The Catholic Educators’ Formation session on “Evangelization in the Church and in the Catholic School” organised by the Canossian sisters was certainly an enriching and thought-provoking one.  

          I came away from it having an even greater sense of responsibility towards building God’s kingdom. With the shrinking pool of religious brothers and sisters, lay Catholic educators must rise up to the challenge of sharing the Good News of Christ not only with dialogue and service but more   importantly, in the manner we live the Gospel. Just listening to people and to our students and helping them to seek alternative ways of looking at life based on Gospel values, are daily challenges.

           Proposing and introducing the Gospel is linked to an attitude of respect for the other and people are won over by our respect for them. If in an encounter with a Muslim or Buddhist, he or she becomes a better Muslim or Buddhist, we feel that we have contributed towards building God’s kingdom here on earth – a kingdom where human beings love and respect one another, where barriers do not exist and all are GOD’s children.

           Catholic educators must thus stand out in this quality of love and respect, making students the center of our concern and focus of our attention will certainly help them understand in a more comprehensible way who Christ is and His great love for them. When words are matched with actions, the good news becomes really Good News!

           In conclusion, I would like to add that whenever we are faced with a difficult situation in the course of our work, we need to ask ourselves this question, “What would Christ have done?”   

Mrs ALice Tan, Canossaville Children's Home


Editor’s Note:  The Catholic Educators Seminar was held in St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School on 22 June 2001.  Participants from the East District Catholic Schools totalled to approximately 90 teachers. It was facilitated by Sr Marilyn Lim FdCC and Bro. Michael Broughton FSC.