EREA
EREA, Australia
Wayne Tinsey, Executive Director EREA, has written an inspirational letter to the staff of EREA at the beginning of the new school year 2011.
The Charism of Edmund Rice:
Our schools are defined by and formed around the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice. Often times we hear this word ‘charism’, but what does it really mean? I am certainly no expert in this area but humbly offer the following ideas, which help me understand the meaning and implications of charism, particularly as related to our work in Edmund Rice education. I spent great time with Brothers around the country at the end of last year discussing these ideas. I thank them for their wisdom.
The Core of our Mission:
The Church we serve promotes service and compassionate engagement with the world as indispensible to the way in which Christians worship a loving God who stands with and for the poor. Ignoring the poor means that we potentially ignore God since through our attempts to overcome poverty and marginalisation we participate in God’s plan. In the words of Joan Chittister: ‘To say that we believe that God loves the poor, judges in their behalf, wills their deliverance but do nothing ourselves to free the poor, to hear their pleas, to lift their burdens, to act in their behalf, is an empty faith indeed.’
Our Challenge to Respond:
At times this can become an uncomfortable discussion for us in the Western world. It centres on the materially poor and by most measures we are not poor, it may challenge existing structures and on many of those structures we may have built our careers and community life. [Wayne gives most of his letter to this section.]
Co-responsibility: The Stuff of Family!
Let us aspire to a vision for Catholic education in which parents, fully informed from the point of original interview, would be proud of the fact that part of their school fee dollar can potentially go towards the support of needy families inside and outside of their school community; and this would be a source of great pride.
In Conclusion:
As human institutions, we can only struggle to live up to our own vision, to reform our life continually, so as to be coherent with our vision. Our efforts to address these questions in the light of the Gospel contribute to our authenticity and capacity to claim the title of Christian community. Faithfulness to the charism of Edmund Rice and our Charter demands that we do so.
As we approach the 2011 school year as communities focussed and gathered around the charism of Blessed Edmund Rice, let’s commit ourselves to regular reflection on just who we are; what we’re called to be and the deep ideals which have defined our history, but that should always set the direction for our future.
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