“The history of Catholic education is the history of the Spirit at work”. This is how Pope Leo XIV expresses himself in the apostolic letter Designing new maps of hope, written on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Conciliar Declaration Gravissimum Educationis, In it, the Second Vatican Council recalled, among other things, that education is not an ancillary activity, but constitutes the very fabric of evangelization.
In the midst of the 21st century, the question of the relevance of Catholic identity in the field of education remains controversial. What makes an education truly Catholic? Can we offer something to the world that cannot be remedied by technology, digitalization or artificial intelligence?
The answer is affirmative, evidently, but not for its obviousness does it cease to be complicated and challenging to carry out: the meaning of education enlightened by faith is this very thing: to offer meaning. When a Catholic educational institution forgets its DNA and adopts other identities, however humanly laudable they may be, it betrays the very key to its existence. To put the person at the center is to give that sense of transcendence: to know that every human being “is a face, a history, a vocation”, not a “profile of competencies” (cf. Apostolic Letter Designing new maps of hope, 4).
In a world obsessed with productivity, access scores and digital skills, Catholic education is challenged to propose a humanistic vision of its work, in which it reaches not only professional preparation, but an understanding of life in an integral way and to do so from a full experience of communion, in Christ and with others. “To put the person at the center means to educate in the long view of Abraham: to make them discover the meaning of life, the inalienable dignity, the responsibility towards others”, the Pope underlines in number 5 of Designing new maps of hope.
Educating is the first task of every human being: whether as a teacher or as a student. This accompaniment in the encounter with the meaning of life begins in the family and extends, more and more, into the different social circles of every human being. And once again, witness emerges as the key to this task: moving from indoctrination to witness, from theory to experience, is the challenge that today and always marks the existence, not only of every Catholic educational institution, but of each one of us..
