Describe and explain the nature and purpose of a Cathlic School, Essay

Describe and explain the nature and purpose of a Cathlic School, according to documents published by the Catholic Church - Essay Example Catholic schools have been developed with a different aim and have been able to provide excellent education for several decades. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the nature and purpose of Catholic education as per the documents published by the Catholic Church. In order to gain a clear perspective of the nature and the purpose of Catholic Education, a brief background and history has been discussed. Following this, a detailed discussion of nature and purpose has been presented. History of Catholic Education: Catholic schools are ‘Permeated by Faith’. In 1823, the Benevolent Irish Society opened up a school in St John’s to help poor people as a form of charity. This school was originally known as Orphan Asylum School, and went on to be used by Roman Catholics and Bishop Anthony Fleming. One of the major concerns then was the non-support from the Government to provide any form of financial support to the school (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). Of great concern t o Bishop Fleming was the government’s refusal to help the Orphan Asylum financially, despite the fact that it was the islands largest school and other denominational schools were receiving government support (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). ... In 1842 saw the development of a new act which was based on dividing the grant for the schools evenly between the Roman Catholics and Protestants (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). As time passed several changes and improvements were brought about in the schooling systems and by the mid twentieth century, the focus was now on improving the overall facilities in the schools and making them more effective, in terms of provisions like electricity, water supply and convenience for the students (McBrien, 1994). However throughout the improvements that were being made, the main focus of the schools was on discipline and need for well grown individuals. The next section will detail the nature of catholic education. Nature of Catholic Education: As per the Vatican II document – Gravissimum Education, the nature of Catholic schools has been expressed as: â€Å"The Catholic school pursues cultural goals and the natural development of youth to the same degree as any other school. What makes t he Catholic school distinctive is its attempt to generate a community climate in the school that is permeated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and love. It tries to guide the adolescents in such a way that personality development goes hand in hand with the development of the 'new creature' that each one has become through baptism. It tries to relate all of human culture to the good news of salvation so that the light of faith will illumine everything that the students will gradually come to know about the world, about life, and about the human person† (Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association, 1996). Clearly, Catholic schools tend to be inclined towards spiritual development as well as intellectual development (Robinson, 1996). As per the document from