Blown open
Poised for a Pentecost moment, Catholic schools are ready for the Holy Spirit to blow open the doors of their hearts for missionary discipleship. As evangelizing communities, Pope Francis has called us to boldly take the initiative, go out to others, seek those who have fallen away, stand at the crossroads and welcome the outcast (Evangellii Gaudium 24). Whilst students receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation and many stay engaged in school ministries like CSYMA, are they bearing fruit beyond the Catholic School community? Like the disciples at Pentecost, we are sent to proclaim the Good News to all of creation in every language with a mandate for mission (Redemptoris Missio 23). Modern disciples speak in many tongues and venture to mission grounds that include universities, work places, parishes, cafés and online spaces.
How well do Catholic Schools prepare students to leave the fear of the upper room and go out to proclaim the good news beyond their communities?
The disciples experienced a massive transformation at Pentecost moving from bewilderment, fear and confusion to become an emboldened, mission focused and spirit filled group of evangelisers. The change was so radical that sceptics assumed they must have enjoyed a few drinks with their cornflakes. Do our students see how overjoyed their teachers are with Christ’s presence, or is our faith something that they lock away in privacy? The fear of being judged can keep the doors of our hearts locked shut to change, challenge and being called beyond ourselves. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit can break through these “parts of ourselves, our society, our church, Jesus enters to breathe the Spirit, to touch, bless, heal, renew” (Luke Hansen, S.J.).
In a 2017 interview with German newspaper Die Zeit, Pope Francis encouraged the Church to “not be afraid! Fear closes doors. Freedom opens them. And [even] if freedom is small, it opens at least a little window”. The human condition can be resistant even fearful of change, happy to do things as they’ve always been done; why fix something that isn’t broken? Teachers also risk becoming comfortable with the familiar, preferring to plod along with the regular routine until something shakes them out of their slumber. We see this at the first Pentecost, a new covenant was written on the hearts of the disciples, enhancing the old covenant of stone and breathing life into the lungs of the infant Church. This was not a onetime event. The Holy Spirit continues to penetrate our hearts, minds and tongues refreshing the Church throughout the past two millennia.
Perhaps the upcoming Australian Plenary will help rejuvenate and renew, opening a window for the breath of God into our parishes and schools.
Catholic Schools are called to become the centres of the New Evangelisation and to escape the risk of hypoxia, we must breathe in fresh air and avoid becoming stale, self-contained entities. For the past decade, Archbishop Coleridge has been calling for “a more missionary Church, one looking outward, not inward” with an emphasis on rolling out the wagons, rather than circling them in fear. Peter McGregor argues that Catholic identity is more than signs and symbols, liturgies and mottos, it is about recalling God’s act of creation – making us a new creation for the service of the world through evangelisation. We certainly encourage our students to be leaders, make a difference, become good citizens and use their talents, but how well do we help them to understand their baptismal call and to utilise the gifts received at Confirmation? Fr Hansen reminded his parishioners that “what matters is that you are baptized priest, prophet and king… and the church and the world need your unique gifts”.
Does the call to renew the face of the earth reach our students, and do we challenge them in the words of Guy Sebastian’s WYDSYD08 song, to “receive the power and be a light unto the world” (Acts 1:8)?
How many Catholics live with an understanding that the world of mission is flat, limited by their own constraints and fearful of sailing too far beyond the shore, that they might fall over the edge? Missionaries like Sarah Yaklic from the University of Notre Dame have moved into new frontiers of the digital world, “full of people hurting and in need of truth” and she can “see the amazing ability to reach people on the fringe” through social media. If Fr Hansen is correct in his assertion that “we Christians, at heart, are voyagers” then many of us must go beyond our safe harbours and into open water, not under our own steam, but with the joyful conviction, courage and empowerment of the Holy Spirit who will fill our sails.
