COUNTER – REFORMISTS EDUCATION
Counter – Reformation, also called Catholic Reformation or Catholic Revival. Early calls for reform grew out of criticism of the worldly attitudes and policies of the Renaissance popes and many of the clergy. New religious orders and other groups were founded to effect a religious renewal.
Pope Paul III is considered to be the first pope of the Counter – Reformation. It was he who convened the Council of Trent. Disciplinary reforms attacked the corruption of the clergy. There was an attempt to regulate the training of candidates for the priesthood; measures were taken against luxurious living on the part of the clergy, the appointment of relatives to church office, and the absence of bishops from their dioceses. Prescriptions were given about pastoral care and the administration of the sacraments.
Education was foremost in the minds of many of the leaders of the Counter – Reformation. Capable priests were needed for the education of the faithful, and thus seminaries multiplied to prepare the clergy for a more austere life in the service of the church.
The society of Jesus, founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyola was not specifically a teaching order but was nevertheless very important in this field. The first Jesuit college was opened in Messina, Sicily in 1548. By 1615 the Jesuits had 372 colleges and by 1755 – just 18 years before the suppression of the order – the number had risen to 728. The society was not reestablished until 1814.
Another major emphasis of the Counter – Reformation was an ongoing missionary endeavor in parts of the world that had been colonized by predominantly Roman Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal. The work of such men as St. Francis Xavier and others in Asia and of the missionaries in the New World was rewarded with millions of baptisms.
There were also attempts to reconvert areas of the world that once had been Roman Catholic like England and Sweden. German lands in which Luther had worked remained Protestant after his death in 1546 but major territories above all Bavaria and Austria were regained from Roman Catholicism by the end of the 16th century. The wars of religion between 1562 and1598 regained France for the Roman Catholic cause though the Edict of Nantes granted a limited toleration to the Protestants, it was revoked in 1685. Perhaps the complete victory for the Counter Reformation was the restoration of Roman Catholic domination in Poland and in Hussite Bohemia.
In Philippine contemporary education, a number of catholic elementary and secondary schools as well as colleges and universities from different orders have been established tracing back from the time that the Spaniards colonized the Philippines during the counter reformation period.
Among these are University of Sto. Tomas, University of Sta. Isabel, College of St. Paul, Sacred Heart College, Our Lady of Perpetual Help College, Augustinian Recollects – Lady Mediatrix Institute, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy and other parochial schools in different places in the Philippines. The Sisters of Mary School as well as The Brothers of Christ, founded by Msgr. Father John Philip Aloysius Schwartz in different campuses located in Cavite and Cebu as well as in other countries.
All these catholic schools, colleges and universities are working hard to teach academic knowledge and technical skills along with the knowledge about God as well as following his teachings from the bible in order to become disciples of Jesus Christ who seek holiness in making oneself progressive mentally, physically, emotionally and above all spiritually so as to be able to love God and his fellowmen through service of others.
A lot of seminaries and private sectarian in the Philippines like the Sisters of Mary and The Brothers of Christ are providing a totally free education, food, shelter and other personal needs without asking anything in return for all they want is to ensure that the students from the poorest of the poor may attain a high quality of education which shall help them to successful in any field that they may choose.
In the public schools, ESP and religion is also taught by the catechists sent by the parish priests in every municipality to teach the pupils and students about God and about becoming good Christians in words, thoughts, feelings and actions by working in the best way that they can for the glory of God The Almighty.
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