The great value of Catholic education

Every Catholic child should receive a Catholic education and Catholics should fight to keep Catholic schools Catholic, the argument goes. CLAIRE MATHIESON speaks to a school chaplain and learns why.

Learners from across the Grades interact at Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban. The school’s chaplain,
Fr Christopher Neville OFM, writes that the Catholic school must make the Lord present to all learners, regardless of their background.

Franciscan Father Christopher Neville has been privileged to receive an education within the Catholic school environment in South Africa. And today, he considers it a privilege to continue involvement in the Catholic school system as he works with the students of Holy Family College in Glenmore, Durban.

“Due to my exposure to what a Catholic school offers I am very conscious of the treasure and privilege of a Catholic school education,” Fr Neville said.

His education started in Durban at Our Lady of Fatima with the Newcastle Dominicans and continued in Pretoria with the Loreto Sisters. He then moved on to Pretoria’s Christian Brothers College.

For the last six years as part-time chaplain, he’s been able to “pay it forward”.

For Fr Neville, the greatest attribute of the Catholic school is the ethos that is ingrained behind every aspect of school life, from sport to lessons. “Catholic schools have a genuine value system, offer an enhanced personal relationship with God and a spirit of calm among the majority of pupils.”

Fr Neville also hailed the commitment of staff—something lacking in many other schools around the country. Teaching, administration and maintenance are a part of this system, he says.

“There is a spirit of joy among staff and pupils and an underlying awareness of the presence of God” at the school he serves.

This could be down to the two hours of religious education the students enjoy each week, where learners are taught about the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Theology of the Body, and are given insight into other religions.

But there is something more than just lessons, says Fr Neville. Catholic students in Catholic schools have a “zest for life”.

And he believes this is the same ethos that has been handed down from generation to generation.

“There is no doubt that this legacy has been handed on to the present members of the different school communities from the original members of the congregations of the different schools.”

Today the question is often asked if there is any purpose or value in maintaining Catholic schools since most pupils who attend them are not Catholics.

“To answer this question adequately, it is vital that all decision-makers truly look in an in-depth manner at the original purpose of Catholic school education, at how it has evolved over the years, and the results it has had on the individual person and then on society as a whole,” said the Franciscan priest.

“Young people today are perhaps more broken as people than at any other time in the history of society due to their lack of experience of genuine love, no stable home life due to parents being either single, divorced, dead or just absent,” he noted.

“As I experience on a day to day basis in Holy Family College, the young people are exposed to values, care, concern, in a word love, a holistic education—in other words, are not just focused on academic achievements but also development of the personality, the very soul of the person as well as the physical side through sports and the creative aspect through exposure to art and music.”

For Fr Neville, the Christian ethos permeates every aspect of the life of the pupil present within a Catholic school—an invaluable attribute that is found in Catholic schools today and something which many non-Catholics revere.

“A Catholic school by its nature is open not only to members of the Catholic Church, but is catholic in the broadest and deepest meaning of the word, in that it is open to all people of any faith background or no faith background at all—just as our Lord Jesus Christ came to serve and save all people.”

Fr Neville believes the secret is in the relationship with God made real through the sacramental presence and sacramental relationship of Jesus Christ with pupils and staff.

“There is a call, an invitation, to be in relationship with self, others, nature and the world around them.”

For those at Holy Family College, the relationship with God is made real, he said.

“Every Catholic child should receive an education in a Catholic school” said Fr Neville. There is such value in Catholic education that Catholics should not hesitate in “fighting to keep our Catholic schools open and active in society”.