Vatican official defends Catholic Education

Choose poverty over watering down the faith, says Pittau

By RENATO GANDIA
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

"We cannot say, 'It might hurt other people's feelings or sentiments so I will hide my identity,'" Archbishop Joseph Pittau, secretary of the Pontifical Congregation for Catholic Education, told more than 100 people Sept. 24.

In a publicly funded Catholic education system "if we are to lose our identity, the government money does not mean anything," Pittau said.

"There should be reciprocity. We respect them but also we demand that our own tradition is to be respected. We don't want to impose anything. We propose freely in a nice way but also we don't allow people to impose on us something that is against our faith and tradition."

"We don't want our tradition to be watered down. But whenever we can, we should be at the disposal of everybody."

This month, the Alberta bishops issued a statement opposing shared facilities between public and Catholic systems. Shared facilities undermine Catholic education and they are unacceptable to the Catholic community, said the bishops.

Pittau was unaware of the bishops' statement. But in an interview before his talk, he told the WCR, "As far as possible we should collaborate with everybody because education is all public."

"We don't want our tradition to be watered down." - Archbishop Joseph Pittau

"It is for the whole country. What is good for Catholic education is also good for the Canadian nation," he stressed. "But we cannot compromise who we are as Catholics."

"If we are not allowed to show and be who we are as Catholics, it is better to be poor than to lose our identity."

The more than two-hour public talk, sponsored by Newman Theological College, Edmonton Catholic Schools and the Alberta Catholic School Trustees' Association, was attended by educators from Calgary, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Hinton, Sherwood Park and other places.

The author of five books in Japanese, Pittau, an Italian, studied philosophy at the University of Barcelona, theology at the University of Sophia in Tokyo and holds a doctorate in political science from Harvard.

In his address, Pittau stressed, "The greatest treasure we have in Catholic education are the people. Each student is a unique gift from the Lord. We must take care of them, guide them and form them for the good of our society."

In the latest Vatican survey, 58 million people are involved in Catholic education. Some 50 million are students.

"You are not alone in Canada. You are part of a big system in the world," Pittau told the educators.

He also traced the history of Catholic education, beginning from the small schools opened by the monks in medieval times to the universities in Europe and later in other parts of the world.

"We have a great tradition and we should be proud of our history," said the Jesuit archbishop.

To deliver a better Catholic education should be the top priority. Formation of an informed conscience is integral to education, which should never be reduced to an intellectual enterprise, said Pittau.

With sadness, Pittau underlined that in today's society, "the law makes the decision" and people's consciences are not consulted.

Catholic education should teach that some things are good and some things are bad, he emphasized.

"If we don't do it, who is going to do it?" he asked. "Catholic educators have great responsibilities given to them by the Church to teach more than principles."

It is critical to teach the students how to become good neighbours to one another and to others so we can have peaceful and loving communities, he said.

Many educational institutions only want to prepare people to get jobs. Pittau is convinced that approach does not serve the people or society at large.

But Catholic education should form people not only to understand but also how to live together peacefully, he said. "Form people who have moral standards and people who have a sense of religion."

Advising the educators, Pittau told them, "First of all be very good teachers, then be very good Catholic teachers."

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