By Destiny Obinna
Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has urged teachers to go beyond academic instruction and provide young people with moral and spiritual guidance amid what he described as a world of “confusion, shifting morals and digital distractions.”
Ugorji spoke Thursday while flagging off the 2026 Back-to-School Seminar for Catholic teachers in Owerri, where he charged educators to see teaching as both a professional responsibility and a sacred calling.
The Archbishop said teachers must recognise the growing challenges confronting young people and provide them with the values and guidance needed to navigate them.
He said: “This seminar is not merely an administrative routine or a professional development checklist. It is a sacred pause.
“It is a time to renew your spirit, refresh your mind, and realign your heart with the divine calling you have received.
“When you step into your classrooms, you do not just deliver academic facts. Today’s world presents our young people with a maze of confusion, shifting morals and digital distractions.
“More than ever, they need anchors. They need teachers who will not only teach them how to read, write, and compute, but also how to pray, love and serve.”
Ugorji challenged the teachers to focus on the development of the whole person, stressing that academic excellence should be matched with moral and spiritual formation.
He said: “Excellent academics are essential and we must always strive for professional mastery.”
However, the Archbishop warned that academic achievement without character development would leave students inadequately prepared for life.
“Academic excellence without spiritual formation is incomplete. If our students leave our schools with top marks but without a moral compass, we have fallen short of our mission as Catholic educators,” he said.
Ugorji urged the teachers to help students develop critical thinking while also guiding them towards responsible and virtuous living.
“Teach them to think critically, but also guide them to live virtuously. Let your classrooms be spaces where faith and reason meet seamlessly,” he said.
He further reminded the teachers that their conduct could influence students as much as their formal lessons.
“I urge you to remember that your most powerful lesson is the one taught without words. Young people watch how you handle stress, how you extend forgiveness and how you show compassion,” the Archbishop said.
He therefore called on the teachers to renew their commitment to the values they seek to instil in their students and to recognise the classroom as an important environment for shaping both knowledge and character.
