Issue 18, December 2012, of the bi-annual journal, 'Le Chéile', has just been published and circulated to schools in the North. The journal, a publication of St Mary's University College, aims to celebrate and promote the vision of Catholic education locally:

• By identifying, exploring and promoting ways in which this vision can be lived in Catholic schools.
• By seeking to empower teachers with a renewed and revitalised sense of the spirituality and vocational nature of teaching.
• By aiming to encourage and inform practitioners in Catholic education locally.

This edition's editorial is entitled: 'The Year of Faith and the Teacher'. It reads as follows:

The ‘Year of Faith’, which began in October, is being celebrated throughout the Catholic world and there are, of course, various parish, diocesan and ecumenical events and publications to mark it in Ireland too. It has been called by Pope Benedict XVI to draw attention to the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Vatican II is widely regarded as the most important religious event of the twentieth-century. Arguably, its greatest insight was to abandon the defensive, juridical understanding of the Church which had dominated Catholic thought for centuries and place at the centre of its teaching the notion of the People of God and their pilgrim journey. This concept, with its deep biblical roots, involves a radical and far more positive understanding of the role of all the baptised, lay faithful, religious and ordained, in the life of the Church. Baptism is the great mystery of our faith. Because of it, all of us, united to Christ, to his death and resurrection, are called to be builders of God’s Kingdom in the Church and in the world by the quality of our prayer, love and service of each other. Timothy Radcliffe is absolutely correct when he says that:

This ‘Year of Faith’ also encourages us to recall that the important vocation of the Christian teacher was singled out for particular emphasis by the Council when it invited teachers to a more intense awareness of our baptismal calling to open space in the hearts of our students for God. We need to remember that the Council provides the most authoritative, most modern faith and gospel-based vision of the Church that we have available to us, and that, in the face of both the abuse scandals and aggressive secular criticism, it is our best resource for the kind of renewal that we require. But it is work still in progress, and there is much more that needs to be done to implement its vision. As teachers and principals we are uniquely placed to share the Council’s vision with the young and to model it in our personal and professional lives. To do this well we surely need to deepen our own knowledge of the Council’s teachings contained in its sixteen documents. So there is much to be studied and reflected upon during the ‘Year of Faith’ as we grow in baptismal consciousness.

This edition of ‘Le Chéile’, its eighteenth significantly, will hopefully sharpen our awareness of the great depth and breadth of Catholic education’s interest and engagement here with the holistic development of our pupils and students.

• Fr Gerry O’Hanlon SJ explores the importance of developing a sense and practice of justice in our young people.
• Fintan Murphy writes about a recent conference for teachers in Enniskillen which explored today's changing social context and the immense value of Catholic education’s emphasis on developing faith and good relationships in schools.
• Jarlath Burns illustrates the importance of a spiritual and religious sense in the lives and achievements of many sports people.
• Fr Nicholas Madden OCD reminds us that good teaching is linked to the awakening of wonder.
• Mary Ann Flanagan recalls the long history of the Catholic tradition's involvement with the arts and creativity and underlines the importance of teachers encouraging and developing these dimensions in our pupils and students.
• Geraldine Magennis identifies and discusses examples of high-quality children’s literature which successfully alerts children to urgent moral questions in our more diverse society.
• Seán Mac Labhraí reviews a recent book on early-medieval Celtic spirituality and the author’s own experience of it.
• Emma-Rose McCloskey introduces a volume which celebrates the contribution of some seventy missionaries in our own times overseas.
• Finally, Sr Margaret Agnew offers an Advent reflection which entreats us to prepare for Christmas in ways that let go of enslaving trappings so that we may discover and unlock those deeper values which alone can make us truly happy at Christmas. Nollaig Shona daoibh.

  For further information please contact Rev Dr Niall Coll, Tel: 02890 268262.

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