ARTICLES

Catholic school teachers called ‘sparks of God’

By Steve Neill
of The Catholic Virginian

Teachers in Catholic schools of the diocese are viewed as strong models of Catholic faith, said Annette Parsons, director of the diocesan Office of Catholic Education.

“We are grateful for what you do every day for all of our students,” Mrs. Parsons told those gathered for the opening Mass of the Diocesan Education Conference Nov. 7 at St. Edward Church in Richmond.

She recalled a gathering she attended last April in Washington when Pope Benedict XVI addressed some 500 Catholic educators. The words he spoke emphasize the important role of Catholic schools, she asserted.

“The Holy Father said ‘Catholic schools are central to the mission of the Church, they are to be preserved at all costs,’” Mrs. Parsons quoted the Pope as saying.

While the national economy is affecting the number of parents who can afford to send their children to Catholic schools, Mrs. Parsons said that the newly established McMahon-Parater Fund had provided $200,000 for tuition assistance to 600 students.

Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo presided at the liturgy. In her remarks after the liturgy, Mrs. Parsons pointed out that the Bishop himself in his early days of being a priest was a teacher.

“He truly understands what is happening with us and our students,” she said.

Father Michael Renninger, who is director of the diocese’s Office of Vocations and once taught in a Catholic boys high school in South Philadelphia (St. John Neumann), gave the homily.

He was only two years out of college, had no teaching degree and no experience, and was assigned to four sections of freshmen religion, and one section of senior year Latin.

“Now remember, I was a brand new teacher, scared to death of losing control of these classrooms,” Father Renninger said. “My mother, an experienced Catholic educator, encouraged me to set the expectations clearly, and to enforce the rules.”

Father Renninger was pleasantly surprised that most of his students behaved and paid attention. But he had a problem with one student he called Marco. He was late to class each day and did not dress properly. He was warned of his infractions and given demerits and sent to the vice principal’s office. Still nothing changed.

Eventually Marco received enough demerits to warrant appearing before a dismissal board.

“On the day of the dismissal board, Marco didn’t even show up for school,” Father Renninger said. “One of his classmates, Scotty, pulled me aside and said, ‘Father, can you take it easy on Marco? There’s a lot there.’

“I said to him, ‘Why shouldn’t the rules apply to him?’

“Scotty simply repeated, ‘there’s a lot there.’”

Marco was soon dismissed from St. John Neumann. Because neither he nor his mother showed up for the hearing, Father Renninger was asked to hand deliver the letter of dismissal to the home.

“I walked into the row home, and there she was — Marco’s mother, passed out on the sofa, drug paraphernalia scattered on the filthy floor,” the priest said, adding the house appeared to not have been cleaned in months with dirty dishes lying in the kitchen.

He learned that Marco’s mother was an addict and his father had long been gone. He had a younger sister who went to another Catholic school. It was her brother’s role to get her up in the morning, fix breakfast and do the laundry.

“He was late every day, because his sister had no one to care for her,” Father Renninger said.” Neither did this ninth grade boy — whom we had just dismissed.

“Now I knew why Scotty had said, “Father, be patient with Marco. There’s a lot there.” There sure was.

He spoke to the abbot of the monastery in which he was living about Marco and said he had assumed that he knew who this boy was, and why he was acting the way he did. He regretted his action and felt foolish.

“When I came to this school, I prayed that I would see Christ in all of my students,” Father Renninger said.

“Why didn’t I see Christ in Marco?” he asked the abbot.

The religious superior’s reply: ‘Michael, you DID see Christ in Marco, but it wasn’t the Christ you were expecting,” the abbot replied. “You were looking for the bright, engaging, attractive Jesus in him.

‘But in Marco, you were seeing the crucified Christ, the Christ who suffers. And you did not recognize him.’”

“This is a life lesson that every Christian disciple needs to learn, but I think it is particularly vital for all of us who are called to the ministry of Catholic Education.

“By definition, those of us who are entrusted with the Christian education of children must approach that task, NOT as a task, but as a ministry.

“And that ministry compels us to look at each student and say, ‘There’s a lot going on there.’”

“What makes us different as Catholic School educators?

“I think it is the call we receive from the Holy Spirit to look for Christ in every student.

“It’s the call we receive to look beyond the obvious, below the calm or stormy surface of a student’s life, and to pray for a singular gift – the gift to recognize the face of Jesus in each student, even if the Jesus we see there happens to be the frightened Jesus, the lonely Jesus, the hungry Jesus, the Crucified Lord.

“On those days when I don’t know how to love that student, I can at least try to love the Christ who is within them.

Father Renninger then spoke of the Gospel reading from St. Luke of the day in which Jesus keeps pointing out that when he, the Lord, had arrived in Israel, people did not respond as they should.

“They did not recognize him, they did not listen to him, they did not follow him, they did not use all of their creativity and ingenuity to respond to the arrival of their Lord.”

“But when the servant in today’s story gets a visit from HIS lord, HIS master, he recognizes who the master is, and uses every ounce of energy and creativity to respond to the master’s arrival.

“Even though the guy is a bit of a crook, at least he recognized his lord and responded with gusto.

“Sadly, most of Jesus’ contemporaries had failed to recognize the presence of their Lord and God, even though he was standing right there in front of them. They did not recognize him, they did not respond.

“Which takes me back to South Philly, where a first year teacher, frightened and lacking confidence, failed to recognize the face of Christ in a ninth grade boy.

“I pray that we, who are given the august privilege of forming young minds and hearts will become more capable of seeing the real Christ in the children we teach, the parents we meet, and the colleagues who make the journey with us.

“And just as we can look at bread and wine placed upon the altar and say, ‘Yes, right there, I see the presence of Jesus,’ may we also look at boys and girls through the eyes of faith, and remember what Scotty said, ‘Father, there’s a lot going on there.’”

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