See with His Eyes, Love with His Heart, Share in His Virtues
O'Donoghue, Bishop Patrick
Document on Catholic schools’ ethos and identity
Rt Rev Patrick O’Donoghue, Bishop of Lancaster, wrote Fit for Mission? Schools to renew the fire of faith in Catholic schools and colleges in his diocese. CTS has now prepared this expanded edition for wider distribution. The Bishop offers practical guidance on how to further develop and deepen an authentic Catholic ethos, through cultivating the integration of faith as believed, celebrated, lived, and prayed. Bishop Patrick is convinced that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the best resource for creating an authentic Catholic ethos in our schools.
This expanded edition draws on recent documents from the Holy See, including: Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical, Spe Salvi, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelisation and the Congregation for Catholic Education’s Educating Together in Catholic Schools.
Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue is the Bishop of Lancaster, and former Rector of Allen Hall Seminary (1985–90). The Bishop wrote Fit for Mission? Schools with the advice and expertise of teachers, parents, clergy, and theologians.
Reviews
"As both a Catholic parent and Roman Catholic school governor, I’m delighted to find such a clear and helpful statement of the essential principles of Catholic education." - Joseph Kelly, Editorial Director, The Universe Catholic weekly
"The fundamental needs of the human person are the focus of Catholic education – intellectual, physical, emotional, social, spiritual and eschatological (our eternal destiny). These fundamental needs can only be truly fulfilled through a rich and living encounter with the deepest truths about God and the human person.’ \n– Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue, Fit for Mission? Schools, p. 17. (CTS Expanded edition).\n\n“The publication will undoubtedly be a reliable resource for renewing the vitality of Catholic education in today’s society.”\n– His Eminence, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education.\n\n“The Dicastery has studied the document with great interest and hopes it will become an example for other Dioceses in the country in their implementation of the General Directory for Catechesis and the Catechism of the Catholic Church." - His Grace, Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Secretary for the Congregation for Clergy
"Schools too must examine themselves regarding the mission that they have to carry out in today’s social climate, marked as it is by an obvious educational crisis. Catholic schools, which have as their primary mission the formation of students according to an holistic anthropological vision, while at the same time remaining open to all and respecting the individual identities of each and every person, cannot refrain from proposing their own educational vision, which is both human and Christian." - Pope Benedict XVI, speech to participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Monday 21 January 2008 (translated from Italian by CTS)
