University President Peter K. Kilpatrick shared his vision for the renewal of Catholic education as a keynote speaker at this week's ninth annual Duc In Altum School Summit.
The Oct. 16-18 gathering brought more than 175 Catholic school teachers, thought leaders, campus ministers, and innovators to the Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center at The Catholic University of America to collaborate on advancing the new evangelization through education.
President Kilpatrick drew on his experience as a scientist, convert to Catholicism, and higher education administrator during his talk titled "The Renewal of Catholic Education" given to a packed Great Room. He explained that a truly Catholic education integrates faith and reason so that each person can discover the goodness, truth, and beauty that God has shared through nature and divine revelation.
"The educated Catholic recognizes the interconnectedness of all things, sacred and secular," said Dr. Kilpatrick. "It's a monumental effort to lay the groundwork for your students to have an authentic Catholic education, to see clearly, to understand our world, to understand the truth about the human person and each person's vocation for God in that world."
Dr. Kilpatrick highlighted what he sees as three fundamental building blocks for instilling a transcendental vision of the world: humility, sacred time, and the importance of intellectus — which is the soul's ability to perceive all things in light of eternal truth.
First, President Kilpatrick said the virtue of humility is foundational to Catholic education because it allows each of us to understand who we are as created in the image and likeness of God.
"Every good gift comes from above, and that all we are and all we do comes from God, and nothing comes from us," said Dr. Kilpatrick, in a reference to James 1:17.
Second, the regular celebration of the Mass throughout the school year provides an opportunity to experience "sacred time" which allows us to see that "God's ways are so much higher than our ways and his thoughts are so much higher than our thoughts."
Finally, he said that intellectus allows us to see, like Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once wrote, that "the world is charged with the grandeur of God."
Our task is to help students understand that every time they encounter beauty, truth, goodness, unity, and interconnectedness, they are encountering the intricate handiwork of God," said Dr. Kilpatrick. He explained that sharing a sense of the transcendent should be at the heart of Catholic education.
The joy of our profession, and vocation as Catholic educators, is to share this vision with our students to enable them to see that whatever their profession or their vocation, they can discover the handiwork of a God who loves them and they can be a light to the world."
To encourage the audience during a challenging time for Catholic education, Dr. Kilpatrick pointed to Duc In Altum, the Latin words for Christ's call to Peter to "put out into the deep" to catch fish. Like the apostles, he explained educators can trust Christ in their journey through the rough waters of today's culture.
We don't shy away from these challenges. We don't bide our time in shallow and unproductive waters. We don't hide near the shore," said Dr. Kilpatrick. "We're called to prepare our students for the greatest of challenges, living the Gospel, and loving more, while being fully engaged with the world in which providence has seen fit to place us. This is our moment, so let's go forward."