A Vision of Faculty/Staff Formation

1. A Vision of Faculty/Staff Formation Alice I. Hession Director of Sponsorship Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools www.xbss.org

3. History • Members of Religious Communities – Novitiate and Community Room • No real formation for lay faculty – Osmosis • “To Teach as Jesus Did” Issues of Faculty Staff Formation Today

4. Three perspectives on Evangelization • Those up close to us and curious about spirituality but with little religious experience; now they are in our culture—Never before • The faithful who still need life-giving experiences to reconnect with saying yes to God; “The New Evangelization” which is on-going adult faith formation.—Once more with feeling • Those who have all the words but not the Word, don’t get the heart of the Good News, need remediation. Often have been hurt by Christian communities—In need of healing NCEA – 2000 - Michael Horan, “Evangelizing the School”

5. Questions for Reflection • What do we know about the faith journeys of faculty/staff? • What relevance is the personal faith journey to the role of teacher/staff member in a Catholic school?

6. The Courage to TeachParker Palmer “Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are no more or no less that the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to my soul. If I am willing to look at that mirror, and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge – and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject.”

7. Institutional Needs • Catholic Identity • Culture of Your School • School Legacy • Goals and Values

8. “The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School” In the 1988 document, it states.. “ From the first moment that a student sets foot in a Catholic school, he or she ought to have the impression of entering a new environment, one illuminated by the light of faith…The Gospel spirit should be evident in a Christian way of thought and life which permeates all facets of the educational program.”

9. “The Catholic School” # 43 “The achievement of the specific aim of the Catholic school depends not so much on subject matter or methodology as on the people who work there. The extent to which the Christian message is transmitted through education depends to a very great extent on the teachers. The integration of culture and faith is mediated by the other integration of faith and life in the person of the teacher. The nobility of the task to which teachers are called demands that, in imitation of Christ, the only Teacher, they reveal the Christian message not only by word by also by every gesture of their behavior. This is what makes the difference between a school whose education is permeated by the Christian spirit and one in which religion is only regarded as an academic subject like any other.”

10. Educating Together in Catholic Schools- # 25 “Catholic educators need a ‘formation of the heart’: they need to be led to that encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits to others, so that their educational commitment becomes a consequence deriving from their faith, a faith which becomes active through love… It is only in this way that they can make their teaching a school of faith, that is to say, a transmission of the Gospel, as required by the educational project of the Catholic school.”

11. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing “Everyone has a spirituality, either a life-giving one or a destructive one… Spirituality is about being integrated or falling apart, about being within community or being lonely, about being in harmony with Mother Earth or being alienated from her. Irrespective of whether or not we let ourselves be consciously shaped by any explicit religious idea, we act in ways that leave us either healthy or unhealthy, loving or bitter. What shapes our actions is our spirituality.” …”It is about what we do with our spirits, our souls.”

12. Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing …“A healthy soul must do two things. It must put some fire in our veins; keep us energized, vibrant, full of hope… Second, a healthy soul has to keep us fixed together. It has to give us a sense of who we are, where we came from, where we are going, and what sense there is in all of this.”

13. Models of Faculty Formation Two approaches • Formational • Thematic • Formational Concerned with the faith journey of individual • Thematic Concerned with the values a school holds and the process by which a faculty member comes to accept and espouse those values

14. Faculty Formation • Dimensions of Formation Programs • Elements of Content for Formation Programs • Models • Applications in School Settings

15. Dimensions of Formation Group Individual Formation Formation

16. Elements of Faculty Formation • Message • Community • Service • Prayer & Liturgy • The Legacy of your school in Catholic education • Moral Formation • Missionary Perspective Adapted from Our Hearts Were Burning Within US, US Catholic Bishops, 1999

17. Message - Understanding the basic teachings of the Catholic faith - Importance of Scripture - Social Justice and the Dignity of the Human Person - Current Church teachings

18. Community • Growth in personal relationships • Celebration of gifts, talents, and life’s blessings • Recognition and involvement of family

19. Service • Personal service to those in need • Social action • Global call

20. Prayer and Liturgy • Understanding of role of liturgy in Catholic life • Practices of Catholic piety and devotion • Shared personal prayer • Opportunities of contemplation and meditation

21. The Unique Tradition of Your School • Mission, Vision, Values • Spirituality • History • Diocesan Legacy

22. Xaverian Spirit • Mission, Vision, Values, Calls, Goals, and Criteria of Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools • Spirituality of Theodore James Ryken • Fundamental Principles of the Xaverian Brothers • History of Xaverian Educational Mission • Xaverian Brothers Today: Contemplative Stance in the World and Mission to the Poor and Marginalized

23. Moral Formation • Appreciation of Christian values and moral norms • Christian ethics • Clarification of current religious and moral questions in light of faith

24. Missionary Perspective • Evangelization • Ecumenical dialogue • Global Perspective of Mission

25. Models of Faculty Formation Two approaches • Formational • Thematic • Formational Concerned with the faith journey of individual • Thematic Concerned with the values a school holds and the process by which a faculty member comes to accept and espouse those values

26. Formational Approaches • Evangelization Model • Pre-Evangelization • Contact • Evangelization • Connection to People, History, Value • Community • Experiences, Ritual • Commitment • Service, Responsibility

27. Formational Approaches • RCIA/Conversion Model • Pre-Catechumenate • Initial Formation • Catechumenate • Specific Formation • Enlightenment • Ritual • Mystagogia • Discipleship

28. Formational Approaches • Servant Leadership Model • Awareness • Transformation • Leadership • Stewardship

29. Thematic Approaches • Teaching as Ministry Model • The Church’s Call to Ministry in Education • Ministry to Whom • My Gifts and Talents in Ministry • Christian Community

30. Thematic Approaches • School Culture • Selecting • Conditioning • Training • Measuring and Rewarding • Shared Values • Legends and Folklore • Role Models Culture.com by Neuhauser, Bender and Stromberg

31. Thematic Approaches • Legacy Model • History of those who have gone before • Local legacy of Catholic education • Current vision and values • Reflection on mission

32. Thematic Approaches • Xaverian Legacy Model • Theodore James Ryken and the History of the Xaverian Brothers • The Twelve Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools • Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools - Mission, Vision, Values, Calls and Goals • The Call to be Missionary • “Reading the Signs of the Times”

33. Application to School Settings Faculty Formation Committees • Membership - 5-10 members including at least one administrative contact person • Develop a vision of faculty formation for the school • Coordinate Elements of Faculty Formation Message, Community, Service, Liturgy & Prayer, Moral Formation, Missionary Perspective, Unique tradition of your school

34. Sample Structures 1,100 students – 80 faculty Formation Committee - 8-10 including Assistant Principal - Retreat - Social - Cultural - Prayer - Schools for Justice - Book Discussion 450 Students – 35 Faculty Formation Committee – 5 including Campus Minister - Prayer - Social - Service - Retreat - Mentoring

35. Sample Structures 650 Students 50 Faculty Director of Mission - Chaplain to the Faculty 3 Spiritual Directors – outside of school Retreat – Theme from sessions with spiritual directors – personal spirituality Formation Committee - 8-10 - Christian community activities - Service

36. Challenges • Formational Approach • Unique faith journeys • Planners – Background in Spirituality and Personal Development essential • Thematic Approach • Academic Orientation • Integration of personal faith and information

37. Questions for Reflection/Discussion • Do you have an operating model, formational or thematic, of Faculty/Staff Formation in your school? • What are the specific goals of your program? • What particular elements have been the focus of your Faculty/Staff Formation efforts in the past few years? Why? What elements have not been included? Why? • How would a model supplement and inform Staff Development and Faculty Supervision processes? • Has/will your Board support the Faculty/Staff Formation effort with sufficient resources?

38. “The Catholic School” “To commit oneself to working in accordance with the aims of a Catholic school is to make a great act of faith. Only one who has this conviction and accepts Christ’s message, who has a love for and understands today’s young people, and who appreciates what people’s real problems and difficulties are, will be held to contribute with courage and even audacity to the progress of building up a Catholic school.”

39. A Vision of Faculty/Staff Formation Alice I. Hession Director of Sponsorship Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools www.xbss.org ahession@xaverianbrothers.org