As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week, we celebrate one of the great Catholic educators, St. John Bosco. Not only was he the founder of the Salesian community who have set up schools for poor children around the world, but also developed what was, for its time, a radical new system for education.
In the 19th century the basic approach to education was to say the least severe. Don Bosco, as he is called, developed what was call the "preventative system." His system was grounded in three pillars: reason, religion, and loving kindness. In a world that believed the way you deal with troubled youth was simply more "discipline", St. John Bosco believed that his pillars were the best way to lead young people to the right path.
Our Catholic schools offer places where those three pillars are still are the heart of education. In these last decades with the loss of the cheap labor provided by religious sisters, we have struggled to find a new model that makes high quality Catholic education available to our children, especially those who are most at risk.
Let us pray today that through the intercession of St. John Bosco we may find the answers we need.
