As a high school Christian education teacher, I get asked just about every question under the sun. At the high school level, students seem especially interested in two topics of discussion: 1) sexuality; and 2) morality and ethics.
Above all, they relish in discussing the most controversial issues, which as coincidence would have it, are those areas in which the Church stands in stark opposition to the popular trends in society – contraception, abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual relations.
What’s a poor teacher to do in the face of a constantly evolving culture of emotionally charged convictions that go against Church teaching on some of the most important and relevant issues pertaining to family and societal life?
Sadly, for many students it isn’t enough to adopt a stance on any given moral issue based on religious conviction alone. There is a deeply rooted cultural mistrust of teaching authority in general, especially faith-based teaching authority, which is often perceived as antiquated and disconnected from the relevance of daily life: “Why should the Church’s opinion be any more valid than my opinion?” “What do celibate old men know about dating and sexual love that they should dare to impose rules on my life?”
An aggressive anti-Christian culture fostered in media and pop culture bombards students on a constant basis, more than ever before. Whenever they turn on their phones (which seems to occur more often than breathing, for some of them), they are met with toxic, self-indulgent ideologies from marketers as well as their peers. The message they absorb: a successful, happy life is the result of self-serving behaviours and ego-gratifying accomplishments, made abundant by wealth and wealth alone.
Even if they deny these values in concept, it is evident to me through daily interactions with my students that many adopt these values in practice: “hot chicks and stacks of cash” seemingly constitute the life aspirations of an average pupil of this culture of death.
For a teacher dedicated to the salvation of his or her students’ souls, this uphill battle can feel overwhelming. However, there is a silver lining amid the muddled mentality that is suspicious of all things religious. The door of logic has opened up.
From a standpoint of reason alone, there is nothing threatening or authoritarian when it comes to discussing beliefs about happiness in life. Such is the starting point of Healing the Culture’s Principles and Choices curriculum, and its approach is compelling and well thought out.
Everyone wants to be deeply fulfilled in life, which is a safe, neutral topic for discussion. As we do so, we investigate the types of behaviours those beliefs about happiness typically generate.
As each belief is discussed in theory and followed through to its praxis, students see the unreasonable, unethical, unjust, and ultimately unloving nature of worldviews that have a false or incomplete understanding of the human person and human dignity.
Simultaneously, the great truths about life boil up to the surface, unsuspecting, and unforced, and before students know what has happened, they have guided themselves into a logically sound worldview that values human life.
From there, connecting the dots with their faith is easy, and the best part is you have not “shoved it down their throats.”
The thing that attracts us most to truth is its beauty. This is something all people have in common deep in our hearts, and a powerful teacher touches the heart.
Teachers are bridge builders, building walkways for students to cross over to what they don’t yet know but have been craving all their lives.
This is the great challenge of educators, and the reason I am so excited about the Principles and Choices curriculum – one of the best tools I’ve come across for building solid bridges.
Joshua Palmarin teaches at St. John Brebeuf Secondary in Abbotsford.
Principles and Choices is one of several programs for young people funded by LifeCanada and Vancouver’s Life Community, which are hosting their annual gala dinner Saturday, Sept. 7, with guest speaker Raymond Aroyo of EWTN and Fox News. For more information visit lifecollective.io/vancouver
*This article was edited Sept. 6 with a new headline and to correct the writer's school.
