Education and the Redemptorist Charism Today
On Thursday, February 29th, the First Online Meeting of Redemptorist Educational Institutions: Schools and Colleges was held, with a significant participation of Redemptorists from the five Conferences who work in this field of evangelisation, as well as lay people, teachers, education coordinators and teachers, about 250 gathered online.
Fr. Jairo Díaz, delegate of the General Government for educational institutions, moderated the meeting. In his greeting, he encouraged all the participants to take up the apostolate of education as a call to offer to the Church the gift of our Redemptorist charism, which, although it is not that of education, commits us to unite our reflection and pastoral experience with children, adolescents and young people.
It was shared with the participants that the Congregation is in the perspective of accompanying missionary evangelisation in the field of education with greater strength, with an educational and pastoral proposal that offers children, adolescents and young people paths that lead them to live an integral human experience, a proposal that should help them to live life as a gift that is welcomed and shared, of which we should be aware and for which we should be grateful; in such a way that, as educators and guides, we can accompany our students in the discernment of their own vocation and, therefore, in the construction of their own life project, with the awareness that there is no vocation that is not oriented to a mission. It was also emphasised that working in the field of education is a great challenge, an opportunity and a promising space for announcing the Plentiful Redemption of Christ.
Rogério Gomes, Superior General, addressed his message to the participants (Text attached below) with a profound motivation to make our educational institutions “homes of redemption”.
The Superior General underlined the objectives of the meeting:
- To meet as a missionary body carrying out a particular apostolate in the field of education, to encourage them in this challenging work.
- To clarify some elements of the Redemptorist charism that contribute to a humanising education.
- To take this opportunity as a preamble to prepare for the international meeting of Redemptorist Schools and Colleges held in Passo Fundo, Brazil, from May 20th to 25th of this year.
After Fr. Rogério’s talk, the participants asked questions and shared their reflections on the role of the Redemptorist educator, the need to create a Manual or Policies on Education based on the Redemptorist charism for the whole Congregation, discern the challenges of being educators today in an era of change, and expressed gratitude for the meeting.
Finally, all were invited to continue leaving traces of redemption in this mission of educating and forming persons to be builders of a society that will give us hope.
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