Pope Francis praises group of Limerick educators during reception at the Vatican
Pope Francis has praised a group of Limerick educators during a special reception at the Vatican.
Catholic educators from Mary Immaculate College enjoyed a private reception with Pope Francis in the Vatican during a research trip to Rome.
Eight staff members, four students and eight recent graduates made up the majority of the 36 Catholic educators from the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE) project who were in Rome to study Pope Francis’ initiatives in Catholic education.
The GRACE project is an international research-based partnership between MIC, Boston College, the University of Notre Dame (Australia), and St Mary’s University (London, UK).
GRACE provides an original opportunity for practitioners and scholars of Catholic education and theology in their respective countries to affirm, study, collaborate, and respond meaningfully to challenges faced in the field.
Speaking as he welcomed the GRACE academics to the Vatican, Pope Francis said: "Catholic education is evangelisation: bearing witness to the joy of the Gospel and its power to renew our communities and provide hope and strength in facing wisely the challenges of the present time.
"I trust that this study will inspire each of you to rededicate himself or herself with generous zeal to your vocation as educators, to your efforts to solidify the foundations of a more humane and solidary society, and thus the advancement of Christ’s kingdom of truth, holiness, justice and peace.
"What you do is a beautiful thing. We must break that idea of education which holds that educating means filling one’s head with ideas. That’s the way we educate automatons, cerebral minds, not people.
"Educating is taking a risk in the tension between the mind, the heart and the hands: in harmony, to the point of thinking what I feel and do; feeling what I think and do; of doing what I feel and think. It’s a balance."
According to Dr Daniel O’Connell, lecturer in Religious Education at MIC and Project Leader with the GRACE Project: "I was very taken with how much this trip meant to everyone.
"Meeting with Pope Francis and other speakers was such a gift, a source of encouragement and inspiration for us all. While the experiences we shared engaged us on many levels, I think they spoke most of all to our hearts.
"We were left with a renewed confidence in Catholic education and a sense of belonging to a wider community."