Le Chéile—Issue 24Issue 24, December 2015 of the biannual journal Le Chéile has just been published and circulated to schools in the north of Ireland. 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: “Love is shown more in deeds than in words”.
It reads as follows:
The Christmas image on the front cover of this edition is far from sentimental. Taken last year in a tent camp in Erbil in northern Iraq it shows two children standing before a crib. We cannot see their faces and can only speculate as to whether they are in awe as they contemplate the birth of the Saviour or are filled with terror in the face of war and dislocation. Their camp houses mostly Christian refugees forced to take flight from communities which have existed in Iraq over two millennia because of the onslaught by militants of the so-called Islamic State or Daesh. Their plight surely reminds us of both the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous intent and that the Christmas message teaches us that God’s heart has a special place for the poor. Jesus Christ is born into a poor family and his ministry was mostly among the poor. Terrible civil war elsewhere in the Middle East today, in Syria, now in its fifth year, has forced millions of Syrians, mostly Muslims, to flee their homes too. Some seven million are displaced within Syria, with a further four million in neighbouring countries. A fraction of these numbers has fled further, with some arriving on European shores, giving rise to the need for greater European solidarity in response to this refugee crisis. The UK and Irish governments have agreed to receive 20,000 and 2900 respectively of these refugees over a period of five years. It is expected that perhaps fifty to a hundred people will arrive in Northern Ireland before Christmas with others to follow on a phased basis. Some politicians have suggested that the North may receive up to 2000 people in total.
This will have challenging implications for our schools, parishes and wider communities. We can anticipate some of them, but not their full dimensions. What we can be absolutely clear about is that Catholic schools need to be to the fore in demonstrating openness and generosity, ensuring that they shoulder some of the inevitable strain that will be placed on social and physical structures. This will involve working closely alongside others in the churches and wider society.
In addition, there will need to be urgent reflection on how to enhance the education of young people in our schools towards a compassionate attitude towards the stranger. In that spirit, it is essential that our school communities commit to playing our part in building a society where ‘solidarity’ and ‘hospitality’ are not bland pieties in school mission statements, but concrete values lived out in deeds which become reality and change lives for the better. After all, Jesus said, “you will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:16) and St Ignatius of Loyola that, “love is shown more in deeds than in words”.
In this issue various authors highlight the comprehensiveness of the vison of Catholic education locally:
- Professor Eamonn Conway reminds us that an authentic Catholic education never settles for an emphasis on self-fulfilment but encourages students to a true compassion for others, especially the vulnerable.
- Denise McKee underlines that teachers, responding to the needs of neglected and traumatised children, need to be both critically reflective and empathetic in their responses.
- Anne Hession introduces the new Catholic Preschool and Primary RE Curriculum for Ireland explaining both its purpose and alignment with other curricular approaches.
- Dr Brian Hanratty offers a poignant reflection on poet Patrick Kavanagh’s deeply sacramental imagination, orientating us on our Advent journey of preparation for Christmas.
- Caoimhín de Búrca reviews a recent volume of essays which explores the scope, impact and future implementation of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council in Ireland (1962-65), including five essays on Catholic education.
- Fr Declan O’Loughlin reflects on the Jubilee Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis which is just beginning.
- Fr Cathal Deery shares advice for teachers on how best to respond when students present as suicidal.
- Declan O’Loan explains the origins of Amnesty International, its important human rights work and the troubling implications for Catholic schools of its change of policy regarding abortion.
- Shea Haughey, a P3 pupil looks forward to Christmas.
- Finally, Padaí de Bléine, writing in Irish, muses on a chance encounter in Dublin’s Glasnevin cemetery. Happy Christmas.
For further information please contact Rev Dr Niall Coll at 028 90268262.