Catholic Identity in Education: Principles articulates elements the Church expects to find in all Catholic schools and which distinguish them from other schools.The principles are derived from Church documents related to education, including the documents of Vatican II, documents from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, and the writings of various Popes. Our Catholic Identity. Nearly one-in-ten adults (9%) qualify as “cultural Catholics.” When asked about their religion, they identify with a faith other than Catholicism (mainly Protestantism) or say they have no religious affiliation. Disciples follow where the Lord goes ahead of us, for he himself is the way and makes the way known to us. Strong Catholic identity, therefore, can be found in schools that have the following characteristics: Curriculum. As you can see from the above definition of what Catholic identity means in our Catholic Schools, we are very proud of our principals, teachers, staff, parents, parishioners and pastors for sustaining schools where our Catholic Identity is a strong lived reality. Jesus goes ahead of them to other people, and the disciples follow him. The global social dynamics of, So what might be features of a reflexive Christian identity, maturing in its own uniqueness precisely through entering into identity-forming encounters with others, both believers and nonbelievers? If our worldview presumes that he is, in fact, dead then Jesus will be of interest to us a figure of historical enquiry, a source of moral values and perhaps a tragic witness to the tendency of humans to reject and kill those who teach of love and justice. Catholic identity is a keystone for the evangelising mission of all Catholic education communities. There is a loss of organisational trust experienced both internally and externally by church communities that is painful for all involved. Our friends and foes who live ‘as though God does not exist’ have a spiritual claim on the witness of our faith and on the resources of our faith communities. The Creator of the universe willed us into existence and desires to be in communion with us until the end of time! For Christian individuals and communities intentional and concrete encounters in dialogue with others, believers and nonbelievers alike, is a matter of fidelity to the Lord’s command of love of neighbour and love of enemy. But there is still work to be done. That’s how people define each other. Thus an encounter between a disciple and another person is never just a freely chosen encounter between two people, confronting each other’s views, standards, and judgements immediately. Institute of Faith Education That is the theology of St Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, where the way of the first generation of the church unfolds through the interaction of: an encounter, often unexpected, with a person or situation that calls for attention and response from Jesus’ disciples, the prayerful reflection (including fiery arguments) by the appointed leadership about how to respond in the name and memory of the Lord Jesus, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit whom they discover to be already at work in the situations they encounter. Eucharist is at the very center of being Catholic. And surely a particular claim on our attention comes from the more than two-thirds of Australians who live as ‘practical secularists’, both within and beyond the Catholic population, our communities, schools and agencies. This is so for both individual and communal subjects of identity. In his delightfully engaging style, Joe invited his audience to reflect on their own experiences in order to identify for themselves what it means to be authentically Catholic. Catholic identity also is identified in the way children are disciplined. So the way of the disciple in our pluralising and secularising context can only be the way of discernment, personal and communal, in response to the leading of the living Lord and his Spirit, and in responsibility for forging the encounters of dialogue in which the Lord is calling us to find our identity and mission. Mission ensure that we remain Christ-centred while encouraging a diversity of authentic expression. Most Australians used to be sort of Christian, tacitly at least, and shared the ethical and social goals of the Christian worldview. We cannot be called truly “Catholic” unless we hear and heed the Church's call to serve those in need and work for justice and peace. We all believe in the teachings, values, and traditions passed along to us by our parents, teachers, and clergymen. We are undergoing what Charles Taylor calls a change in the conditions of belief. We need a Church able to dialogue with those disciples who, having left Jerusalem behind, are wandering aimlessly, alone, with their own disappointment, disillusioned by a Christianity now considered barren, fruitless soil, incapable of generating meaning…we need a Church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing more than simply listening to them; a Church which accompanies them on their journey…Jesus warmed the hearts of the disciples of Emmaus. We know him now by faith, not by sight. Then, secondly, the Lord leads his disciples into encounters with others, both friend and enemy, to create relationships of solidarity and concern, especially with those at risk of being lost and forgotten in society. Specifically, about my Catholic identity. Recently I had the opportunity to listen to author and national consultant, Joe Paprocki, give a workshop on Catholic identity. Personally, I have always had the tendency to find my identity and self-worth as an athlete. Speaking from the heart of the Church with a confident Catholic identity, you are forming talented and creative disciples, equipping them with a Christian vision of life, culture, and history and sending them out well prepared to be leaders in the contemporary world.” — Bishop James Conley If, on the other hand, our worldview presumes that Jesus is alive, alive indeed in the transfigured existence of the resurrection, himself a source of the divine aliveness present and available to us to participate in here and now, then our story, our very existence, is qualified by and oriented by that presence. What does it mean for me to hold onto a Catholic identity and its Gospel-inspired worldview in a cultural environment in which that worldview means little and is often misunderstood or dismissed? We aspire to strengthen capacity to lead, engage and teach with a re-contextualised Catholic worldview that permeates all structures, processes, relationships and learning and teaching contexts. Catholic identity is more than a set of values, a code of ethics, an example of heroic living or human achievement; rather, as Pope Benedict put it, it is ‘the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’ (, And Jesus continues to make known himself and the life-giving spirit he brings in the same manner as he did during the ministry in Galilee and Judea: firstly by calling and forming disciples to be with him, For disciples then, real encounter in dialogue with others is not a matter of political correctness, not simply a strategy for social cohesion and deradicalisation, nor just the decent thing to do, but a matter of fidelity to the present and living Lord Jesus, who is leading us into these encounters just as surely as he led Peter and John and James and Mary of Magdala and the other Galilean women and Bartholomew and Paul and Priscilla and Aquila into strange and life-giving encounters with others. 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