Parents as the First Educator

“From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard: This is my beloved Son, hear him" (Matthew 17:5).

 

The Catholic Church has a long tradition of teaching from letters, begun in the days of the apostles. To this day, Catholic schools and parishes are guided by the leaders of the church in via these letters. A seminal document informs Catholic schools to this day, "Gravissimum Educationis," published by the Second Vatican Council in 1965, which reestablished the importance of education in the formation of humans, and particularly, how an education with a Catholic Christian wellspring assists parents in the formation of the human person "in the pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of the societies of which... he [she] will share."

A major point of Gravissimum is that parents are the primary and principal educators of children, that the parish and school are co-responsible parties to this education granted by the parents, and that Catholic schools are uniquely positioned to imbue the culture with the Spirit of Christ: "[the school's] proper function is to create for the school community a special atmosphere animated by the Gospel spirit... to help youth grow according to the new creatures they were made through baptism as they develop their own personalities, and to order the whole of human culture to the news of salvation so that the knowledge the students gradually acquire of the world, life, and man is illumined by the faith." The original letter stresses that "cooperation is the order of the day" as schools and parents guide students in their formation pursuit of knowledge. Here's a good summary of the teaching in Gravissimum: Vatican II on Christian Education | Catholic Culture.

Pope Leo recently published an apostolic letter on Catholic education, Apostolic Letter ‘Drawing New Maps of Hope’ of Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Conciliar Declaration "Gravissimum educationis" (27 October 2025). Some highlights of this letter are found below.

Pope Leo XIV brings the teaching of the Council to today in his letter. We greatly recommend that you read it in full, though here are some quotes from this beautiful document to get you by until then. Pope Leo writes,

• "Where educational communities allow themselves to be guided by the word of Christ, they do not retreat, but are revitalized" (1.1).

•  a person is not a “skills profile”, cannot be reduced to a predictable algorithm, but is a face, a story, a vocation" (4.1).

• "Putting the person at the centre means educating them to see with the far-sightedness of Abraham (Gen 15:5): helping them discover the meaning of life, their inalienable dignity, and their responsibility towards others" (5.1).

• "Education is not only the transmission of content, but also the learning of virtues" (5.1).

• "The Catholic school is an environment in which faith, culture and life intertwine. It is not simply an institution, but rather a living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction" (5.2).

• "faith is not an added “subject,” but a breath that oxygenates every other subject" (6.2).

• "no algorithm can substitute what makes education human: poetry, irony, love, art, imagination, the joy of discovery and even learning from mistakes as an opportunity for growth" (9.2).

 

Blessed Sacrament Catholic School has enjoyed a long tradition of excellence that we continue to foster, build, and support; we continue to strive to be the most excellent Catholic school possible in all ways, particularly in the three pillars of our school's mission: Faith, Academics, and Service. As we open our hearts and minds to be guided by the Holy Spirit, may we be open to all the excellence He has in store for our school!