The Goal of Catholic Education: To Teach as Jesus Taught

Several longtime Catholic educators shared their views of Catholic education with the Sooner Catholic. They discussed teaching methods of the past and challenges of the future. The following are portions of these conversations.

Sister Laurentia Koehler, A.S.C., is a part-time religion teacher at Holy Trinity School in Okarche and the full-time caregiver of her mother, Anna Koehler. But Sister Laurentia first served the archdiocese as associate superintendent from 1984-1990 when Sister Loretta Gegen was superintendent of schools. She also worked eight years as principal at Saint John Nepomuk School in Yukon from 1996-2004.

When she started as associate superintendent, “there was a strong emphasis on curriculum, and we developed a curriculum guide in all subject areas, including Religion. We worked with our teachers on Vision and Values, which looked at our vocation as teachers. We saw teaching as a ‘Call from God’ to spread the Good News and develop wisdom,” Sister Laurentia said.

“We also looked at values with the students. Each year the school would pick a value, and we would try to develop that value with the students throughout the curriculum. For example, we might study the value ‘respect’ all year long in all subjects. Today, in addition to values, there is greater emphasis on the Seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching. These principles should be emphasized across the curriculum in all Catholic schools,” Sister said.

“This study of values led into accreditation. Now, we have reached the point of having Catholic-school accreditation. It is called the Oklahoma Conference of Catholic School Accre- diting Association (OCCSAA). “OCCSAA is valuable and is recognized by the state of Oklahoma.

 “My experience as associate superintendent was that we have wonderful, dedicated teachers in the classrooms. That is also true today. We are blest to have these good people and good teachers who share Gospel values with our children.

“The Catholic schools must produce students who are going to make our Church and society stronger and better. They need to be able to stand tall and not give in to the values of the society. We need to challenge our kids to live according to the teachings of the Catholic Church. We need to give these teachings to them in the Catholic school,” Sister Laurentia said.

Joe Sine has been principal of Saint Charles Borremeo Catholic School since 1983. He began his career in Catholic education as a teacher and coach at Bishop McGuinness High School in 1973.

Sine taught three years at McGuinness and one at Bishop John Carroll before transferring to the public schools in Mustang. There, he taught English and coached for five years while taking administrative classes at night. Next, he spent a year as principal in Olive, Oklahoma, returning the following year to McGuinness to coach and teach English and history.

During his year at McGuinness, Sine got a call from Dr. Sandy Arico, principal at Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic School. Arico was leaving Saint Charles to pursue a college-teaching career. He wanted Sine to come to Saint Charles as principal.  Sine took the position and has been principal at Saint Charles for 21 years.

 “In the beginning the Carmelite Sisters of Saint Therese were teachers here. They taught me about elementary school kids,” he said. (Sine’s background had been in secondary education.) “I’m very thankful to them,” Sine said.

Through the years, Sine has seen several changes in education. “Instead of sisters, now, we have lay teachers,” he said. Another “difference is the parents. They expect a lot from their kids, but some parents are irresponsible in not holding their kids responsible for their actions and behavior. They are not allowing their children to develop into the self-sufficient and self-reliant persons the parents want them to be.

“We also have to teach differently than we did before because of the media the kids have grown up with. They want to be entertained. We need to make learning interesting to them and relevant. The idea of delayed gratification is not part of their vocabulary,” Sine said. In the past, “students behaved better. They had better manners. And the teachers had more support from the parents. These differences make teaching today more stressful,” Sine said.

Sine’s biggest challenge is having the “money to keep Catholic schools affordable and afloat”. That is why he wants to build a million-dollar endowment. “If 1,000 people would each give $1,000 over 36 months, we could do it,” he said. “That would be only $27.77 a month. That’s less money than most people pay for a family-of-three to eat out. If they gave $27.77 a month for three years, out of that million, we could get $50,000 a year in interest to spend for the school. That would keep the school affordable,” he said.

Not only does Sine want to make Catholic education “affordable and accessible,” he also wants “to be able to build a school that has a culture of spirituality and a culture of learning,” he said.

When asked if he was not already doing that, Sine said, “I try, but the word culture means it permeates everything, and we’re not there yet.”

Sister Katherine Powers, C.N.D., has been Superintendent of Catholic Schools and Director of Education for the archdiocese since 1996. “When I came here, it was the beginning of the accreditation process,” Sister Katherine said. “As accreditation has progressed over the last nine years, I have seen the schools become much stronger academically and, most importantly, stronger in terms of their Catholic identity.

“As part of the accreditation process, the schools have to go through an extensive self-study. They look at every aspect of their school, and they have an on-site visitation.             continued from page 12

The visitation teams are made up of principals and teachers from Tulsa. This team makes recommendations to the school, based on the self-study. The principals have to submit an annual report that tells about their progress in meeting the team’s recommendations.

“The on-site visiting team spends three days at the school. They write a report to the Council of Commissioners which is made up of three principals from each of the two dioceses, two superintendents, a pastor from a school in each diocese, and a representative from Saint Gregory’s University.

“The Commissioners review the report and make recommendations as to whether or not the school is accredited. From there, the report goes to the Board of Directors made up of two bishops, two superintendents, and a lawyer. This is the group that grants the final accreditation or denies it.  “Most of our schools are now accredited,” Sister said. When they achieve accreditation, “They begin a new self-study, and the process starts all over again,” she said.

“The best part of my job is training and working with Catholic-school principals. I feel influencing them is a way to make an impact on all the schools. I believe a school is only as strong as its leadership.

“The most challenging part of my job is finding people who want to be Catholic-school principals and who understand the nature of a Catholic-school education.

“I would love to see each Catholic who has a child of school age find a way to send their children to our Catholic schools. I wish I could add $20 million to the ADF Plus fund so that we could make Catholic education more affordable for all families,” Sister Katherine said.

Sister Veronica Higgins, C.S.T., started to work in the archdiocese as a first-grade teacher at Villa Teresa School in 1973. She is now principal of Villa Teresa’s two schools,  in OKC and  Moore. “All my years in education have been at Villa Teresa except three. From 1988-90 I taught at Saint Charles Borromeo School,” she said. “For the last two years, I’ve been principal at both Villa Teresa schools.

When Sister Veronica started teaching in 1973, “we had mostly sisters on the staff. We had much larger classes and a larger teacher-student ratio: 1to 30. Now the classes are smaller with a 1 to 20 ratio.

“The laws have changed, the children are different, and family structures are different although we have always served families of split homes, and almost all of our families work. Early on, we saw a need to provide nurturing not only for the children but also for their families. When we bought the Anderson home, Villa Teresa’s Motherhouse, in Oklahoma City in 1933, we started taking kids for kindergarten. We had the first kindergarten in Oklahoma City. In 1933, it was a struggle for parents because of the Dust Bowl and the Depression. Parents often had to leave their homes to find work elsewhere. We were founded as a boarding school. We started getting kids of different ages, so we had to expand.  We were a boarding school for boys and girls in the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s stoping in the late 1960s.

“The most challenging part of my job is that I have learned that you can’t please everyone. It’s just not possible. You have to keep focused on who you are called to serve, the children and their families,” she said.

This past semester, “we’ve been working towards accreditation,” she said. “It requires a lot of research and self-examination. The team from OCCSAA made their visitation in January. It was very exciting and enlightening. They were very affirmative. We got word in July that we have been accredited!” Sister Veronica said. “We were also notified July 1 that our downtown learning center has been acknowledged as a two-star child-care facility by the state.”

Sister Marita Rother, A.S.C., began her ministry of education in the archdiocese in the ‘83-’84 school term when she taught math at Bishop McGuinness High School. After one year, she was asked to return to Kansas. She returned to Oklahoma in 1992 as Associate Superintendent of Education and served in that capacity for five years.

“Serving directly with principals and teachers, visiting the schools and observing firsthand the educational pursuits that were being accomplished in our Catholic schools,” was a real pleasure, Sister said.

“When the position of principal of Holy Trinity School in Okarche opened, I took special notice. I had attended Holy Trinity from first through eleventh grades. The Adorers [of the Blood of Christ] had been my teachers throughout my years at Holy Trinity. For me, this position was a great opportunity to serve the parish and school that had been a support and enrichment for my spiritual and academic life. It was a ‘homecoming’ for me.

“After 5 years as a principal, and one year away, I returned to teach at Holy Trinity Catholic School. Now, I’m doing what I love - teaching young people,” Sister Marita said.

“More than ever before, our schools must be Catholic in the deepest sense. We must be forming and informing our young people with solid, practical, life-changing and life-integrating values and morals. We want our students to be proud to be Catholic and to live and uphold the teachings of the Church,” Sister Marita said.

Pat Koenig is Director of Religious Education for the Arch-      diocese. She works with the principals of the Catholic Schools on spiritual development and the improvement of the religious-education curriculum for their schools and also oversees the religious education of Catholic childrenthrough the training of parish directors of religious education and catechists.

Koenig started her work in education in the archdiocese in 1983 as a Theology teacher at Bishop McGui-nness. She worked at McGuinness for seven years before becoming principal of Bishop John Carroll School. She was principal at Bishop John Carroll until July 1998 when she assumed her present position.

“When I started working in the archdiocese in 1983, I was working directly with students” she said. “As principal, my responsibilities shifted more to working with faculty members on faith formation and on the Catholic identity of our schools. Now, I have a leadership position that allows me to work with parish catechetical leaders and Catholic-school principals to help them form catechists and Catholic schoolteachers.

“Religious education is just content. Catechesis is content plus faith formation with opportunities for prayer, liturgy, and service, giving the child or youth an experience of faith,” Koenig said.

“My most challenging job is dealing with the scope of responsibilities that catechists have in the area of faith formation. They are volunteers. They have full-time positions outside their ministry to the Church. I need to make sure they are involved in certification programs and need to help them implement the religious-education programs for the children and youth in their parishes.

“Certification for catechists is a series of courses and workshops given at the Pastoral Center and regionally. There are three levels: Initial, Inter-mediate, and Advanced Certification.

“I’d like to see our programs be more comprehensive with a primary focus on adult faith formation,” Koenig said.  If all the adults in a parish were educated in the faith, it would “enhance the catechetical ministry of the parish.” Adult faith formation would particularly help those Catholic children and youth not going to Catholic schools she said.

“In order to help parents to be the primary formers of their children in the faith, we need to encourage them and other adults in the parish to be life-long learners of the faith. Parents and other family members have much more time with the children than the hour-or-two-a-week of the religious-education teacher,” Koenig said. “Catholic schools have more of an opportunity to form our children in the faith because they have more time with them, time to integrate faith formation throughout the day and throughout the curriculum.

“I’m consistently encouraged by the commitment of the catechetical leaders and catechists to create a safe environment for our children and youth as they are formed in the faith. We have a curriculum of safe environment that we implement from pre-school through high school as well as the regular religious-education curriculum,” Koenig said.