ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

Dear Friends,

            We gather today in our Cathedral Basilica, the center of Catholic life in Philadelphia, to recognize Catholic teachers who for a significant time have chosen to model for so many of our youth the Gospel message of Jesus who is our truth and our peace. The words that Jesus addressed to Peter in today s Gospel come to us with power and excitement: Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. You, jubilarian teachers, have been fishers of young people. Whether you teach Math, Science, Business, English, History, or Religion, you all teach in the Church and bring our students closer to the Jesus whom they desire to know and whom they search for in their lives.

             Saint Paul, a man of great evangelizing spirit, succinctly presents to us the mission of Jesus when he writes, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day...; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once&. Last of all he appeared to me .... Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed. These very words stir up within us the Spirit of Jesus who desires our young people to hear in their hearts the reality of God s love for them, to see with their eyes the presence of Jesus in their daily lives and to touch with their hands the Body of Christ, which is the center of everything they are. The Eucharist ignites in us a challenge to simplicity and courage. These virtues, in turn, arouse in others a thirst for Jesus. This is how Catholic school teachers evangelize our young people, by seizing the Word itself and incarnating it in their lives. How else could we succeed? We would be like Peter in the Gospel who said, Master, we have worked hard all night long and have caught nothing. Jesus wanted His followers to understand that they could do nothing without Him. But, if we allow Jesus to be the source and reason for our work, we will catch a great number of fish and our nets will be at the breaking point.

            In its document on the Missionary Activity of the Church, the Second Vatican Council called missionaries to become living examples of a simple life and avid preachers obedient to the Magisterium of the Church. Fortified by the sacramental life, they must be servants to all God s people. Is not this, in fact, who you are? You, as teachers, are missionaries of God s Word from the daily interaction of the classroom to the endless nightly preparations and research. The classroom becomes the marketplace wherein Christ dwells. The Gospel reading today reminds us: Do not be afraid. We recognize the sacrifices that you have made in order to cultivate the moral and religious character of a generation of young Catholic people. It is within this context that we are proud to call you teachers.

            Today as we honor your lives as Catholic educators and as daily catechists in the Church, we take this opportunity to renew together our commitment to Catholic Education. We depend on the Gospels and the Catechism as texts of our faith. Through these we identify pillars in our lives of faith. These pillars include: the Church, the family, the common good, and the dignity of each human person. In turn, these pillars require a culture of life which is so necessary for our young people and which opens doors to the holiness our youth so desire.

            The Church is the center of our Catholic culture. In the words of Vatican II, she truly knows that only God, whom she serves, meets the deepest longings of the human heart (Gaudium et Spes, 41). It is in the communion of the Church that all baptized persons share in the Kingdom of God. And so our communion in the Church, expressed by our presence here today in this Cathedral Basilica, reflects our own desire to contribute significantly to the building up of the Kingdom of God.

            The family, too, builds up God s Kingdom. God Himself is the author of the sacred covenant of Christian marriage. Now, more that ever, it is imperative that teachers collaborate with parents in planting the seeds of good family life in the hearts of our children. Especially in a society trying to avoid its definition of family , alienating itself from the articulation of truth, our students need you as responsible adults to describe faithfully this great gift of God called the family . Teachers are bonded by a sacred trust to the parents of their students. They are called to reinforce the model of family life found in the Holy Family of Nazareth. Catholic teachers also catechize their students about the life of the eternal Family of God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

            Your mission, dear friends, involves supporting and encouraging the common good. When our Catholic forebears came to this country, they did so because of its promise of religious freedom. They came with a healthy respect for the good of all and with an intent to enact laws that protect individual liberty as well as the common good. Today we need to teach our children that the common good is the sum total of social conditions which allow people either individually or in groups, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1906). We need to help them understand that maintaining the common good calls for prudence from each one of us and, even more so, from those who exercise authority. A healthy balance is needed in promoting the well-being of the individual and the common good.

            Another pillar that we want to articulate for our young people is the dignity of the human person. This dignity requires that every person should glorify God in his body and not permit it to serve the evil inclinations of his heart. Our students must also come to understand the dignity of the human family. They must believe that we are good and that God truly desires us to respond to His ever ready love. It is in your interpersonal relationship with each of your students that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, you demonstrate to them respect, charity, compassion and their proper role in the community in which they live. It is the sanctity of the classroom that our children increase and develop their love and respect for all human life from conception to natural death. This love and this respect are the very foundation of the human family.

            My brothers and sisters, my fellow educators in our holy, Catholic faith: it takes great pledication to live simply and courageously, with hearts open to the service of others. Today we remember with respect and affection your freely chosen response to a calling to collaborate in the Church s divine mission of education exercised through schools which are linked to my predecessor St. John Neumann, and which extol the family, this great nation and the human dignity of each person. On this joyful occasion, we acknowledge your great dignity and contribution to this mission of the Church, which is rooted in your Baptism and strengthened daily by your relationship to God through prayer and the sacraments.

            The great love you have shown God through your students surely has become contagious and will illuminate for many the way to God. Saint Bernard once wrote: When God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return, for the sole purpose of His love is to be loved. Renewed by your commitment and zeal to bring young people to love God more fully through His Church, I encourage you to continue to answer daily the question the Lord poses in today s first reading: Whom shall I send? Your response of Here I am Lord ... send me, contributes greatly to the building up of the Church for generations to come. For this reason, dear Teachers, dear Friends, we thank God for your dedicated partnership in the Gospel and for the zeal that inspires you to communicate Jesus Christ to our children and young people. May God sustain you in generosity and joy. Amen.