For Orla McEvoy, leaving her home in Limerick, Ireland, was a difficult decision, but finding a teaching position in a Vancouver Catholic school has compensated by offering her an opportunity to see the world while following her vocation as an educator.
“Because people come by choice to come to Catholic schools here, you feel it,” she told The B.C. Catholic.
With nearly 90 percent of schools in Ireland ostensibly Catholic, McEvoy appreciates the intentionality that students, teachers, and parents bring to Catholic education in Vancouver.
“I really love that the students are more vocal about their faith here,” said McEvoy. “You can feel from kids here that they really have a strong faith themselves. Even when they say their prayers – it’s part of school life here.”
McEvoy is on a career break from her previous job as an elementary school principal back home and is part of the growing community of international teachers choosing to work in Vancouver.
CISVA Associate Superintendent Lesya Balsevich told The B.C. Catholic that nearly half of the applications received this year were international, and the vast majority of those were from Ireland. Many Irish teachers come work in Vancouver on two-year work visas, return home and spread the word about the job opportunities, she said.
“The atmosphere is really welcoming, and the students and staff bring you into their life,” she said. “The sense of community is really wonderful.”
McEvoy will be teaching at St. Patrick’s Elementary in Vancouver in September and joined 62 other newly minted Catholic school teachers who gathered at St. Matthew’s Church in Surrey for this year’s Jumpstart professional day.
Archbishop J. Michael Miller opened the day with Mass and told the gathering he joined with all the teachers and principals “in welcoming those of you who are beginning your great adventure of fostering the Catholic education of our children and young people.”
He thanked the new teachers “for taking up this challenge of living, celebrating and proclaiming our faith” as Catholic school teachers in Vancouver.
“Your vocation to educate young people is lived in a community of faith,” he said. “You will draw strength from the community of your colleagues in the school and of your parish.”
He reminded them that their calling to teach receives its strength from grace received at baptism and confirmation and that “without this supernatural assistance your work as an educator could easily become just a job. If this happens, teaching won’t give you the joy that follows upon doing what the Lord has in mind for you.”
The parents, pastors, and parishioners who generously support Catholic schools “are counting on you, dear educators, to be missionary disciples who are friends of Jesus and who witness to his teaching by the integrity of your life,” he said.
Jumpstart is an annual professional day held by the Catholic Independent Schools of the Vancouver Archdiocese to help new teachers apply their skills in a Catholic educational setting.
Sandy Marshall, who was recently hired as CISVA’s superintendent, told the teachers, “Most of you graduated from a secular institution, which is great! It gave you skills. But you need to learn to use them in the setting of our schools.”
With that in mind, the day focused on offering practical help and suggestions about incorporating religious life in the classroom. Emphasis was given to how each teacher’s Catholic identity should impact their teaching no matter what subject they teach. They were also reminded of the importance of being authentic role models of faith to students who are especially sensitive to hypocrisy.
“I felt like I was hiding my faith”
The B.C. Catholic sat down with five new Catholic school teachers to talk about their decision to choose a career in Catholic education: Orla McEvoy (above), Eleanor Wong, Kaye Historillo, Alyssa Kunz (no photo), and John Paul Escala.
While each story is different, the importance of Catholic community was a recurring theme. Many said Catholic schools would offer them a place to integrate their Catholic worldview more authentically into their teaching.
Eleanor Wong
A lifelong Catholic school student and a youth ministry coordinator at St. Matthew’s in Surrey, Eleanor Wong has always enjoyed working with youth, but teaching wasn’t initially in her plans until she took an education class on a whim.
Wong remembers the professor musing to the class that anyone who wants to make a difference in the world should consider teaching because the sheer number of people coming through the education system makes it an excellent place to impact people’s lives positively.
Wong decided to give it a chance, but working for Catholic schools took less soul-searching.
“I’ve only ever gone to Catholic school, so I’m probably biased,” she said, “but I have always appreciated the community in the Catholic system.”
Wong, who will teach science and religion at Holy Cross Secondary in Surrey this September, said, “Seeing the social climate that is out there, my heart kind of breaks for the youth. I want to show them that there is more to religion than sitting in the pews.”
Kaye Historillo
After working in the Surrey public school system, Kaye Historillo says working in a Catholic school feels like coming home.
Historillo initially took a public school job after graduating from teaching school during the COVID pandemic. She had felt some anxiety about getting a job and accepted the first offer that came along.
While she doesn’t think the three years she spent in public education were wasted, she felt something was missing.
“I felt comfortable where I was; I had been happy to go with the flow,” she said. But something changed when she was able to spend a professional development day at St. Jude Elementary in Vancouver, where she had worked as an educational assistant before getting her teaching certification.
“As soon as I walked in the doors it felt like coming home,” she said. “It was an instantaneous, ‘why did I leave?’ feeling.”
Because it was the first Friday of the month, there was adoration in the chapel.
“Everyone was asking me, “Why are you not back (at the school) yet? And they told me I needed to go to adoration and pray about it.”
In prayer she heard “a lot of voices and noise,” she said. “But the answer from Jesus was clear, that it was time to come home.”
“The Holy Spirit gut-punched me in the best way possible,” Historillo said.
Historillo will teach science and religion at Archbishop Carney in September.
Alyssa Kunz
Dissatisfied with the changing social climate in public education, Precious Blood Parish parishioner Alyssa Kunz said , “I felt like I was hiding my faith” as a public-school teacher.
As the public education system increased the promotion of its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity curriculum, Kunz increasingly felt like she was losing the ability to be authentic in her teaching.
“At first you think my own classroom is my own classroom,” she said. “But then anti-bullying days turn into anti-transphobia days.”
As things progressed and her frustration grew, Kunz was able to visit her Catholic elementary school, Star of the Sea in Surrey. She could feel the difference in atmosphere.
When an opening came up at the school for a Grade 6 teacher she applied for it. She starts in September.
“I went to Catholic school from K-12 and I have really fond memories; I want to be a part of that process,” she said.
As a practicing Catholic, the opportunity to attend a monthly school Mass as part of her job “sounds amazing,” she said. “Being able to live my faith and witness my faith at work is something that sounds really awesome.”
John Paul Escala
John Paul Escala has worn many hats, but after years of soul searching, the parishioner at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Surrey decided to pursue a career as a Catholic school teacher.
Escala has been an early childhood educator, worked with kids with special needs, and, most recently, a kinesiologist. Through it all, he knew he wanted to teach. He also knew he loved his faith. “My faith is what drives me to see, not just the calling of God, but the best version of myself and where I can be,” he said. “Being a Catholic school teacher, there is just that sense of belonging and community. “
Escala, who will teach physical and health education and science at Archbishop Carney Secondary in September, said he wanted to be a Catholic school teacher to bring that sense of family to students. “That is what we strive for in our classroom, for them to belong” to a school, a diocese, and a Church.
He admits it is also easier for him to live his faith in a Catholic school “because I am in this kind of environment … able to express that to my students without feeling judged, or even risking your teaching licence.”
