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Roche Center hosts international gathering on formative education in Catholic schools
Nearly 200 Catholic leaders, educators, and community partners from 16 countries gathered at Boston College June 28-30 to discuss the vital role of holistic, formative education within Catholic schools.
Sponsored by the University’s Roche Center for Catholic Education, the event was the third annual colloquium of Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE), a collaboration among Boston College, Mary Immaculate College (Ireland), Saint Mary's University (England), University of Glasgow (Scotland), Australian Catholic Univeristy, and Australia’s University of Notre Dame and Edith Cowan University.
Titled "Cultivating Hearts & Minds: Formative Education in Catholic Schools," the conference included numerous workshops and breakout sessions featuring some 30 faculty and staff from BC's Lynch School of Education and Human Development and Clough School of Theology and Ministry.
Roche Center Program Director of Outreach and Professional Development Michael O'Connor (foreground) and Michael Heidkamp of the Cristo Rey Network co-presented a breakout session on 'Partnering to Advance Adult Learning: Insights for Teacher-Leadership Formation in Catholic Schools' (Matthew Healey)
“In recent years—in response to a narrow overemphasis on subject matter and vocational training—educators, policymakers, and parents around the world have come to realize that a holistic, formative approach is needed,” said Roche Center Executive Director Melodie Wyttenbach in her welcoming remarks. “Having long been recognized for their commitment to the holistic development of students academically, physically, spiritually, morally, and socially, Catholic schools offer a truly distinct approach to education.”
In his greeting, Stanton E.F. Wortham, the Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean of the Lynch School, said the purpose of K-12 education had become overly focused on content and lost sight of students' struggles with various developmental challenges: ethical, spiritual, emotional, and other dimensions.
“Catholic schools, however, never forgot this lesson,” he said. “All along, they have been educating the whole person—head, heart, and hands—so I think it’s a great time for Catholic education; we have the expertise that the world really needs now.”
Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, chancellor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, delivered a keynote address on June 29. (Matthew Healey)
Other speakers included University of Massachusetts-Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, who spoke on the theme “Education for a Global Common Home,” a reference to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ socially responsible investment guidelines for the planet.
“In the era of mass displacements, unchecked climate change, the lingering social fragmentation of the COVID era, and the emergence of AI in nearly every sector of the economy and society, the mission of Catholic education has shifted, requiring urgent transformation,” said Suárez-Orozco. “By elevating the distinctive strengths of Catholic education and sharing Catholic expertise in cura personalis—care for the whole person—we can help prepare students to become compassionate architects of a more sustainable and humane global common home and serve as a vital resource for education systems worldwide.”
Brother David Hall, FMS, the dean at Australian Catholic University’s La Salle Academy for Faith Formation and Religious Education, who served as the second day’s keynote speaker, shared a personal anecdote regarding formation that characterized the distinctive difference between a vocation and a job, likening it to being cared for a hospital by someone for whom nursing is a passion, versus someone for whom it is merely a technical profession.
“The same is true for education," he said. "We know when we’ve been taught by someone who doesn’t have the passion."