• Developing a culture of respect
• Spiritual and moral development
• Vocation

Referring to Jesus being addressed by his disciples as ‘Rabbi’, he concluded:
And that is why I for one am happy to say that there is no higher vocation than to be called to be a teacher.

An editorial article reporting a major conference launching a report on Catholic Schools in deprived areas.

Having offered a brief summary of the whole conference including a corroborative statement by Professor Whitty (London Institute) validating Dr O’Keefe’s evidence, the article offers the full text of Dr Bernadette O’Keefe’s (Von Hugel Institute, Cambridge) paper “The Struggle for Excellence”. Both speakers referred to the development of social capital in deprived areas as an exercise that schools can make a significant contribution. Dr O’Keefe’s contribution was based upon two pieces of research that she carried out in Catholic Secondary and Primary schools -  “A Struggle for Excellence” (1997) and “Foundations for Excellence” (1999) – both available from CES.

Stephen Corriette is Director of CARJ, an agency of the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales. In this article he outlines the work of CARJ and spells out the key issues facing the Church and its schools. Materials are made available to schools and can be accessed by contacting:
CARJ, 9 Henry Road, Manor House, London N4 2LH
Tel. 0181 211 0808, E-mail: Stephen@carj.freeserve.co.uk

Fr Sumner speaks from experience of inner city ministry in Manchester and here challenges our awareness of the depth of racial injustice which may lie unwittingly in our schools. In locating the Church’s mission in Luke 4:18-19 “ to bring good news to…” he asks “is it too much to suggest that Catholic education should come into its own in areas of social deprivation?” Fr Sumner not only offers a first class analysis of the situation but points the way forward with numerous practical suggestions. To any school seeking to create an agenda for change, there could be few better starting points.

Our Assistant Editor responds to the challenge laid out by Fr Sumner and speaks from the perspective of 30+ years in Catholic schools about the possibilities and practicalities of inclusive education in partnership with our parishes.

Juliette Austin, lay Head of Kilgraston School, a Sacred Heart foundation, uses the approach of the third millennium to re-assess the role of the Catholic Independent school. In this article she looks at the historical position, maintaining the Sacred Heart charism in the present time with lay staff and goes on to robustly defend the whole notion of independent schooling.

Barry Dwyer, in a short reflective piece, likens much of the accretions of the modern curriculum to the parasitic nature of mistletoe which eventually kills the host tree. His antidote: critical discernment, reflective teaching, collaborative planning and prophetic decision-making.

St Augustine’s presents as a very worthy introduction to this feature in Networking. Sometimes you can just tell that what you are reading is authentic –this is the real thing.

In this introduction to another regular feature, an article starting with
“The real wealth of a nation is its people and the purpose of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy creative lives”
is no more than the globalisation of the mission statement of every Catholic school. How CAFOD works this out offers both models of developmental action and vision but could just prove to have that added dimension of inspiring a renewed look at our own internal vision and practice.