Integrating the Catholic faith into the content areas of education and throughout the entire school community is one of the greatest responsibilities of a Catholic educator. We need to show how to integrate the faith by working with all the parties involved in the education of our students. We need to show our Catholic identity through all that we do and to all those that we serve. There are many stakeholders in Catholic education and we must find the best ways to reach them. I feel that the following sessions will help me to better integrate my faith to all those in my school community: Bringing the Works of Mercy to Life in Our Catholic Schools; Catholic Identity and Civil Law: Pitfalls and Promises; Irresistible Catholic Schools: A Transformative Idea Whose Time Has Come; Principal Fit: Strategies Designed to Strengthen Novice Principals’ Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness; and Service Projects, a Family Experience.
Bringing the Works of Mercy to Life in Our Catholic Schools is an essential session of interest. We must constantly remind our students of our call to serve others through the Works of Mercy. Yet, we must also find the most practical ways to show our students how to live the Works of Mercy to the fullest measure possible. We must learn to blend the Works of Mercy into all content areas and aspects of Catholic education.
Catholic Identity and Civil Law: Pitfalls and Promises is an area that I find interesting because I am an aspiring administrator and it is critical that I am well-versed in how to ensure that Catholic identity and Catholic education is protected by the laws of our nation. Catholic education needs to be protected and we must show our Catholic identity in every way possible. Knowing how our Catholic education is protected allows for schools to do everything possible to live out our Catholic faith.
Irresistible Catholic Schools: A Transformative Idea Whose Time Has Come is a session that means so much to me. I believe my school has great Catholic identity but there are areas that we need to strengthen and improve our vision. The vision of Catholic identity needs to entice and build greater interest in our school. We need to build a school that exhibits Catholic identity to all who enter or hear about the school. We must instill the vision of Catholic identity to all teachers and then into our students. This session will greatly benefit me and my school community.
Principal Fit: Strategies Designed to Strengthen Novice Principals’ Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness. As I stated earlier, I am an aspiring administrator. I know how important it is for administrators to take care of these 3 areas of personal well-being.
Physically, an administrator needs to be physically fit to ensure that they can provide the best service to the community. They need to be present and around the school to respond to the needs of teachers and students. Mentally, a principal needs to have a clear mind and find ways to look at situations that may arise with proper focus. Finding strategies to achieve the greatest success possible in these 2 areas would greatly improve my knowledge of being an administrator.
The spiritual fitness in a Catholic school is very important. The principal is not only the academic leader of a school, but it is also the everyday spiritual leader of the school. Leading spiritually shows the importance of faith within the school and will guide the teachers and students to a faith that will help them serve others. This session will be one I will find very beneficial.
The final session I will discuss in Service Projects, a Family Experience. As an educator, I need to remember that the student is not the only person I am reaching when it comes to teaching about the Catholic faith. I am reaching the student and his/her family. We need to connect the faith to the whole family through providing opportunities that brings everyone together. I have always wanted to start a family-based service project for my school. This session will only build that desire even more!
Integrating the Catholic Faith into the school even more than it already is will be exciting! I’m looking forward to building new ways to integrate faith into my already strong Catholic faith school community!
Cottos Corner for Education 