Catholic Educators in Angola Urged to Realize Teaching Mission with Faith, as Life Witness

Malanje, 15 September, 2025 / 3:28 PM

Archbishop Luzizila Kiala of the Catholic Archdiocese of Malanje in Angola has called on Catholic educators to realize the mission of their teaching profession as an expression of their Christian faith and calling.

In his homily during the inauguration of the new academic year in his Metropolitan See, Archbishop Kiala emphasized that “a Catholic educator must operate within the school’s community structure with the highest possible professional qualification.”

“Catholic educators fulfill their mission in the Church, living their secular vocation in faith within the school’s community structure, combining professional excellence with an apostolic project inspired by faith to ensure the holistic formation of students,” the Angolan Catholic Archbishop said during the September 13 Eucharistic celebration that was held at Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral of Malanje Archdiocese.

Realizing the mission, he said, involves transmitting culture, practicing pedagogy, maintaining direct personal contact with students, and fostering the spiritual life of the educational community and all associated groups.”

Archbishop Kiala noted that the educator is entrusted by both families and the Church with the school’s educational responsibilities. 

“Families entrust us, and the Church entrusts the education of these boys and girls to the teacher,” the Local Ordinary of Malanje, since his installation in November 2021, who also Chairs the National Commission for the Liturgy of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) said.

He said that the personal witness of the educator is a primary means of evangelization in the school environment. 

Archbishop Kiala emphasized that Catholic educators should see themselves as participating in the Church’s sanctifying and educational mission, maintaining direct personal contact with students as a privileged avenue for life testimony.

“Educators should set a good example in their interactions with students, embodying the role of both teacher and spiritual guide,” the Catholic Church leader said.

He underscored the need for the educational community to remain in constant communion with Christ and the Church’s mission. 

The Angolan Archbishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2013 as Bishop of Angola’s Sumbe Diocese said that Catholic schools “must continuously draw strength from Christ to implement educational projects, creating a school environment animated by evangelical freedom and charity, where knowledge becomes a duty of service and responsibility toward others.”

For him, the Catholic educational project “should aim for adherence to Christ, the measure of all values in faith. Christian faith is nurtured within a community, and Catholic schools are called to form such communities.”

Archbishop Kiala described Catholic schools as institutions that promote change and the integral formation of individuals.