In a world that is not of our own making, under conditions we didn’t choose and circumstances over which we have little control, the Christian virtue of hope is a way for the future of faith, said Professor John Haldane.
The Professor of Philosophy of Education at the Australian Catholic University was a speaker at the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) virtual symposium on 30 October.
Prof Haldane began his session with an explanation on the differentiation of optimism and hope, and how being hopeful is essential for the future of faith.
“To have faith in the future mindful of the trends that have gone on in recent centuries, we need to understand that faith is going to have to be based fundamentally in hope in Jesus Christ and promises He has given, not in optimism,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean that things are necessarily going to go well round about here, wherever here maybe, or to be pessimistic. Holding on to hope means one doesn’t hold on to any foolish or kind of wistful optimism [that everything is going to go well].
“I think that things are difficult and there is no reason to believe they aren’t going to continue to be difficult and in some respects are going to get worse,” he continued.
“We come into a world not of our own making under conditions we did not choose in circumstances over which we have little control.”
Lack of humane control over circumstances and situations in the world has created a challenge for Catholic education, Prof Haldane expressed.
He explained that these challenges come in four sorts: sociological, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual. Sociological refers to the weakening of the traditional triangular structure of the home, school and the Church.
Psychological, on the other hand, means consciousness shift in the Church from a kind of triumphalism or indeed a great deal of self-confidence to accommodation to the world.
“In the spiritual side, there’s been a shift away from the traditional pietistic and ascetic religious practices to other forms of engagement or need,” Prof Haldane noted.
To respond to these challenged, Prof Haldane stated there are four prospects: restorationism, romantic affirmation, recreational pick and mix, and reform and renewal.
“We are faced with many intellectual, cultural, sociological challenges. There is some reason to be pessimistic about the future of religion, the future of the Catholic Church.
“However, set against that human pessimism is the religious virtue of hope and that hope, as it’s expressed and articulated in the Catholic vision, is one that brings together an understanding of our vulnerabilities, limitations, and brokenness. It also connects them with a source of strength and illumination that can take us on the journey to God, whether it’s in part an interior journey a mystical journey, or externally a community journey.
“The places in which that journey is carried forward are at home or the Church, but most importantly is the school.
“School teachers are the primary agents of that kind of apostolic mission of evangelisation of bringing the Gospel in a narrative that is ennobling children’s understanding of themselves and takes their problems, offers those problems and analysis a solution in and through the Christian virtue of hope,” he concluded.