There is much confusion about the purpose of Catholic schools. Depending on where one stands within the Catholic community or even outside it, the praise and criticism of Catholic schools flows.

It is always true, certainly to those struggling in schools, that expectations of society towards schools provide an impossible agenda. It appears that each initiative, whether it be related to economic performance, social change, sports capability or eating habits, requires a starting point within school. The Catholic school faces all these together with the additional comments related to knowledge of catechism, Church attendance, social and sexual habits, even good manners and courtesy. If these comments build up a sense of paranoia it is hardly surprising.

There is also a deep paradox within the confusion of purpose, illustrated by annual publication of examination results in league table forms. While on the one-hand we deride these tables as being contrary to the inherent purpose of schools, we are happy to claim the outcomes as proof of the effectiveness of Catholic schools. If there is a stand taken against their publication, it is seen as hypocritical or a cover-up, rather than a principled stand. How do we proclaim the outcomes of the other areas of purpose that we claim, what standards do we apply to the judgement and how do we respond when things go badly and illegally wrong? Are we in danger of quietly absorbing the modern market forces that can compromise the Christian belief and purpose of Catholic schools that we acclaim?

Without doubt we face a very different world from that in which many Catholic schools were first established. Questions such as ‘who are schools for?’  ‘what is their principal purpose?’ and ‘how do we teach Religious Education?’ will demand very different responses in the twenty-first century than would have been envisaged in the nineteenth. This does not help with the sense of confusion but does require a clear-headed view of the reality of the present and the potential of the future.  Importantly there is also a very clear guide from scripture and the traditions of the Church to be maintained.

In this sense, the document ‘Consecrated Persons and their Mission in Schools’ from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education is a helpful reminder of purpose. Many of us in the United Kingdom might well say that this document is coming too late. The visible presence of Religious in schools in the United Kingdom has been diminishing over the years, almost to a point of non-existence. But we must remember the Universal Church and the continuing involvement of Religious in many countries as well as the leadership roles undertaken by many religious in many forms. However to see the document only in terms of Religious is a mistake as John Lydon points out in his review in this issue. He proposes the relevance to teaching as a vocation, the transmission of Religious charism and styles of interaction within Catholic educational communities. There is a full agenda here for all involved in Catholic schools.

In his well-received address to the CATSC Conference, Bishop Noble posed many significant questions to the educators present in the course of the Damian Lundy lecture. He began with an acceptance of the reality of the school and Church community. ‘Our schools are full of sacramentalised youngsters’ he said ‘but we would be rash to see that as an indication of faith commitment.’ But he particularly called for an examination of our own attitudes and expectations. The concept of ‘institutionalised attitudes’ needs to be addressed within the Church and Church school community in our mind-set for example towards practice and non-practice. ‘Have gospel values entered fully into ourselves?’ he posed.  Speaking of ground clearing and offering perspectives conducive to the faith he stressed the responsibility of the teaching opportunities as well as the importance of the Christian ethos of the school.  The address, printed in full in this edition of Networking, should be required reading and in-house discussion in Catholic schools that wish to explore their role, purpose and method.

The role of this journal is to foster co-operation, share good practice and celebrate achievement. In what we report in individual schools as well as in coming together in such events as the CHAS Conference on inclusion, the EducareM initiative, the CAFOD report, indicate much of which we should be proud within the Catholic schools of the United Kingdom as a small part of the quarter-million Catholic schools world wide. Those world-wide links are constantly expanding as we show in our new initiative in company with our French counterparts. Such initiatives, which are intended to provide opportunities for individual schools, are not window-dressing but should be seen as a part of a wider mission. ‘By co-ordinating with other educational agencies and in a more extensive communications network, a school stimulates the process of personal, professional and social growth of its own students’ we are told in that ‘Mission in Schools’ document. 

Returning to the question ‘what is the purpose of Catholic schools?’ we can begin to discern a new clarity of an old identity. Catholic schools are a clear part of the evangelising role of the Church. They are to make the individual ‘fully alive’ to the power of the gospel message. They do it through the formal structures as the search for excellence is pursued but they do it also through the network of relationships within the community. They do it by living the gospel message and by taking advantage of those 'perspectives conducive to faith.

The close of the document from the Vatican speaks of ‘starting afresh from Christ.’ It is explained that this means ‘contemplating his face, pausing at length with him in prayer to then be able to show him to others.’ It goes on ‘the task of teaching to live, discovering the deepest meaning of life and of transcendence, to mutually interact with others, to love creation, to think freely and critically, to find fulfilment in work, to plan the future, in one word to be, demands a new love of consecrated persons for educational and cultural commitment in schools.’ That demand is shared with all working in Catholic schools.