by Moira Cullings
moira.cullings@theleaven.org
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — As Catholic educators in the archdiocese prepare for another school year, Archbishop Shawn McKnight had a strong message to fuel them for the journey ahead.
“Our Catholic schools are to be environments in which our youth experience something countercultural in our society,” he said. “Our dominant American culture of individualism is contrary to what we believe as Catholics.”
“What is distinctive about us is not just the content of our faith that we teach in catechism class or religion class,” he added, “but it’s the ethos — it’s the culture — that pervades our entire school.”
The archbishop shared his message at three teacher commissioning Masses, each organized according to deanery — Topeka, Johnson County and Wyandotte County — which are regions of the archdiocese based on geographic location.
Those in northern, southern and rural schools joined one of those three deaneries.
Archbishop McKnight celebrated the first on Aug. 7 at Corpus Christi Church in Lawrence; the second on Aug. 8 at Church of the Ascension in Overland Park; and the third on Aug. 8 at St. Patrick Church in Kansas City, Kansas.
After each Mass, the Blessed Seelos Institute of Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas, presented its first faculty formation session for the school year. The guest speaker was Dr. Edward Mulholland, professor and chair of the classics department at Benedictine College in Atchison.
Vince Cascone, superintendent of archdiocesan schools, shared a few words before each Mass.
“Archbishop McKnight, who’s our new shepherd, is here to celebrate with us today,” he said at St. Patrick. “But I think it also is important for us to know that his responsibility is to educate all those within the archdiocese in our faith.
“And obviously, he’s one person, who can’t do it alone. So, he has called each and every one of us to this awesome ministry of Catholic education.”
Cascone emphasized that working in Catholic education is not a job but a ministry, and he thanked the educators for all they do.
“We’re full of joy that we can come together in this way and then have the archbishop commission you and send you out to do your work as Catholic educators,” he said.
In his homily, Archbishop McKnight highlighted the challenges today’s youth face — particularly the culture of individualism.
“We see the damage that [it] is causing the young people of this generation,” he said, “especially with social media and all the new technology that can be used in a way that drives that individualism even further than when you and I — perhaps many years ago — were young people ourselves.
“It’s a much different environment today [that] our young people have to negotiate and swim through.
“And so it is that parents entrust to our schools the cooperative effort of educating and forming their young children in the faith and as good citizens.”
Catholic schools have the unique opportunity to share the values of faith, to encourage students to preach the Gospel of Jesus through charity and to educate based on the church’s belief in the dignity of every human being, he said.
Archbishop McKnight explained that subjects like English, science, history and math are “all avenues to come to know God.”
The archbishop also emphasized the important role parents, teachers, pastors and parish communities all have in raising up the next generation in the faith.
And he thanked the educators for their tireless work, which often includes long hours, and encouraged them in the year ahead.
“Be brave. Be strong,” he said. “Rely on the gift of the Lord, and let us today rely on the intercession of St. Dominic, who gave us a great model of being willing to live the faith that we profess, and, in so doing, we are able to proclaim the communion of God.”
To view more photos from the teacher commissioning Masses, click here.
