Gulf Pine Catholic

14 Gulf Pine Catholic • December 6, 2024 Schools should be centers of formation, not ʻachievement factoriesʼ BY JUSTIN MCLELLAN Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY ( CNS ) -- Culture and educa- tion must go hand-in-hand to form students into agents of social change driven by hope, Pope Francis said. “There is no need for educational models that are mere ‘achievement factories’ without a cultur- al plan that enables the formation of people capa- ble of helping the world turn over a new leaf by eradicating inequality, endemic poverty and exclu- sion,” he told participants in a plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The meeting Nov. 21 marked the first plenary assembly of the dicastery since it was formed in 2022 by combining the Congregation for Catholic Education and the Pontifical Council for Culture. The assembly focused on the theme, “Let Us Cross to the Other Shore.” Pope Francis explained that he joined the culture and education departments of the Holy See into one dicastery not for economic efficiency, but to inspire dialogue and innovation between the two branches of the church. “The world does not need sleepwalking repeaters of the status quo,” he said, “but new choreographers, interpreters of the potential within humans, new social poets.” Pope Francis said that schools, universities and cultural centers must teach people “to desire, to stay thirsty, to have dreams,” rather than to “passively accept” the current state of the world. While noting the record number of students cur- rently enrolled in schools, Pope Francis condemned the stark disparity between them and the 250 million children and young people who lack access to edu- cation. “It is a moral imperative to change this situation, because cultural genocides do not happen only due to the destruction of heritage,” he said. “It is cultural genocide when we steal the future from children, when we do not offer them conditions to become what they could be.” Pope Francis urged the dicastery officials to think of the many children worldwide who, instead of attending school, are forced to “look through the trash for things to sell to be able to eat. Let us think about the future humanity of these children.” He also stressed the need for Catholic univer- sities to be involved in researching the conse- quences of the technological revolution of artifi- cial intelligence. Yet the pope insisted that as inheritors of the church’s rich cultural and educational legacy, Catholics should “do away with the burden of pessimism -- pessimism is not Christian.” “Let us converge with all our strength to remove from the human being the shadow of nihil- ism, which is perhaps the most dangerous plague of today’s culture because it insists on erasing hope,” he told the dicastery officials. “Let us not forget: Hope does not disappoint; it is strength.” The pope highlighted the opportunities that arise from periods of “complex cultural transitions,” which he said can be the most fruitful moments for advancing human thought. “We must not allow the feeling of fear to pre- vail,” he said. BY CAROL GLATZ Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- There are no sec- ond-class Christians, Pope Francis said. The laity, including women, and the clergy all have special gifts to edify the church in unity and holiness. ‟The laity are not in last place. No. The laity are not a kind of external collaborator or the clergy's ʻauxiliary troops.ʼ No! They have their own charisms and gifts with which to contribute to the mission of the church,” the pope said Nov. 20 at his general audience in St. Peter's Square. Continuing a series of talks on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, Pope Francis looked at how the Holy Spirit builds up the Body of Christ through the outpouring of charismatic gifts. The Holy Spirit ‟distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts, He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the church,” he said, quoting from the Second Vatican Councilʼs Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, ‟Lumen Gentium.” A charism is ‟the gift given for the common good, to be useful for everyone. It is not, in other words, destined principally and ordinarily for the sanctification of the person. No. It is intended, how- ever, for the service of the community,” Pope Francis said. ‟Secondly, the charism is the gift given to one or to some in particular, not to everyone in the same way, and this is what distinguishes it from sanctify- ing grace, from the theological virtues and from the sacraments, which instead are the same and common to all,” he said. The definition of a charism is also part of what Pope Benedict XVI described in ‟the process of true renewal, which often took unexpected forms in liv- ing movements and made almost tangible the inex- haustible vitality of the holy church,” he added, quoting the late pope. ‟We have to rediscover the charisms because this ensures that the promotion of the laity, and of women in particular, is understood not only as an institutional and sociological fact, but also in its biblical and spiritual dimension,” the pope said. Charisms, he said, are sometimes misunderstood as being ‟spectacular or extraordinary gifts and capabilities.” ‟Instead, they are ordinary gifts. Each one of us has his or her own charism that assumes extraordi- nary value if inspired by the Holy Spirit and embodied with love in situations of life,” he said. ‟Such an interpretation of the charism is import- ant, because many Christians, when they hear talk of charisms, experience sadness and disappointment, as they are convinced that they do not possess any, and feel they are excluded or second-class Christians,” he said. ‟There are no second-class Christians. No. Each person has his or her own personal charism” that are gifts at the service of charity, in that they belong to all and are for the good of all, he said. A group of children run toward Pope Francis to greet him during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Nov. 20. CNS pho- to/Pablo Esparza Laity, women do not ʻrankʼ last in the church, pope says at general audience Pope Francis greets members of the Dicastery for Cul- ture and Education during a meeting at the Vatican Nov. 21. CNS photo/Vatican Media