After graduating from high school, I moved to Nova Scotia for university and discovered what a young faith community is like when not nurtured by publicly funded schools: vibrant, enthusiastic and genuine. It seems as though a strong network has sprung up — in response to the lack of public faith-based schooling in Nova Scotia — to evangelize and inspire the future of the church. The young people I have met here make faith a priority, seeking it out on their own. There is a commitment and drive to faith education among young people, and it is provided in an environment where it is the primary aim, as opposed to, as it was in my high school, a helpful addition.

The contrast was startling. I still see tremendous value in the Catholic school system in Ontario, but I see its limitations as well — most important, that most religion classes I experienced focused on a history of Catholicism or explanation of particular customs and rituals, neglecting to nurture students’ personal faith and relationships with God.

One of my religion teachers in elementary school openly told the class he didn’t believe in God and didn’t see God’s existence as a central tenet of Catholicism. In high school, we were taught religion by teachers whose specialities were academic, not necessarily the teachers who were most dedicated to evangelization.

While faith-based schools can be a blessing, in a society that places as much importance on academics as ours it may not be beneficial to treat faith as another school subject. Our high schools tend to aim at getting students into university, and religious studies are typically not necessary for this end.

Too often we are content to attend a Catholic school, thinking we are receiving sufficient faith formation. But Catholic schools are typically evaluated (by independent studies, governments and families of students) on the same basis as public schools. The point of a Catholic board is to provide valuable religious education for future church members and leaders, but this has become secondary to competing academically with public schools.

Certainly, there were irreplaceable benefits to a Catholic education such as having daily exposure to religion and prayer. But in the increasingly secularized Catholic boards we need to get back to viewing religious education and faith formation as ends in themselves. Youth have changed and it’s important to refresh and revitalize the curriculum to keep up. There is so much that can be done with the help of a faith-based school board, it’s time to make sure we make the best of it by not just teaching about faith, but teaching faith itself.

(Steele, 20, is a third-year sociology student at Dalhousie University in Halifax.)