The annual meeting of The Catholic Association of Teachers, Schools and Colleges (CATSC), which took place this year in the Best Western Hotel in Stoke over the weekend of March 10th & 11th, was the venue for the launch of two new books by Don Bosco Publications. The Christian Teacher - Shepherd of Loving Kindness and Christian Leadership in Education. Both books have been written by David O'Malley SDB.

Through the kind offices of John Lydon, a member of the executive of CATSC, we were invited to the weekend, not only to launch the two new books but also to set up a bookstall in the hotel. Our bookstall proved to be extremely popular with the teachers and we had record sales of our books.

The bookstall with members of the Don Bosco Publications staff

The actual launch was timetabled as the final presentation of the weekend. Fr O'Malley gave a detailed explanation of the genesis of the two books and how they could be used in schools. Fr Bailey then encouraged the teachers present to recommend these books to other teachers, if they found them useful for themselves. He stressed that these books would be a source of great encouragement to school leaders and to classroom teachers since both books emphasised the vocational dimension of the Christian teacher. He observed that The Christian Teacher - Shepherd of Loving Kindness was very much based on the well-known saying of Don Bosco, It is not enough to love young people, they must know they are loved.

Fr Bailey finally remarked that while ships were launched with a bottle of champagne, it would be more appropriate to launch these books with a blessing: May God bless these books, and all who are encouraged by them.