One mission of discipleship
CHARLOTTE — Test scores, lesson plans and athletics weren’t the focus of Friday’s diocesan-wide professional development day for Catholic school teachers. Instead, more than 800 educators gathered at Charlotte Catholic High School to reflect on their central mission: forming disciples for God’s Kingdom.
Bishop Michael Martin presided at the day’s opening Mass, concelebrated with school chaplains Father Christopher Brock, Father Aaron Huber and Father Chinonso Nnebe-Agumadu. In his homily, the bishop – himself a former teacher, coach and administrator – set the tone by reminding educators from the diocese’s 20 Catholic schools of their faith witness.
Their vocation as teachers is immensely important, he said. Yet, he asked them to remember: “In the midst of it all, where is Christ to be found? Where is Christ to be found?”
Bishop Martin urged teachers to lead with hope, a hope grounded in the Holy Spirit.
Though the group was gathered in the school gym for Mass, he said, “I am not here for a pep rally. I am here to proclaim the power of the Holy Spirit… That is a power that transforms, not just for applause, not just for games or scoreboards. That’s a torque, a power, that takes all of us to an entirely different level if we are open, if we are willing.”
'Hope does not disappoint'
The first reading for the Mass, from Romans, echoed the Church’s theme for the Jubilee Year of Hope: “Hope does not disappoint.” Bishop Martin invited the teachers to claim that message as their own, rallying them to repeat it aloud with him: “Hope does not disappoint!”
“If there is something you want to put on the bathroom mirror to greet you every morning, let it be that,” he suggested. “Hope does not disappoint. And it is not some hope in some future. It is a hope in the moment for what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life – personally, today, right now, in this second.”
Even in moments of human weakness, Bishop Martin reminded them, this hope never disappoints.
“Do we believe that we have been graced with the power of the Holy Spirit to transform the lives of the young people entrusted to our care?” he asked. When the teachers’ reply was not loud enough, he reiterated it until the whole gym echoed back a resounding “yes.”
He reminded the educators the power of transformation starts with the heart, looking inward.
“Claim it (your failures) and then turn to the healing power of the Holy Spirit that will not disappoint. Jesus sends that Spirit to be that healing presence in our lives, and it is only then, once we have been eyes wide open before the mirror, that we can walk into our classrooms and be ready – not to be perfect but to be on top of our … game, to be there to serve the young people,” he said. “Perfect, never. Open, always.”
After Mass, teachers crowded into the Fine Arts Center to hear a keynote address from the bishop before heading into 31 breakout sessions for the day based on various curriculum areas.
Make disciples for the kingdom
In his keynote address, Bishop Martin outlined steps he believes can inspire greatness and urged teachers to share the Church’s mission with clarity and conviction.
“Is Jesus a compelling articulation of our mission? Yes,” he said. “He is the way, the truth, and the life… He is our mission. He is our true north.”
While faith cannot be measured or graded, the bishop noted, the true measure lies in the number of disciples formed.
He also pointed to sobering statistics: half of Catholics leave the Church, and of those, only 11% ever return. Seventy-nine percent of those who leave do so before age 23. Meanwhile, 31% of college students report no religious affiliation, 21% of 12th-graders have never attended a religious service, and a third of young adults ages 18 to 24 say they don’t believe in God.
Those numbers can feel overwhelming, he acknowledged, even for himself as bishop in leading the 500,000-plus Catholics of the Diocese of Charlotte.
“But guess what?’ he continued. “God chose me, and God chose you, all of you, the totality of you. There is not a weakness that God can’t raise up and make something greater from.”
“We are about making disciples for the kingdom,” he said. “It seems daunting, but you are not in this by yourself. We are in this together.”
Bishop Martin urged educators to challenge themselves by asking whether their students can see the compassion of Christ reflected in them, even as they uphold high standards. He encouraged them to lead by example – such as by joining or starting small faith groups.
“Imagine what the students might think once they find out their teachers get together and reflect on scriptures,” he said. “Model how you want them to live in faith. Show them your journey, and passion to grow closer to Christ and the Church.”
In his own remarks to teachers, diocesan Schools Superintendent Greg Monroe echoed the bishop’s message of hope.
“Hope is not a naive optimism; it is not a ‘I think things will be fine.’ No, it is a deep-seated conviction that things will be OK because darkness has been overcome, and you all are a testament to the hope we have in the future: our students,” Monroe said.
Teachers reacted with enthusiasm to what they heard.
Dina Alvarado, a first-year teacher at St. Ann School in Charlotte, smiled at the prospect while she formulated new lessons in her mind.
“I definitely incorporate religion in my lesson planning because we teach religion classes,” Alvarado said. “But listening to the bishop, I thought about other ways to show my faith – not just during specific times, but how I can be a disciple of Christ and show them that throughout the day…It did inspire me.”
— Lisa M. Geraci
Pictured at top: Bishop Michael Martin delivers the keynote address to the diocese's 800-plus Catholic school teachers during a professional development day Sept. 26 held at Charlotte Catholic High School. (Lisa Geraci | Catholic News Herald)