In Pope Francis’ address to catechists in September 2013 he challenged all of us to not be afraid to go beyond our comfort zones, to go to the outskirts. The word catechist means to echo the faith. All who are in Catholic education are catechist, all are challenged to go to the outskirts.
In response to this call a panel of distinguished Catholic educators will discuss how do we go to the outskirts in the 21st century. The questions they will be responding to are:
- Are U.S. Catholic educational institutions, including schools and universities, in our day truly at the service of the new wave of immigrant Catholics, mostly from Latin America, Asia and Africa?
- Often, parents tell us that they cannot teach their children because of their lack of knowledge of the faith. Many were not brought up in an era when strong moral teaching or doctrinal content was taught. How does this make parents people on the outskirts and in what ways are they in need of evangelization?
- What are the fears that keep us from going to the margins? How will we be able to understand “reality” better from the outskirts rather than our own comfort zones?
“Going to the Outskirts: A Call to Catholic Educators” will take place following the World Meeting of Families on Friday, September 25 from 2:00-5:00pm at West Catholic Prep High School, 4501 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For further details please visit our website.
Have a question on the topic for the panelists but unable to attend the event? NCEA has you covered! Tweet your question to @NCEATalk using #NCEAatWMOF. NCEA staff will ask a select number of questions on your behalf and share the panelists’ responses after the event!
