Classroom discussion at St. Joseph Academy. Photo courtesy of Sara Hofflander.
By Casey Bassett
The complexities and intricacies of today’s digital age present a sort of paradox in the arena of civic engagement. On one hand, social media platforms provide connection and messaging impact never before thought possible. Local citizens can join neighborhood communication groups where concerns are voiced and solutions are presented.
On the other hand, those same platforms can undermine the critical thinking muscles that are necessary for true civic engagement to take place. Instead of thinking through political and community problems in civil discourse, opinions are formed around incendiary posts and lobbed as missiles towards opposing views.
For the good of our society and the future of our country, it has never been more urgent to teach responsible and rightly ordered civic engagement to our youth. The Catholic schools in our diocese are on the frontlines of this mandate, helping to shape a promising future for our local and national communities.
Civic engagement and our Catholic faith
Civic engagement, at its heart, is acting towards improving community life and the common good. It encompasses a wide variety of activities, from volunteering to staying active in the public decision making process of local governments and beyond.
Sara Hofflander, head of the St. Joseph Academy (pre-K through grade 8), sees a direct connection between civic engagement and our duties to God’s commands.
“Civic engagement is an extension of the Lord’s command to love our neighbor,” said Sara. “The piety we seek to imbue is expressed first in how we approach our duties to God—to love and adore him—but it’s also a virtue that can be understood as a hierarchy of duties and loves. For example, piety toward one’s parents. There is also a proper piety that should be lived in relation to one’s community and nation.”
In the classroom
In the classroom, the cultivation of this piety and love begins with a contemplation of the transcendentals: truth, goodness and beauty. Not only does this contemplation foment a love for God and neighbor, but it also challenges the intellects of students and flexes the critical thinking muscles that are sorely needed in civic engagement today.
“For all ages, we strive to pursue the good, true and beautiful with excellence,” Sara said. “In elementary school, the students learn the virtues. As we read various stories from history and literature, we teach the students to identify virtue and its effects, often asking, ‘How is the true, good and beautiful unfolding? How are we called to imitate this in our own experiences?’ Through our studies, we explore many examples of saints and heroic characters who become models for our students to imitate.”
Discussion and discourse between students and teachers within the classroom setting is a key component of teaching civic engagement to students. Activities like socratic seminars help students think and talk through problems and questions respectfully and collaboratively.
“They become very passionate in their discussions, and therefore, they tend to be the ones articulating what developments ought to be happening in our society and how they can get involved,” Sara said. “This then manifests in their writing, projects, discussions and works. This can then lead to the articulation of future goals as well as current works that they are doing alongside their peers and families.”
As students progress through grade-levels, the discussions and topics become increasingly complex and carry greater personal and societal consequences.
“For our oldest students, they have been wrestling all year with an analysis of just war and its implications on the state of our world today,” said Sara. “They also read excerpts of Rerum Novarum, which prompted a solid discussion of both our right to private property as well as our call to give generously to the poor and to develop a society that respects the rights of each individual person.”
The leaven of society
The goal of civic engagement formation is simple and clear: To be active ambassadors of God’s love in our communities and country.
“We strive to form thriving human beings who are grounded in an understanding of their vocation as self-gift to be leaven in society,” Sara said. “We hope and desire that the students have a variety of pursuits, including religious vocations, fathers and mothers, roles in the professional sphere, craftsmen and roles caring for a wide variety of human needs.”
Civic engagement formation is not limited to St. Joseph Academy. Many other Catholic schools in our diocese have begun the process of implementing tools like socratic seminars and have placed an emphasis on forming students to be active and engaged citizens.
The benefits of well-formed Catholics who are actively engaged in their communities are felt first in the local communities of our diocese. But as our schools continue to prioritize civic engagement, those benefits will extend far beyond our region, helping shape a stronger future for our nation.
