Vocations Newsletter

One-on-One interview by Robert Ellsberg with Thomas H. Groome about his new book, What Makes Education Catholic: Spiritual Foundations.In this readable and timely work, Thomas Groome explores the basis of Catholic education, from the historical Jesus to figures like Augustine and Aquinas, Angela Merici, Elizabeth Seton, and Mary Ward. Groome shows how these foremothers and fathers of Catholic education ground and shape the spirituality of Catholic educators today. It is these foundations that ensure that Catholic schools today deliver the education they promise to students–not only to Catholics, but to those of many religious traditions.
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“More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith”. (Philippians 3: 8-9)“There’s a fire in my belly” are words I often hear from seminarians as they move through the process of formation. That burning desire to share what has been given to us in knowing Jesus should be common to all believers. As we celebrate the patron saint of Ireland this week, let us take his example of putting “the supreme good of knowing Christ” first in his life. Captured in Scotland by pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep, Saint Patrick prayed continuously during his captivity. It was during those six years that he experienced a conversion which protected him from the hardships of slavery. After being told in a dream from God to leave Ireland, St. Patrick escaped,…
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“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17Imagine for a moment an archbishop voluntarily living as a homeless man. In the inspirational novel The Homeless Bishop by Joseph E. Girzone, (Orbis Books), modern-day Archbishop Carlo Brunini ventures on a journey of homelessness to better understand the plight of those for whom he cares so deeply.
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When Socrates was on trial for impiety, he was famously quoted as having said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Words to live by as Ash Wednesday approaches.As a child I learned how to examine my conscience before confession. Later in college, my Jesuit teachers taught me about self-examination using the discernment exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. I also had my Jewish friends telling me about the Ten Days of Repentance (Aseret Yemei ha Teshuvah) between Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). Like our own traditions, these centuries-old observances are dedicated to examining our conscience—and making the necessary amends.
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