By Dr. Andy Mullins
Former headmaster. Director of Drummond. | PARED Schools, and Drummond Study Centre, Melbourne
1: Your Apostolate
Former Headmaster of Sydney PARED schools. Author of Parenting for Character and website www.raisedtolove.com, and lecturing in Formation of Character at UNDA and formerly at JPII Institute. Now Director at Drummond Study Centre in Melbourne working with university students and parents and on the board of Harkaway Hills College.
2: Pandemic Impact
We are streaming plenty of Catholic formation and trying to catch up virtually most of the time with as many as we can reach, with a focus to helping all keep up habits of prayer and yearning for sacraments. Online resources help a lot, for example lots of resources at www.opusdei.org. Chaplain of the centre is still making himself grandly available for confessions and he is very busy. Normally we run about ten retreats a year for men and students, and now these are not possible. Working out alternatives now that Melbourne has second lockdown that may take us to Christmas it seems.
3: Priority Issues
Major issues would seem to be our own lack of supernatural vision. We forget that our faith and efficacy are supernatural. Let us foster a love of sacraments, a personal life of prayer, a spirit of daily struggle to be the best one can be, and a love for the Church and the Holy Father. Ignorance is a big issue… too easy for young and old to be cynical, dragged into impersonal, relativist, materialist and pessimistic mindsets.
4: Plenary Proposal
Sorry two:
1. That we find constant and creative ways in every community to honour Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and foster personal prayer in front of every tabernacle.
2. That every Catholic school sees as its main task, a beautiful task, to evangelise every family of every student. This is far more important than teaching curriculum, but it is not either/or in any case.
5: Signs of Hope
We are the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit. Despite ourselves we see that many young people are still learning to love their faith, enter religious life and priesthood, take prayer and sacraments seriously, etc. We don’t teach young people the Faith, the Holy Spirit does. To do this we must continue to teach them how to pray.
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Submitted by: Dr. Andy Mullins
Former headmaster. Director of Drummond. | PARED Schools, and Drummond Study Centre, Melbourne
https://www.raisedtolove.com/
30/07/2020
Thanks Andy. I like the way you draw attention to the primacy of evangelisation in the mission of our schools, and not just of the students but of the families also. The reality is, for many of our families in Catholic schools, the only formal contact they have with the Church is through the school. Some would only attend Mass for school liturgies. So the role of school as an agent of evangelisation is critical. It shouldn’t need saying, but we can’t give what don’t have, so formation in faith is critical for the staff of the school as the front line in this important mission.