“The diocesan pastoral council took charge of working on the” Construction site of the road and of the village “, one of the three proposed by the text with the prospects for the second year of the Synodal Way delivered to the local Churches by the CEI (HERE the full document). It is a working group that has begun to reflect on it, and you managers are the first interlocutors with whom to share this listening ». In the wake of these words of Msgr. Antonio Napolioni, on Thursday 20 October 2022 in Cremona, hosted in the “Sala Spinelli” of the diocesan pastoral center, the meeting of the bishop with the representatives of the Catholic and equal Catholic schools of the diocesan territory. A constructive debate between the bishop and the leaders, which was also attended by Fr Giovanni Tonani, the diocesan in charge of school pastoral care.
Focused on the question of the identity of Catholic schools, it was the first of three stages (next in February and May 2023) which, in continuity with the “Cantieri di Betania” proposed by the Italian Church and resumed in the diocesan proposal for pastoral year in progress, they will be fundamental for schools and for the Diocese to be able to “open” a synodal building site for education, to get to know each other and walk together.
To open the event, the introduction by Fr Tonani, who explained, illustrating the stages, the purposes of this journey. Following, the opening of the discussion with teachers and managers, built on the provocation of Bishop Napolioni: “What do you notice about the” health “of education?”
There are many and urgent challenges, shared during the meeting, with which schools, in recent years, have to deal with: from the drop in enrollment to the lack of personnel and motivations, to the educational emergency. For a better work “we need greater collaboration between schools, not only Catholic, and parishes – the bishop recommended -. There are religion teachers who do not even talk to parish priests and vice-parish priests. There is a need to tell the school today to the Church. We want our own schools, but we often don’t know the school environment ».
But the commitment doesn’t have to be one-sided. Everything revolves around the passion for education, a distinctive trait of the Christian style in the formation of the new generations “It is the duty of the Diocese to stimulate the school – continued Napolioni -, also through a project built together”.
Between critical issues and the search for possible solutions, five fundamental concepts emerged during the meeting: the dialogue between school and the Church, the parental figure and dedicated accompanying programs, the focus on children from 0 to 6 years, spirituality and disabilities in schools. All elements, as important as they are delicate, on which to continue to reflect and work. Not alone, however, as the bishop invited with determination, proposing a commitment: “For the next meetings – he said – we must have interlocutors who are not only those of today”.
The event ended with a warning from the bishop: «By following these steps, let us convert to a work of the whole, to a more mature ecclesiality. I hope that you also feel responsible for the spirituality of teachers. Ask for help, let’s make this year and those to come a common journey ”.
Matteo Cattaneo
(from TeleRadio Cremona Cittanova – photo Diocese of Cremona)