Vatican II vision for Christian education still inspires Catholic school renewal at 60

It’s among the shortest and perhaps least controversial of the Second Vatican Council’s 16 documents — four constitutions, nine decrees, and three declarations — and yet, it remains a touchstone for all the documents that followed concerning Catholic education.

“Gravissimum Educationis,” the Declaration on Christian Education, marks its 60th anniversary Oct. 28.

And while today’s classrooms are in many ways different than in 1965, the document’s basic principles remain as relevant as when it was promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI to guide Catholic schools in their work.

“At its heart, the document affirms two truths that still guide us today,” Steven F. Cheeseman — president and CEO of the National Catholic Educational Association, told OSV News.

“The first thing: That every child has the right to an education that develops the mind, the heart, and the soul,” he said. “And secondly, affirming parents are the primary educators of their children; that we play an important role as a ministry of the church to support them in that.”

Cheeseman noted the mission of Catholic schools has remained consistent throughout many eras.

“If you look at the history of Catholic schools in the United States, they’ve embodied that vision — forming generations of students in faith and knowledge, serving immigrant communities, the underserved, and consistently working to deliver academic quality while keeping Christ at the center,” he said.

There have, however, been changes in the Catholic educational landscape since “Gravissimum Educationis” was issued.

During the 1964-1965 school year, the nationwide network of Catholic parochial schools served about 5.6 million students. Since then, enrollment has dropped 70 percent, to around 1.7 million students today. Some 5,832 Catholic schools are staffed by 154,258 professional staff.

But ironically, the COVID-19 pandemic that swept across the globe in 2020 actually aided U.S. Catholic school enrollment.

Because Catholic schools were open when public schools were teaching remotely by video, “We saw a surge in enrollment in many places,” said Cheeseman.

“Those numbers have not dropped off precipitously once public schools opened. And I think that’s because once people were back in Catholic schools, they realized just what they offered,” he suggested. “They realized that it is nice to be in an environment that focuses on faith.”

While Cheeseman sees hopeful signs of growth — because schools are “getting back to that core mission; they’re not trying to chase the public school down the block” — regaining the numbers of students from the epoch of “Gravissimum Educationis” still seems a distant goal.

Cheeseman has a theory why.

“Many parishes and dioceses do not see a responsibility in ensuring access to Catholic education. Many have — and many bishops have really committed to that, and many pastors have,” he said. “But nationwide, one of the big differences between then and now — besides demographic shifts in recent times — is really the commitment of the church to Catholic education.”

“We are a ministry of the church; we’re fulfilling the church’s mission,” Cheeseman said. “And I think part of the sad reality is that we have lost, in many places, our connection to the parish; to the church.”

Father Friedrich Bechina, former undersecretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education and research associate at the Boston College Center for Higher Education Studies, agreed.

“I think there are some factors that changed,” said the priest, who serves as an international consultant to bishops’ conferences and dioceses. “On the one hand, the most important factor is demographics. Many parishes no longer have the minimum number of kids to be enrolled in a Catholic school.”

Father Bechina attributes that — at least in part — to a lack of foresight.

“I think that we would say it’s a bit of a homemade problem,” he offered, “because it was visible that the demographics would develop in this sense. And the parishes, they would have been able to predict how it would come — and that their school was no longer feasible. And also the decline of religious vocations.”

“So,” added Father Bechina, “those responsible for schools — and these were typically the bishops and the parish priests — could have seen that they would have to change the organizational and financial model of the Catholic schools, and that it could not be continued like it was.”

He also stressed the mission of evangelization.

“Catholic education is a way of evangelization, and is not an additional activity of the Church. The church can do many activities in addition to its key mission — but education is part of the key mission. Jesus himself was a teacher,” Father Bechina said. “The profession of Jesus, if you want, is teacher.”

He noted that in some ways, “Gravissimum Educationis” reaffirmed the central purpose of the Catholic school.

“There’s a strong emphasis which you find in ‘Gravissimum Educationis’ — this is something which is always true; but it is kind of rediscovered — that school has to do with relationship with the whole.”

“The Catholic school’s most important purpose is to bring students into personal relationship with Christ and with God,” he said. “I would say the baseline of it is that students would understand that they are seen; that they are understood; that they are loved; and that they are guided by God. This is, then, the Catholic school’s purpose — to translate this into the reality of human development and education.”

“Gravissimum Educationis” also foreshadowed schools that became more attentive to the student as learner versus the teacher as a transmitter of information.

“Something new is the focus on the right to education of the children — because by then, typically, it was the obligation of the parents that was underscored,” said Father Bechina. “And now this turns around, and it’s the right and obligation of the children — which is an interesting development, and I think anticipates what we today would call student-centered learning.”

John Garvey — former president of The Catholic University of America, and a current visiting professor of law at the University of Notre Dame — cited cultural shifts as another factor.

“Parochial schools were being encouraged to wall off religion; the culture was becoming more agnostic. Parents didn’t raise their children that way anymore,” he reflected. “So the enrollment plummeted, and why not?”

“What’s the point,” he continued, “of paying for an education that you could get in the public schools — there’s essentially no difference between them, except that you get a religion course. Why not send your kids to CCD classes?” said Garvey, referring to the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, the parish-based religious education program for children who attend public or non-Catholic schools.

“So it was a really bad time for the church to say the world is God’s creation, and Christ should be the center of culture, and it’s the parent’s primary duty to educate their children — all true things,” Garvey said, “but the culture was going in exactly the opposite direction, and encouraging the churches to do the same.”

But like Cheeseman, Garvey said he also sees sparks of hope.

“I’m pleased at the effect that things like vouchers are having,” he said.

School vouchers provide public funds to parents to use for private school tuition or other educational expenses. The NCEA found that 31 percent of Catholic schools use parental choice programs, while 18 percent of students utilize them.

Garvey also noted two additional positive developments.

“One is that the law has been more accepting of the role of faith in the culture,” he said. “And the second is that young people — 25, 35-year-olds — who are raising children have themselves taken advantage of this, and taken the responsibility of educating their children in the faith.”

On the document’s 50th anniversary in 2015, Pope Francis created the Gravissimum Educationis Foundation.

“By this foundation,” the pontiff remarked to foundation members in a 2018 address, “the church renews her commitment to Catholic education in step with the historical transformations of our time.”

“It’s important for us all to realize that Catholic schools remain one of the church’s greatest gifts to society,” said Cheeseman.

“We have this opportunity to create a future, to form graduates who not only succeed academically and in their life, but also make a difference in the world. It’s a great responsibility; a great privilege — and,” he concluded, “‘Gravissimum Educationis’ recognizes that, and promotes that.”?

A link to “Gravissimum Educationis” can be found here: https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_gravissimum-educationis_en.html

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