The Future of Catholic Education Part 5

I’ve devoted this space lately to a reflection on a talk on the future of American Catholic education given by Fordham University President, Joseph McShane, SJ. Father McShane articulated five theses which, he believes, will characterize Catholic schools of the future:


1. The challenges that Catholic education has faced and overcome in the past 50 years will pale in comparison to the challenges that it will face in the next 50 years

2. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if the Church recognizes that it is a community of communities – and that the needs of the various communities that it is called to serve are different

3. The American Catholic School System will survive and thrive only if it is able to believe in, nurture and build community-based schools in which ownership is shared by the parish community, the school faculty and the parents

4. Students will come in the door expecting one thing (namely, an entrée to a successful professional life) and they will discover something entirely far richer: they will discover the faith

5. The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment

This month I want to consider his fifth and final thesis:

The American Catholic School System will thrive only if it is seen as … a great, transcendent and transforming instrument of both grace and personal enrichment

McShane’s use of the term grace alludes to one of the great assertions of Catholic theology made by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica: “grace builds on nature.” By this, he meant that God works through the natural and human condition in order to bring us closer to the perfection to which we aspire in the next life. Humanity, in all of its sinfulness, becomes the vehicle through which God moves us closer to Him. In the words of one commentator: “To say that grace builds on nature means that we can change.”

I can’t think of a better rationale for the existence of Catholic schools than this understanding of grace: it is possible for humans to change for the better. The entire system of K-12 Catholic education is organized around this principle. Two of the three sacraments of Initiation occur during this time. Elementary students prepare for the sacrament of First Eucharist while secondary students prepare for the sacrament of Confirmation. Both moments memorialize, in McShane’s understanding, “the transforming instrument of…grace.” The study of Religion over the course of 12 years and student involvement in community service programs reinforce this notion that we humans are on a journey of “personal enrichment” which aims at union with God in the next life. In one sense, McShane’s fifth thesis embodies the first four. Saint John Baptist de La Salle understood this when he insisted the purpose of his schools is to offer the students entrusted to our care salvation that is both human and Christian: that is a productive life in this world and union with God in the next. Lutheran theologian, Stephen Schmidt underscores this dynamic when he wrote:

Grace builds on nature, and the whole enterprise of becoming a Christian is about the abundant possibility of optimistic hope.

What a noble sentiment to reflect upon during these days following the great celebration of Pentecost. With the Holy Spirit as our guide and a renewed commitment to the transcendent and transformative possibilities of Catholic education, McShane’s prognosis for Catholic schools over the course of the next 50 years may find us positioned to impact secular culture in more ways than we can now imagine.