Evangelization through Values Education

Aside from announcing, witnessing, celebrating, and renewing the world with the Gospel, offering it a new way of being and living with Jesus’ Real Presence in the

liturgy, the University finds it even more urgent to work for renewal of the ‘city of man’ (the earthly city guided by self-love and lives according to the natural man whose thoughts, actions, and desires are not ordered to God as to their supreme end) by appealing to the values emphasized by Augustine. This then could lead to conversion, a change of structures and models of life contrary to the ‘City of God’. And so, it is fitting that before we discuss about the Augustinian values as the University’s way of discovering her identity and her unique way of evangelization, let us first have few words on values as commonly understood.

It is said that every day we make choices. And we translate these choices into action. In fact, some of the choices we act on make us feel good and happy; while some of them we regret. Further, some of our choices are minor and have little or small implications; others are major and have great implications. Besides, for every choice we make, we attach a personal meaning. The personal meaning we have identified becomes a definite value when the choice we act on brings about positive feelings. In short, behind every choice we act on that makes us feel good is a value.

In simple terms, a value is commonly defined as “something which we consider important and essential to our life” (Ulgado, 1989). Others would offer a more functional definition of a value as “something that is freely chosen from alternatives and is acted upon, that which the individual celebrates as being part of the creative integration of his development as a person” (Simon, 1972).

By these we can say that values are important because they serve as “guiding stars which navigate our life”. Consequently, knowing our values gives us a definite direction. Knowing our values and living according to our values lead us towards personal integration. The process by which a value becomes an integral part of us is known as the valuing process. This process involves the journeying inward into the core of our person. It touches the deepest part of ourselves as we introspect, analyze, and explore who we are and what is important to us at a certain moment in time. As we engage in the valuing process, however, we have to be aware of the three dimensions of a person: the cognitive structure (choose), the affective life (prize), and the behavioral patterns (act on). The first requires that the choice must be done freely, must be made from alternatives, and must be done after considering consequences; the second necessitates that the choice must be cherished and prized for the person feels good about it, and the person is willing to publicly affirm that choice; and the third entails that the cherished choice must be acted upon, and it must not only be acted once, but repeatedly and consistently in life.

The Augustinian Values

With the preceding common understanding of values, we can affirm that whatever values that are emphasized in Augustine’s life, reflected in his voluminous writings, followed the same process of choosing, prizing, and acting on consistently. Furthermore, while he chose them freely from so many alternatives present during his time, he publicly affirmed them in his dialogues with his friends, shared them with others through his sermons, and wrote about them for others to know and to perpetuate them.

Our Augustinian scholars would estimate that more than five million words have been preserved from his autobiographical book “The Confessions” to his inspiring “Sermons”; from his catechetic “On Christian Teaching” to his theological “City of God”. It is from these sources that these values are wellenshrined; and from where we will choose the more common and familiar values that the Saint mentions. Since we are in an educational setting, we may say that these values are those that find relevance in our educational ends.

Not too long ago that the Order of St. Augustine came up with a more systematic approach to value formation typical of an Augustinian as her way to assess the educational centers found in many parts of the world, especially as to how the stakeholders would benefit from the Christian integral education, the Augustinian way. This process is not only meant to share the values endeared to Augustine, or to disseminate for the sake of sharing them, but to give an identity proper to an Augustinian education. This can also be a potent means for a new Augustinian educational evangelization in the 21st century as she dialogues with the times. As experts say, Augustinian values may define clearly our education and may be converted into clean air that may be breathed in our educational communities.

Fr. Raul M. Marchan, O.S.A., Ph.D.
University President