Joint letter of the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life

On 22 May 2023, the Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life invited to the Vatican a number of leading figures in the worldwide network of Catholic schools, in order to discuss in person the prospects and difficulties involved in the mission of education in our time, which Pope Francis has described as “not simply an epoch of changes, but an epochal change.”

Why did the invitation for this listening session come not only from the Dicastery for Education but also from that for Consecrated Life? Because a significant number of the over 240,000 Catholic schools that make the Church one of the world’s leading players in primary and secondary education are directed by Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The joint initiative was not only strategic, but also – and above all – concerned with respecting what the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium recommended in its call for “reciprocal listening, whereby everyone has something to learn” (No. 4). On that occasion, as Offices of the Holy See in service to the Holy Father, we were able to learn from those engaged on the front lines of education; moreover, the two Dicasteries were able to learn from one another. Two eyes always see better than one, and two ears hear better than one.

We express our gratitude to those who devote their lives and energies to the important mission of education to which they have been called. Our thanks go to teachers and non-teaching personnel who make up the educational community worldwide: they are like different-coloured threads woven into a single tapestry. Our thanks also go to those families who avail themselves of the expertise of the Christian community and raise their sons and daughters in an educational partnership with Catholic schools. We likewise thank those Bishops, Dioceses and Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life who invest significant human effort and financial resources in maintaining older schools and building new ones. Seen from above, the work of all these individuals and groups – each with its own touch and charism – makes up a magnificent choreography that desires to include everyone in the dance of life.