As Catholic school teachers are well into the rhythm and curriculum of the 2025-26 school year - teaching students how to excel in academics and strengthen in faith - they took a day for their own professional development and renewal at the annual Catholic Schools Faith Formation Day on Oct. 20 at Notre Dame High School in Riverside.
“It lets us take a step back to nurture our spirituality,” said Marielle Gutierrez, a science teacher at St. Catherine of Alexandria School in Riverside. “There are so many we care for, that sometimes our own spirituality gets put to the wayside. These formation days bring us back to basics, to why we are teaching and it renews our purpose.”
The Faith Formation Day, for all diocesan school faculty and staff, began with a Mass celebrated by Father David Andel, JV, followed by inspiring breakout sessions designed to strengthen the teachers’ Catholic identity and renew their shared mission in education.
“Catholic schools teach students, and they form the whole person to excel in every way, academics, sports, religious activity, knowledge of the Catholic faith,” Fr. Andel said. “Those are great things, they’re all important to God and important to you in your ministry with Catholic Schools, good things to put to practice in the classrooms and in the school yard, so that students always grow rich in those values that are most important to the Lord.”
Teachers had the opportunity to attend two of the seven breakout session options. The session options were:
1. “Faith and Reason” by Dr. Amanda Alexander, PhD, Ministry Formation Institute (MFI) Director, Diocese of San Bernardino.
2. “The Spirituality of a Teacher” by Sister Kathy Schneider, ODN, University Catholic Center at UCLA.
3. “For the Love of Christ (and our Children) We Are Moved to Act” by the Fr. David Andel, Judicial Vicar, and Sunny Sanchez, LGBTQ Embrace Ministry Commissioner, Diocese of San Bernardino.
4. “Preparing Students for Active Participation in the Holy Mass” by John Koss, Associate Director of the Office of Divine Worship, Diocese of San Bernardino.
5. “Making Young Disciples” by Michael Donaldson, Western Regional Director | NET Ministries.
6. “The Five Tasks of Catechesis” by Karina Gomez, Vicariate Consultant, Ministry Formation Institute, Diocese of San Bernardino.
7. “For Everything, There is a (Liturgical) Season” by Eddie Perez, Regional and National Catholic Speaker.
Sr. Schneider acknowledged in her session that teachers can “burn out,” experiencing a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress in the workplace, but she provided practical ways to recharge their batteries.
“You can’t give what you don’t have,” Sr. Schneider said about a time when she was experiencing a burnout in her own teaching career. “I was giving everything I had, but not filling it back up. Spirituality helps with that.”
Sr. Schneider used the teachings of Ignatian Spirituality to provide practical ways to nurture a deeper spiritual life. Including, discernment of spirits, getting rid of inordinate attachments, finding God in all things by reducing use of technology and listening to what and who is around you, and the prayer of the Examen.
In their breakout session, Fr. Andel and Sanchez dove into the greater risks the LGBTQ youth face to their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being and how a faith-affirming response from Church, family, and school can be the difference between a young person who feels secure and confident, or one who feels isolated and unsure of their worth and their place in the world.
“I chose that session because within the title of that session, it talks about loving children, so as a school counselor that’s a huge part of providing a safe space and support for children,” said Amber Lejay, counselor at Aquinas High School in San Bernardino. “How at Catholic school and with the doctrine of the church can we provide those supportive environments and still lead our children to Christ while demonstrating the love of Christ.”
Lejay thinks that faith formation days for teachers allow a time to strengthen Catholic identity.
“I think it’s really important to have these days because when I think of teachers often times a lot of their time their planning professional development… while we’re teaching students these subject matters, we’re also preparing them for the real world and we want them to be good people so this gives us time to do that in smaller settings amongst our own peers so then we can work together and be on the same page to support our children,” Lejay said.
Ramiro Martin, a teacher at Sacred Heart School in Rancho Cucamonga, attended “The Five Tasks of Catechesis,” where he learned practical ways to apply these tasks in the classroom.
“It’s my second-year teaching here in the diocese, it’s been a learning process, so I think things like this, these conferences and sessions are helpful,” Martin said. “At the beginning I feel like there was kind of a lot of pressure on me to not only teach what I had to teach but to also integrate the faith into that. How do I even integrate faith? I think these sessions help to ease us into that. It’s not as hard as we would think it is. It’s just about the little details. It’s the little things you have to do every day.”