Teachers’ mission: To teach the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

MIAMI GARDENS| The Office of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Miami welcomed approximately 250 new teachers to an orientation event at Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens Aug. 5, 2024. The half-day event was filled with talks on mission and ministry, how to manage relationships with parent and student relations, information sessions, and networking with fellow educators.

Jim Rigg, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Miami, thanked the new teachers for accepting the call to teach, especially in Catholic schools.

“What makes us different from public schools, charters schools, and other private schools is that we teach the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith,” he said.

Rigg pointed out that it was a mission began by Jesus Christ—the “original Catholic school teacher”—more than 2,000 years ago, passed down to holy men and women, and entrusted to today's teachers.

“Embrace it and promote it because it’s who we are,” he said.

Donald Edwards, associate superintendent of schools, reminded the assembly that Catholic schools do not exist solely to teach different subjects.

“Our ultimate objective is to give our students, our colleagues, and ourselves a burning love, a deep and abiding love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Incidentally, we also teach math, science, social studies, language arts, music, and creative arts,” he said.

While a school is made up of students, parents, teachers, non-teaching staff, and administrators, Edwards explained that they must all bond as a community to be at the heart of education.

To successfully bond with parents, teachers must also be on the front lines, using the three C’s: communication, consistency, and cooperation.

“A parent should never say ‘I didn’t know.’ Be consistent in your communication. And cooperate with the parent, even when the parent drives you crazy, for the benefit of the children,” Edwards said.

Prior to his role as associate superintendent, Edwards was a principal and, before that, a teacher. Along his journey as an educator, he learned to follow the P’s for Positive Partnerships with Parents.

“Be well planned. Monitor your own personality. Proactivity: think ahead. Be proactive, not reactive. Positivity, even when it’s hard to be positive. Practicality: Give instructions from a practical perspective. Exercise your power base: know your power base and stay in your lane. Persevere, even when it’s hard. And always be prayerful,” he said.

Zulay Pickering, the new Spanish language teacher at St. Gregory the Great School in Plantation, was pumped up by Edwards’ talk and thanked him during a break at the orientation.

“What motivation! It made me feel like, ‘Yes! This is where I’m supposed to be.’ I loved it. It is just what I needed to hear because I came in today a little scared because everything is new to me. But wow! Thank you, Lord. Thank you,” she said.

Pickering is a native of Venezuela who has lived in Tennessee for the last 30 years. She moved to South Florida to be closer to family and feels at home among the Hispanic population.

“The last thing I imagined was that I would be teaching Spanish in Miami, Florida,” she said.

While teaching Spanish in Catholic schools in Tennessee, she was once asked if she was a religion teacher or a language teacher.

“In a Catholic school everything goes together. It’s interesting that they would try to separate them. So I told them, ‘This is a Catholic school. I teach prayers in Spanish and we pray in Spanish,’” Pickering said.

In Tennessee, she said her diocese has small parochial schools and one Catholic high school. When she arrived at Pace for the new teacher orientation, she was amazed to find that the campus was next door to two other Catholic schools, St. Thomas University and the Marian Center. And she was thrilled to learn that 65 schools are supported by the Archdiocese of Miami, with nearly 250 new teachers.

“I’m just amazed at the Catholic school system here,” Pickering said.