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carried out.” [7] Catholic schools also have a missionary thrust, by means of which they make a significant contribution “to the evangelizing mission of the Church throughout the world, including those areas in which no other form of pastoral work is possible.” [8]

Precisely because of this evangelizing mission, our schools, if they are to be genuinely ecclesial–and they must be that if they are to be authentically Catholic–must be integrated within the organic pastoral activity of the parish, diocesan and universal Church. “Unfortunately, there are instances in which the Catholic school is not perceived as an integral part of organic pastoral work, at times it is considered alien, or very nearly so, to the community. It is urgent, therefore, to sensitize parochial and diocesan communities to the necessity of their devoting special care to education and schools.” [10]

The Catholic school, therefore, should play a vital role in the pastoral activity of the diocese. [11] It is a pastoral instrument of the Church for her mission of evangelization. The bishop’s leadership is pivotal in lending support and guidance to Catholic schools: “only the bishop can set the tone, ensure the priority and effectively present the importance of the cause to the Catholic people.” [12]

III. Five Essential “Marks” of Catholic Schools

Now let’s turn to a discussion of the question to which the Holy See addresses its most serious attention. Its documents repeatedly emphasize that certain characteristics must be present if a school is to be considered Catholic. Like the “marks” of the Church proclaimed in the Creed, so, too, does it identity the principal features of a school qua Catholic. For the purpose of this talk I will expand the four ecclesial marks to five scholastic ones!

. . . .

1. Inspired by a Supernatural Vision

The enduring foundation on which the Church builds her educational philosophy is the conviction that it is a process which forms the whole child, especially with his or her eyes fixed on the vision of God. [13] The specific purpose of a Catholic education is the formation of boys and girls who will be good citizens of this world, enriching society with the leaven of the Gospel, but who will also be citizens of the world to come. [14] Catholic schools have a straightforward

[8] Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, 11; cf Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School, 9; Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School , 33.
[9] Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, 15.
[10] Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 44.
[11] Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium, 12.
[12] Cf. The Catholic School, 72; Congregation for Bishops, Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops (Vatican City: Vatican Press, 2004), 133.
[13] John Paul II, Ad limina Address to American Bishops, 28 October 1983, 7.
[14] Cf. Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School, 29.
[15] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Gravissimum Educationis, 8: “The Catholic school, while it is open, as it must be, to the situation of the contemporary world, leads its students to promote efficaciously the good of the earthly city and also prepares them for service in the spread of the Kingdom of God, so that by leading an exemplary apostolic life they become, as it were, a saving leaven in the human community.”