ASIDE from teaching students to become outstanding learners, Catholic educators should also hone them as authentic witnesses of faith, Pope Francis said in his message for this year’s Catholic Educational Association of Philippines Congress.

According to CBCP News, the Pope said Catholic education must not only teach critical thinking, but must also encourage formation in Christian doctrine and morality. This would lead, the Pope said, to the formation of men and women ‘who are ready to take society’s heavier responsibilities and to witness to the true faith to the world’.

Father. Elmer Dizon, CEAP president, said that Catholic schools continue with their efforts to become ‘catalysts of change’.

“This is who we are. This is what God wants us to be,” he said.

Nueva Ecija Bishop Roberto Mallari of the Episcopal Commission on Catechesis and Catholic Education admitted that the educational sector is one of the most challenged sectors today as every school has to come up with learning modalities to address the needs of students amid the pandemic.

He reiterated that CEAP will not ‘cower in fear but rather will stand firm in being steward not only to the learners but also to other schools’.

“CEAP will be here to serve as wind beneath the wind of member schools as they struggle for survival amidst the pandemic,” Mallari added.

The CEAP Congress is being held virtually from September 22 until today, September 25, 2020.