Pope to Notre Dame University: Help students dream with head, heart, hands

By Devin Watkins

“This is the secret of education: that we think what we feel and do; that we feel what we think and do; and, that we do what we feel and think.”

Pope Francis offered that summary of his vision of the mission of educators as he met on Thursday in the Vatican with the President and Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana.

As he spoke to the men and women responsible for the university of the “Fighting Irish,” the Pope reflected in depth on what he calls the “three languages of education: the head, the heart, and the hands.”

These three elements of the human person, he said, form the core of Catholic education and its goal of assisting young people to arrive at maturity and completeness.

Intellectual faculties

Pope Francis said Catholic universities, such as Notre Dame, carry out study and research to pursue the advancement of knowledge, often employing a cross-disciplinary approach.

“These educational endeavors undertaken by Catholic institutions,” he said, “are grounded in the firm conviction of the intrinsic harmony of faith and reason, from which flows the relevance of the Christian message for all areas of personal and social life.”

He invited Notre Dame’s educators to help students develop their “head,” or mental faculties, through deeper appreciation of both learning in general and the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Dreams of the heart

Turning to the “heart,” known as the seat of wisdom and faith in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Pope Francis said Catholic education should assist students to cultivate openness to the three transcendentals: the true, the good, and the beautiful.

He said this requires teachers and students to develop genuine relationships so as to explore together the deeper questions of life.

The Pope asked the Catholic educators of Notre Dame if they “help young people dream,” inviting them to respond in their own conscience.

“It also means promoting dialogue and a culture of encounter,” he said, “so that all can learn to acknowledge, appreciate, and love each person as a brother or sister, and most fundamentally, as a beloved child of God.”

He therefore upheld the role of religion in educating people’s hearts in a way that will help students to renew society and face challenges in life.

Hands of service

The “hands,” or active, charitable aspect of the human person, represent the goal of Catholic education, said the Pope.

Through our actions, he added, we are called to build a better world “by teaching mutual coexistence, fraternal solidarity, and peace.”

“We cannot stay within the walls or boundaries of our institutions, but must strive to go out to the peripheries and meet and serve Christ in our neighbor,” he said.

And he praised the University’s efforts to foster zeal among students to reach out to meet the needs of underprivileged communities.

‘Powerful means for good in society’

Pope Francis concluded the audience with officials from the University of Notre Dame by thanking them for their generous service to maintaining the school’s “unique character and identity.”

“May your contributions to the life of this institution continue to enhance its legacy of a solid Catholic education and enable the University to be, as your founder Father Edward Sorin desired, ‘a powerful means for good’ in society.”