There is a powerful story of a renowned violinist who delivers an outstanding performance. It is met with a rousing standing ovation, and yet the musician weeps amidst the applause. His colleagues rush to his side, concerned. ‘Don’t weep,’ they tell him. ‘Everyone is standing.’ The violinist shakes his head. ‘Not everyone. He’s not,’ and he points to a person in the crowd. ‘But it’s just one man,’ they protest. ‘Yes,’ the musician answers, ‘but he is my teacher.’

We live in an age where adulation comes cheap. Where success is measured by thousands of ‘likes’ received in response to asinine social media posts, often depicting cruelty and vulgarity. Where sycophants will praise the glory not just of corrupt individuals, but those who are conspicuously abhorrent and self-interested. Where the word of God is manipulated to celebrate perverted self-interest or partisan causes, ignoring the grace and generosity of actual Biblical teachings. 

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No wonder young people today claim to feel more disillusioned than ever; lonelier than they have ever been; more disconnected despite our ultra-connected world. It is equally not surprising to hear that teachers struggle to maintain the attention of their charges, or to motivate and inspire action. Our attention-seeking devices are calibrated to feed us content that we desire in order to keep us scrolling, requiring little to no effort on our part, making a classroom that is devoid of algorithms seem static and uneventful. 

I have had the honour of teaching thousands of students over the past several decades: hundreds upon hundreds of students in giant lecture halls while broadcasting to satellite campuses; small 10-15 student PhD workshops; in-country volunteering experiences; even a three-night gig at the Sydney Opera House where my students were provided special seating. 

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Despite audiences ranging from 10,000 down to three or four, what has been a constant in my career is student engagement. Where I have been fortunate to hear positively from my students it has always been in the context of how I connected with them, how I molded subject matter in such a way that it spoke to the questions they were asking—big and small. People told me they valued most being seen and heard. 

Teaching in both secular and faith-based post-secondary institutions, I have always applied the values of Catholic Social Teaching. CST has a 1,000-year-old legacy but is surprisingly straight-forward. Simplistic even. Value the dignity of the human person. We are all created in God’s image. Value the Common Good. There is no blessing that one group can have if our values do not uplift the entire human family. Everyone must be valued. Solidarity is a related principle, recognizing our interconnectedness. Prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable citizens (championing the option for the poor), protecting worker’s rights, and of course the Care for Creation. 

Pope Leo XIII is credited as the founder of Catholic social doctrine (Rerum Novarum in 1891), and Pope Saint John Paul II is seen as expanding this focus (Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus in 1981 and 1991 respectively.) Pope Francis, too, was a vocal champion for the poor and the environment (think Laudato Si). What the Holy Fathers understood is that Jesus’s message is a universal cry for justice; a call-to-action for equity and care. The world’s greatest teacher has a simple message asking for human solidarity, though our troubled world shows we have failed miserably at applying these fundamental truths. Still, because it’s hard is no reason to give up. Again, as we learned from Jesus’ own journey, it is always the right time to reach out to others, to protect the common good, to champion liberty and goodness, whatever the cost. In such way, no one is left behind, and no one is set adrift. 

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In his recent address to the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities’ presidents, Pope Leo XIV reiterated this exact message. Catholic education must step into the breach. Our institutions are called to be a “living environment in which the Christian vision permeates every discipline and every interaction.” Our teachers are tasked likewise: to “see” each and every one of their students, champion the mission and vision of their vocation, and, in Pope Leo’s words, transmit “the living Gospel in such a way that those entrusted to you can truly encounter the Lord and discover in the Catholic faith the unifying vision that Truth alone can provide.”

 That’s a life lesson if ever there was one.