It has been two weeks since we gathered to celebrate Catholic Education Week and reflect on what it means to be a part of this special community. We shared stories, celebrated achievements, and liturgy during the event and it has remained in our hearts ever since. Bishop Tim's homily that day was particularly compelling - his words echoed our gratitude for all those who have committed to providing a quality education to all students. We are so thankful for having the opportunity to be part of this special event.

Homily for Queensland Catholic Education Week Mass - 25 July 2023

Dear Friends

It is a great joy for me to be with Archbishop Mark Coleridge, the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Brisbane, some of the priests of the Townsville Diocese and all of you today who have gathered to celebrate Catholic Education Week and indeed 150 years of Catholic Education here in North Queensland.

We are proud of this milestone and acknowledge the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart who opened St Joseph’s Catholic School, The Strand and St Mary’s Catholic School, Bowen all those years ago.

From humble beginnings, the Diocese now has over 14,000 students enrolled in 31 Catholic schools within communities North to Hinchinbrook, East to Palm Island, South to the Whitsundays and West to Mount Isa.  I can attest to the extraordinary commitment of past and present generations of teachers both religious and lay, who have played their vital part in helping Catholic education grow from strength to strength to this present day.

As your Bishop, I am very proud of what has been achieved as we journey into the future together.

You know, this year’s theme of Faith, Hope and Love is what the Catholic education enterprise or endeavour is all about.  Faith, Hope and Love are called theological – or basic virtues because so many other virtues depend upon them.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that “the theological virtues – are infused by God into the souls of the faithful to make them capable of acting as his children and of meriting eternal life.  They are the pledge of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit in the faculties of the human being.” (CCC1813)

In other words, faith, hope and love are gifts flowing from God’s love for us.  The theme, therefore, for this year’s Catholic Education Week goes to the very reason we are involved in Catholic education in the first place.

Faith is the virtue that enables us to believe in God.  Hope has nothing to do with a “secular hope” but a hope that enables us to trust in all of Christ’s promises and love, or charity, and allows us to fulfill the two greatest commandments revealed by Jesus: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind”.  This is the greatest commandment and the First Commandment.  The second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

A Catholic school without Faith, Hope and Love has no right to call itself Catholic.  These theological virtues emanate from Christ himself – the one on whom all our schools are built.  Christ provides us with a rock-solid foundation.  Because these theological virtues come from Christ, believers are invited to embrace them and live them.  Whilst the Diocese of Townsville celebrates 150 years of Catholic education, the truth is that just over 200 years ago the first Catholic school opened in Australia.  Catholic education now Australia wide educates 770,000 primary and secondary school students in more than 1,750 schools with nearly 100,000 staff.

The Queensland story feeds into all of this.  Suffice to say that Catholic education is valued and supported.  Interestingly, the ‘school’ is not exclusively for Catholic children.  As was the policy for two centuries, the first Catholic schools were open to all, even if those schools were uncompromisingly Catholic and gave preference to parishioners.

Every one of our Dioceses, including this one, have schools open to all.  The non-Catholic community frequently choose to send their children to us to educate and we welcome this.  We also welcome the assistance of “Governments” in this country for we cannot provide Catholic education without their help.

Quoting from the document “Instruction of the Congregation for Catholic Education in 2022”:

“Since education is a right for everyone, the Council called for the responsibility of all.  The responsibility of parent and their priority right in educational choices rank first.  School choice must be made freely and according to conscience; hence the duty of civil authorities to make different options available in compliance with the law.  The State is responsible for supporting families in their right to choose a school and an educational project”.

I pray that the State may always support a parent’s ‘priority right’ to choose and for our part as Catholic school providers.  I also pray that our Catholic/Christian Identity never compromises our foundations and traditions.

Sure, our traditions must be live and they must dialogue with the signs of the times in an increasingly fragile and complicated world.  It is precisely because our Church and schools are bult upon Christ that we have the mandate – or in language of St Paul in his second letter to the Church at Corinth – we have the treasure of God – the Gospel.  It is a treasure of immeasurable value, and yet it’s a treasure that God has placed into jars of clay.

It's a vivid picture.  Jars of clay in Paul’s time were cheap, unimpressive, temporary containers.  They weren’t made to be attractive or strong.  And yet this is what Paul calls us – jars of clay.  God places within us the beautiful priceless message of salvation. And he uses us, in all of our mess and in all of our weakness to proclaim Him.

As Christians we should be overwhelmed that God has chosen us to share his message of salvation with the world.  But Paul also makes clear that as jars of clay, God’s power is revealed in our weakness.  Paul was one of the greatest missionaries of all time, but his life and ministry were marked by suffering and pain (2Cor11:24-28).  So jars of clay we may be, but the call is to become the face of Christ to all.

I want Catholic education opportunities to be available in as many places as possible.  I know we can make a difference – even in our brokenness.  The inclusive nature of our schools makes them a credible and viable option for parents.  This is the Catholic school difference and it is a difference worth pursuing – it’s a difference, I would agree, that goes beyond schools into the wider community.  On balance, the Catholic Church has made a difference for the better in our communities and world.  The mission of Christ has been exercised in our hospitals and nursing homes, in our social outreach and universities, through our witness in third world counties, through aid to people and countries in times of catastrophe, through our overtures for peace amongst people, through advocacy for the rights of workers.

You name it – we have been there and still are and yet we have not always lived up to expectations.  As jars of clay with the good news within, now is the time for us to go back to the gospel and reclaim it for ourselves, our schools, our Church.  That’s how we will survive – that’s how we will remain relevant by NOT preaching ourselves, but preaching Christ himself.  We don’t preach Christ as fundamentalists for the Catholic Church and school post the Royal Commission, we must walk humbly with our God.  This does not mean we go and hide – on the contrary – that’s what got us into trouble in the first place.  Our role is in the world engaging as we go with everyone – saint and sinner alike.  To them “we will sing of the goodness of the Lord for ever and ever”.

A humble Catholic Church and school in this context truly becomes the servant amongst us – becomes the slave amongst us.  We take our queue from the Son of man who came not to be served but to serve.

Ours is a posture of service in the name of Jesus Christ the crucified and risen one.  Thank God for Catholic education and all that is seeks to do – for all the good it does in the name of service, for the invitation to the community of all our schools is to go beyond the school gates.  As Bill Sultmann and David Hall in their reflections conclude:

The Catholic school is a place of care, a place of relationship, a place of learning, a place of service and a place of transformation.  It is above all an instrument of God as are its graduates.

The treasure within needs to always go “beyond the school gates” and into the world.  Surely that’s the Catholic school difference that will sustain us in good times and in bad.

We now move to the Liturgy of the Eucharist which of course follows the Liturgy of the Word, for we are a Church of word and sacrament.  We’ve reflected on the word during this homily and that word now lives amongst us.

Our nourishment continues in the best of our Catholic tradition with our reception of Christ’s Body and Blood.  This is our “yes” moment when we say “Amen” to both.  This is our “yes” moment when we die and rise with Him.  To live is to die and to die is to live.

This is our faith, and we are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord in this Catholic Education Week, and always.

MOST REV TIMOTHY J HARRIS
Bishop of Townsville