then, when they are saints. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is not impossible. It is not impossible because Christ commands it. Christ does not demand the impossible and reminds us in His Word through the Archangel Gabriel that “nothing shall be impossible with God.” In another place Jesus Himself says directly that “with men this is impossible, but all things are possible with God.” The “impossibility” of imaging Christ the Teacher ought not cause one to shrink away from the calling of being an educator but rather should embolden one to depend that much more heavily upon the grace of Christ. God truly does desire to perform the miracle of sanctification in the educator’s life.

Yet faith is absolutely necessary for this to take place. In another place, Jesus reminds us that the impossible is possible with faith. Someone approached the Lord requesting a healing and qualified it by saying, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” (Mark 9:23) The educator may be tempted to make a similar qualified and helpless complaint to God and say, “Lord, you have called me to model Your very self to these students! If you can, please work through me!” Jesus will respond in the same way as He does in the following verse of Mark 9:24: “ ‘If you can’? said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’ ” The educator must believe more in the mercy of God and Christ’s desire to sanctify him than in his own sense of unworthiness, sinfulness, or inability.

A Catholic educator is no normal educator. He has been transformed by Christ into a new creation. He has been entrusted with the tremendous task of teaching the truth in all its various manifestations: philosophy, theology, mathematics, history, biology, etc. The Catholic educator knows, however, that he is not merely imparting ideas to students. Ultimately, he is transmitting Christ into the souls of his students. Jesus said to Pilate, “Everyone who belongs to the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37.) In other words, Jesus is admitting that He is present wherever there is truth since He Himself is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6.) The Catholic educator is, by his very office, “consecrated in the truth” (cf. John 17:17) yet it is up to him whether he will allow this consecration to be lived out in a real way. He can allow the truth to transform him thoroughly or he can remain an educator in name only. Certainly, he won’t be in it for the money!

Of course, the riches of being an educator far surpass those of monetary gain! If one takes the office and responsibility seriously, one will discover immense fruitfulness for his own soul and in the goodness he brings to the world through his students. Teachers directly and powerfully influence people under their care and so are indirectly influencing the rest of the world. There is an unlimited potential for a teacher’s influence to positively change the world. Of course, conversely, a teacher who is derelict in his duty can have unfortunate effects on the world around him. We can think, for a moment, of the oppressive influence of a militant atheist philosophy teacher at a college. He can undermine a lot of good and can set his students on a path toward lives focused on false presumptions about morality, life, values, etc. False shepherds and misleading teachers will have much to account for at the judgment seat of God, because not only did they allow their own souls to be poisoned but they robbed many others of the innocence of soul which comes from the acquisition of truth. All teachers ought to take care that they always speak and live the truth, otherwise they may find a large group of people following them into a pit! “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?” (Luke 6:39)

The teacher/educator must himself be led by Christ and stay close to His lead. This conformity to Christ’s path will ensure that the teacher/educator will be able to properly guide his students’ feet “into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). For there is only one true Teacher, as Jesus says, “You have one Teacher, the Christ” (Matthew 23:8). It is interesting to note that, in this same verse, Jesus makes it known to His disciples that they are not to be called “Rabbi” or “Teacher” precisely because the Christ is the Teacher of all. He does indeed draw certain men and women to share in His office of teaching, but they are truly teachers only if they and their teaching are conformed to Christ. Just as no man may be called “Father” in place of “Our Father Who art in Heaven” (Matthew 6:9) so no man may be called “Teacher” forgetting Jesus and the requirement that His life shine through the educator’s authentic example and teaching.

The educator’s goal is to point beyond himself. It is completely possible to have tremendous giftedness such that one may be a kind of “pied piper” to one’s students, able to lead them wherever one wants to go. While it is certainly helpful in attaining educative goals for one’s students if one has a certain charisma or personality evocative of students’ trust, this is not enough in and of itself. The “pied piper” must always point to Jesus as the end and purpose of what happens in the classroom. Whether one teaches in a monotone voice (like St. John Henry Cardinal Newman) or a tremendous rhetorician (like St. Augustine) one can and must show the way for students, that “Way” being Jesus Himself.

St. Thomas Aquinas emphasizes that all men may be teachers insofar as they are able to transmit truth to another. In the Summa Theologiae Part I. Q. 117 Article 1 Aquinas admits that “the teacher causes knowledge in the learner” yet hints elsewhere that the teacher does this in a way that is completely dependent on God’s action. In the Summa Contra Gentiles Book I Ch. 1, Aquinas says, “Now the last end of everything is that which is intended by the prime author or mover thereof. The prime author and mover of the universe is intelligence . . . Therefore, the last end of the universe must be the good of the intelligence, and that is truth.” It is the prime author/mover (namely, God) who intends and allows any attainment of the truth, and when this is accomplished it is done through Him. When truth is taught and learned, God is there because God is the truth. Aquinas goes on to say in that same paragraph referenced above that God’s specific purpose in incarnating the Word in human flesh was precisely for the exposition of the truth. “And therefore the Divine Wisdom, clothed in flesh, testifies that He came into the world for the manifestation of truth: For this was I born, and unto this I came into the World, to give testimony to the truth.” Whether he is conscious of it or not, the educator fulfills the will of God when he transmits the truth.

However, the educator is given the task of sharing in the formation of not just the intellect of a student but his entire person. Christ became flesh not to share intellectual concepts but to transform lives by inviting people to conform their whole self to the truth. The educator informs the intellects and inspires the wills of his students toward a life of love and virtue. Insofar as he, as a teacher, is perfected in the truth of Christ, he will be that much more effective in producing mature, intelligent, and saintly pupils. He will have succeeded when he has inculcated in his students a desire to pursue the truth on their own even apart from his teaching. He is to make lifetime learners. The educator is charged with producing eager learners of truth and this means showing them the splendor of truth.

This means showing them, in his very life, what truth can do to a person. If he allows the truth of Christ to invade his own life, then he will, insofar as he has let Christ come, manifest the fruits of the Holy Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22–23) These fruits are desirable to all people and act as powerful motivators to the observer of the Christian who possesses these fruits. The truth-filled man is rewarded with a peaceful and joyful life. This is evidence of the validity of his teaching. The teacher, in a way like St. Paul, needs to be the type of person who can honestly say, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) If a student has eyes to see and ears to hear, he will notice that his Catholic professor of mathematics or history or philosophy is not merely a teacher; he is a very happy teacher. He is a teacher who loves life and people. This is because he strives to love God with all his might. He does this because he was taught to do so by some teacher in his life (whether in a formal classroom setting or not).

These are the days when hypocrisy of life absolutely undermines the validity of one’s profession of ideas. In other words, if a Catholic educator is to be effective in transmitting to students the value of his lessons — be it in geometry or theology — he must live his life in accord with the Gospel. An angry, impatient math teacher will more easily produce students who hate math than a patient, cheerful math teacher. Pope Paul VI said in Evangelii Nuntiandi §41, “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” The Catholic educator will be wasting his time unless his students are convinced that he truly cares about them and deeply desires to honor Christ above all things. If an educator is not right about the most important things in life (i.e. how to live well) then what he teaches may become suspect or, at the very least, uninteresting.

Christ the Teacher was very engaging to His hearers. “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” (John 7:46) Jesus taught in such a way that he amazed his listeners. Jesus was grounded on the authority that came to Him from the Father. This was the authority of the truth. “When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” (Matthew 7:28–29) Jesus’ teaching was astonishing and attractive because it was different than that of the other teachers. It was different because it was true and filled with love. Those who were open to the truth recognized the power of Jesus’ words. There should be something that distinguishes a Catholic educator. His words should be imbued with power and love. His heart should seem warm and inviting. Like St. John Bosco, he should be so effective that he can reach the most broken, hard-hearted, or indifferent child. He ought to stand in the place of Christ and bring truth and love to his pupils.

Scripture notes, “Wisdom is justified by her children.” (Luke 7:35) The wise and skillful teacher can connect with students who are open to wisdom. The wise and skillful teacher is able even to open hearts to the delights of wisdom even if they are currently fixated on worldly pleasures. Of course, some hearts refuse to be broken open upon the rock of truth, as was the case with many of the Pharisees and Sadducees who refused to follow the tune of Wisdom Incarnate: “We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.” (Matthew 11:17) The teacher cannot do everything. The student has a part to play. There is a proper response to the truth, and it is called acceptance and adherence. Just as a delightful melody elicits celebratory dance or as a dirge makes one sorrowful, so the movements of Wisdom properly produce certain responses in the soul who welcomes the truth. However, because of free will the hearer of Wisdom may choose not to follow its directions toward a better life. One who is created to dance may refuse to get on the dance floor.

So, the Catholic educator must fulfill his part of the bargain and be as docile to the Holy Spirit as possible. Yet not everyone followed Christ and His Saints. Regardless, the Catholic educator still has a responsibility over the souls of his students and ought to pray very much for them. He ought to sacrifice for them, fast for them. He ought to use all means available — natural and supernatural — in ridding his pupils of the darkness of ignorance and folly. Sometimes, a student can be so immersed in the world of his own making that it is only by prayer and sacrifice that he may come around to conversion to Christ. Jesus noted that some demons only come out through prayer and fasting (cf Matthew 11:21). The stronger the refusal one is met with by a student, so much stronger must be one’s commitment to holiness and love toward that student. The teacher must follow the example of Christ the Teacher and be willing to lay down his life for his sheep. Jesus suffered on the cross in order to bring new life to his disciples. In like manner, the Catholic educator must willingly offer himself as a holocaust of love to the Father on behalf of his wandering students.

“An educator is one who is devoted to the well-being of his students, and for this reason ought to be ready to face every inconvenience, every fatigue in order to achieve his goal, which is the civil, moral, and intellectual education of his students.” Thus says St. John Bosco in his explanation of the so-called “Preventive System in the Education of the Young” which he developed. Here, the Saint points out that the task of the Catholic educator is not merely to focus on the students’ intellectual formation. Rather, the teacher is to be concerned for the formation of the whole person and move towards a Christian maturity in all areas of life. Of course, this is a daunting task of which no educator should have to feel the sole burden. A student often has the benefit of many teachers whom he can look to for guidance and a good example. In today’s educational system the various disciplines are often divided among several teachers and the student can benefit from a panoply of instantiations of the form of “teacher.” Parents, though, are the primary educators for a student. The influence of parents is enormous compared to that of their child’s teacher, for better or for worse.

Gravissimum Educationis, the document on education from the Second Vatican Council, teaches, “Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognized as the primary and principal educators. This role in education is so important that only with difficulty can it be supplied where it is lacking.” (Gravissimum Educationis, 3, emphases added) Saintly educators like St. Philip Neri and St. John Bosco were often successful in being conduits of the grace of God who “works all things together for the good for those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28) Yet, while the grace of God can supply for what we lack, we must not presume upon it. Parents are charged by God to model virtue and impart wisdom to their children and so form their children as holy and well-adapted members of society able to build up the Kingdom of God.

The Vatican II document goes on to note that, while the primary responsibility belongs to the parents, they cannot do it alone:

“The family which has the primary duty of imparting education needs the help of the whole community . . . [Further,] in a special way, the duty of educating belongs to the Church . . . especially because she has the responsibility of announcing the way of salvation to all men, of communicating the life of Christ to those who believe, and, in her unfailing solicitude, of assisting men to be able to come to the fullness of this life.” (Gravissimum Educationis, 3)

It is appropriate that the document goes on to describe the Church’s role in this area as that of a mother in educating her children.

It is a collaborative effort of the community at large to form a human being into Christian maturity. Even Jesus Himself, Who is the Word become flesh, chose to have His humanity formed in the context of a family and a local community. His mother and foster-father taught Him how to read and count. They taught him how to navigate the Scriptures. They taught Him about the geography of the local region and explained how the local government worked. He would have had relatives and other men and women from the community show Him how to do various tasks which were appropriate to the time and culture. Jesus, in His willingness to take on a human nature, shows us how we are to respond to the education that comes to us from our parents, schools, and local community. Of course, He had the benefit of being without sin and error, but His very life of obedience to Mary and Joseph and the laws of His people exemplifies what it means to be a student. For every teacher was once a student.

This important lesson must shine forth to one’s students as a Catholic educator. One must always be in the process of learning and must always seek to expand the vistas of one’s formation and knowledge. One has never “arrived” when it comes to the pursuit of wisdom and maturity. Students ought to perceive an intellectual humility in their teachers such that the students can be led to greater and greater awe at “the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways!” (Romans 11:33) While a young girl may look at her parents as if they know everything, she will soon find out that even mom and dad are limited in their capacities and there is only One Who is all-knowing. The educator needs to instill a childlike excitement before the Wisdom of God so that the student never presumes to think they have no more to learn. The educator himself must exemplify this notion in his attitude. How beautiful it is that the Catholic educator must strive to be an icon of what it means to be a student before the Great Teacher!

Even society looks toward Catholic educators as those who must be above reproach. “It comes as no surprise, then, that not just our own ecclesial communities but society in general has high expectations of Catholic educators. This places upon [them] a responsibility and offers an opportunity. More and more people — parents in particular — recognize the need for excellence in the human formation of their children.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Meeting with Catholic Educators, Catholic University of America, April 17th, 2008) Of course, the highly educated and holy Pope would not limit this expectation of excellence merely to the human formation of children but would include all areas of formation. Jesus Himself “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor before God and men.” (Luke 2:52) This verse, interestingly, follows the one which notes that Jesus was obedient to His parents! In other words, because Jesus was obedient to His parents/educators He was able to grow in His human capacities. It is, therefore, incumbent upon Catholic educators that they, too, learn to be obedient to their Mother (the Church and her teachings) and Father (God Himself) else they stagnate their own growth and limit the potential of their pupils (for which they will be accountable on the Day of Judgment).

In conclusion, Catholic educators have a lofty vocation which brings with it tremendous honor and profound responsibility. The Catholic educator must depend upon the mercy and grace of God in taking up the herculean task of modeling the God-man (while effectively communicating the lessons which he must) to all the young men and women put in his charge. He must be an instantiation of the truth lived out well and joyfully. He must inspire his students to seek Divine wisdom not only through his words but by his conduct. He must collaborate with other teachers and those in the community (not least of which are the students’ very own parents) in the mission of forming children/students and helping them grow in charity unto the “full stature of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) When a student walks away from a teacher, he ought to walk away better, humbler, more loving and considerate, and generally more virtuous than he was before.

The influence of a teacher can be powerful in both positive and negative ways and this ought to cause the Fear of the Lord (a Gift of the Holy Spirit) to grow in the educator’s heart. We must remember again the loving warning of St. James (who himself was bold enough to tell Jesus that he could drink the same cup his master drank): “Let not many among you become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly [than those who are not teachers.]” (James 3:2) On the flip side, though, will be wonderful benefits which will accrue for the teacher in Heaven. I believe it is not unfitting to apply to those teachers who have gone before us and are now in Heaven that prayer which the Church offers in her liturgy for pastors: “For, as on the festival of [this Catholic educator] you bid your Church rejoice, so, too, you strengthen her by the example of his holy life, teach her by his words of preaching, and keep her safe in answer to his prayers.” (Preface of Holy Pastors) After all, Catholic educators, in a way analogous to that of Pastors, participate in the kingly office of Christ the Shepherd Who teaches all the way to eternal life. Let us place our hope in Christ that we might share in their beatific vision of Eternal Wisdom. May we be able to continue our ministry of Catholic education in Heaven by prayerfully leading the lambs of Christ the Good Shepherd in a new way which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard” as yet in our Catholic education system.