Playbook Deep Dive

Playbook Deep Dive

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The Catholic Education Playbook and Mission Outcomes document is the framework for understanding how the school can animate the Church’s mission ever more deeply for this age the Lord has placed us in. Specifically, the Playbook and Mission Outcomes give details on what Archbishop Sample means by “Mission Passionate Catholic Education” in the Archdiocese of Portland.

Each month, this section of the Mission Monthly will examine one section of the Mission Indicators (starting on p. 5 of the document linked above), giving explanations and examples of what that Mission Indicator could look like in the life of the school.

The first set of defining characteristics of Spiritual Formation of Disciples explains how the school can ground the students in their identities as beloved children of the Father, their identities within the story of salvation history, and encounter Jesus in a personal way.

What are some examples of the defining characteristics of Spiritual Formation of Disciples in the life of the school? And how can we, as school leaders, “check-in” on these characteristics in the Spiritual Formation of Disciples? Here are a few ideas, with links to resources:

1. As you visit classrooms, listen for this message, “God loves you. He created you. He wants your happiness. He is the way to happiness. He rescues you from meaningless suffering, and He rescues you from your death.” Do you hear that message being said directly to students by teachers and/or adults in the building? This is the message of the “kerygma” and we need to explicitly state it to the children. If it’s not being stated in your school yet, that’s okay. Just start by asking yourself why. Do your teachers need more formation in that message themselves to deepen their belief in it? Do they need permission to state that explicitly? Do they need to be asked to state that message explicitly? One idea: Share the video linked above with your teachers at a staff meeting! Then, discuss it together.
2. Are students taught how to pray personally in conversation with God? What grade? By what adult(s)? Sometimes, this can look like Scripture journaling to God. Or providing time to complete sentence stems for personal prayer. Sometimes, it can look like Lectio Divina, or sometimes it can look like direct instruction on methods of prayer like Ignatian imaginative prayer with the Gospel. If this isn’t happening in every grade, encourage your teachers to do direct instruction on how to pray at least weekly with students using the information in the links above! Then, check that students are being given time for personal prayer at school.
3. Do students attend adoration? Do they know what to do in adoration? They could be encouraged to bring spiritual reading, or they could be encouraged to draw the monstrance and Jesus in it. The goal is to help students develop an attention span for silence, which is so threatened in today’s culture.  In adoration, we can trust that if we cultivate attention and silence, the Lord will speak to the students' hearts and minds.