 | | | Karen Ristau
(Photo courtesy of NCEA) | |
On Thursday afternoon, April 17 Pope Benedict XVI delivered a major address to college presidents and diocesan superintendents about the importance of Catholic Education. [For a full report of what Pope Benedict said, CLICK HERE.] Catholic Digest asked two participants -- Reverand Brian Shanley, OP, President of Providence College in Providence, RI, and Karen Ristau, President of the National Catholic Education Association, to share their thought on the pope's address and what it means for Catholic education today.
To read the Q&A with Reverend Brian Shanley, CLICK HERE. |
A Catholic Digest Papal Exclusive“He very clearly knows what a sacrifice it takes to continue this today.”CD: You were present when the pope gave his speech about education. What were your expectations going into the address?RISTAU: I really did not know what to expect. There was some negative speculation that he was coming to scold us. That absolutely, positively turned out to be untrue.
CD: What was the speculation?RISTAU: Some thought he would be giving a very stern message about how Catholic our schools and colleges are and that we needed to pay more attention, to be much more strict. He didn’t venture in that direction at all. What was so wonderful about yesterday’s meeting was that he expressed his gratitude for the good work that, across all levels of education, is happening here in Catholic schools, Catholic colleges and universities. That acknowledgment and that gratefulness were very touching and inspiring. And he very clearly knows what a sacrifice it takes to continue this today. The thing he stressed was that this has to happen in collaboration with the whole community. It is the entire community of believers that needs to figure out ways to support Catholic education broadly. He talked a great deal and rather deeply about the role of Catholic education — that its core purpose is to pass on the faith and help people develop their own conscience as their guide, to really understand what it means to be one of God’s people. The other thing that happened yesterday that was remarkable was when he asked people to be very professional, to witness their own faith, but also not to abandon the poor. And to make the schools and the colleges accessible to anyone who wants to come there. When he made a special plea to the religious not to abandon the school ministry but also to renew their commitment to the poor, I would say that all of us would go along with that. It was a place where people clapped.
CD: His message about the importance of Catholic schools comes against a backdrop of news reports about the drop in the number of Catholic schools in the U.S. today. How would you best describe the state of Catholic schools today?RISTAU: It’s complex, it’s multi-leveled, and, yes, there still are schools closing or merging. That has to be put in a context of the region [and] what else is going on there. We usually read about what’s going on in the inner city and some places where there are no children, or where people have moved and there are no immigrant groups. On the other hand, I want to point out to you that in certain other regions of our country last year we opened 40 new schools — southwest, the west, even a couple of places in the far Midwest. Where’s there’s growth, where there’s jobs, schools are opening. And those schools are filled and have waiting lists. So that’s a very important piece to get out. And the other important piece is that people have come up with some very innovative ways to solve the economic situations. In Wichita the church there feels responsible for the education of all the children so they have a good model of stewardship, which means that the children who come to school don’t pay tuition as such. But the whole community is putting money into a fund that supports all children. So their parents, their parish, others are putting into this fund. That’s a real sense of community there. And then you’ve got places like Memphis, Tennessee, where they’re reopening schools. We have
