Early September marks the beginning of a new school year! The summer holiday has slipped away and it’s time for a mid-year review: how much of a harvest have we had in our spiritual lives over the past two months? Have our lives become more abundant and even transformed?
Students have enjoyed a leisurely summer break, participating in various classes or travelling. Some dioceses and parishes took advantage of the summer to organise camps or day retreats specifically for young people to foster a sense of belonging in the parish and to strengthen faith and spiritual growth, while imparting the message of caring for the environment.
Of course one of the significant events this summer was World Youth Day in Lisbon, Portugal, with the theme “Mary arose and went with haste” [Luke 1:39]. It attracted over a 100,000 young people from around the world, including delegations the diocese, parishes, schools, and religious orders in Hong Kong, with over 300 participants. Young people found this experience unforgettable. The diocesan groups and parishes held sharing sessions about World Youth Day, eagerly encouraging participants to discuss their personal experiences and feelings.
Many schools held opening ceremonies on August 25. Not only secondary schools, primary schools and kindergartens, but also the Holy Spirit Seminary College, Catechism classes and Sunday Schools, have all begun their classes. How do students feel about the new school year? Is it anticipation, nervousness, curiosity, or excitement?
In the exploration and pursuit of learning journeys, there is undoubtedly a strong thirst for knowledge. This is particularly evident among those who enrolled in catechism classes to seek and understand faith, as well as among believers who registered for adult religious courses. They have all expressed their desire to further their knowledge in their faithful journey which are truly commendable endeavors.
With the changing times and social changes, the curriculum of Catholic education should also be adjusted to be more in line with the actual situation of society, such as ecological conversion, climate change, social justice, medical ethics, peace and order in the international community. Recently, the generative artificial intelligence programme, ChatGPT, has been hotly debated and these subjects closely related to our lives. It’s only natural that people are eager to understand the Church’s stance on these issues. Therefore, the core values and beliefs of Catholic education should be flexibly integrated into the learning framework to allow everyone, whether a believer or not, to learn from them and put these values into practice.
Let us approach the new school year with an attitude of humility, leaving behind prejudice, and embrace new knowledge to enrich our knowledge and spirituality. SE
