At the close of the Congress of Religious held May 1-2, it was apparent that the massive agenda submitted by the Education Committee would not be covered completely before time ran out. The sisters voted to complete this work by mail, with a final balloting and statement of proposals to be concluded by the opening of the Congress of the laity. Both aims were realized, and each Lay Congress parish delegation had on hand a booklet containing the final proposals from the entire Sisters’ Congress.

Drawing from many years experience pursuing the vocation of religious teachers, the sisters of the archdiocese presented a sound and solid slate of proposals to the Archbishop.

These proposals, together with those of the Lay Congress committees, will go to the Archdiocesan Synod in November where they will be reviewed and passed on.

In order to cover their specialized areas more completely, the sisters divided the education agenda into sections: general, elementary, secondary, CCD, Adult Christian Formation, special, Newman Apostolate. Each was given thorough treatment and many interesting suggestions resulted. A brief summary will point up some of the more important proposals.

General:

In this area, proposals were made for the archdiocesan educational system at large. An educational structure was proposed outlining channels of communication and authority, and the particular functions of personnel within such a framework. The proposed structure, organized from the archbishop down to the pastor of the parish, provides for a secretary of education who would be free of all duties except full-time administration of the over-all archdiocesan department. He would be aided both by archdiocesan and parish school boards composed of qualified laity, religious, and clergy.

This proposed structure was embodied in a 26-page study and is the fruit of many weeks of detailed work by qualified professional educators. It represents a significant contribution to the educational development of the archdiocese.

Also in this area, several studies were proposed, one of which dealt with evaluating the distribution of secondary school enrollment, in reference to future planning.

Two recommendations of particular note were made:

a) The establishment of an in-service training program staffed by qualified teachers already serving in the school system.

b) The extension of opportunities for advancement to the highest teaching and administrative positions, with their corresponding pay increments and tenure benefits, to all qualified diocesan school personnel.

Elementary:

One of the major proposals in this section dealt with the problem of accreditation. The sisters recommended an accreditation date of December 1970 for archdiocesan elementary schools. They scored the need for this accreditation and took note of the prerequisites of teacher-pupil ratio, principals free from teaching duties, the strictness of professional requirements, and a salary scale representative of the locale.

Another forward-looking proposal called for the sharing of the specialized personnel of Our Lady’s Day School in a broader educational set-up.

Also put forward was a proposal to make the first grade age cut-off date September 1 rather than December 31 as at present.

Newman Apostolate:

The elementary and secondary levels of education were not the only areas treated by the Sisters’ Congress. The Newman Apostolate also came in for consideration and some interesting proposals resulted. Communities of sisters now engaged in teaching in the archdiocese were urged to release sisters for Newman Apostolate work on the college campuses of the archdiocese. In so urging, the sisters also proposed that those sisters involved in such work should take an active role in the college community, especially from an academic viewpoint.

Such proposals reflect both the breadth of interest and depth of dedication that characterize the sisters of the Archdiocese of Atlanta. There is among them the confident hope that their hard work will be constructive and useful for the Church in the archdiocese as it goes to Synod.

Secondary Education:

Most important in this area was the call for a separate director of secondary education who would be responsible for the areas of curriculum, materials, supervision of instruction, guidance, research, public relations, and evaluation of the over-all program. This director would serve as a general resource person.

Confraternity Of Christian Doctrine:

A very significant proposal arose from this area. It called for a study by priests, sisters and laity of the total CCD system and alternate plans to determine which would best suit the needs of the archdiocese. Other proposals made remain contingent upon the findings of the committee.

Special Education:

The sub-committee dealt with the richly-rewarding area of the exceptional child. It called for a program through the Georgia Bulletin to awaken the interest in this field, locate children who would be benefited by special attention, and a follow-up letter to all families to ensure complete coverage of all areas of the archdiocese. More importantly it called for the establishment of an archdiocesan evaluation clinic offering the coordinated services of priest, psychologist, psychiatrist, guidance experts, and social workers. Part of the center’s work would be in the important area of psychological testing.

Adult Christian Formation: Again recognizing the importance of special areas, the sisters proposed a separate director for Adult Christian Formation. This director would be responsible for the entire program, under the secretary of education rather than the CCD. On the parish level an intensive leadership training program was called for in order to develop a hard core of qualified teachers.

As an auxiliary part of this program, a lending library, centrally located to benefit the largest number of parishes, was called for.