Detail from the cover of Amy Cattapan’s “Sweet Jesus, is it June Yet?” / null
Denver Newsroom, Aug 25, 2021 / 14:28 pm (CNA).
Amy J. Cattapan is entering her 26th year of teaching this year. In her book Sweet Jesus, Is It June Yet?, Cattapan shares how the Gospels can help teachers at any stage of their career fight burnout. CNA had a chance to learn about Cattapan’s experience as an educator, the inspiration for her book, and why teachers look with longing toward the month of June.
CNA: How long and in what capacity have you been teaching?
Amy J. Cattapan: I’ve been teaching for 25 years. I started as a high school teacher, and then 24 years now at middle school. I’m starting year number 26.
CNA: What are some reasons you think teachers leave the profession?
AJC: Teachers leave the profession, I think, mostly because they are not feeling like they can be as effective as they had hoped when they entered the profession. We sometimes start out with unrealistic expectations for what we’re going to be able to accomplish. We might think we’re going to be the next Mr. Keating in Dead Poet’s Society, or Mr. Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus.
We get these ideas that our teaching careers are going to be glorious in the way that we can impact all the students. And while I think we do impact the students, a lot of our impacts, we don’t see right away.
Then, simply the frustration of not always being able to do what we believe is in the best interest of our students. There are forces out there we can’t control. We can’t control if our students have a good environment to do their homework. We can’t control things that happen at a higher level in administration. I think that lack of control sometimes also leads to burnout.
CNA: In your book, you share your own experiences as a teacher, offer scripture for inspiration, and conclude each section with reflection questions for the reader. Why did you set it up that way?
AJC: I decided to prayerfully read through the Gospel of Mark during a five-day silent retreat. I was teaching full-time and working on my doctorate at the time, and I was feeling some of that burnout. As I was reading [the Gospel], I was looking for inspiration I could draw from as a teacher—from Jesus—the greatest teacher of all time.
The book naturally became this series of Gospel reflections. Then, I hope the reflection questions at the end will help the reader see how they can relate my stories and the Gospel stories to their own teaching career.
CNA: Do you have plans to do a book club or discussion group, virtual or in-person, with the book?
AJC: There are definitely schools where the principal bought the book for the entire staff, and are going to be reading through the book with the staff over the year. I’m certainly open to doing virtual book clubs with any groups of teachers who would want to. I also have a one-day retreat for teachers at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House outside Chicago in February of next year to help teachers take a day of rest and reflect on their teaching.
CNA: Thinking back on your first couple years as a teacher, what is something from your book that you wish you knew back then?
AJC: I wish I knew that I didn’t have to do it all. I think, again, one of the reasons teachers burnout, especially in those first few years, is because we think we have to do everything. I’ve learned to let go and let God a bit more as I’ve gotten older.
Also, learn to pray the serenity prayer as a teacher. Take that to heart—have the serenity to accept the things you cannot change. I can’t change everything for my students. I can’t control what happens when they leave my classroom, so I have to have serenity about that. But, also have courage to change the things that you can, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two. When do I just have to let it go and let God, and when do I have to have the courage to speak up and question the status quo?
CNA: The past year and a half has been especially challenging for teachers. What have you noticed about how the pandemic impacted teacher retention? What do you hope for teacher longevity in the future after a time like this?
AJC: It’s definitely been a very hard time. I know some teachers who made the decision to retire because for health reasons they just couldn’t come back into the classroom. For those who have remained in the profession, it has been challenging. Some people think I wrote this book because of the pandemic—teachers were suffering from burnout before the pandemic. We now have burnout on top of burnout, which is really, really hard.
I’m praying that with my book and with others who are reaching out to teachers and supporting them, that teachers can find the strength to keep going. Hopefully, by God’s grace, this will just improve us as educators by opening us up to new possibilities for education and giving us the courage to keep moving on.
CNA: Can you tell us a little bit about the actionable items you included in the book that could make it a better environment for teachers?
AJC: There is a chapter in the book about how Jesus set the stage for learning. In that chapter, one of the things I talked about is the fact that he really got to know the people he was talking to, the people he was teaching. As teachers, if we’re really going to impact our students, we need to have relationships with them where we meet them where they are. We need to know how to speak to them. It’s about getting to know them and reaching them in a way that they’re going to understand, so that they can really grasp onto whatever the content is that we’re sharing with them.
CNA: It appears that there are some harder months as a teacher, notably October and February. How would you talk to a new teacher about what to expect in those months that are seemingly impossible to get through?
AJC: Many years ago, I had a principal who, during a faculty meeting in the middle of February, said, “Well, here we are in February, the armpit of the school year.” It’s a pretty terrible month. But you know, sometimes just joking about it helps. Now, I joke with teacher friends about it, and realize, okay, I’m aware that this is a tough time, but we’ll get through it. We’ll have March and April, and June will come eventually.
That’s also why we scheduled the one-day retreat in February. It’s a terrible time of the year. We need a chance to get away, to do something different, and to spend a day not grading papers or planning lessons. Just like Jesus would do by going off to a mountain to pray right after he healed a bunch of people, we need to take those mountain-top moments too when we get into those “armpits of the school year” kind of moments.
CNA: Is that how you came up with the title, Sweet Jesus, Is It June Yet?
AJC: Sometimes we hit that point in the year where we mutter to ourselves, “Oh, sweet Jesus, isn’t it June yet?” We all get there in February. I wanted it to have a little bit of a humorous feel to it because I hope my stories come across as being a little humorous and lighthearted at times. One of the greatest ways we combat burnout, I think, is through a sense of humor.
CNA: What are some daily routines or reminders that you would offer to teachers as a way to combat burnout?
AJC: One thing I do is I always make sure to pray for my students, my coworkers, and everyone involved in education. Then, throughout the day, I try to offer it up whenever I have a challenging moment, to take a deep breath and say, “Ok, Lord, I’m not sure how to respond to this student right now, or I’m not sure what to say in this faculty meeting.” A quick little, “Come, Holy Spirit,” can really lift your spirits when you realize you’re not alone in the classroom. Jesus gave us the advocate. He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us, so call on Him.
CNA: How can teachers support other teachers?
AJC: We have to make time for adult conversations. We spend our days with the kids and we love them, but we also need to take time—even if it’s just five or 10 minutes—to seek out a coworker who you know is a positive influence and speak words of encouragement to each other. We need to connect with each other in that way.
For teachers who maybe aren’t in a great school situation, don’t be afraid to seek help outside of school. There are many professional learning communities online. There’s a great Twitter chat that happens on the first and third Saturdays of each month with the hashtag #catholicedchat. It’s a great group of teachers.
CNA: What about non-teachers? How can people who aren’t teachers support teachers?
AJC: For non-teachers, give the teachers in your life some grace. When they come home and they’re exhausted and they can’t even talk about it, don’t take it personally. We appreciate it when people say, “All right, you’ve had a rough day, haven’t you?” Just give us some grace in those moments when we’re feeling burned out.
CNA: Who is in your support circle? Who builds you up so you can keep going in your work?
AJC: I’m fortunate in that I have a few different circles that I can turn to when I need support. Some of my family members are involved in education in different ways. I have coworkers I can go to, and I have teacher friends at other schools, which I think is really helpful too, to hear about what is happening at other schools.
CNA: It’s clear that your book is a faith-based book. Do you see it going beyond Catholic and Christian education into secular schools as well?
AJC: I think anybody who is familiar with the Bible stories or has an interest in Jesus would get something out of it. I’ve also heard of some homeschooling parents who were like, I want to check that out too. I think anyone who’s involved in any sort of education, any sort of teaching, whether it’s directly of the faith or just any kind of content. There’s a lot of burnout in lots of levels of education, and people are hungry for anything that will give them a little encouragement.
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There won’t be a “bounce-back.” Catholic schools are going extinct. Catholic education is already virtually extinct, since few Catholic schools provide an authentic Catholic education.
I do not think the reason for extinction will be non-authentic lessons. I believe over-all they are authentic, though clearly and thankfully not “rad trad”.
The extinction will be due to finances. Money was, is, and will be the deciding factor. Ordained religious (nuns, brothers, priests) are no longer available to staff the schools. Lay teachers cost much more — salaries that need be reasonably competitive, health insurance, sick leave and maternal leave policies, etc.
To support those things requires larger tuition charges, driving away parents who cannot afford it. The cycle perpetuates; higher tuition means fewer students, and fewer students means higher tuition.
It is about money — always has been.
The “rad trad” schools are filled to capacity. Why is it even asked why Catholic Schools are dying out? The answer to this they already know. The Modernist heresy, and they do nothing to correct it. I know parents who joke that, “What is the best way for your child to lose their Catholic faith” the answer, “Send them to a Catholic school”. They may sound like they’re joking but they’re not.
Why the surprise? These schools have not been Catholic for many years. It used to be considered a divine vocation for sisters, brothers, and priests to give their lives to teaching children their catechism, preparing them for Confession and First Communion, and forming their Faith. All of that disappeared 50 years ago. Why should Catholics support schools that now enroll large numbers of non-Catholic students and employ exclusively poorly catechized and often dissident, heretical, or even immoral teachers? The sooner that these rotten and corrupt religious orders, dioceses, and schools are closed, the better to clear the ground for the growth of traditionally and authentically Catholic ones.
Traditional and (your term) authentic ones are not going to happen no matter if the current schools close or don’t. The sisters, brothers, and priests no longer exist to staff them.
The only way to stay open is with those who WILL work there — and accept salaries, benefits, and contract terms that are all less than favorable to meet their own family’s financial needs.
It is completely self-evident that the “sisters, brothers, and priests no longer exist to staff them”. No one disputes that, and I certainly did not. But Catholic schools were founded and are supposed to exist primarily to teach the Catholic faith to Catholic students, not to provide secular instruction parallel to public schools for non-Catholics who preferred the safety and regularity of Catholic schools. Paying public/private school-equivalent salaries and benefits to lay teachers who are poorly catechized and often dissident, heretical, or even immoral simply because they prefer to teach in nominally “Catholic” schools is absurd because they lack the basic competence that makes the schools Catholic; namely, an authentic, practiced, orthodox Catholic faith. Paying equivalent market dollar to a lay teacher without this practical Catholic faith competence not only renders the tuition unattainable by working families but also and more importantly destroys the very raison d’etre for a Catholic school’s existence. Of course the money is important, but most essential, and in fact absolutely indispensable, is the Catholic faith that the school should be teaching, and no amount of money will suffice for its absence. Keeping schools which are Catholic in name but not in fact afloat with lay teacher “salaries that need be reasonably competitive, health insurance, sick leave and maternal leave policies, etc.” serves only to perpetuate a spiritual and financial fraud on the children, their parents, and their families. After 50 years, it would appear that the charade is mercifully ending.
The “erasure of Catholic schools” nationwide, the report added, especially in “underserved communities, amounts to a disruptive divestment of social capital and pathways of opportunity for all families.” This kind of language from the National Catholic Educational Association illustrates exactly why the decline of Catholic schools is happening, and why it does not matter. These secular educationists – whose annual conference in L.A. every year is an extravaganza of pro-homosexual heresy – do not have the faintest idea what a Catholic education should be.
I think they know exactly what a Catholic education should be. It just differs from your definition of one. Which is correct? Well, the conversation will be ongoing, as it has been for some time.
The CEA needs to be practical. The economics of their target families, the job market for instructors, the funding from the parish or diocese, etc, all need be considered. I’m not sure they have the luxury of an ivory tower approach.
But, should Catholic schools remain open even if staffing and funding obstacles are overcome? Is there a level of good, proper, authentic teaching that is acceptable to all? One that is not all one way or the other on the spectrum? “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” seems an appropriate thought.
Here’s one example of a non-Catholic teaching. She gave this teaching to her fifth grade students: “The Rosary began as a way to count.”
Meiron, Thanks for pointing that out. My Godson attended the Modern Catechism, I told him I wanted to know what they teach NOW! So I asked him, “Why do we go to Confession?” He was excited because he knew the answer, which was, “Because it makes us feel happy”. That was all I needed to ask, and it solidified my being an anti-Modernist “rad trad”.
Really not much difference what’s being taught in Catholic schools vs. public schools. Vatican II announced, “We want to be like every body else.” That was a rebellion, and what we are seeing are the consequences.
BOTH PAUL & JAKE ARE RIGHT. THE SCHOOLS ARE NOT CATHOLIC. SAME CAN BE SAID ABOUT CATHOLIC(?) UNIVERSITIES. HOWEVER WE HAD PLENTY OF MONEY TO KEEP THE SCHOOLS GOING.IT WAS ALL WASTED.WHEN THE FOLKS ARE DECEIVED THE MONEY DRIES UP.THE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WERE THE MINOR LEAGUES OF CATHOLISM JUST LIKE BASEBALL.KILL THAT SYSTEM AND YOU LOOSE.SOMEONE FORGOT THE HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH VISA VIE EDUCATION. WRONG GUYS RUNNING THE STORE.GOD BLESS US AND SAVE US ALL!
In some ways, Catholic universities are worse than public universities. Spout destructive ideology, then try and cloak it in the moral authority of the Church. Disgusting!
“These secular educationists – whose annual conference in L.A. every year is an extravaganza of pro-homose*ual heresy – do not have the faintest idea what a Catholic education should be.”
Since the 2013 conclave neither do I, Dr. Williams.
I have an answer to your last sentence: Attend only to teachings prior to 2013. End of story. Problem solved. God bless. Pray to HIM and to Mary. Ignore heretics, schismatics, apostates or fools who happen to be in positions of power. Remember to be as wise as a serpent, gentle as the dove. Godspeed.
Catechist Kev, I’m familiar with the annual Anaheim Convention. In our parish the head of the Catechism department who a former pastor dubbed the “Popess”, makes the yearly pilgrimage with all Catechism teachers and High school students required to attend. On one certain year in the 80’s she bought all the Catechetical books for the fall year of the parish, at a whopping cost of 27,000 in todays money that would be around 80,000. It was a blatant waste of parish funds for such worthless books. I don’t call them Catechism books at all. They were books about me, me, me, no Catholic teachings, all sugar coated with a warm huggees attitude. We thought when Archbishop Gomez who belongs to Opus Dei, became Archbishop of Los Angeles he would stop the “Den of Heretics” as dubbed by the Newspaper “The Wanderer”. But it continues, heretical as ever. They shun Traditional Catholics as a rule. One year Nuns who in full traditional habits were protesting the heresies on the sidewalk at the convention, a priest called the police and ordered them arrested, But the police defended the Nuns, saying if they did they would be violating their Constitutional right to Freedom of Speech. This year at the convention through audio Pope Francis will speak to the LGBT community. I can only imagine it will be catastrophic.
Put the “X” in the heresy. What? Are we so afraid of the truth that we want to sanitize the heresy? “X” belongs BACK in Homosexual Heresy. This is why we are losing. Scared to be bold in standing up for truth, and play nice-nice with evil.
Three solutions to the problem:
#1. Hire only Catholic teachers who live the faith in truth.
#2. Stick to the mission of true Catholic schools i.e. to catechism the young so they are best prepared to evangelize the culture.
#3. Have a minimum of 50 students per class. With adequate discipline, this is feasible. For those unable to learn in such an environment, the parents should homeschool. If class sizes were doubled, tuition would be more affordable.
Deacon Edward Peitler —
#1. You will not find enough personnel to meet that criteria. The majority of Catholics, even those who are practicing Catholics, take birth control. Many, many others are divorced and remarried.
Of course such conduct is behind the scenes, but exists in pretty large numbers. Catholics such as you desire are not all that prevalent any longer. The only option is to ignore what you cannot see, though that seems ‘settling’ at best and hypocritical at worst.
The good or bad of that is a different issue. I take no stand on it in this reply.
#2. Doable, but the definition of ‘mission’ is going to be controversial. The outcry to update for contemporary times will be bothersome. Again, I take no side on the issue in this reply. I simply point it out as inevitable.
#3.Parents are not going to pay tuition and then have classes of 50 students. Small classes is a main draw for private schools — even parochial ones. While the curriculum you would like to see implemented is nice, there are not enough parents who will choose to pay tuition for that solely. Small class size has to be part of the deal.
NOTE: Now retired, I have been a Dean and Assistant Principal at a Archdiocesan High School.
I would not put my K-8 child in a class with 49 other students, and I don’t care how well mannered everyone is.
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High school is another matter. Depending on the class subject and how it is structured, yes, 50 could work. It would be good preparation for large university where lecture class might have 100 students.
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Having said that, I did not send my children to a large university. I sent him to a small college.
Deacon Edward Peitler, On your first solution you say, “Hire only Catholic teachers who live the faith in truth”, that is by far what should be the teachers first required credentials. St. John Paul the Great had Papal words concerning this and he repeated it many times, he said that, “One cannot give what he does not have. For teachers of the Faith, good intentions are not good enough. One must posses the Faith and live it. Only then can a teacher of the Faith be able to transmit what he/she possesses”. Too many Catechism teachers today have only good intentions, but they do not know their Faith so they can’t live what they don’t know. Here I go again; It is the Modernist heresy that is to blame and not the teachers. This heresy is the worst in the 2000 year history of the Church. St. Pius X called Modernism, “The mother of all heresies” and it has penetrated into every nook and cranny of Christs Church. We can’t ignore it any longer.
yes,although it’s true that catholic school attendance is in decline, gets more expensive every year,and hire lay teachers who may not even be catholic,the alternative,public schools leaves a lot to be desired.A lot of their teachers don’t want to teach in class,How effective is on line learning,as kids will be kids.That is why my son attends a catholic high school as we speak.
It is a hard and thorny problem how to balance fair wages for teachers with doable tuition for families. I looked up our local Catholic schools: tuition for next year at one K-8 school: $6600. For the second one: $7400. For the high school: $13,000. That is a lot for people in an area where the median income is $49,000 annually. With multiple children, wow. No wonder people choose homeschooling or public schools. It is a financial necessity.
Money and the expensive tuition are part of the problem, but not all. An even bigger part: the birth dirth and lack of students, even among Catholics. There are families that have more than one or two children, but honestly, it is a rather small group.
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Public schools are pretty much required to enroll all who “apply.” In our town, we closed five elementary schools one year, then a sixth, then a seventh. We closed one of our three middle schools. The only reason one of the high school doesn’t close is sports and class rivalry.
Kathryn — birth dirth; absolutely — Catholics are practicing birth control via artificial means in huge numbers. And, collectively, they decided long ago, generations back and continuing, that there is no sin in that no matter what the institutional church preaches. As in a previous comment on this thread, I make no judgement on the right or wrong of this. I simply point out the fact-of-the-matter.
But there is no doubt, as you write, that this ‘birth dirth’ is a contributing factor to the decline in the number of Catholic schools. When combined with the lack of ordained teaching personnel and tuition costs the only surprise is how many schools are still operating.
I disagree with those who maintain the curriculum in Catholic schools is a major contributor to their decline in numbers. At best it is a minor issue, almost insignificant, in toto, in numbers of parents; not enough to make a difference in the existence of the Catholic school system as a whole.
While there are “scholarships” for a handful of lower class families. “Catholic schools” in the Northeast have become private schools for the middle upper class, catholic or not, with one or two children looking to gain admission to an exclu$ive college.
And my Bishop is more interested in saving these schools, than saving Souls.
David — that is true in my area of the southeast states, also.
Yet in our area, many of the top ten students have been and still achieve as such in the public high school, after completing the 8th grade at the Catholic school.
I’ve had a public school elementary teacher tell me, somewhat proudly, “that is the same way they teach it at the Catholic school.”