At the beginning of the year, schools of the EDUCAR Network in America have opened their doors to begin the 2025 school year, under the theme “Pilgrims of Hope”, framed in the Jubilee Year celebrated by the Church. From Brazil to Guatemala, the educational centers have prepared the course centered on the Augustinian values of friendship, community and service.
This year, the central Augustinian value is friendship, understood as the bond that unites people in mutual trust and sympathy. In the words of St. Augustine, it is a question of walking “with one soul and one heart directed towards God”. Within this framework, the schools have set clear objectives: to make known the experience of pilgrimage from the Augustinian spirituality, to foster peace and good treatment, to promote the spirit of service and solidarity, and to reflect on the Jubilee 2025 and its meaning.
Brazil: “Walking together”.
At the Santo Agostinho – Novo Leblon School in Rio de Janeiro, activities have begun with meetings and celebrations to welcome the students and their families. The academic coordinator of the center, LÃvia Del Porto, expressed that “it fills them with joy to receive new families and to reintegrate our students in this very special year”. In this sense, she added that “the motto ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ inspires us to walk together towards a future full of collaboration and friendship, following in the footsteps of St. Augustine“.
As LÃvia explained, the educational community is committed to keeping the spirit of the motto alive throughout the year and emphasized that “every action, from classes to extracurricular activities, is an opportunity to build authentic bonds of solidarity.”
Salvio
Peru: “Always with hope”.
At St. Rita de Casia School in Lima, the school year has begun with great enthusiasm, and in February they will hold a spiritual retreat for teachers and parents to reflect on the annual motto.
The school’s principal, Jessica Alva, emphasized that “this year’s motto invites us to open the doors of our hearts to others, fostering friendship, respect and loyalty. We are committed to forming an educational community that walks together, living the values of the Gospel“.
Jessica also emphasized that the school’s mission and vision, inspired by Augustinian pedagogy, guide all the year’s activities: “We want to be an educational community that inspires our students to build a more fraternal and supportive society, always with hope.
He also stressed the importance of living the Jubilee in daily education: “The Jubilee exhorts us to cross holy doors, doors to go out to meet others and to let others into our lives; doors of freedom that are founded on our Christian hope with the commitment to carry out works of mercy in challenging times”.
Argentina: “Beyond academics”.
The principal of St. Ezekiel Moreno College in Santa Fe, Eugenia Moor, explained that in order to foster the Augustinian value of friendship “we will work to build authentic relationships based on trust, respect and solidarity. Our mission goes beyond academics; we seek to form integral persons, committed to the common good”.
In this sense, Eugenia stressed that “educating the mind and the heart means much more than teaching knowledge. It involves training people capable of developing intellectual skills and, at the same time, committing themselves to the common good, being agents of change in their environment”.
As Eugenia explained, the school has started the year strengthening the spaces for coexistence and dialogue, convinced that education should inspire students to be protagonists in the construction of a more just and supportive society.
Colombia: “With a backpack on my shoulder and God in my heart”.
In Bogota, the Colegio Agustiniano Tagaste has started the school year with different activities of organization and welcome for the entire educational community.
The school rector, Fr. Uriel PatiñoThe motto urges us to live this year as an opportunity to restore our spiritual relationships and to trust fully in God. We want our students to live each day as an experience of hope, building together an educational center that reflects Augustinian values“.
Fr. Uriel also stressed the importance of the Jubilee as a year of grace and reconciliation: “We will live this year with a renewed attitude, allowing God’s grace to overflow in our hearts, so that by enlarging the space of our spiritual tent we will make room for God” and added that “with our school bag on our shoulders and with God in our hearts we will live a year of hope”.
The beginning of the school year has also dedicated important moments to organization and detailed planning: “Prior to the start of the school year there is a two-week period of institutional planning, during which the teaching and administrative staff is welcomed, the activities of the school schedule are defined, the collegiate bodies are installed and the operational plans are drawn up,” explained the rector.
Guatemala: “Spirit of gratitude, friendship and community”.
Colegio Agustiniano in Guatemala, which is celebrating its certification as a ‘Great Place to Study’, has started the year with activities for students, parents and faculty.
The school rector, Fr. Angel Jahir, shared that “we are a community called to walk together, inspired by gratitude, friendship and faith. This year brings us great challenges and opportunities, and we are ready to face them with enthusiasm and commitment”.
The school has also presented new initiatives such as strategic alliances, infrastructure projects and new educational services: “This year begins with great news, a clear vision of our present and future, and commitments that reinforce our essence as an educational community of excellence,” said the rector.
He also stressed the importance of living the Jubilee in community: “The pedagogical-pastoral objective of the year, framed in the Holy Year, invites us to live 2025 as pilgrims of hope, in a spirit of gratitude, friendship and community”.
