Quezon City – The Lipa Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Association (LIDICSA), through Mr. Fred Amul, Chairman for Center for Integral Evangelization, requested for a two-day training workshop last June 28 to 29, 2018, in Bauan, Batangas, for a deeper understanding of the Philippine Catholic Schools Standards (PCSS) for their member schools. The training team consisted of PCSS Mentors from Region IV, led by the PCSS Technical Consultant, who is also the region’s Superintendent, Rev. Fr. Alain P. Manalo.
Although some invited schools were not able to attend, the number of expected participants had almost doubled during the training. The five (5) mentors divided among themselves about eighty (80) attendees, formed them in small groups for actual mentoring, enabling a more effective processing of questions and need for clarifications, preparing them for a more engaged self-assessment process in their respective schools. Composed of school administrators, faculty and staff (academic-non-teaching personnel) from their member schools, the formed small groups were dynamic in nature.
As part of the synthesis, Fr. Manalo requested for participants to share some thoughts and even feelings from the sessions in the past twenty-four hours or so. Mr. Angelito Jareno of St. Bridget College started the ball rolling by sharing some of his feelings: happy, fearful, and hopeful, he said, because one of the end products will be that of making the schools more consistent in their systems. The process will help the employees, and eventually the students, become “not just nominal Catholics,” and enable them to “fully live their baptismal promises.”
When Ms. Conde, another mentor, shared a realization in her group which expressed that there are too many standards. Fr. Manalo responded that the standards are all guides which can all be useful. Meanwhile, PCSS mentor Mr. Bocalan, got inspired, as a response, to quote St. Therese of Lisieux, “When one loves, one does not calculate.” And as the faithful can do where we are, in our own workplace, he encouraged the group further with another quote from St. Therese, “always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” Fr. Manalo concurred with this and said that when we go through the process, something is already happening with us. Mr. Alina, another mentor, meanwhile expressed his appreciation for his group, because when scoring usually creates discord, the group which he was assigned to managed through the scoring of the given samples without much strife. Fr. Manalo said that there is indeed a call to refine and really define when it comes to scoring, and eventually there is a tendency for the scoring to become personal. At which point it calls for a retreat. A participant from St. Raphael Archangel Parochial School, Sr. Marilyn G. Villa, POIC, shared her experience with PCSS while she was at the Diocese of Cubao (Holy Family) and expressed her agreement with Fr. Manalo on leaders being important in the rollout of PCSS.
Finally, after sharing about PCSS at DLSU, Mr. Amul announced that there will be monitoring through submission of a timetable.
The PCSS Coordinating Council (PCSS-CC) will be having its 3rd Quarterly Meeting in October to discuss how it could further assist schools towards the full implementation of the PCSS. This would ensure the Council could continue in providing direction and overall coordination as regards the use of the Philippine Catholic Schools Standards among CEAP’s members. The council has been serving as the clearinghouse for all requests for orientation, training, and consultancy in connection with all PCSS concerns that have reached the CEAP National Office. Schools are encouraged to submit reports on their PCSS activities to update the secretariat. They may send their reports via email info@ceap. org.ph