By Laura Melius
St. Mary Catholic Schools in Dell Rapids is one of several schools in the diocese who have embarked on fulfilling a vision of providing a more authentically Catholic educational experience for their teachers and students. The school system is accomplishing this through training and developing curriculum with the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE).
According to its website, the mission of ICLE is to “inspire and equip Catholic educators to renew today’s Catholic schools by drawing on the Church’s tradition of education, which frees teachers and students for the joyful pursuit of faith, wisdom and virtue.”
“As Bishop DeGrood set his vision for the Diocese of Sioux Falls as Lifelong Catholic Missionary Discipleship Through God’s Love, he has also expressed a desire that our churches and schools be authentically Catholic,” Casey Michel, St. Mary Schools 7-12 principal and activities director, explained.
Catholic schools are supported in fulfilling this mission by:
- Reflecting on Church teachings and historical approaches to guide today’s education.
- Recovering and adapting the classical tradition of liberal education as embraced and developed by the Church.
- Supporting Catholic educators through conferences, teacher development programs, in-service workshops, consultation and publications.
- Advancing this vision among schools, colleges, dioceses and other individuals and institutions involved in Catholic education.
The educational experience provided through ICLE, based in the liberal arts and sciences, is much like those used by the earliest Catholic institutions. These early institutions formed many of the Church’s greatest saints and holy writers, those we now know as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John Henry Newman.
Just the beginning
St. Mary’s staff just began training in ICLE this past winter, and this training will continue over a three-year period.
“We did our first staff training session in February, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Casey said. “Our enrollment in ICLE is a years-long process that helps our school and pastorate fulfill some of our goals through Bishop DeGrood’s Set Ablaze pastoral planning.”
“The three-year time frame comes from ICLE and is not set by us,” Deb Kallhoff, St. Mary’s preschool through grade 6 principal and curriculum director, explained. “It would be difficult to complete the process in a shorter time frame, however, because of the amount of professional development necessary for our teachers to feel fully prepared to embrace the program.”
Free to learn
“Liberal” is derived from the Latin liber, which means free, (such as in the word “liberty”). The ultimate goal of this vision of Catholic liberal education is to reach freedom in Christ as he reveals himself through his Church. When students are provided with this Catholic liberal education, it frees them “to know, to love and to live joyfully in the truth of Jesus Christ.”
Deb explained that through ICLE training, teachers are instructed in areas such as narration, recitation, picture studies and other exercises that will lead their students to think more deeply about what they are learning. Suggestions for incorporating more beautiful faith-based literature and art into the curriculum are provided as well.
The administrators emphasize that the goal is not to incorporate any abrupt or drastic changes in the Catholic education already provided at St. Mary’s. This vision looks to be more intentional in placing Christ at the center in little ways in the classroom.
“We’ve told our teachers that this isn’t a 180-degree turn from what we’ve been doing,” Casey said. “It’s a 10-15 degree shift towards being more intentional about our faith.”
Incorporating faith
One example of how St. Mary’s has already accomplished this is the incorporation of more faith-based literature into their annual Declam event, which is completed by their upper elementary grade levels.
“Each year, our third through sixth grade students do Declam poetry memorizations and recitations, something we’ve been doing for years,” Casey explained. “This year we are having them choose all works of faith so that while learning their poems, they can also learn more about their Catholic faith.”
Deb said teachers informed their students of these upcoming changes and expectations in what would be chosen for recitation, and there were no concerns from the students.
“They understand that our faith should be at the center and focus of all that we do, so memorizing faithful and pure works goes along with that,” she said.
“We’re not overhauling what we’re doing, we’re just doing what we can to shift the focus of keeping Jesus at the center of our lives,” Casey added.
As teachers continue to learn more about the ICLE philosophy in their training sessions, they are also given access to an online community of teachers and schools who have fully adopted the ICLE vision into their schools.
“It is about providing an authentically Catholic education for the mind, body and soul,” Deb said. “We are able to move towards this end by providing students with truth and beauty through our selection of curriculum and providing living examples within our staff.”
Casey agreed. “The ultimate goal is to continue to draw the children at St. Mary’s closer to God in all that we do, so that they graduate ready to fulfill Bishop DeGrood’s vision for our diocese.”
Laura Melius is a freelance writer and parishioner at All Saints Parish in Mellette. She has a degree in English and a certificate in Catholic catechesis.
