Argentine bishop maintains that Catholic schools must “evangelize while educating”

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sep 16, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The bishop of San Miguel, Mons. José Luis Mollaghan, emphasized the primordial place that the Catholic school occupies in the mission of the Church and recalled that it is called to “evangelize while educating and educate while evangelizing.”

In a Mass celebrating Teacher’s Day in Argentina, the bishop indicated that the Catholic school mustn’t “wish for anything other than true objectives of service, through the multiple and varied educational institutions which integrate into the social and cultural life of the community.”

“In this manner, in our country, the Church has managed to mark the culture of the people, has known how to situate the message of the Gospel at the base of it’s thinking, in it’s criterias of judgment, and in its norms of action,” underscored the bishop.

The prelate also maintained that “the teacher must be the one who feeds and makes grow; the man and woman of counsel, the advisor, who offers moral support and teaches with the authority of his own example.”

He indicated that today one must have “a greater sensitivity in front of the dignity and rights of the person” and that, in the face of confusion and lack of values, one must show a life “of deep convictions, rooted in the faith.”

“The personality of the teacher is a fundamental instrument,” he said, “to bring to the task of educating, in such a way that to be called an educator isn’t simply an adjective applied to a person, but integral to a personality rich in values that gives its life to the service of this vocation.”