Why I Teach in a Catholic School
Kath Lieshout is married to John and they have four children. A teacher for 34 years Kath is now Deputy Principal at St Patrick’s School Invercargill.
Images, stories and powerful experiences flood my mind in response to this question. I see children with arms around one another in celebration and consolation. I feel the peace and wonder of children praying together in the morning. I hear the laughter, excitement, sadness and curiosity in the voices of children. These are the daily moments in which I encounter Jesus in our school. They are the moments in which I know we are receiving those precious gifts of faith, hope and love.
From an early age I realised that I was rich. Not rich in monetary terms. In fact, by today’s criteria our family would have been classed as poor. But we were rich with love, faith and education in Catholic schools that our parents gifted to us. Catholic education in particular was a real struggle for my parents to provide, but they made many sacrifices to ensure we got it. The awareness of being so blessed created a real desire in me to share those blessings with others. This, coupled with my love of children, led me to being a teacher in Catholic schools for the last 34 years.
I love teaching and learning in Catholic schools because we are always accompanied. God is with us helping us to walk with and uphold the mana of our students and whānau. I know Catholic schools provide our students with a good education. More important, though, are students’ encounters with Jesus. Encounters that can fill them with faith, hope and love.
It’s not always easy and for me — there is always the struggle of getting caught up in doing when what is really important is being with students and whānau so that we can encounter God. For me it has been about being present to the child that turned up in my classroom every school holiday while I was trying to get my class ready. He just wanted someone to listen to him, to be heard and valued. It is about that child sent to me because they are “spinning out” in class or on the playground who needs me to ask them why, and to be present to them long enough for them to be heard — not judged.
I am privileged to be a teacher in a Catholic school. They aren’t perfect places but they are places where we encounter God in one another.
Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 229 August 2018: 20-21