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December 5, 2024Introduction
Dear religion teachers, first of all I would like to express my joy of being with you this evening.
I believe that our meeting is something unique. It is the first time for me to meet with you even though I often had the opportunity to speak about you and your commitment.
First of all, I would like to thank you for your dedication in our schools for the benefit of our students. Yours is a precious presence that greatly qualifies our educational mission. Thank you for your commitment and for the deep sense of responsibility with which you do your work.
In this brief conversation with you I would like to recall some elements of reflection on your work as religion teachers within our educational proposal that we try to carry forward with fidelity and commitment in the schools of the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia.
1) Relationship between the Catholic Church and schools
First of all, I would like to underline the original connection that exists between Christian experience and education, between Church and school.
What happens here in our vicariate, in fact, is not a rare thing, indeed, I would say that it is constitutive of the mission of the Church in the world. Where the Church is present, there is always an educational experience. In fact, Christian life certainly has among its pillars first the liturgical celebration, in particular the Eucharist. However, it has as a further constitutive factor in education. Faith always implies formation, an adequate education of the faithful.
In a certain sense we can say that the sacred scriptures themselves already speak to us in the Old Testament of the people of God as an educational reality. God always educates his people through the covenant, through his word, through the law that he has given them.
God educates his people through the prophets, moved by the Holy Spirit, who bring the word of God, who remind the people of the value of the covenant with God and rebuke them if they go far from the good path and instill the hope of a positive future together with God.
In the New Testament, Jesus brings the covenant to completion through the gift his own self in the Paschal Mystery. But from a certain point of view, Christ continually educates his disciples, educates the apostles and educates the crowds to the new law of love, to love towards God and towards one's neighbor. All of Christ's teaching has a profoundly educational intention.
Similarly, in the life of the Church, in addition to the celebration of the mysteries, the commitment to form the baptized to the good life of the Gospel is continually emphasized.
Furthermore, in the Church there is the awareness that God continues to educate his people through the work of the Holy Spirit who inspires vocations, charisms and ministries in the Church to build the life of the Christian community.
Certainly, the most evident testimony of this task of formation, which the Church has always recognized to have since its beginnings, is realized in particular in the formation and catechesis that soon takes shape in the life of the new people of God.
A fundamental formative tool in the life of the Church are the homilies. We have the collection of homilies of the Fathers of the Church, such as St. Augustine or St. John Chrysostom. When we read these volumes today, we realize some great educational passion these bishops had for their faithful. Through a specific method of reading the sacred scripture they highlighted the fundamental contents of faith and of Christian life.
In particular, I would like to recall with you the famous four senses of the scripture with which the great Fathers of the Church read the Gospel and preached to the people: first of all the literary sense to understand historical facts; then the anagogical sense, that is, educating oneself to the sense of eternal life as the destination of our life in God. Thirdly, the spiritual sense, that is, the personal relationship with the Lord, and finally the moral sense, that is, how to draw from the scriptures, the indications on the moral behavior to have with oneself and with others.
More specifically, we find in the life of Christian communities educational and faith formation structures. Formation in faith has always been understood as formation in the integral sense of faith, that is, the relationship of faith and life.
It has never been a matter of learning an abstract doctrine about God, but of understanding how faith in God illuminates and changes the daily life of believers. In this sense, we see the growth in the Church of baptismal catechesis from the very beginning, in which Christian life is explained in relation to faith in God.
Through the explanation of the rites of Christian initiation, the faithful, especially the catechumens, were introduced to the moral and spiritual values of faith. This reality was the basis of all the forms of catechism that we have now in the Church.
However, very soon in the life of the Church it was understood that forming in faith always also meant forming in good life, in daily life, in knowledge and wisdom to know how to be good Christian citizens in society at the service of the common good. This is the reason why around the Churches and monasteries and convents, schools of formation have been developed over time, not only to give education about Christian life but also culture, wisdom and the arts.
In particular in the Middle Ages, in the West, when monasteries spread throughout Europe, schools of culture and education were formed, first for monks and then for the people. The People of God found worship and culture in the monasteries. Schools also gradually formed around the churches, especially the great cathedrals.
Let us not forget that universities were also born in the Middle Ages in relation to the Church. The Church was the guarantor of the freedom of scientific research so that it would never be conditioned by partisan interests. As parishes developed throughout the Church, at the same time schools were also formed, not only for clerics but for the people, for children and young people.
Furthermore, we must say that many charisms in the life of the Church, especially in the modern and contemporary era, have been distributed by the Holy Spirit among the people of God precisely to promote education and human formation inspired by faith.
In particular, there are numerous institutes of male and female consecrated life that have arisen in recent centuries and whose purpose is the promotion of Catholic schools. We can think as an example, our consecrated people who are involved in our schools in running the schools.
All this has happened throughout the history of the Church and still happens today because the educational task has always been understood as essential to the life of the Church.
Finally, I would like to point out that whenever the Church opens a mission in the world, it always tries to open not only churches as buildings but also schools to promote education for the new generations inspired by the good life of the Gospel.
Generally, schools linked to the Church throughout the world, especially in mission places, are highly appreciated not only by Catholic faithful but by all those who attend them. In particular in the Middle East, including the Arab region, there is a long tradition of schools promoted directly by the Church and by various institutes of consecrated life, as well as by lay associations of the faithful.
2) School, faith and culture
All this makes us reflect on how Christian life cannot be reduced to the profession of faith and liturgical celebrations. There is a profound relationship between faith and life, faith and the understanding of life at all its levels.
Here I would like to point out a recurring aspect in the Gospels. When the Lord Jesus walks with his disciples, he often has to answer questions that they themselves ask him. Let us think for example of the healing of the man born blind, in the Gospel of John, chapter 9. The disciples ask him: who sinned that this man was born blind, him or his parents, or others? And Jesus instead changes their interpretation of that fact, inviting them to look at reality in a different way, not looking for someone's fault but seeing how in that fact God wants to show his glory.
Jesus introduces a new way of seeing life, understanding the facts, the history and the events. For this reason, every true educational path has as its aim in learning the way in which Jesus looks at and understands life: in the perspective of the will of God and the kingdom of heaven. Learning is to have in us the same feelings and the same mentality of Christ Jesus. This in summary is the cultural responsibility that every Christian should live.
Culture is what makes man grow as a human being in his relationship with God, with himself, and with others. Christianity has the task of promoting a vision of life inspired by Jesus Christ, as told to us in the Gospels and as the Church has deepened in its history and teaching.
I would like to summarize even more: educating always means introducing young people to the relationship with reality. Teachers must accompany young people in the discovery of reality by offering them criteria to understand and interpret reality not only in its technical aspects but in its meaning.
We need to offer our children and young people a horizon of meaning to life that helps them understand the meaning of reality, so as to know how to interact creatively with it. From this point of view, every religion has many values to offer on the meaning of life that allows us to enter into a relationship with the world with respect and love.
3) Meaning of teaching religion in our schools in an Islamic country
Here we are now entering into the specific meaning of teaching religion in schools, with particular reference to our cultural and religious context, characterized by the Islamic religion and a multicultural and multi-religious context.
From this perspective being a religion teacher does not mean first of all teaching mere catechism, in the sense that the task is not only to communicate the formal contents of the faith, the meaning of the profession of faith with all its articles on God and the Church. This is precisely the task of Christian formation in reference to the catechism, with a clear relationship to Christian initiation and the ongoing formation of all the faithful, the so-called formation of adults.
Yours, instead, is the task to show faith in its cultural, spiritual and moral implications and values. A religion teacher is called to highlight and communicate those fundamental values that concern the good life of all, that help to positively understand life as a task for the common good, the sense of relationships with all people, the moral value of life, such as the dignity of each person. You must show the Christian faith, not in relation to the articles of the creed, but in its ability to generate spiritual values and moral values that positively support life.
In this regard, I would like to give an example taken from the teachings of Pope Francis: I think you have had the opportunity to read his encyclical Fratelli tutti in which he promotes the sense of brotherhood that must characterize the life of every society.
Pope Francis says in the text that the foundation of the proposal of human brotherhood is rooted in Christian revelation, in the mystery of God the Father who calls us all to be children of God and brothers and sisters among us and to promote social friendship, solidarity, tolerance and mutual acceptance.
However, Pope Francis himself tells us that the idea of brotherhood is an idea that can also be shared by non-Christian people or those who profess a faith different from ours. In this sense it becomes important that there is a teaching of those values that arise from faith but that can also be practiced by those who do not have the same faith.
The document signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar here in Abu Dhabi in 2019 on Human Fraternity is precisely an example of how religions can promote values that can be shared by every man and woman of good will. Your task as religion teachers therefore concerns the value of each religion in its capacity to promote a new humanism, shared and shareable human values.
Obviously, this promotion of humanizing values in society places the centrality of God in the first place; the relationship that each person must have with God himself. When people forget God, society becomes dehumanized because it forgets the meaning of life, the ultimate meaning of life as a gift.
And so, your work as religion teachers, is very important, essential. You must show how faith generates culture, faith generates spiritual values, faith generates moral values. For this reason, it is essential in our schools not only to promote knowledge and the technical ability to change reality, but wisdom that knows how to orient life towards good and towards the supreme good that is God.
Saint James in his letter tells us that faith without works is dead. In this sense, your task is to show a living faith, a faith that works, a faith that generates culture, spirituality and authentic moral life.
4) A suggestion on how to teach
Finally, I would like to say a word about the method of teaching your subject, but in a certain sense it applies to all teachers. Certainly, you are asked for competence, knowledge and communication skills with the kids, the ability to empathize, the pedagogical ability to propose a gradual itinerary of understanding, enhancing the gifts that your children have, above all, enhancing their fundamental questions.
A good teacher, more than giving answers, must know how to provoke the right questions in the students. Great professors are those who light up the hearts of the students by making them ask questions and be curious to know life and the meaning of life.
Here I would like to remind you of a phrase by Saint Pope Paul VI who said that today's world listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers; and if they listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.
In this sense, I would like you to reflect on the meaning of being teachers because you are first of all witnesses. However, it is necessary to remove a misunderstanding. Being a witness does not mean being better than others.
A witness is not someone who draws attention to himself but to his message. A witness is focused on the testimony he wants to give. A witness does not want to show that he is better than others but what has he encountered in life and the great values he experienced. That is what he wants to communicate to others through his own life.
The best example of testimony comes from the Gospels: the disciples become witnesses of the Lord because they want to communicate to others not themselves but the encounter they had with Jesus and transmit everything they have seen, heard, and touched while being with the Lord.
Therefore, I think that a teacher in general, and a religion teacher in particular, must be a witness. That is, he or she must show that what they communicate is a gift that they received and that same gift they want to communicate to the students.
The opposite of testimony is a cold and neutral communication of doctrines and knowledge that do not involve life. True testimony, on the other hand, is the passionate communication of what is in your heart, of what you have received as a gift. Our students realize if you are just teachers or if you are master witnesses. They understand how you talk about religion and human and moral values.
Finally, to be a witness, you must never be alone. The true witness is always in good company, even when they have to act alone, they always feel in a positive relationship with others. I think that even among teachers there must be this sense of forming a body, the body of teachers, who help each other together to live their task as witnesses. In this way they can grow together in positive relationships. Even in this case, students realize if the teachers are isolated or if they conceive themselves together with others in a supportive way. The witness is always a person of brotherhood / sisterhood, a promoter of good relationships.
Therefore, I invite you to live your Christian faith intensely. If you live it fully you will be good witnesses and teachers. Furthermore, if you live your work as teachers well, you will realize that you yourself will grow in faith.
Wishing you all a blessed season of Advent, I assure you of my prayers and my support. May the Lord bless you and accompany you always.
