Catholic educators must help students to be "true extensions of Jesus as they go out into the world," Father Henry Hildebrandt told teachers and principals Sept. 28 at the Dodge City Diocesan Teachers’ Institute, held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Father Hildebrandt, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, Ness City and St. Aloysius, Ransom, hosted sessions on "Catholic Identity" throughout the day-long event. The institute also included a commissioning Mass celebrated by Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore and Father Hildebrandt.

In those very early days of Catholic education in Europe, at its heart and soul was the goal to serve the socially disadvantaged – the poor, the homeless, orphans, "and those who were strangers to the faith," Father Hildebrandt explained.

It’s part of our Catholic history – our Catholic identity -- that is still practiced in parts of the world, he said.

"I asked a Nigerian woman if the Catholic schools in Nigeria charge tuition," Father Hildebrandt said. "She said yes, ‘but only to Catholics. Unbelievers or those of other faiths come for free. We are trying to welcome them in.’

"That’s not the way it’s done here," he said. "In Africa, the school is a ministry of the Church."

St. Augustine said that the Body of Christ (the Church) gives the Body of Christ (the Eucharist) to people so they can be the Body of Christ, Father Hildebrandt explained.

"Then we turn around and go into the world, and the world receives the Body of Christ as it receives us. The world is receiving the Body of Christ.

"That understanding is what we’re forming kids to be," he said. "Catholic educators must help students understand what it is to be truly transformed into the image and likeness of God."

He said it’s not enough that teachers see the students as children of God, the children should see themselves that way.

"We seek to see the good in our kids," he said. "We don’t love them because they’re good, they’re good because we love them." Sometimes their good is not developed, he added to laughter, and love is a "conscious decision" made before their "good" is fully developed.

Father Hildebrandt stressed the importance of a child’s home life in forming their faith.

"Parents are the first educators of their children," he said. "School is an extension of the home. If schools are truly an extension of the home, we need to give thought to the values and beliefs and priorities of the home. If you are going to say you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you need to live [in line] with the Church."

Father Quintus Tertullianus, born in 155 AD, spoke of the Church as a boat. The world was the sea, and the port was heaven. Running the ship was first the pope, then the clergy and Religious, and then all the people of God.

Fallen away Catholics, he said, were those who "fell off the boat."

"In Tertullianus’s mind," Father Hildebrandt said, "if you’re going to be Catholic, you’re signing up for active duty. God put the Church in the world for a certain mission, to change the face of the earth – commerce, education, everything. Jesus commanded the Church to proclaim the gospels to the ends of the earth. "

During the commissioning Mass, Bishop Gilmore told the teachers and principals gathered, "The word ‘mission’ means ‘to be sent.’ Your job as teachers in Catholic schools is more than a job. We are sent by God to continue His work here in the Diocese of Dodge City. …

"Are you resolved to exercise this ministry with diligence and generosity, in partnership with the family and the Church?" to which the teachers and principals responded, "We are."

All the teachers and principals were asked, one school at a time, to gather in a circle around the center of the worship area. Bishop Gilmore thanked them for their service, and went around the circle greeting each in attendance.