Speaking at the launch of a foundation at the University of Glasgow,
the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stressed
the importance of upholding human dignity in education.
Archbishop Gerhard L. Mueller delivered the Cardinal Winning Lecture on June 15 at the Scotland university.
The lecture marks the launch of the Saint Andrew's Foundation for
Catholic Education, a new venture to form Catholic educators.
It is the
fruit of a partnership among the Church, the University of Glasgow and
the Scottish government.
Archbishop Mueller's talk focused on the nature and distinctiveness of
Catholic education, as well as the challenges it both faces and presents
in today's world.
Catholic education, he said, arises out of the encounter between the
Church and cultures. He recalled Saint Augustine's vision of his own
culture, the best of which he thought “had its roots in Plato and
Aristotle … who had articulated the truth of the supreme Good.”
This supreme Good, for those thinkers, was “the development of the
rational mind in conformity with the truth and the nourishing of the
will through the attainment and practice of the virtues.” The basis for
this vision was the human person, and his natural drive for the good and
the true.
St. Augustine added to this foundation the theological virtues which,
“in addition to the natural goods and virtues of the human person, are
the heart of education.”
Archbishop Mueller advocated for an understanding of “Catholic” which
includes the breadth of “all that is good in the philosophies of
societies and human culture.”
“To equip Catholic teachers with this broad philosophy of life is the
key to the mission of the new St. Andrew’s Foundation. This will serve
the self-confidence of Catholic teachers in their work in schools and
provide a contribution to society as a whole.”
Focusing on education, the archbishop spoke of relativism as a threat,
because the objects of education, the true and the good, “stand in some
way outside the person” and are transcendent.
“A danger in the relativism of modern society is the assumption that
human freedom essentially entails creating one’s own truth and moral
good.”
The implications of relativism, he said, “would lead to the breakdown of society...if pursued to their logical conclusion.”
Archbishop Mueller examined the underlying purpose of education, saying,
“it is surely part of the enterprise of higher education that it not
simply mirror back the values of the society at large, nor simply that
it produce those who will serve the economy through excellence in
business or industry, science or the arts.”
“An important element is also the ability to take a critical stance and
examine the underlying assumptions, philosophies and ideologies in
society today and especially those underlying the very disciplines that
higher education pursues.”
He encouraged the St. Andrew's Foundation to be a place for “critical
engagement” with the philosophies underpinning education, suggesting
that many academic disciplines are value-laden, contrary to popular
belief.
Archbishop Mueller said that education has a “central place” in
proclaiming the dignity of the human person. He lauded the vision of
Blessed John Henry Newman, whom he said was “firmly opposed to any
reductive or utilitarian approach” to education.
“He sought to achieve an educational environment in which intellectual
training, moral discipline and religious commitment would come
together,” reflected the archbishop.
This holistic approach must take into account the communal aspects of the person, as well as his overall dignity, he explained.
“The Church is almost alone, it seems, in being prepared to assert the
dignity the human person as bearing the image of God – a vision
available to reason, and once deep at the heart of western culture, but
which is now so generally denied,” he said.
He lamented that the youth are growing up in a culture of relativism,
individualism, utilitarianism and “a lack of interest in the fundamental
truths of human life.”
In such an atmosphere which denies the dignity of the human person,
“freedom is reduced to mere arbitrary whim, and the pursuit of true
value is reduced to a consumerism that never satisfies,” he said.
“The Church must give back to young people the true understanding of
their own value that has been taken from them,” through communication of
the faith and our destiny in Christ in Catholic education.
“This re-proclamation and defense of humanity and its true worth lies at
the center of the Church's Mission,” Archbishop Mueller said.
He added that he hopes the St. Andrew Foundation will study this vision,
form teachers according to it, and support the schools “in which this
vision becomes realized.”
During his visit to Scotland, the congregation head also visited a
primary school, addressed clergy at the cathedral of the Motherwell
diocese, and delivered a message from Pope Francis to the Catholics of
Scotland.
Pope Francis, said the message, hopes the St. Andrew Foundation “will
help promote and improve the quality of instruction … given to future
educators in the country’s Catholic schools.”