The Pope’s ‘Mandatum’
BY Tim Drake
April 27-May 3, 2008 Issue Posted 4/22/08 at 11:04 AM
WASHINGTON — From a professor’s point of view, Pope Benedict XVI’s address to Catholic college and university presidents and diocesan school superintendents April 17 “raised the bar” for what is expected of Catholic education.
The Holy Father insisted that all of a student’s school experiences should lead him to Christ, and that academic freedom was no excuse for contravening the Church’s teaching.
Andrew Abela was among 400 Catholic educators and administrators who heard the Holy Father’s address at the university’s Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center.
“Pope Benedict has given us a clearer — and higher — idea of what Catholic education should be,” he said. “For us teachers, it is not just about what we teach, but about who we are; for our students, not just about what they learn, but who they become — and, in particular, to what extent we help them to overcome their reluctance to entrust themselves to God.”
Catholic University’s president, Vincentian Father David O’Connell, called the Holy Father’s address “masterful.”
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