Oh where, oh where has the supernatural gone?

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, C.S.B., secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, is a Canadian who was president of St. Thomas University in Houston for six years before his appointment to the education congregation in 2003. On September 14, 2005, he was the keynote speaker at a conference on Catholic elementary and secondary education held at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

His talk touched on many aspects of Catholic education, among them the characteristics of a uniquely Catholic education. "The first mark of a Catholic school" is that it is "inspired by a supernatural vision, seeing to the education of the full child, not only for service to society, but for love of God and holiness of life for the sake of the child's ultimate destiny. It is about saint-making," he said.

Human before Supernatural

Despite the wonderful efforts of many Canadian Catholic school teachers to bring the faith to our children, there is often a sense of the human taking precedence over the supernatural. How often do we actually talk about "the child's ultimate destiny?" How often do we tell children that the most important thing in life is loving God first, then our neighbour, and preparing for heaven? Perhaps not often enough.

The fact that certain terms and devotions have fallen into disuse is a sign of the loss of the sense of the supernatural. Ask your average Catholic student, "What is the Sacred Heart?" or "What is the Blessed Sacrament?" The grim reality is that many think they are the names of schools. In one school, as a supply teacher, I had the opportunity to ask the students, "Who is Our Lady of Grace?" The enthusiastic answer came from primary student: "Is she the lady in the office?" I guess he deserved marks for trying! More recently, in another primary class where it was obvious the children were not listening to the morning prayers and announcements over the P.A. system, I asked, "Now who can tell me what today's feast day is," as the Feast of the Archangels had just been announced. Once again, a very excited little boy shot up his hand and cried out, "It's wacky hair day!" After enjoying the humour of the moment, I was reminded that for too many students the supernatural does not loom very large in their minds.

Saints and heroes

There now seems to be a growing tendency in some of our Ontario Catholic school boards to lump together saints like Mother Teresa and St. Therese of Lisieux with "heroes" such as Terry Fox, Martin Luther King and Lucy Maude Montgomery. While many of these people have done heroic acts, there is seemingly little distinction between "good-deed-doers", as the Wizard of Oz might have called them, and saints. Indeed, some people in our Catholic churches and school systems have been heard to decry the over-emphasis on saints (as if we could ever have too many saints!). In this respect, one also has to wonder why some Confirmation candidates are told that it is not necessary to take a Confirmation name anymore. Surely there could be nothing but good to come out of choosing a saint to be your patron, learning more about him or her, and praying for their intercession.

Natural disasters

There is no question that our schools have been very good at responding to natural disasters such as hurricane Katrina. The service component is clearly seen as a natural outcome of the second commandment, which states, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." But what about the First Commandment: "Thou shalt love the Lord your God, with your whole heart and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind?" There must have been a reason Jesus placed this commandment first. Mother Teresa, who more than any other individual in the world was known for responding to the needs of the poorest of human beings, always made it known that she and her Sisters of Charity spent time in prayer and reflection in front of the Blessed Sacrament before going into the streets. Indeed, they would not have been able to do the work they did without the spiritual and supernatural sustenance which came from this time devoted to prayer and being in the presence of God. Social justice, yes, but with a difference.

Too often, it seems, we hear that a given action is acceptable as long as it does not hurt anyone else. If, however, the most important thing in life is to love God, then it would also follow that we would never want to do anything that would offend Him. How often does this message come through in Catholic education? This concept has such far-reaching consequences that it leads us to believe that there are absolute truths, that there are actions that are intrinsically evil, simply because they offend God.

One school board in the Toronto area is now articulating in their Mission Statement that their aim is to provide a Catholic education "inspired" by Jesus Christ. One really has to wonder, is Jesus really only their "inspiration?" Are they only using Jesus' name as a starting point, from which to introduce whatever thinking seems right at the time? Is Jesus Christ truly the Son of God, or not, and if so, should He be not only our inspiration, but our entire foundation? Why do we hear more about Gospel values than Gospel beliefs? The former points to the human and the latter to the supernatural.

Another clear example of the demise of the supernatural has to be the attitude that many children have in attending Mass and receiving Holy Communion. Many refer to the Eucharist as "the bread" and in some schools there is very little attention paid to reverence in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. May God bless all those teachers who do their best to teach these children the truth about the Real Presence.

Environmentalism 

Do our children know more about Earth Day than the Immaculate Conception, more about the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child than the Feast of the Assumption? More than a few of our children think that God made us to take care of the earth and the environment. Quite clearly God wants us to do these things, but how many children realize that God made them because He wants them to be eternally happy with Him in heaven? Those teachers and religion consultants who for years belittled the old Baltimore Catechism are now faced with children who are not too sure at all why they are even here on this earth. No PhD. in Theology is needed for children to understand this simple but beautiful plan of God that he wants us to "know, love, and serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him in the next" (Baltimore Catechism, for those who are old enough to remember).

It is likely that the late and great Pope John Paul II instituted the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary to encourage us to meditate more on the supernatural. It is not that the other mysteries do not involve the supernatural, but the Luminous Mysteries focus in a particular way on light, the divine, the supernatural, the glory of God.

Secularized religion

Unfortunately, this language of the supernatural is something missing in our schools today. What we do hear a lot about is gender equity, diversity, telling our story, celebrating our story, tolerance, code reds and lockdowns, and the emphasis on bully proofing, self-defence, drug education, AIDS education and screening. Do teachers know more about "wellness" than about their faith? The evil one has done a good job of steering us away from the supernatural to the human and making us fearful of the many threats around us, making us forget that our hope is in the Lord who made heaven and earth.

A lady named Vivian Dudro, in commenting on the occult, once related an interesting point. She said that bank tellers are taught to recognize counterfeit money not so much by studying the counterfeit bills, but by studying real bills. Then, by inference, they know which bills are false. They can sense it, they can feel it. The analogy in Catholic education is that if we flood our children with what is good--prayers, the sacraments, the saints, good books, and a high regard for the supernatural and the great mysteries of our faith--then they will be able to infer readily that which is not good for them. We will not have to show them a myriad of birth control devices, videos about what happens when you get arrested for drug charges, or teach them JK-Grade 12 programmes on AIDS. They will know, by a brief reference to such activities, that they are wrong.

Demise of the supernatural

The demise of the supernatural in our school systems is dangerous business indeed. It not only threatens the Catholicity of the system but the very Christianity of it as well. Despite discussions in recent years regarding the uniqueness of the Catholic school system, we have to take a close look and make sure that our Catholic schools are not just promoting "character education." Indeed, is the introduction of character education in Ontario the beginning of the end for Catholic schools?

The Luminous Mysteries of the rosary include the third Mystery, the Proclamation of the Kingdom. Perhaps the meaning of this Mystery is becoming clearer as time passes. There are certainly many other "kingdoms" in our world today--the kingdom of materialism, of human rights, and of secular humanism, (among others)--but there is only one true Kingdom and that is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Glory. and the Prince of Peace. That supernatural vision should give us all great hope.

Catherine Slovak is a music teacher living in Newmarket, ON, with her husband and two children. She has been active int the pro-life movement for a number of years.