Being Catholic in the Sacred Heart Tradition Elisabeth Brinkmann, R.S.C.J. March 11, 2011

Overview 1. The Society’s service of education in the Church. 2. The Catholic intellectual tradition. 3. Goal V: Education to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom

Constitutions of 1982, Paragraphs

Paragraph 13 Wherever we are sent, whatever our work may be, our lives will be inspired by the love of the Heart of Jesus and the desire of making Him known, expressed in: a concern for the growth of the whole person a thirst for working towards justice and peace in the world in response to the cry of the poor a passion to proclaim the Gospel

Paragraph 14 Our service of education is carried out in a genuine relationship of mutual interaction, where each person both receives and gives so that all may grow together. Of its nature, our service of education means creating community among ourselves and with others. It asks of us generous commitment, serious on-going formation and a broad critical vision of the world, enlightened by faith.

Faith and Reason It asks of us... a broad critical vision of the world, enlightened by faith.

Foundational Principle In the Goals and Criteria, the Society of the Sacred Heart defines the mission of the school as part of the Society’s educational mission in the Catholic Church (2005 Goals and Criteria).

John C. Haughey, SJ. Where is Knowing Going? (Georgetown University Press, 2009)

The Virtue of Hospitality Of its nature, our service of education means creating community among ourselves and with others.

Catholicity Education is for the knowledge of “being” rather than of “reality”; The best route to knowledge is self-awareness, rather than accumulating more and more information about “stuff out there.”

“Unless our universities pay more attention to subjectivity and consciousness, they will continue to become di-versities, places where bodies of knowledge develop independently of each other, rather than universities, places where the connection among different branches of knowledge is fostered” (p. 42).

Personal Growth in an Atmosphere of Wise Freedom

Sacred Heart Schools Educate in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Towards knowledge of the whole.  Subjects are not isolated spheres of unrelated information  Rather, are different facets of a greater Whole which we are all striving to know and understand more completely.  Modeled by attitude of hospitality which shapes relationships throughout the school community.

catholic Catholic Sacred Heart Community Educating to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom

Personal Growth Requires Self awareness “a strong grasp of one’s own subjectivity, and of the operations of one’s own consciousness” (Haughey, 42).

Wise Freedom Requires challenging fundamentalisms of all types  Fundamentalism: o Any ideology that makes something other than God absolute; o Providing a false sense of security. A commitment to educate to personal growth in an atmosphere of wise freedom requires the willingness to shatter idols.

Discussion What about Haughey’s notion of the virtue of hospitality as a characteristic of Catholic education resonates with you? What do you find challenging? What of Haughey’s notion of catholicity resonates for you? What do you find challenging? What idols or false securities do you identify in your school community? What are constructive ways of challenging them? What are the risks?