A Choice of Angels?

How many angels do you know by name?

Gabriel is probably the first one who comes to mind. He pops up in the Bible as God’s messenger, almost like God‘s press secretary. He announces the intentions of his master.

Gabriel messages are stark and cause anxiety, or forecast a very unexpected future based on current impossibilities. Not the kind of angel you’d want to sit with if you’re having a bad day.

Raphael is there as a well-known angel. He is the healer, as well as the guide of travellers. Imagine the NHS and a travel company rolled into one. He has all the marks of someone you would like to have around on those times when you find yourself at the airport, or a railway station with a cancelled train or flight. His ability to heal and to find a new route would be most welcome.

Michael, the third most well-known angelic being, is the warrior angel. Admittedly, a tight fit for a CMAT serving its community and supporting families in rearing their children to be law-abiding citizens following Jesus.

We now have three Catholic Multi Academy Trusts (CMAT) in the Diocese of Birmingham with angelic patrons.

St Gabriel

The first mega CMAT is named after Gabriel. Unlike the original Gabriel, the leaders of the CMAT, now eighteen months in existence, have remained singularly quiet and unobtrusive. They have not lived up to their patron saint’s reputation for unusual messages and puzzling combinations of apparently irreconcilable circumstances. 

Yet the future of Catholic schools depends on combining seemingly contradictory elements, such as adherence to a long tradition, openness to innovative and creative renewal, new applications of the message of Jesus in a society hostile to the very mention of Jesus Christ. Forging and announcing a future-focussed Catholic school system is no more amazing than telling an aging priest that his barren aged wife is about to give birth, or telling a virgin she will become the mother of God on earth.

St Raphael

The second mega CMAT coming on stream September 2026, named after Raphael the healer and guide of travellers, will need all Raphael’s power to motivate the schools in the Coventry and Warwickshire areas and set them off on the healing journey of unity, enabling them to rewrite the concept and practice, not just of Catholic schools, but of schools and education across the region. They will need more than a magic fish and a soothing companion to bring them success.

So far the new CMAT has said little about itself.

St Michael

The third mega CMAT named after Michael comes on stream in September 2028. Michael’s combative nature and strong leadership style will be required to build the army of schools scattered along the length of the M5. Combining the wide variety of social and cultural constituent schools into a coherent force at the service of the diocese will be as demanding a task as any Michael ever faced in marshalling the hordes of heaven,

Next up?

After these three angels, there aren’t many left that can be called upon to be sponsors of future CMATs coming online.

Lucifer spiked his chances even before the got to the starting line, and now sits inconsolable in his sulphurous place of exile.

Less attractive as a patron angel would be the angel of death who moved through Egypt killing the first born of every family that was not marked by the blood of the lamb.

Seraphim and Cherubim are fine as singers of delight and harmonies of joy, but not the titles you want on your name boards and stationery.

The Four Angels at the corners of the earth waiting to fold the world into oblivion would not sit easily as an appropriate image for Catholic CMATs and their schools in educating the young.

Onwards and upwards?

The naming of the CMAT after an angel marks a significant shift in the way the Catholic Church identifies its schools as key change agents in playing a key role in the evolving missionary effort of the diocese.

The urgent imperative for Catholic schools to serve the needs of all, and particularly those in greatest need, requires them to dismantle the castle walls of a school wrapped around those waving baptismal certificates.

The concept of a missionary Church was given a telling image when the late Pope Francis asked to what extent the Church is a field hospital. Many would answer, it is more like a care home for the frail and elderly.

The new CMATs are key steps in creating the experience of Catholic schools as a field hospital.

It requires them to create the future, rather than curate the past.

The naming of CMATs after angelic patrons should be seen as the intervention of the Holy Spirit guiding Church and school leaders along a path that requires more than holding on to traditions and practices that are no longer relevant.

Each new CMAT is being asked to announce the startling message that they are changing education and creating a new experience of Church.

Ask “how will this be?”, and you will hear, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you … For nothing is impossible with God”.

If you don’t believe that, why are you leading a Catholic school?