Catholic Schools and the

Culture of Encounter�Twelfth Annual NAPA Institute Conference

Bishop of Crookston

Chair of the USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis

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The Most Reverend Andrew H. Cozzens, S.T.D., D.D.

Catholic Schools are an evangelization tool.

John and Andrew were intrigued and they begin to follow Jesus.

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Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

“What are you looking for” (Jn 1:38). They responded, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.

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Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Msgr Luigi Giussani

Communion and Liberation Movement

“There are deep needs that give a goal to living, to reasoning and to moving. When something corresponds to the criteria by which everything is judged and lived, when it corresponds to the criteria by which life is lived, should be lived… when it corresponds to the deepest needs of the heart… when it brings to fruition what life has been awaiting then its exceptional.”

Every true encounter with Jesus Christ,

with the living God,

changes the way we see ourselves and the world.

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Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

1. Curiosity leads to wonder.
2. Wonder leads to an encounter
3. Encounter leads to repentance

“I am a sinner”

4. Repentance leads to following/ discipleship.

“I am infinitely known and loved”

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

• Discipleship then leads to growing in virtue, especially humility and magnanimity.
• Eventually, humility and magnanimity lead to the gift of self.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15: 12-14).

• This gift of self, laying down our lives, leads to union with God.

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

It is a journey, a pilgrimage that each soul must make.

From encounter to transformation to union – this is the long and difficult path of Christian discipleship.

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Gibson, M., Fitzgerald, B., Davey, B., McEveety, S., Caviezel, J., Bellucci, M., Gerini, C., ... Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc.,. (2004). The Passion of the Christ.

“First and foremost every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his transforming love and truth. This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and his teaching."

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

“In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church.”

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

“The organ for seeing God is the heart. The intellect alone is not enough. In order for man to become capable of perceiving God, the energies of his existence have to work in harmony. His will must be pure and so too must the underlying affective dimension of his soul, which gives intelligence and will its direction.”

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

“Jesus wants me to tell you again, especially in this Holy Week, how much is the love He has for each one of you – beyond all you can imagine. I worry some of you still have not really met Jesus – one to one – you and Jesus alone.

We may spend time in chapel – but have you seen with eyes of your soul how He looks at you with love?

Do you really know the living Jesus – not from books but from being with Him in your heart? Have you heard the loving words He speaks to you? Ask for the grace, He is longing simply to give it.

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Mother Teresa

Varanasi Letter, March 1993

“Until you can hear Jesus in the silence of your own heart, you will not be able to hear Him saying ‘I Thirst’ in the hearts of the poor.

Never give up this intimate contact with Jesus as a real living person – not just an idea.

How can we last even one day living our life without hearing Jesus say ‘I love you’ – impossible. Our soul needs that as much as the body needs to breathe the air. If not, prayer is dead – meditation only thinking”

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Mother Teresa

Varanasi Letter, March 1993

Pope Francis says this should be a daily occurrence:

“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them;

I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.”

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Christ and the Woman of Samaria

Pope Francis

Evangelii Gaudium, 3

Encounter is the work of the Holy Spirit.

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Three ways to facilitate this encounter:

1. Witnesses

Paul VI, “In the long run, is there any other way of handing on the Gospel than by transmitting to another person one's personal experience of faith?” (Evangelii nuntiandi, 46).

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

2. Opportunities for young people encounter the living Jesus.

• Sacraments and prayer
• Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
• Retreats
• Silence

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Three ways to facilitate this encounter (cont.):

St. Augustine: “O beauty ancient, ever new! Late have I loved you! For behold, you were within; and I without. And without I sought you, and deformed I ran after these forms of beauty you have made. You were with me and I was not with you. Those things held me back from you, things whose only being was to be in you… You called you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness” (Lib. 10, 26. 37-29, 40: CSEL 33, 255- 256).

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Imbue the environment with the Incarnation of Christ.

Incarnation should affect everything that we do.

• This means the way we build buildings

>> the art and the architecture

• The way use time

>> how we arrange our school day and week

• The way we teach every topic

>> do we use lecture or discussion; do we use novels or role playing; what will best expose them to this important truth

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Incarnation should affect everything that we do.

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• The way we use art and music

>> what do we expose the students to and why

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• The way teachers and administration treat each other

>> students see this and see if it is affected by Jesus

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• The way we discipline our students

>> do they feel that we will their good and believe in them even when they fail

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

The Culture of Encounter is behind the Eucharistic Revival and the Eucharistic Congress.

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter

Thank you!

Catholic Schools and the Culture of Encounter