My thoughts on Schools

Schools have increasingly occupied my thoughts as this week has progressed. On Wednesday I arranged to go up to Motherwell to visit Scottish Lorraine (I mean no disrespect—for almost 25 years I have been ‘American Caroline’). Lorraine and I play identical roles within ACN; she for Scotland and I for the North West, so it stands to reason that we should talk…a lot…often. We have decided that our first joint effort in aid of ACN is going to involve schools. “No problem,” I hear you say, most likely rolling your eyes at the same time. Well, think again, my friend—this will be a tough nut to crack.

Once one begins to think seriously about how to go about bringing the message of world-wide persecution of Christians to schoolchildren of varying ages AND encouraging them to act on what they have learned, one will (or at least one ought to) recognize that this venture is a minefield if not handled properly. First, there is the subject matter and content of much of what we deal with—this is serious, harrowing stuff. It frequently involves teenagers who are targeted, verbally abused or much worse, as well as institutionalized discrimination and persecution by other religious and religio-political groups who often claim to share the same belief systems of many teenagers here in the UK. So, giving a presentation in a Catholic secondary school means presenting scary, upsetting material to a teenage audience made up largely of Catholic children, but increasingly with children of other faiths—often Muslims —and none. I have three teenage children—two sons (19 and 14) and a daughter (18 in two weeks), so I know how hard it is for young people to come to terms with a world where horrible things happen that aren’t ‘fair’ (do you remember claiming to your parents about things not being fair? I certainly do!) and where one group of people asserts its authority brutally over another group often without provocation. And, having familiarized them with the situation, how does one ensure that these young people walk away with a commitment to greater tolerance for those whose beliefs may differ from their own rather than an attitude (which is almost understandable) that those who believe differently are the ‘Other’ and should be hated, or feared or shunned. Heavy stuff this….

We currently have some excellent resources available for secondary schools, so we have the ‘cart’ if you will, we just need to find the right ‘horse.’ Let’s remember, though, how important it is to keep our offering topical—‘bang on trend’, if you speak ‘teenager’—so the resources will need frequent updating. Another job to stay on top of! We also need to be sure that the material we offer can connect into the various relevant curricula—RE, Citizenship, etc--

But there is more…we want to bring a message of truth, but also one of hope. We want to let pupils know what ACN does to support those in need and to help to make their lives safer and their beliefs accepted and tolerated. ACN is helping a lot already, but we need to do more…so much more…and to do this we ourselves need help and support. We need to galvanise the community within each school we visit—the pupils, the teachers and staff, the parents—and we need to find a way to bring them together to pray and to support our efforts through awareness, prayer and fundraising.

This is a tall order. I shall be pondering our options. Please note that I haven’t even mentioned the challenges posed by visiting primary schools…but, don’t worry. Lorraine and I are on the case, with plenty of back-up and support from ACN HQ.

Thanks for reading!  Caroline