Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale322

It is timely, then, to reflect on what is particular to our Catholic institutions.

How do they contribute to the good of society through the Church's primary

mission of evangelization?

All the Church's activities stem from her awareness that she is the bearer

of a message which has its origin in God himself: in his goodness and wisdom,

God chose to reveal himself and to make known the hidden purpose of his

will.4 God's desire to make himself known, and the innate desire of all human

beings to know the truth, provide the context for human inquiry into the

meaning of life. This unique encounter is sustained within our Christian

community: the one who seeks the truth becomes the one who lives by faith.5

It can be described as a move from ''I'' to ''we'', leading the individual to be

numbered among God's people.

This same dynamic of communal identity - to whom do I belong? -

vivifies the ethos of our Catholic institutions. A university or school's Catho-

lic identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students. It is a

question of conviction - do we really believe that only in the mystery of the

Word made flesh does the mystery of man truly become clear? 6 Are we ready

to commit our entire self - intellect and will, mind and heart - to God? Do

we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities

and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally,

through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God's

creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who

we are and what we uphold.

From this perspective one can recognize that the contemporary ''crisis of

truth'' is rooted in a ''crisis of faith''. Only through faith can we freely give

our assent to God's testimony and acknowledge him as the transcendent

guarantor of the truth he reveals. Again, we see why fostering personal in-

timacy with Jesus Christ and communal witness to his loving truth is indis-

pensable in Catholic institutions of learning. Yet we all know, and observe

with concern, the difficulty or reluctance many people have today in entrust-

ing themselves to God. It is a complex phenomenon and one which I ponder

continually. While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our

young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with

4 Cf. Eph 1:9; Dei Verbum, 2. 5 Cf. Fides et Ratio, 31. 6 Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 22.