201201 - CBCP Pastoral Letter on the 400 Years of Catholic ...

In the Context of the Local Church
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In the context of the local church, the Catholic schools provide a stable and
systematic evangelization. It will be remembered that when the threat of domination
of other faiths accompanied by movement towards schismatic independence emerged,
it was the establishment of parochial schools that became the solution. These
schools, especially the seminaries, became the training ground of dedicated Catholics.
Innumerable are the products of Catholic schools who have served the country
and the church. Still at present, many graduates of Catholic schools serve in
different lay ministries in the local churches. A number of them have taken leadership
in the parishes and communities.
The schools continue to make their resources, personnel and students of
schools readily available to support programs and activities of the diocese. The
outreach programs of many a Catholic school lead to the benefit of communities in
dioceses and parishes, even to non-Catholics. They are a ready resource in times of
calamities and social concerns.
We do not intend to enumerate everything Catholic schools are doing. Yet we
can ask: How will the local church be without the Catholic school? What will the
country be without Catholic schools?
Present-Day Context & Challenges
As we note the contributions of Catholic Education, we also note present
realities that challenge and even threaten Catholic Education.
There exists a general perception that Catholic Schools are wealthy or are only
for the wealthier social classes. At the mention of Catholic Schools, many would
easily think of big universities or schools. This is a phenomenon that is also true in
other countries. In some countries Catholic schools have been obliged to restrict their
educational activities to wealthier social classes, thus giving an impression of social and
economic discrimination in education. But this occurs only where the State has not
weighed the advantages of an alternative presence in their pluralistic society. From such
nearsightedness considerable difficulties have arisen for Catholic schools. (The Catholic
School #21)
The truth is, however, even for the CEAP, the biggest educational institution in
the country, out of its more than 1300 schools, there are more than 900 small,
struggling mission schools spread in different parts of the Philippines, whose teachers
work with missionary spirit. Many of these same schools rely on their meager
resources as they strive to provide quality education to the marginalized in far flung
areas. A number of these, especially in Mindanao, serve students of other faiths.
There is the challenge of the continuing trends of decreasing enrolment and the
increasing migration of teachers from private Catholic schools to public schools. The
free or low cost of public education and the ever increasing salaries in public schools
have a huge impact to Catholic schools. They lose students year after year to public
schools and some teachers suddenly leave in the middle of the school year when asked
to report for work in the public school where they have pending application.
This is occasioned not only by economic factors, but also by the seeming
depreciation of the distinctiveness of Catholic Education. With the increasing
secularist and pragmatic mentality, Catholic values are no longer seen as relevant by
Catholic families. These economic and cultural factors put many a Catholic School in
a dilemma as its survival is threatened.
In the secular and postmodern culture that seems to disregard the need for
faith, we are confronted with a society that offers varied and often conflicting
ephemeral values. Thus, Pope Benedict has spoken of the ‘great "educational