The Leo era: The pope and paideia
“Fragmentation of information, devoid of depth or beauty, has left students disillusioned, apathetic, and bored by it all.”
I moonlight as a Swiftie. Though by day I am a mom in my 40s, deep in my career and an expert in my field, and so this is a professional risk to tell you this: I am a closeted Swiftie.
I am comparatively reserved to some of my fellow fan girls: I don’t hunt for Easter eggs, and when once I saw a classroom bulletin board communicating class rules using all Taylor Swift quotes, I was rightfully aghast.
But I’m a sucker for lyrical imagery, and Taylor’s top-notch in that, so, can you blame me? But you don’t have to be a Swiftie; these days, you can be any dad, Brad, Chad, NFL fan, or just an American to know that before Taylor drops an album, there are weeks of speculation, and then, of course, a midnight release listening session.
This was the same: the Vatican announced a new education letter to be released on October 28, and it felt a lot like waiting for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
If I’m a reserved Swiftie, I am an unabashed Church-documents-on-education fan girl, a “documentie”, if you will. Here’s a text I sent my brother on October 27: “What time will the education letter drop?” He didn’t answer.
Later that day I texted him again: “Answer me. Midnight Rome time? I have to plan my reading party.” He didn’t answer. He’s no Swiftie. He doesn’t understand.
[Editor’s note: Abriana Chilelli is my sister. Sorry I didn’t text her back. — JDF]
Despite that, on Tuesday I clicked the link to read Disegnare nuove mappe di speranza (“Drawing New Maps of Hope”) with joy, for a message to Catholic educators from the new Holy Father.
Wow.
Pope Leo XVI’s letter Tuesday was released on the 60th anniversary of the release of Gravissimum educationis. I certainly appreciate some of Gravissimum, specifically the reminder that parents are the primary educators of their children and that Christians have a right to education in the Church. Admittedly, I am more of a Divini Illius Magistri educator — Pope Benedict’s 2008 Address to Catholic Educators, or Religious Dimension of Education in the Catholic School are more my flavor.
In light of that, I did read “Drawing New Maps of Hope” with reserved anticipation. But what I found is simply this: A lot of it is very good.
In true Church document fashion, everyone in Catholic education will use many of these lines to justify their own agenda. In true Church document fashion, some sections are rich and full, and beautiful. And, in true Church document fashion, some of it is too vague to understand precisely what Pope Leo is telling us.
Two points the pope makes are unmistakable in interpretation.
The letter begins drawing from Gravissimum a reminder that Catholic education is meant to form the “fabric of evangelization” and naming the “surprising resilience” of education as the fabric of evangelization — in every era, but especially now, in the rapidly changing and disorienting world of today.
I agree: I am convinced there is no more important ministry to renew and reclaim in the Church than the mission of Catholic education — the fabric of communicating and proposing Truth Himself.
Pope Leo identifies that today “we live in a complex, fragmented, and digitized educational environment”, and “precisely for this reason, it is wise to pause and refocus our gaze on the ‘cosmology of Christian paideia.’.
“Pause and refocus our gaze on the ‘cosmology of Christian paideia,’the pontiff writes, the beautiful and worthy North Star for the rest of the letter.
But what does that even mean?