I placed the envelope into the pigeon hole and waited for the end to come.

I had just sent a letter to my principal challenging an indefensible decision. In the interests of the dreaded desire to be ‘pastoral’ they had done something completely loopy.

No really I mean it. In ‘The Big Book of Weird, Unpredictable and Completely  Crazy Things That Undermine The Church’ this would have its own chapter.

I was young, passionate and still clinging to the quaint idea that a Catholic school might be, well…you know…occasionally Catholic. As long, of course, as we were inclusive and did not offend anyone in the process.

Anyway…I basically sank my career and six months later was gone…but I did learn something.

For a Catholic school to be effective we need congruence. We actually need teachers and leaders who actually try to live the Gospel…even the hard parts. We need saints. Nothing less.

To put it simply, if our lives are out of order, if we scoff at and undermine the Church’s authentic teaching then it does not matter how many social justice programs we run…it’s over.

This week, in the Going Deeper Online Staff Formation Program we have been continuing our journey through the Church document Lay Catholics in Schools – Witnesses to Faith.  And let’s just say it’s a document that is unambiguous when it comes to the importance of how we actually live and conduct ourselves in front of students. For example:

Conduct is always much more important that speech; this fact becomes especially important in the formation period of students.

The more completely an educator can give concrete witness to the model of the ideal person that is being presented to the students, the more the ideal will be believed and imitated.”

We need teachers and principals and CEO staff to live the Gospel. We need people who know they are sinners and hunger for the grace of Jesus in the sacraments. Without that, who gives a hoot what we say to students…it won’t matter.

We’ve just spent the last thirty odd years boring them silly with words that many teachers don’t actually believe or live. If we don’t believe it and live it then they will NEVER believe it. We may have the eloquence of angels but without the presence of Jesus, the demands of the Gospel and the desire to be holy permeating our souls….we are wasting our time and theirs.

The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle. 

Brennan Manning