(ANS - San Paolo) - "Education is becoming increasingly elitist", merely "giving notional content. It does not include the whole of human life. If the person is to feel a person, he must feel, think and do. There are the three simple languages: the mind, heart, hands." So said Pope Francis in a video message released on the occasion of the 24^th Inter-American Congress of Catholic Education (CIEC) held from 13 to 15 January in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Among the participants at the Congress there were Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and lay people working with the Salesian charism in different countries of the American continent. The Congress, on the theme "The Catholic School for the twenty-first century", brought together about a thousand representatives of Catholic education in various countries and was attended by teachers, religious and laity who work in Catholic schools.  The organization was shared by the religious congregations involved in education in the continent.

The main objective of the event was to rethink and revitalize the role of Catholic schools in the twenty-first century America, in the light of the documents and directives of the Church.

Participants included Aloysio Mercadante, Minister for Education of Brazil; Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela, SDB, of Asunción,  President of the Commission for Culture and Education of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM); and Sr. Maria Ines Vieira Ribeiro, President of the Conference of Religious of Brazil (CRB).

The big surprise at the opening ceremony was the video of Pope Francis. "To be an educator is to be like Jesus, who taught us" the Pope said in the video. He then concluded: "being an educator is a specific way of serving and loving."

Another highlight of the Congress was the presentation of the work done by the Salesians (SDB) and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) for education in the country. SDB and FMA Provincials have invested courageously in education, so that now the Salesian Family in Brazil has 106 schools with 80,000 students and 7,000 teachers.

Published 21/01/2016