Catholic School Leadership

An Invitation to Lead

Thomas Hunt, Brother Thomas Oldenski, Theodore J. Wallace

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781135708344
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Catholic School Leadership addresses many of the challenges facing those who prepare faith leaders and education leaders for the Catholic schools of the future. The well-known editors and contributors to this volume have written about their personal experiences with Catholic schools; the educational foundations of Catholic schools; teacher preparation and development; Catholic school leadership; dealing with parents and families; and the challenges of technology for Catholic schools.
The contributions emphasize the perspectives of both scholars and practitioners within Catholic education and will interest anyone who has experienced time in a Catholic school either as a student, teacher or administrator, as well as those interested in what is happening within Catholic schools today.

Part I Educational Foundations and the Future of Catholic Schools

1: Who Will Keep Our Hearts Burning Within Us?

Brother Thomas E.Oldenski, SM

The other day I had lunch with a graduate student from my Philosophy of Education course. This particular student has his bachelor’s degree in history and political science and is presently completing his initial certification in social studies. He will begin his first year teaching at a coeducational Catholic high school in an inner city setting. As we were discussing some points of John Dewey’s Pedagogical Creed, he pointed out what a life span John Dewey had from his birth in 1859 to his death in 1952. Just from the perspectives of wars, we identified that Dewey lived through the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I and II, and the Korean conflict. From the perspective of human development and innovation, Dewey’s life saw the advent of the telephone, car, airplane, and other modern appliances and conveniences, as well as the development of a variety of hair and clothing styles, including the bathing suit. I was more moved in this conversation about the reality that each of our lives spans a period of human history which has its affects and effects upon us during the period of our own personal history. It is this insight that moves me to reflect upon and share some of my own history with Catholic schools.

There is no doubt that the history of Catholic schools and our involvement is likewise a time spanning experience within the development of our own faith and our immersion in Catholic schools. In one sense, our lives within Catholic schools intersect with the history of Catholic schools. Both of these histories are influenced by the social and cultural realities of what it means to be Catholic at any given time and how Catholics were part of the larger social and cultural reality of our country.

Concerning the development of the curriculum in schools, Patrick Slattery (1995) states that “the challenge for curriculum scholars in the 1990s is to examine critically their own story in the context of the history of curriculum development” (p. 38). I strongly feel that this challenge is the same for all of us who continue to be involved with Catholic schools, and even more so for educational leaders of Catholic schools. There is no doubt in my mind that Catholic educators need to examine and reflect upon their own schooling stories in relation to the development of curriculum. In addition, I believe that Catholic educators need to examine and reflect upon their stories within Catholic schools in order to value our own experiences and to continue to keep some aspects and practices of these experiences as part of Catholic schools today. Our personal histories within Catholic schools do indeed mirror the history of Catholic schools, and for most of us these include decades of transition and changes within Catholic schools. Developing this type of historical consciousness on the part of educational leaders and teachers in Catholic schools will lead to an affirmation and a recommitment to the purposes of Catholic schools. As the recent document of the Church on Catholic schools states:

And so, now as in the past, the Catholic school must be able to speak for itself effectively and convincingly. It is not merely a question of adaptation, but of missionary thrust, the fundamental duty to evangelize, to go towards men and women wherever they are, so that they may receive the gift of salvation.

(Congregation for Catholic Education 1997:36)

Thus, I will share some of my personal history. As I share my reflections, I hope that you are moved to ponder and articulate your own personal history within Catholic schools. I assure you that you will experience a few moments of grace as I did while I pondered and wrote these reflections.

The beginnings of Catholic schools in the United States are traced to early missionary efforts which eventually led to the development of schools as we know them. Professor Hunt presents the historical development of Catholic schools with more events and details in his chapter of this book. However, my own Catholic school experience is not rooted in these early missionary efforts but more as the result of the Third Plenary Council and the wave of immigrants to the United States after World War I.

I grew up in a small river town along the Allegheny River, not far from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This town developed as the result of immigrant waves after World War I and even during my own childhood in the 1950s. The population of this town was mostly Catholic and could boast of four Catholic parishes with four Catholic schools. These four parishes and schools were St. Joseph, St. John Cantius, Madonna of Jerusalem, and St. Mary’s. These schools represented the practice that the Plenary Council advocated, namely, a Catholic school would be part of every Catholic parish. Religious congregations of women, which were identified with their own unique ethnic heritage, staffed each of these four schools. St. Joseph School was run and staffed by Mother Seton’s Sisters of Charity; St. John Cantius by Felician Sisters; Madonna of Jerusalem by the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother; and St. Mary’s by the Sisters of Divine Providence. Most of the teachers in these schools were religious sisters. During my eight years at St. John Cantius, all of the teachers were Felician Sisters.

These schools also represented the ethnic make-up of the local community. Thus, St. Joseph’s was the Irish parish; St. John Cantius was the Polish parish; Madonna of Jerusalem was the Italian parish; and St. Mary’s was the German parish. These Catholic elementary schools were proud of their twofold task of making their students both Catholic and American, while being proud of their European traditions and roots in the Catholic faith. These schools were a living testimony to the Catholic faith which our grandparents or parents brought with them from the other side of the Atlantic.

All of my grandparents arrived from Poland after World War I. My maternal grandparents settled in my hometown and were members of St. John Cantius. My mother, her five sisters, and two brothers were raised in this same town and all were members of St. John Cantius parish. They all went to St. John Cantius School like myself and my brother and two sisters.

St. John Cantius parish included a medium-size building which housed the church on the second floor, and the lobby, library, and four classrooms on the first floor. The basement included the lavatories, maintenance and boiler rooms, a classroom, and an all-purpose room, which was utilized for showing movies to the whole school, other school gatherings as well as for the weekly Rosary Society Bingo, and the meetings of the Boy Scouts and other parish groups. This building which is now demolished would never have won any prizes for its architectural uniqueness. Besides this older building, the parish buildings also included the rectory and the convent.

I really don’t remember my first day at St. John Cantius School, but I know how I got there. I probably know more so as the oral tradition handed down to me by my parents than actually remembering this event. When I was 4 going on 5, the parish priest announced that there were very few boys enrolled in next year’s first grade. Thus, the plea came from the pulpit that if any family had younger boys and was willing to send them to school, they would be accepted and would move on in their schooling if they succeeded in the first grade. I am not sure if my mother wanted to get rid of me in the house since there were already two younger sisters to keep her busy, or if I was a gifted child able to skip kindergarten and begin my schooling with the first grade. Whatever was the actual reason, she and I walked the four blocks to St. John’s one day while my older brother was already in the first grade to register me for the next school year. There we met Sister Geraldine who welcomed me with open arms and told me that I could begin the first grade in September. (As a tribute and a sign of gratitude to these individual Sisters, I have chosen to retain their names; many of these Sisters have experienced death and are now in the fullness of the Kingdom of God.) I guess I was excited with this news, but let’s face it, what 4 year old, soon to be 5, would be excited about going to school?

So in September of 1953, I began my history of formal Catholic schooling. I was already a student of Catholic education, since at home we were taught how to pray and to know God, Jesus, and the Blessed Mother —both as indi viduals to be loved by and as individuals to fear if you were not a good boy. I probably began my Catholic schooling with having a bit of guilt already developed. During that first year, I shared both the same teacher and room as my older brother since St. John’s had double grades in each room except for the seventh and eighth grades. At the end of the year I was promoted to the second grade so I must have been a successful student.

The second year was marked by two big changes. For the first time, I was in the classroom without my brother. This gave me a new sense of freedom without big brother watching. And Sister Seraphica, who had taught my mother in the first grade as well as many of my aunts and uncles, replaced the young Sister Geraldine. I don’t know which was worse— having one’s older brother in the same classroom or having the Sister who taught most of the adults in your extended family.

The years at St. John’s went by quickly from my present perspective. My teachers included Sister Clarice for the third and fourth grades, Sister Alma for the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, and Sister Ignatius for the eighth grade. Sacramental preparation and liturgical practices marked these years. Sister Clarice prepared me for my first confession, first communion, and confirmation. She did the same for my brother and one of my sisters. Each school day began with the 8:10 Mass, which usually was a sung requiem, with catafalt, candles, and incense. Certain months of the year were marked with devotions and these just seemed part of the school day, even though they took place on Wednesday and Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. October was observed with Rosary devotions; Lent with the Stations of the Cross and the singing of Gorzkie Zale (Lamentations); May with Marian devotions including the annual May crowning; and June with devotions to the Sacred Heart. Each year all-day adoration of the Blessed Sacrament marked the observance of forty hours, the patronal feast of St. John Cantius, and the feast of Christ the King.

Educationally, my experiences at St. John’s were excellent. The school was characterized by a firm and caring discipline, cooperation, and learning. A commitment and involvement in parish life were taken for granted as part of our school life. Current innovations and the contemporary language of education like looping, caring, cooperative learning, direct instruction, levels of questioning, Bloom’s taxonomy, and critical thinking characterized the pedagogy employed by my Sister teachers. We were taught how to become loyal Polish Americans and loyal Catholics. My teachers employed individual and group learning each day. Seat work and Think and Do Books were part of the daily curriculum, as well as a focus on religion (including memorizing the Baltimore Catechism), arithmetic, and English with a heavy dose of diagramming. Art and music were reserved to Friday afternoons and all the other subjects seemed to take place after the 1:45 recess.

So a typical school day for eight years could be characterized in the following way. The morning schedule included Mass followed by time to eat breakfast after receiving communion. This breakfast involved utilizing your desk as a table, an old mayonnaise jar as a milk thermos, and usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from home. Religion including the recitation of a few catechism questions and answers took up the first hour of class time. The morning recess was at 10:00 and this was followed by math until lunchtime from 11:30 to 12:30. Most students lived nearby so there was no cafeteria in the school and we went home every day for lunch. The afternoon began with reciting a series of prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Apostles Creed, etc.), the pledge of allegiance, and singing a national song like “My Country ‘tis of Thee.” English, explaining diagrammed sentences, followed this opening ritual. In time, the English lessons expanded to writing more sentences, which eventually evolved into paragraphs, compositions, and essays. Then it was time for the afternoon recess, which was followed by various courses each day from the menu of science, history, geography, and civics.

The curriculum and the schooling practices of St. John’s reflected the ideals and words of many of the Church documents which focus on Catholic education, even though most of these documents were written more recently than my Catholic elementary school days. For example, the academic atmosphere of St. John’s indeed was a “place of integral formation by means of a systematic and critical assimilation of culture” (Congregation for Catholic Education 1977:16). Daily life, year after year, at St. John’s School was

fundamentally a synthesis of culture and faith, and a synthesis of faith and life: the first is reached by integrating all the different aspects of human knowledge through the subjects taught, in the light of the Gospel; the second is the growth of the virtues characteristic of the Christian.

(Congregation for Catholic Education 1977:16–17)

St. John’s curriculum and climate also mirrored many words from the Vatican II Declaration on Christian Education (1965), such as “the school develops with special care the intellectual faculties but also to form the ability to judge rightly, to hand on the cultural legacy of previous generations, to foster a sense of values, to prepare for professional life” (p. 10).

Eight years at St. John’s taught me the value of Catholic sch...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Educational Foundations and the Future of Catholic Schools
• Part II Teacher Preparation and Development
• Part III Issues in Catholic School Leadership
• Contributors