Core Values and Servant Leadership in Catholic Schools

The Mission and Identity of Catholic Schools

Catholic schools are ministries of the Catholic community that exist to provide education rooted in the Catholic faith and Christian values. Such schools are developed to offer assistance to families in the intellectual, spiritual, and physical development of their children. The Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE, 1998) explains the function of Catholic schools as "a place of integral education of the human person through a clear educational project of which Christ is the foundation" (p. 4). Thus, in general, the vision of any particular Catholic middle school is to foster the development of Catholic values through prayer, learning, and stewardship toward the Church and the community. To prepare students for life goals, the schools attempt to cultivate in their students the capacity for lifelong learning, strong moral decision-making skills, and well-being in mind and body for all learners. Catholic middle schools attempt to provide students with a superior academic preparation for their secondary school education, which will hopefully lead to their serving and becoming valuable members of both the church and the civic community. Unlike public schools, the primary goals of Catholic schools are not primarily concerned with academics alone.

In Catholic schools, evaluating academic achievement represents only part of the overall picture for assessing mission effectiveness. The title of "Catholic School" implies a dual perspective for which the institution is fully accountable: there are both a religious dimension and an educational dimension. However, to interpret this as meaning that there are two separate missions or sets of core values for Catholic schools would be a mistake. Instead, the core values of Catholic schools are synthesized into a set of values that reflect both dimensions. This blend of educational, social, and spiritual values places the mission of the Catholic school on a higher plane. On a practical level, there are two masters to whom Catholic schools are held accountable — God and Caesar, if you will. These represent separate and important challenges for Catholic school leaders. Catholic school core values basically represent a synthesis of the current culture and faith as well as a synthesis of faith and life (CCE, 1977).

When examining core goals from other religious persuasions, one may sense that it is difficult to specify what gives Catholicism its distinctive character. The core values of Catholicism give it its identity. Likewise, these core values give Catholic schools their distinctive character and set them apart from other schools. Many features of different Christian faiths are remarkably similar, but there are some characteristics of Catholicism that, taken together, give it its distinctiveness. Gilky (1975) put forth four distinguishing features of this unique configuration of Catholicism, which were later heavily drawn upon by Groome:

1. A deep commitment to tradition. Catholicism places a heavy emphasis on the importance and weight of tradition and history in the formation of its goals, its religious truths, religious experience, and human wisdom.
2. A positive anthropology. This is a pragmatic but optimistic understanding of humankind as capable of sin but still fundamentally good and wanting to do good. Catholicism emphasizes the relational nature and communal grace of human existence and is therefore quite optimistic in its approach.
3. A conviction regarding God's grace. The sense that God's grace is present and active in human life.
4. A commitment to rationality. Catholicism places a high regard on reason in life and in faith.

Core values are esteemed and collectively accepted ideals that a group holds in common. Four of the cited building blocks of cultural architecture are core values, language, symbols, and traditions (Deal & Peterson, 1990). These values give the school meaning and identity. There are several sources that can help a Catholic school leader identify Catholic school core beliefs and values:

1. Church Documents are a primary source for Catholic school core values.
2. Scholarship can help. For example, Groome (1998) identifies eight core values of Catholicism relevant to Catholic schools in a comprehensive volume.
3. Religious Charisms for community-sponsored schools. Core beliefs and values often reflect the charism of the sponsoring religious community. The charism often puts its own distinctive emphasis on Catholic values (Cook, 2001).

In his discussion on why Catholic schools represent communities, Strike (1999) makes the presumption that the values of Catholic schools are constitutive educational values. These values possess two properties: first, they embody the notion of the ends of a good education; second, constitutive values create common projects. These constitutive values must be pursued cooperatively because it is impractical to try to reach them individually. Thus, while many may agree on what comprises the ends of a good education (the first property), marrying educational goals with the principles of God's will requires cooperation and teamwork (the second property). Such goals require a kind of working cooperation similar to the way sports teams must work together. If those goals are not pursued collectively, it is the team that suffers. Constitutive values therefore produce a sense of belonging. By contrast, agreeing that a good education leads to better jobs and higher income does not necessarily unite people toward one particular common educational project.

Groome's Core Theological Values for Catholic Education

Groome (1996), in an often-cited work, proposed five particular and distinguishing characteristics of Catholicism that were important for educational values and goals. His five core values are:

1. Catholicism's positive anthropology of the person;
2. Catholicism's sacramentality of life;
3. Catholicism's communal emphasis regarding human and Christian existence;
4. Catholicism's commitment to tradition as the source of its Story and Vision; and
5. Catholicism's appreciation of rationality and learning, epitomized in its commitment to education.

Groome referred to these as "theological characteristics" because they were grounded in the Catholic understanding of God and human existence. The first characteristic relates to the Catholic theological understanding of the human condition. It recognizes our inherent tendency to sin and yet, at the same time, the human capacity for good. People are always in need of God's grace and have the capacity, with God's help, to make a positive contribution to both personal and common welfare (in line with the constitutive goal later discussed by Strike, 1999). Furthermore, we are held responsible for the choices we make, and our graced efforts for goodness and truth have historical significance. This translates educationally into affirming students' basic goodness, developing their gifts to the fullest as reflections of God, educating students to live responsibly, and convincing them that their lives have historical significance.

Groome's second value — the sacramentality of life (drawing on Gilky, 1975) — holds that God's creation is essentially good, even though people can misuse or abuse it; whatever God makes can never be inherently evil. Students are thus encouraged to look for the good in life. Groome believed this should foster a kind of critical thinking. Education from a sacramental consciousness should lead students to employ the critical and creative powers of their minds to examine every subject and life itself so intensely and thoroughly that they begin to look through things rather than merely at them.

The communal value emphasis of Groome means that people find their identity and true selves only in relationship with others. This principle emphasizes the social responsibility of Christians to contribute to the common good. From a teaching standpoint, the Catholic school influences students' identity, perspectives, and values by socializing them through the implicit curriculum.

The fourth value states that Catholic education should make every effort to relate all human culture and human affairs to the message of salvation. In this way, the light of faith illuminates the knowledge that students accumulate about the world. The core of this message of salvation is the person of Jesus Christ. In the Catholic school, worship cannot be confined to the chaplaincy, a particular period, or a particular department — it should pervade the entire curriculum. Consistent with this value, the school should offer opportunities for prayer, collective worship, and other spiritual experiences throughout every aspect of its communal life.

The fifth value may surprise some, but Groome connects it to a long history of Catholicism's steadfast commitment to rationality. A Catholic education, he argues, should not tell students what to think but should instead prepare them to think for themselves. It should cultivate in students the habit of critical reflection — a kind of questioning that engages their reason, memory, and imagination. This reasoning is critical in the sense of being aware of the historical sources and responsibilities of all knowledge.

Beyond these five theological characteristics, Groome identified three additional cardinal core values specifically relevant to Catholic education — the hinges that bind the other five:

1. Catholicism's commitment to people's personhood: to who they become and their personal ethical systems.
2. Catholicism's commitment to basic justice.
3. Catholicism's commitment to catholicity, or being truly catholic (universal).

O'Keefe's Alternative Vision of Catholic Core Values

Groome's original core values have been cited and reworked often, with new values added to the original framework. As we will see, they remain visible in the stated core values of many Catholic schools today. O'Keefe (1999), responding to a plea by Rabbi Paley for Jews to expand and carry on the Jewish tradition in Jewish schools, envisioned the core values of the Catholic school in a different manner than Groome. O'Keefe challenged Catholics to take up their core values and expand and carry on the tradition of Catholicism. He articulated seven core values (values originally stated in Latin are here translated into English):

1. The law of prayer is the law of belief. For O'Keefe, one's beliefs should be shaped by communal prayer. This prayer and the Catholic tradition form the backbone of the values, as opposed to faith and rationality alone. The culture of the Catholic school should touch all areas of students' lives and provide a basic structure.
2. The Catholic school is the community of memory. Catholicism honors a centuries-old set of traditions; education in the Catholic tradition involves the retelling of sacred stories. In a world ridden with anomie, students must learn these stories told in a way that is compelling for the present. Students should be exposed to the rich history of the Church, read developmentally appropriate original sources in theology and philosophy, and learn about the controversies that have shaped the reforms of the Church.
3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. At the heart of a Catholic sensibility is the mystery of the Incarnation: the Word was made flesh. The Incarnation demonstrates the nearness of God and the possibilities of authentic existence. Christ points the way, followed by a multitude of saints who demonstrate that holiness is neither abstract nor unattainable, but is incarnated in the real world. Catholic educators must immerse students in the world of these saints. According to O'Keefe, this is character education at its finest.
4. The best decisions are made at the local level. Human dignity is better served by families, neighborhoods, and local communities than by large, impersonal, bureaucratic structures. O'Keefe is aware of the dangers that government, and especially socialism, pose to the Church and the family. For him, bureaucracy and centralization are at odds with a Catholic sensibility.
5. Everyone is my brother or sister. In the true spirit of Christ, the values of Catholic schools should not be designed to alienate or disparage anyone. Solidarity teaches one to look past self-centered views and see the world in a different light. O'Keefe believes that Catholic school values should ready a person to sacrifice themselves for another.
6. The Catholic Church is Catholic. Here O'Keefe emphasizes tolerance and acceptance of others, especially those of different ethnic backgrounds. A core value of Catholic schools is that all students define themselves as Catholic, and there are no other significant defining differences within the school community to be considered.
7. Always keep in mind the end for which something is created. According to O'Keefe, all things must be judged according to the criteria for which they were created — namely, the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Things that foster the end for which they were created are to be embraced; otherwise, they must be modified or abandoned. Through lived example, students should be invited into this spirit of keen discernment and courageous freedom.

While Groome recognized that rationality and academics can bolster the core values of Catholic schools — provided the schools remain committed to core Catholic values — O'Keefe was more resistant to adjustments that might lead Catholic schools to embrace the values of a pluralistic society, such as a lesser focus on Catholic traditions and a greater emphasis on academics. O'Keefe viewed such shifts as detrimental to the core values of Catholic schools and believed those values must remain firmly grounded in Catholic tradition.

Conclusion

The core values of Catholic schools define them, give them structure, and help identify the goals and relationships that make them distinct. These values — whether understood through Groome's theological characteristics, O'Keefe's tradition-centered framework, or Cook's concept of charism — represent the living foundation upon which Catholic school identity rests. When school leaders internalize and model these values, and when servant leadership principles guide institutional decision-making, Catholic schools are positioned to fulfill both their educational and religious missions with integrity and purpose.

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