At the gates of celebrating in Mexico on the day of the teacher, on May 15, the Mexican bishops called on teachers to “sow good principles in the heart of each student.”
This was expressed in a message released on May 13 under the title “Education is a sacred task, because Sacred is the person”, with the signature of Mons. Alfonso Cortés, Archbishop Emeritus de León and responsible for the dimension for the culture and education of the Mexican Episcopate Conference.
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
The Episcopate’s message emphasizes that “for a child, a teenager, a young man and for every human being, it is essential to face life with meaning and dignity, which is unattainable without the correct education.”
“With high virtue, as the classics taught, the human being is trained to confront the tasks of life and, above all, to become a person of good,” he adds.
“After the parents,” he emphasizes, the teachers “have a fundamental opportunity to help Mexico have the citizens that it really deserves.”
“Spending a few hours, every week, in front of their students gives them the opportunity to help them, first of all, to understand the meaning of life, without the demerit of the acquisition of the specific technical tools, so that one day they can perform a trade in a qualified way.”
However, the Mexican bishops warn, “it is time to refocate education, then, the culture of relativism, which moves from the self and its whims, as well as the idolatry of money and power, which Pope Francis pointed out so much, of happy memory, they have mistakenly influenced this sacred task of education. Consequently, the temptation calls us more to educate for having and little with a sense of solidarity.”
The bishops assured that “Pope Francis’s dream” of “a global educational pact” in which teachers “are first level actors” is still in force.
“From this covenant, very specific tasks arise such as recovering the centrality of the person, betting on an integral education, educating in the truth and freedom to promote peace, recognize the fundamental role of the family, work so that school and teachers never lose sight of the mission of education, among others.”
“As a church, believe us, we feel deeply committed to the educational task, because Mexico is interested. Demonstious of their beliefs and ideologies, we ask them to see us as allies in this essential task of human life that unites us and compromises us all,” they concluded.
David Ramos
Graduate in Communication Sciences by the Private University of the North in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working in ACI Press, I am based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered the trips of Pope Francis to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.