From March 24 to 26, more than 200 Catholic school teachers and administrators from all over the Philippines joined in “making sense of our past and seeking a sense of our future” – which is also the title of the online symposium the Ateneo de Manila’s Gokongwei Brothers School of Educational and Learning Design (GBSEALD) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) organized for them. This gathering of minds and hearts was generously supported by the SM Foundation and United Laboratories, Incorporated.

In the mornings of the first two days, experts were invited to share their insights on Philippine Catholic education. On March 24, historian Dr. Ambeth Ocampo looked back and pointed to Jose Rizal’s dream school, the Colegio Moderno, which he prototyped in Dapitan. Though this was strictly not a Catholic school, how it modeled integral human formation can still be an inspiring example for us today. 

On March 25, theologian Fr. Gerald O’Collins was invited to help the participants retrieve and rethink Catholic education. This he did by telling the stories of alumni who embodied the ideals of their schools. The ideals Fr. O’Collins grounded his talk on can also be glimpsed in the eight defining characteristics the CEAP has been working on as part of the Philippine Catholic Schools Standards (PCSS). These characteristics scaffolded the discussions that followed.

In the afternoons, the symposium took a more spiritual turn starting with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Participants listened to God in prayer and then listened to each other in break-out rooms, discerning in common their answers to the question, “What makes Catholic education Catholic today?” This was an experiment to see if a symposium could be structured in a synodal way, trusting in the sensus fidei of those working in the field of Catholic education, scholars, and our Church leaders.

On the third day, Fr. Francis Alvarez, SJ, chair of GBSEALD’s Department of Catholic Education Philosophy and Practice, synthesized the outputs of these spiritual conversations under three themes: First, Catholic schools are hearing the call to be more inclusive. This involves not only the LGBTQIA+ community but also non-Christians and non-believers, the poor who may not have access to Catholic education, and people from all colors of the political spectrum. How can we go beyond tolerance but also not water down our own convictions? 

Second, to be more inclusive, we need to face emerging realities. What can help us more critically think about the present concerns of our youth today? 

Third, a sign of hope is that we are not alone in this daunting task. We have a community that includes our students, their parents, and other Catholic schools. 

This community includes our Church leaders, represented in this symposium by Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao, the Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines – Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education (CBCP-ECCCE). He concluded the gathering affirming the outputs of the symposium and ended with a moving testimony to the heroism of those who have devoted their lives to the mission of Catholic education. The participants were inspired to see how the Bishop had personal knowledge of the plight of Catholic teachers and felt his genuine concern for them.

Jeraldine Ching, program director of GBSEALD’s Ignatian Initiative for Teacher Excellence and co-moderator of the symposium summarizes what the online spiritual symposium helped her realize with these words, “I learned that Catholic Education has a communal dimension which is broader than the walls of my institution.  Regardless of the size and the context of the schools, we have more commonalities than differences. Catholic education is beyond curriculum, pedagogy and school standing.  At the heart of this is JOY and HOPE that stems from a deep love of God.  At the end of the day, we hope that our graduates will be filled with this.”

There is much more to mine in the rich outputs of the symposium. A few hours after closing the gathering with a Eucharist presided over by Ateneo de Manila President Fr. Roberto Yap,  GBSEALD began the in-depth analysis of the reflections of the participants so that its future programs and offerings can address what Philippine Catholic education needs today. The themes identified in the synthesis above have already given us the starting points: How can we make Catholic education more inclusive? How do we equip Catholic educators to more critically engage emerging realities? How do we build on the joy and hope we are already enjoying and build up a wider community of Catholic educators?