On Wednesday, March 16, Dr. Thomas H. Groome, senior Professor of Theology and Religious Education at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (STM), spoke to an in-person audience at the auditorium of the STM Library and a virtual audience via livestream to discuss his book, recently published in November of 2021, titled What Makes Education Catholic: Spiritual Foundations.
Groome first discussed the question of what makes education Catholic, noting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a shifting religious diversity of faculty, staff, and students in Catholic schools.
“There was a time when we took for granted the Catholic identity of our schools,” Groome said, “because our staff were brothers … sisters and priests, and 95% of the faculty and staff at Catholic schools in 1965 in the United States were Catholic. Now less than three percent are vowed religious, and the rest are laypeople.”
“Now I believe that any good layperson can provide and offer as fine a Catholic education as a nun, priest or brother ever did,” he continued, “but they have to be prepared for it.”
Groome then shifted to the fact that many Catholic school students are not themselves Catholic, mentioning the growth of Catholic schools internationally, including in countries such as Pakistan, where 90% of their students are Muslim.
Within this context, Groome argued that Catholic education must still be “from and for faith.”
“As Catholic, [Catholic education] will still have to be presenting itself to the world as Catholic schools. It requires [them] to educate from a faith perspective … not just grounded in philosophy and social sciences … but there will have to be a deeper grounding. They have to be grounded in a spirituality … in our deep spiritual values.”
Groome then emphasized the value of the presence of non-Catholics in Catholic schools by pointing to the answer Pope Francis gave when asked about this presence: “Welcome them all. It would be one of the best contributions we could make to the common good.”
Groome structured the rest of his talk by breaking down each section contained in his book.
The first part discusses the Scriptural basis of Catholic education. Groome started this section by connecting the tradition of Catholic education back to Jesus: “I think the heart of Catholic faith could be the heart of Catholic education. I think the heart of Catholic faith is Jesus, the Christ.” He continued by proposing a renewal of emphasis not just in Jesus as the Second Person of the Trinity, but as the historical man, Jesus of Nazareth. Pointing to God’s reign being the core of the Gospel, Groome argued that Catholic education is to invite students to work for God’s reign “on earth as it is in heaven,” and, seeing Jesus’ recognition of human potential, to nurture the gifts of each student and empower their potential.
Groome, referencing Jesus’ resurrection at Easter, stated the need for Catholic education to instill the hope of the risen Christ in students, noting that students should be assured that despite evils in the world such as tyranny and addiction, good will ultimately prevail, because all have God’s abundant grace through Jesus’ resurrection.
Due to time constraints, Groome quickly summarized parts two and three of his book, respectively concerning the history of Catholic Intellectual Tradition and contemporary Catholic theology as they relate to Catholic education.
Citing Jesus’ commission “to go evangelize, to baptize, and to teach” (Mt. 26:16-20), Groome discussed whether “teaching” referred to simply the Gospel or to general education as well. Drawing on Catholic Intellectual Tradition, he noted that the Church has favored holistic education as a way to show the partnership between faith and reason.
Not “to disparage public education … but to raise up what still remains distinctive about Catholic education,” Groome discussed the loss of the connection between faith and reason in deference to reason alone in education in the wake of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, as well as “the loss of moral and spiritual formation.”
In closing the talk, Groome suggested that Jesus’ pedagogy models what Catholic education should be, in that rather than proselytizing, Jesus preached the Gospel and left everyone free to choose whether or not to accept it.
Adam is a senior from Columbus, Ohio. He previously served as Campus News and Culture Editor, and boasts the title of least cultured to ever serve as the latter. Holding a minor in Biology, he recently converted from STEM and now majors in Philosophy and Classical Studies. He currently leads Una Voce, the Latin Mass society at BC, and sings with the University Chorale of Boston College and the Chorale Chamber Singers. He enjoys Gregorian Chant, relearning the clarinet, and is an unabashed Ohio apologist.
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