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Convention reflects on mission of Catholic education
Of 152 Notre Dame schools in Mindanao, the southern Philippines, 29 teach students who are predominantly Muslims, a school president reported recently.
This is because their Catholic administrators believe "a Catholic school is not reserved for Catholics only but is open to all those who appreciate and share their qualified educational project," Oblate Fr. Eduardo Tanudtanud told 2,000 educators from around the country. The annual national convention of the Catholic Education Association of the Philippines was held Sept. 13-15 in Manila.
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Tanudtanud is president of Notre Dame University in Cotabato City, seat of the government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Speaking during the convention's Sept. 14 plenary session, the priest cited "The Catholic School," a 1977 document from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. "A Catholic school is far from being divisive or presumptuous, does not exacerbate differences, aids cooperation and contact with others, opens itself to others, and respects their way of thinking and of living," he quoted from the document.
Catholic students are the majority in 123, or 81 percent, of the Notre Dame schools in Mindanao, according to Tanudtanud. He said schools without Catholic majorities are concentrated in Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces in western Mindanao. Students belonging to various communities among the region's 50 ethno-linguistic groups, including indigenous peoples and migrant families from other regions, attend the Notre Dame schools.
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Tanudtanud explained that Notre Dame schools are either run or owned by a religious congregation or the local church. Retreats for Christian and Muslim students, faculty and staff members, and parents of students are common in these schools. They have chapels and prayer rooms for Christians and Muslims, as well as varied religious studies programs.
His university requires Christian students to take a course on the fundamentals of Christianity and another on Jesus and his message. Catholic students also must take a course on the sacraments and liturgy, while other Christian students take a course on churches in the Philippines.
Muslim student's are required to take a course in Arabic writing and reading the Quran, another on essentials of Islam and a third on the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad.
All the university's students are required to take a course on phenomenology of religions and peace.
Tanudtanud said the university's academic and other programs are geared toward promoting Catholicity by enriching the lives of the Catholic community while helping students of other faiths grow in their own faith.
Tanudtanud said that educators in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which includes Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, face the challenge of poverty. In 2003 the region reported the highest proportion of poor families in the country, at 45.7 percent. Two years later it registered the lowest basic literacy rate in the country, at about 74 percent. Only about 30 percent of students in the region graduate from high school. The dropout rate of 65.5 percent is the highest in Mindanao, Tanudtanud said.
The Catholic Education Association of the Philippines, established in 1941, currently has 1,202 member schools.
At a Sept. 13 Mass at the Manila cathedral, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila reminded the educators of their expanded role. "Everyone is an evangelizer," he said, challenging educators to form graduates who would "take the lead in spreading knowledge and a culture of sharing love with even the unloved in every community where our alumni make their home and living." He stressed that Catholic education should be "liberating" and "redemptive."
By UCA NEWS Manila, Philippines |
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