What Does it Take to Grow a Catholic

Is it easier to grow tomato plants than it is to grow a Catholic in a school?

In some ways the processes are similar.

Both need warmth, light and nutrition. They benefit from staking to head them in the right direction.

Removing pests is always beneficial. Too much light or heat is harmful, as is overfeeding.

Pinching out the growing tips of the tomato plants is an activity best not replicated. Decapitation is not conducive to anything for the individual other than discovering mortality.

The big differences between growing the plants and growing Catholics lie in giving the young Catholics the choice to cooperate with the growing activity at any time and particularly at the end of the process. You give them the choice to walk away, or commit to a lifelong membership of an organisation, whose other-worldly, indescribable spiritual dimension is operational in and expressed through their growing humanity.

It is amazing that a school can do the catholic growing in so few years considering all the other demands on its time, efforts and expectations. Unless of course the school discovers that it can set up its growing of Catholics in such a way that the process powers its performance to excellence in everything it does.

Just as the tomato plant growers have their key activities, so too the Catholic school will identify those elements that must be there and will safeguard against those elements which, if they are distorted, will lead to a damaged product.

In no order of priority, since the interaction between these elements varies according to a wide range of factors, the following steps must always be there. The growing catholic needs to know what is happening. They need to understand this basic knowledge. They should experience the full range of activities of the Church and of being a Catholic in their society, joining in key experiences and rituals, and participating in outreach and support for those in need. The morality that underpins the behaviour of the growing Catholic shapes not just their belief, but underpins and sustains personal behaviour and performance. The fifth element of the growing process is responding to the challenge of the Gospel message, deciding to commit, in the light of all they have learned, of all they understand, of all they have experienced and practised so that they make fully informed decision to commit to their future in a Catholic Church. Finally, close cooperation with parents and community add that extra dimension the school cannot add alone.

Schools do all this while their students experience and learn what it is to become fully rounded, educated, learned, active and responsible members of the society in which they find themselves.

The secret of so many successful Catholic schools lies in their ability to integrate the individuals personal and educational growth with their growth as a Catholic so that the development as a Catholic powers their excellence in growing as educated citizens.

Once you grasp the secret, growing Catholics is easier than growing tomatoes.

Tomatoes don’t have any choices and can’t be active partners. 

(c) Ted Dunphy

26.01.2024