As soon as Pope Francis’ visit was over, the Spiritual Development in Schools and the Prayer Spaces Teams organized a webinar for educators in State and Independent schools on the 11th of April 2022. The theme was: Pope Francis arrived and departed – How will his visit affect my life as an educator?
The aim of the webinar was to inspire all educators in their mission by delving deeper into the Pope’s message during his visit to Malta. Fr Paul Chetcuti SJ helped the participants to reflect on the Pope’s words and about their mission as educators based on these 4 aspects: God heals all wounds and reconciles all brokenness, kindness and humanity, the environment around us and the Joy of Giving. During his input, fr Paul encouraged educators to go beyond the mere academic by focusing on their own and their students’ brokenness and humanity.
The Educators’ reflections
During their discussions in the break out rooms, participants were invited to reflect deeply about how the Lord brings salvation through our inner woundedness, how it helps us to discover God’s love and how it can help educators to be compassionate and supportive of their students. Educators also reflected on how a deep kindness and humanity could help them to create a ‘safe harbour’ of solidarity within the school community so that educators could build their teaching around personal interaction with their students.
Educators also reflected on the Pope’s words to nurture and safeguard the environment and discussed how the school community could instil a love of Mother Earth in their students through various activities.
Last but not least, educators discussed and shared concrete ideas on how they could be role models to the school community by instilling the values of generosity and the love of giving in their students.
“We came together to look at our profession from a spiritual point of view.”
This webinar was an opportunity for educators to come together and reflect on their profession as educators from a spiritual point of view. Several Catholic educators working in State and Independent schools serve their colleagues and students empowered by their Catholic faith. The Pope’s gestures and words encouraged and helped them in their work in school and so this space was very beneficial so that they can share their reflections.