Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church 9781623561666, 9781628926729, 9781623560829

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Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church

Also available from Bloomsbury Schooling for Social Change: The Rise and Impact of Human Rights Education in India, Monisha Bajaj Seducing Souls: Education and the Experience of Human Well-Being, Karl D. Hostetler Anglican Church School Education: Moving Beyond the First Two Hundred Years, Howard J. Worsley

Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church Kathleen Engebretson

Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA

50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK

www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2014 © Kathleen Engebretson, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Engebretson, Kath, 1950Catholic schools and the future of the church / Kathleen Engebretson. pages cm ISBN 978-1-62356-166-6 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-62356-713-2 (epub) -- ISBN 978-1-62356082-9 (epdf) 1. Catholic Church--Education (Secondary). 2. Christian education of teenagers. I. Title. BX926.3.E54 2014 268’.82--dc23 2013044909 ISBN: 978-1-6235-6082-9 Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN

Contents Acknowledgements

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1 A Church Cannot Last Without Its People The Catholic education achievement A declining church? Why use Mass attendance as the criterion? Some ways to understand the decline in Catholic commitment among young people Catholic schools then and now In conclusion: The catholic/Catholic school Review References

1 1 2 3 5 12 14 16 16

2 The Catholic High School and Religious Socialization Introduction The process of socialization Religious socialization The process of religious socialization Religious socialization and legitimation Characteristics of a religiously socialized person Agents of religious socialization Australian research The religious school as an agent of religious socialization The Catholic school and reference others Conclusion: Catholic schools can make a difference Review References

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3 Mapping the Catholic Identity and Mission of Catholic High Schools Introduction

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21 21 23 26 27 28 30 32 34 35 37 38 39

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The Catholic identity of the Catholic school Elements of the Catholic identity of the school The mission of the Catholic school: Hunter’s (2010) theology of faithful presence within Conclusion: Distinctive in plurality Review References 4 Reviving the Chain of Memory Introduction Religious illiteracy among young Catholics Why does religious illiteracy matter? How did it come to this? The experiences of religious education teachers in the immediate aftermath of the Council Religious education: Reviving the collective memory Revisiting the chain of memory Mapping the content of the religious education curriculum Characteristics of the content Conclusion: Religious education and the development of doctrine Review References 5 Principles and Practice of a Methodology for Religious Education    in Catholic High Schools Introduction St Paul in dialogue with culture The young Catholic’s spiritual and religious lifeworld Spirituality, religion and religiosity Religious identity Dialogue between Catholicism and the spiritual and religious lifeworld of the student Elements of the curriculum model Not as easy as it sounds Conclusion: Successful and enjoyable religious education

41 42 50 54 54 55 57 57 57 59 60 62 63 64 67 69 70 71 71

73 73 74 75 76 78 79 80 82 85

Contents

Review References 6 Christian Service Programmes in Catholic High Schools Introduction The theological rationale for Christian service programmes Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools A range of Christian service programmes Outcomes for students of their involvement in Christian service programmes Christian service learning in Catholic high schools and critical social analysis Using scripture to inform reflective thinking about social justice activities Conclusion: More than Noblesse Oblige Review References

vii 86 86 89 89 89 92 93 95 96 98 105 105 105

7 Teaching Complex Topics in Religious Education Richard Rymarz Introduction The new terrain: Overcoming the cult of niceness Complex topics in religious education: Some basic issues Teaching complex content areas A worked example: Teaching about God in Catholic high schools Conclusion: Don’t avoid the hard topics in religious education Review References

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8 Teachers in Catholic High Schools Introduction Religious education teachers The pre-service preparation of religious education teachers Induction, formation and mentorship of the new religious education teacher The issue of dissent on the part of the religious education teacher Teaching about controversial issues

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107 108 111 114 114 118 119 120

123 123 127 130 133 136

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The professional responsibilities of non-religious education teachers in Catholic high schools Conclusion: Catholic education is a work of the laity Review References 9 The Faith Leadership Role of the Principal: What the Research   Suggests Helga Neidhart The principal as faith leader Faith leadership: A challenging task From the principals’ perspective Faith leadership formation Conclusion: Recommending the faith leadership formation model Review References

138 140 141 141

143 143 144 146 154 157 158 158

10 Catholic Schools are Distinctive and Inclusive Introduction The ecclesial identity of the Catholic high school The Church is one: Unity in diversity and Christian communion The unity and identity of the Church impels her to inter-religious dialogue Papal teaching on other religions after the second Vatican Council Pope John Paul II How does the Catholic school express and reflect this unity of the Church? Conclusion: Distinctive in plurality Review References

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11 Voices from Catholic Parishes Introduction Parishes where the presence of young people is strong Should we focus our hopes on migrant youth? Concern about the phenomenon of youth disassociation from the Church

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163 165 166 167 169 171 174 175 175

177 177 179 180

Contents

Reflections on reasons for the decline Some took a more positive view Successful activities for teenagers and young adults Are you hopeful for the future of the Church? Issues with which we continue to contend Conclusion: Towards the future Index

ix 180 184 185 187 189 192 193

Acknowledgements For David, Teresa, Marie, Michael, John, Gavin, Sid, Julie, Jessica and the little ones. Samuel, Rielly, Samara, Rishav and those yet to come.

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A Church Cannot Last Without Its People

The Catholic education achievement In this second decade of the twenty-first century, the Catholic Church operates the largest non-government school system in the world. Approximately 93,000 Catholic elementary schools and 44,000 Catholic high schools educate more than 48 million children (Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate [CARA], 2012). In Australia the Catholic education system is second only to the government education sector, with more than 650,000 students and around 21 per cent of all high school enrolments (Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2008). Australia’s neighbour, New Zealand, has 193 Catholic primary schools and 49 Catholic high schools (New Zealand Catholic Education Office, 2011). In the United Kingdom there are 2,315 Catholic schools and colleges (United Kingdom Catholic Education Service, 2008) while the United States has approximately 7,841 Catholic schools, around 5,636 of these being elementary schools and 1,205 being high schools (CARA, 2012). Canada has 109 Catholic schools (Catholiclinks. org, 2011) and in India 14,429 children attend Catholic primary and high schools, even though Catholics comprise less than 2 per cent of the population (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, 2011). Even these few statistics indicate that Catholic education is and continues to be a monumental achievement of the Church, one in which it has invested colossal resources and commitment. Catholic schools vary greatly in their history, ownership, the extent to which they are financially supported by their country’s governments, their size and wealth, and the numbers of their students and staff who are Catholic, but

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among a range of purposes they have in common the purpose of educating Catholic children in their baptismal tradition (Ormerod, 2008).

A declining church? Catholic schools have multiplied around the world as the Catholic Church itself has declined in the developed world. In 1976 the American theologian and sociologist Andrew Greeley co-authored a book entitled Catholic Schools in a Declining Church, which he based on interviews with 1,128 adult American Catholics (Greeley, McCready and McCourt, 1976). Yet the American Church he described, just ten years after the Second Vatican Council (1962–5), appeared to be anything but declining. Greeley described a Church where the majority of adults approved of liturgical changes that were introduced as a result of the Council, where 50 per cent of Catholics attended Sunday Mass, 17 per cent still attended ‘confession’ weekly, Church visits to pray were made by 15 per cent and 60 per cent reported that they prayed daily. There was general approval of the work of the Pope, bishops and priests, although quite a decline in the numbers who supported papal infallibility. In Greeley’s research 50 per cent of those who responded would support their sons becoming priests or their daughters nuns. A major change was that 83 per cent supported artificial birth control as opposed to 45 per cent ten years earlier. Attitudes to pre-marital sex and abortion had also become more liberal. Nevertheless, Greeley described a strong and active Church: Fundamental loyalty to the Church continues, parochial schools are vigorously endorsed, there are no signs of anticlericalism or of any vigorous antipathy to Church leadership. Church attendance is down among adults (although it remains high among teenagers) and communion reception is up. Some traditional forms of piety have declined but other, newer forms seem to have attracted surprisingly large numbers of people. (Greeley, McCready and McCourt, 1976, 39)

Twenty-four years later, research undertaken with young American Catholics illustrated a marked dissipation of cultural Catholicism, the deterioration of the Catholic cultural enclave and the rise of spiritual individualism (Fultan



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et al., 2000). The pattern is repeated in western countries around the world (see Abela, 2000 on Malta; Duthie-Jung, 2012 on New Zealand). In the Catholic Church in Australia, as in other secularized countries, the most significant decline in religious practice has been among teenagers and young adults. The latest National Attendance count, conducted over four Sundays in May 2006 (Dixon, Kunciunas and Reid, 2008), showed that 13.8 per cent of Australia’s Catholic population attended Mass, a figure that was down from 15.3 per cent in 2001 and further down from 1996. The 13.8 per cent was made up of a disproportionate number of women and older Catholics. Women comprised 60.4 per cent of Mass attendees over 15 years of age, and while the median age of Catholics in Australia over 15 is 44 years, the average age of attendees in 2006 was 58. It is reasonable to predict even lower figures in the future as the highest number of attendees in 2006 was for the 65–9 year age group, and the only increases over the ten-year period between 1996 and 2006 were in the 70+ age group. In contrast, the lowest number of attendees in 2006 was in the 25–9 age group, which represented just 2 per cent of total attendance across all age groups. This is the age group who will be the parents of future generations of Catholics, and the drastic decline in their attendance suggests that the generations that come after them will also attend in very small numbers. The average decline in all age groups up to 45 was 35 per cent and the decline in attendees aged between 25 and 34 was more than twice the average. Despite an increase in the rate of attendees in the 60+ age groups (perhaps due to greater longevity), there was an overall reduction in Church attendees in the 0–59 age group, and this was quite drastic in some age sub-groups. Most striking are the facts that between 2001 and 2006 attendance by children under 14 fell by 34,000, attendance by young people between 15 and 19 fell by 8,000, and the 15–19 age group accounted for only 4 per cent of overall attendees.

Why use Mass attendance as the criterion? A predictable response to the statistics provided above is to ask why Sunday Mass attendance is used as evidence of commitment to the Church among young people. Are there not other ways of demonstrating Catholic

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commitment? Is not subjective religious commitment, meaning intuitive identification with the tradition and an emotional connection with it without feeling the need to participate (Starke and Finke, 2000), also a valid way of being Catholic? Davie (1994) has described this as ‘believing without belonging’ (94) and more later (1999) pointed out an ‘ethic of consumption’ in place of an ‘ethic of obligation’. I go to church … because I want to … to fulfil a particular rather than a general need in my life and … I will continue my attachment so long as it provides what I want, but I have no obligation either to attend in the first place or to continue if I don’t want to. (148)

A British sociologist of religion, Davie could have been writing about Australia. Similarly, a 1999 Gallup survey in America revealed that 77 per cent of a sample of self-described Catholics believed that someone could be a ‘good’ Catholic without ever going to Mass on Sundays (see also Hamer, 2004, 5). In support of the fact that believing is increasingly becoming disconnected from belonging, Overstreet (2010) cites Gallup poll statistics to demonstrate that the belief that one can be a ‘good Catholic’ without going to Mass has increased for all generations over the past two decades. Religiosity among young Catholics is more often than not held in this subjective way, but the first contention of this book is that the easy acceptance of this reality needs to be challenged. Clearly, no religious institution can in the long term survive the lack of external involvement of most of its members, particularly the younger generations. It is obvious that a Church cannot last without its people. In addition, we must ask whether someone can claim to belong to any religion if he or she has no objective commitment to it (Starke and Finke, 2000); that is, he or she never attends services, makes no contribution financial or otherwise to the religion and his or her life is, apparently at least, unaffected by its teaching and values. One reason, perhaps the least important, for using the objective commitment measure of Mass attendance is that of Canon Law, which requires that Catholics participate in the Eucharist on Saturday evening or Sunday. Sunday, Canon Law declares, is the primary holy day of obligation and its observance is one of only a very few obligatory ritual observances for Catholics. More important is the theological imperative that the Eucharist



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is at the heart of the Church’s life. The celebration of the Eucharist was declared by the Second Vatican Council to be the ‘fount and apex’ (Lumen Gentium, 1964, 11) of Catholic life. It is the sacrament that both celebrates communion with Christ and calls believers into the community of the People of God. Theologically, the sacrament cannot be separated from the life of the community, and this theological truth must critique the ‘believing without belonging’ phenomenon. If one does not participate in the most central and meaningful ritual of the community, can one be said to belong to that community?

Some ways to understand the decline in Catholic commitment among young people Secularization1 Despite a radical decline in church-going across the western world, western countries, although aggressively secular, are not necessarily anti- or un-religious. Indeed, Berger (1999), famously the sociologist of the secular, now declares that the postmodern age is more religious than ever. In proposing his theory of secularization, Charles Taylor (1999) also makes this point vigorously. Taylor sees secularization not as the decline and gradual death of religion, but rather as the result of privatization of religion and the rise of the other spheres for truth and values. He argues that secularization is actually a moral and spiritual movement, and that it began to develop when people realized that they could be moral, even spiritual, without belief in God. This, he continues, began with the separation of Church and state that was a legacy of the Reformation. For those who followed the Reformists, the Reformation did away with the principle that there was a sharp distinction between the sacred and the profane, between the holy and the ‘world’, which formerly had been seen as the locus of temptation and evil. It questioned the belief that only in rejecting the world was God’s gift of redemption achieved. It denied that redemption was only mediated in See K. Engebretson (2013). Religious Schools Engaging with a Secular Age. In M. T. Buchanan (ed.), Leadership and Religious Schools (New York: Bloomsbury), 165–84.

1

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certain places (Churches) and rituals (Taylor, 1999). Kings and priests were no longer seen as essential mediators between the sacred and the profane. In contrast, a key teaching of the Reformists was that redemption could be achieved by faith alone, and they rejected the notion of a mediating class between people and God. The Reformation led to the key ideas of modernity (approximately dated from the 1500s to the middle or late twentieth century). The ideas around which modernity settled were the metanarratives of reason, optimism, universality and objectivism. In particular, reason and science were the narratives through which modernity claimed the world could be understood. Reason was considered the greatest of the human faculties and it was argued that by reason alone life could be understood and superstition eradicated. While in the ‘age of belief ’ (de Leon and van Leeuwen, 2003, 79) God and God’s divine law were considered to be the sources of morality, scientism and its methodological relation – positivism – gradually developed, reaching prominence in the early nineteenth century. Under the influence of this rational narrative, people became less willing to believe ideas for which there was no empirical evidence. Science was deemed to have unique access to the truth and it rejected metaphysical and religious ways of thinking. Logical and mathematical ways of gaining knowledge were considered to be the only worthwhile ones and intuitive, introspective ways of seeking knowledge were rejected (Taylor, 1999).

The search for the authentic self Therefore during modernity a new emphasis on the self as the agent of reason and action arose. The purpose of life became self-understanding, personal fulfilment, happiness and the search to be true to oneself. Taylor has referred to this as ‘ethics of authenticity’ (1991). The search for authenticity introduced a new kind of individualism that had deep implications for the individual’s relationship with organized religion, indeed with any external agency that sought to limit the self. New kinds of religion and spirituality arose, as did the number of people declaring themselves to be atheistic or agnostic. Much more than this, however, there was an affirmation of ordinary human life, which put the ‘centre of gravity of goodness in ordinary living, production and the



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family’ (Taylor, 1999, 22). With the Churches no longer the sole arbiters of goodness, the human community itself made decisions about good and evil. Thus, Taylor points out, modern liberal political culture is characterized by an affirmation of universal human rights – to life, freedom, citizenship, selfrealization – which are unconditional and available to all. These rights, he claims, could not have come about except for the distancing from institutional Christianity: This culture has flourished where the casing of Christendom has been broken open and where no other single philosophy has taken its place, but the public sphere has remained the locus of competing ultimate visions. (Taylor, 1999, 18)

For Taylor, the self in its search for authenticity is a positive aspect of secular culture. It leads individuals to seek authentic ways of being human and to search for what is right for them in every sphere of human life, including religion and spirituality. ‘The religious life or practice that I become part of must not only be my choice, but it must speak to me, it must make sense in terms of my spiritual development as I understand it’ (Taylor, 2007, 486). Even for today’s young people who have been raised in a religious tradition, there are many options for expression of religion and spirituality, including the option of being indifferent to them. Therefore Taylor proposes that secularization has three stages: a) the separation of Church and state; b) a decline in formal religious belief and practice; and c) changes in the ways in which people choose to be spiritual and/or religious, changes that are particularly related to a search for authenticity. Berger (1999) also points to the pervasive religiosity of the so-called secular western world, particularly noting the rise of conservative religion in the Catholic and Protestant traditions and the attraction of Pentecostal Churches. The world, Berger claims, is more religious than ever. Other analysts also argue that postmodern existence is not as meaningless as it is often portrayed, indeed that postmodern communities express a search for the good and true in diverse and manifold ways. Writing in an opinion piece in a Melbourne (Australia) paper, journalist Michael Short upbraided the Australian government for its lack of moral leadership, especially in relation to young people, and for its blindness to what really matters to the community.

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Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church There is something going on in the community that some of our politicians, including the Prime Minister, seem to be missing, bunkered as they are in the battle for dominance of the current Parliament. So many people are seeking authenticity, a return to simplicity, meaning and community. It’s there in the burgeoning not-for-profit sector, where as many as one in 12 people are employed. It’s there in the vegie patches that are being planted in so many more back gardens. It’s there in the outrage people feel about the treatment of asylum seekers. It’s there in the explosion of writing and communication and creativity in what’s known as social media, but is perhaps better described as open media. It’s everywhere. (Short, 2012, 17)

Maffesoli (1996) also argues that the fierce individualism that has been the presumed dogma of postmodernism is very much in decline. He claims that the ancient knowledge that every individual is a link in the uninterrupted human chain, and that the multiple selves of the individual (the persona) can find fulfilment only in relationship with others, is being expressed today in numerous creative ways. He points out that the so-called secular age is one wherein strong collective emotions are often expressed and wherein there are many encounters of the sacred in sport, festivals and new religious movements. ‘In such a world’, Fultan et al. (2000, 6) say, ‘it is possible for religion still to have expression, but with little memory of a great past. Today’s religion is fleeting glimpses of the sacred, which can be enjoyed while they last, but cannot really structure a rule for life.’

Change, dissent and anger in the Church The euphoria mixed with uncertainty of the years after the Second Vatican Council is well documented, as is the fact that the dissemination of the Council’s documents coincided with a time when young people found a common voice against the Vietnam war and against authority in political, family and religious life. In Europe, North America and other western countries, where young people were affluent and increasingly well educated, they led change in family life, in expressions of sexuality, in career choice for women and in attitudes to authority. Anti-clericalism and ultimately indifference to the Church were the result for many of the generation popularly known as the ‘baby boomers’ (Linden, 2009). Equally well documented is



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the rebellion of that generation against the Church’s prohibition of all forms of artificial birth control in the encyclical Humanae Vitae issued in 1968, an unexpected (by many) reiteration of traditional doctrine. Dissent was virulent and open, first among theologians and later among the generation of lay people most affected at that time – the baby boomers. Soon theologians and lay people were dissenting not only about contraception but also about homosexuality, divorce, the authority and competence of priests to advise on family life, priestly celibacy and many other issues. ‘Having been the dutiful subjects of changes that required difficult adjustments, the faithful now took upon themselves the right to decide some questions of morals that previous generations would never have questioned’ (McGillion, 2003, 59). Today there is an increasing argument in the Church that Humanae Vitae was prophetic and that in its effect of separating sexual activity from committed love, artificial birth control has undermined human dignity and healthy sexual relationships among succeeding generations (see especially Smith, 1993). Nevertheless, a 1992 Gallup poll revealed that 80 per cent of American Catholics believed that married Catholic couples have the right to follow their conscience in deciding whether to use artificial means of birth control, while 90 per cent claimed that one could be a good Catholic while practising artificial birth control (Steinfels, 2003, 258). The debate over Humanae Vitae was one catalyst for large numbers of resignations from the priesthood. From the time of the Second Vatican Council until the 1990s, approximately 100,000 men across the world left the priesthood, and double that number of religious sisters and brothers left their orders (Linden, 2009). The requirement of priestly celibacy in a time of such a shortage of priests – so much so that many Catholics are left without regular celebration of the Eucharist – continues to cause tension in the Church, especially in consideration of the growing numbers of married Anglican clergy who are being admitted to the Roman Catholic priesthood (Linden, 2009). Against a virulent secularity, accompanied by the privatization of religion, came the crisis of sexual abuse by clergy and religious, a crisis that continues to destroy victims’ lives, has devastated and disillusioned many previously active Catholics and increased the religious cynicism of the young. Benedict XVI expressed his empathy with those who have left the Church in anger and disillusionment over sexual abuse by the clergy:

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Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church I can understand that with such information, especially if the victim is someone close, one can say: ‘This is not my Church: The Church was a humanizing force for me, a force of morals. If its representatives do the opposite, I’m leaving.’ (Benedict XVI, 2011)

In the context of the crisis in North America, the Pope expressed his sympathy with American Catholics whom the scandal had left saddened and bewildered. Since the 1990s the extent of the scandal has become clear and the work of those at every level of Church hierarchy to hide and minimize the problem has been exposed. When allegations first emerged in Britain and Ireland in the early 1990s, and later in the 1990s in Australia, Church leadership responded with denials, then with assertions that the abuse was rare and contained. However, the Ryan Report (2009) exposed decades of systemic abuse of thousands of children in Ireland and the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the United States lost untold numbers of the faithful and millions of dollars in compensation to victims. The scandal also affected the Church in Europe – in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Italy. It is not the intention here to re-visit any of the thousands of newspaper, television, radio and internet reports on the scandal and its mishandling, but to point out that one can hardly be surprised that young people choose not to belong to a Church which daily appears in the media for all the wrong reasons. The Church’s loss of moral authority over this crisis will be particularly difficult to mend among young people, who also question the wealth of the Church in a world where 150 million children suffer from malnutrition, cannot understand the resistance by Church leadership to the use of condoms to stem the HIV/AIDS virus in developing countries and altogether have lost the uncritical reverence for the Church that their grandparents and to a lesser extent their parents had.

Religious Education and religious illiteracy among young Catholics Alongside these considerations is the phenomenon of religious illiteracy, noted by numerous researchers and familiar to teachers of Religious Education (RE) in Catholic schools. Young Catholics actually know very little of the details of their religion (Fultan et al., 2000; Hoge, 2001; Rymarz, 2004; Rymarz and Graham, 2005). This can be explained to some extent by the changes that took



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place in the theory and method of RE in Catholic schools after the Second Vatican Council. The doctrinal approach exemplified in school catechisms gave way early in the 1960s to a short-lived kerygmatic approach, which gave way again in the late 1960s to an experiential or life-centred approach that saw life experience as the starting point for RE. The bizarre interpretations of this in some early controversial programmes settled down to a hegemonic experiential approach to RE which favoured reflection on life experience, often at the cost of religious content (Engebretson and Rymarz, 2005; Engebretson, 2010). Compounding this situation was that from the late 1960s there was a tidal exodus of teaching nuns, brothers and priests from the classroom. The lay teachers who struggled to hold the Catholic education system together were largely untrained in RE and no doubt found it easier, with a more and more resentful captive audience in their classes, to focus on life experience rather than unpalatable religious knowledge. In time it became clear how little students really knew about their own religious tradition. Key topics had been neglected, and there were large gaps in the students’ basic knowledge about their baptismal tradition (Constable, 1992; Engebretson, 2000). The recent Spirit of Generation Y research (Mason, Singleton and Webber, 2007) conducted among Australian young people also found, along with other studies, that apart from the most committed, Catholic young people were alarmingly ignorant about their Church and its teachings, and their attendance at Catholic schools seemed to make little difference to this. Other researchers concur with this appraisal. Rymarz’s research revealed that among Australian Catholics born from the 1970s on, there is little knowledge or understanding of the Second Vatican Council and its significance (Rymarz, 2004). In addition, there has been a weakening of a sense of transcendence, with Jesus Christ most often being described by young Catholics as a good person and their role in life as Catholics to also be ‘good’. In this simplistic view of what it means to be Catholic, there is no understanding of the theology of the incarnation, and the central Catholic teaching of Jesus’ divine and human natures together in the life of the man Jesus of Nazareth is lost. In the simplified ethic of ‘being good and kind’ no theological understanding of the dignity of the person, the call to right conscience or the dedication to the common good found in Catholic ethical and social teaching can be found.

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Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church

Relating interviews with young Americans who unhesitatingly identified as Catholic and attended Mass regularly, Hoge (1981) found that their understanding of Jesus Christ was limited to early elementary school ideas, and in some cases they openly spoke of casual sex encounters, which they did not seem to see as contrary to their claim to be Catholic.

Catholic schools then and now Against this background of young people’s secularization, disillusionment with clergy and Church leaders and widespread religious illiteracy, Catholic schools today seek to understand their mission. These schools are very different from those that first arose in the late nineteenth century in Australia and at various times in other western countries. Then they were visibly Catholic, established intentionally by the Church for the purpose of educating Catholic children and supporting Catholic families in the education of those children in their religious tradition. The children in the schools were Catholic and for the most part attended Sunday Mass with their parents. The teachers were nuns, brothers or priests supported by a very few Catholic lay teachers who, in high schools at least, did not teach RE. The RE curriculum was unapologetically doctrinal and devotional, and it was supplemented by Catholic prayers such as the rosary, acts of faith, hope, love and contrition as well as Bible stories. Priests were in charge of the schools and were frequent visitors, just as the sacraments of Eucharist and Penance were frequently provided for the children. The Catholic school instructed the children for First Communion, first Confession and Confirmation. Overall, the Catholic school was a Catholic enclave in a society that was often seen as antipathetic to Catholic values. As Whitehead (2006, 5) wrote of an earlier time in American Catholicism: When U.S. Catholics were mainly a working class population of white European immigrants, socially and economically isolated from the Protestant mainstream, and committed to the institutions, teachings and practices of the pre-Vatican II Church, being a Catholic was a distinctive identity. This identity included doctrinal beliefs and behaviours that defined one as Catholic.



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As Catholics moved into every part of society, assimilating the values of the wider culture, Catholic identity was diluted in an historical shift that has particularly affected the generations of Catholics who were born after the Second Vatican Council. Today’s Catholic schools are very different from those earlier institutions (Putney, 2005). Often they are not owned by religious orders, but have been sponsored and are owned by a diocese. They no longer provide exclusively for Catholic children, and many of their teachers either have no religion or belong to other Christian denominations or other religions. Although identifying as Catholic, most of the Catholic students and some teachers would not attend Sunday Mass. The school would advertise itself as inclusive, ‘open to all who share its qualified educational project’ (Congregation for Catholic Education [CCE], 1997, 16), and in Australia it would have a high level of funding from state and federal governments, although this differs from nation to nation. Nevertheless, the school would claim its Catholic identity on the grounds that it has been established by the Catholic Church, and that it has an RE curriculum that has a particular (but not exclusive) focus on the Catholic tradition. This curriculum will have been adapted to include the experiences of Catholic children who have no association with the Church, children who have no religion at all, and children from other Christian denominations and other religions. The school will use traditional Catholic forms of prayer alongside a range of other forms, sometimes drawn from other religions. It will publically espouse Catholic values but not assume that privately its teachers or the families it serves accept and live by these values. The school will display Catholic symbols alongside other contemporary art forms. While it will claim that the Eucharist is the centre of its religious life, it will be more and more difficult to find priests available to celebrate Eucharist at the school. Alongside its concern to cater for diversity, it will claim an identity as an ecclesial community. The ecclesial nature of the Catholic school, therefore, is written in the very heart of its identity as a teaching institution. It is a true and proper ecclesial entity by reason of its educational activity, in which faith, culture and life are brought into harmony. Thus it must be strongly emphasized that this ecclesial dimension is not a mere adjunct, but is a proper and specific attribute, a distinctive characteristic [author’s emphasis] which penetrates and informs every moment of its

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Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church educational activity, a fundamental part of its very identity and the focus of its mission. The fostering of this dimension should be the aim of all those who make up the educating community. (CCE, 1997, 11)

How can the life and mission of the Catholic school be understood in the unique context of the second decade of the twenty-first century? In its openness to diversity, has it dissipated its Catholic character? With a range of traditions represented among its students, can it still claim to be an agent of religious socialization for young Catholics? This book responds to the latter question with a resounding affirmative, and contends that Catholic schools can and must be places where young Catholics learn to be Catholic. The ‘how’ of this is the subject of the chapters that follow. The first step is to distinguish carefully between the school as catholic in a universal sense and the school as Catholic in a specific sense.

In conclusion: The catholic/Catholic school2 In order to bring to some resolution the issues raised in this chapter, it is helpful to unpack the word ‘catholic’. One way of using the term ‘catholic’ is with a lower-case c, in the sense that it is used in the Nicene–Constantinopolitan Creed of the Christian liturgy. The term ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’ and is derived from the Greek ‘belonging to the whole’ (Sullivan, 1995). There are three levels of meaning in the word when it is applied to the Church, and by association to Catholic schools. First, the Church is [c]atholic because of the presence of Jesus Christ, in whom is the fullness of truth, and whose salvation is for all (Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC], 1994, 830–3). Second, the Church is [c]atholic because its evangelizing mission is universal, that is, to the whole human race at all times in history. This geographical and temporal universality has been its mark since the Apostles took on the task of ‘making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt. 28.18–20). The Church is [c]atholic because it See K. Engebretson (2009). Both Universal and Local: The Catholic/Catholic Identity of the Catholic School within the Church. Australian E-Journal of Theology 14 (1): 1–18.

2



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15

is for everybody at all times. Third, it is [c]atholic because it consists of a multitude of diverse Churches, each with its own history and gifts, and these together make up the universal Church of Christ. This diversity enriches the [c]atholicity of the Church without diminishing its unity (Sullivan, 1995). In its [c]atholic nature, therefore, the school reaches out to children (and by association their families) who have never heard of Christ and his Church, children who belong to other Christian denominations and religions other than Christianity, and to refugee children who may belong to religions other than Christianity, or may practise a particular cultural expression of Catholicism (Redemptoris Missio, 1990). There is also an historical, narrower and more popularly understood meaning of the word ‘Catholic’, which is usually designated with an upper-case C. The word ‘Catholic’ became a point of division after the east–west schism of ad 1054, when the Byzantine Church with its centre at Constantinople and the Church which identified with Rome and the Bishop of Rome parted ways. The ‘western’ Church under Rome retained the title of [C]atholic, while the Eastern Church called itself Orthodox. This was complicated again with the Reformation. Those who remained in communion with Rome retained the adjective [C]atholic, while the Churches that broke away from papal leadership became ‘Protestant’. While some of these Churches today claim that they are reformed Churches within the [c]atholic Church, and the Catholic Church’s own Declaration on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio [UR], 1964, 13) refers to separated Churches as ecclesial communities, it is in the historical sense of the ‘Roman’ Church, the Church under the leadership of the Pope and which claims direct succession from the Apostles, to which the term [C]atholic is most usually applied. This Catholic Church has countless Catholic schools around the world. Within [C]atholic schools, there is special concern for Catholic children and a desire to open up to them the riches of their religion. Among these are those Catholic children and their families where faith is alive and commitment to Christ and the Church strong. In the Catholic school the existing religious knowledge of these children and young people is developmentally educated, and provision is made for constant enhancement and development of a mature Catholic commitment. Then there are those baptized Catholic children and young people who are disassociated from the Church and religious practice. Often these claim that they are agnostic or even atheist,

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or that they are ‘spiritual but not religious’. In keeping with the phenomenon of secularization analysed earlier in this chapter, they may seek meaning in a variety of quasi-religious ways. More often they will be simply indifferent, seeing religious practice as a private choice, the idiosyncratic practice of a few. To these the efforts of the Catholic school must be particularly directed, and it is the goal of this book to give Catholic educators insights into how this may be done, for ‘a Church cannot last without its people’.

Review MM

MM

MM

MM

MM

What is your view? Is regular celebration of Sunday Mass necessary for Catholics? Why or why not? Where do you see secularization in your own nation and region? How has it affected people’s religious choices? What issues are at the heart of dissent with the Church in your diocese and neighbourhood? Do you agree that many young Catholic are religiously illiterate? What do you think has led to this? In your opinion, what is the purpose of Catholic schools?

References Abela, A. (2000). Young Catholics in Malta. In J. Fultan, A. Abela, I. Borowik, T. Dowling, O. Marler and L.Tokmasi. (eds), Young Catholics at the New Millennium (Dublin: University College Dublin Press). Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2008). About Australia: Religious Freedom. http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/religion.html (retrieved 20/1/2012). Benedict XVI (2011). Rome Reports. TV News Agency. http://www.romereports. com/palio/pope-talks-to-the-press-about-sex-abuse-scandals-and-germanprotests-english–4947.html (retrieved 22/2/2012). Berger, P. (1999). The De-secularization of the World: A Global Overview. In P. Berger (ed.), The De-secularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).



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Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] (1994), with 1997 corrections. http://www. scborromeo.org/ccc.htm (retrieved 29/2/2012). Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (2011). http://www.cbcisite.com/whoper cent20wepercent20are.htm (retrieved 20/1/2012). Catholiclinks.org. (2011). Retrieved 20/1/2012. Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate (2012). Services (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press). http://cara.georgetown.edu/CARAServices/ requestedchurchstats.html (retrieved 2/5/2013). Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) (1997). The Catholic School on the Threshold of the New Millennium. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_27041998_ school2000_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). Constable, C. (1992). A parent reflects. Word in Life 40, 4: 1–14. Davie, G. (1994). Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing Without Belonging (London: Blackwell). —(1999). Europe the Exception that Proves the Rule. In P. L. Berger (ed.). The De-secularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans). Dixon, R., Kunciunas, A. and Reid, S. (2008). Mass Attendance in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Pastoral Projects Office). Duthie-Jung, C. (2012). Faith amid secularity: a critical exploration of Catholic religious identity among young adult Pakeha Catholics in Aotearoa, New Zealand (unpublished Doctor of Ministry thesis, Sydney College of Divinity). Engebretson, K. (2000). The Melbourne Archdiocesan textbook project. Journal of Religious Education 48, 2: 28–32. —(2010). The new evangelization and religious education in Catholic schools. Religious Education Journal of Australia 26, 1: 22–6. Engebretson, K. and Rymarz, R. (2005). Putting textbooks to work: empowering religious education teachers. British Journal of Religious Education 27, 1: 53–63. Fultan, J., Abela, A., Borowik, I., Dowling, T., Marler, P. and Tokmasi, L. (2000). Young Catholics at the New Millennium (Dublin: University College Dublin Press). Greeley, A., McCready, W. and McCourt, K. (1976). Catholic Schools in a Declining Church (Kansas City: Sheed and Ward). Hamer, D. (2004). The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes (New York: Doubleday). Hoge, D. (1981). Converts, Dropouts, Returnees: A Study of Religious Change among Catholics (New York: Pilgrim Press).

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—(2001). Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame). Humanae Vitae (1968). Encyclical letter of Pope Paul V1 on the regulation of birth. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_ enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). de Leon, F. and van Leeuwen, B. (2003). Charles Taylor on secularization. Ethical Perspectives 10, 1: 78–86. Linden, I. (2009). Global Catholicism (New York: Columbia University Press). Lumen Gentium (1964). The dogmatic Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). Maffesoli, M. (1995). The Time of the Tribes: The Decline of Individualism in Mass Society (London: Sage). Mason, M., Singleton, A. and Webber, R. (2007). The Spirit of Generation Y: Young People’s Spirituality in a Changing Australia (Mulgrave, VIC: John Garratt). McGillion, C. A. (2003). Long Way from Rome: Why the Australian Catholic Church is in Crisis (Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin). New Zealand Catholic Education Office (2011). http://nzceo.catholic.org.nz/pages/ schools.html (retrieved 20/1/2012). Ormerod, N. (2008). Catholic schools: ministry or mission. Australasian Catholic Record 82: 212. Overstreet, D. (2010). Spiritual vs religious: perspectives from today’s undergraduate Catholics. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 14, 2: 238–63. Putney, M. (2005). The Catholic school of the future. Australasian Catholic Record 82: 387. Redemptoris Missio (1990). On the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/ hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). Ryan Report (2009). Executive Summary of the Investigation of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/pdfs/ CICA-Executive%20Summary.pdf (retrieved 22/2/2012). Rymarz, R. (2004). Lost generation: the cultures of gen-X Catholics. Australasian Catholic Record 81: 2. Rymarz R. and Graham, J. (2005). Going to church: attitudes to church attendance amongst Australian core Catholic youth. Journal of Beliefs and Values 26, 1: 55–64. Short, M. (2012). Why we can’t trust Gillard any more. The Age 24/1/2012. Fairfax Media Management Pty Limited: Document AGEE000020120124e81p0004i.



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Smith, J. (1993). Why Humanae Vitae was Right: A Reader (San Francisco: Ignatius Press). Starke, R. and Finke, R. (2000). Acts of Faith (Berkeley: University of California Press). Steinfels, P. (2003). A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America (New York: Simon & Schuster). Sullivan, F. (1995). Marks of the Church. In R. McBrien (gen. ed.), The HarperCollins Encyclopaedia of Catholicism (New York: HarperCollins). Taylor, C. (1991). The Ethics of Authenticity (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). —(1999). A Catholic Modernity? Charles Taylor’s Marianist Award lecture, with responses by William M. Shea, Rosemary Luling Haughton, George Marsden, and Jean Bethke Elshtain. J. Heft (ed.) (New York: Oxford University Press). —(2007). A Secular Age. (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press). Unitatis Redintegratio (1964). Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/ vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). United Kingdom Catholic Education Service (2008). Report 1. http://www.cesew.org. uk/standard.asp?id=6231 (retrieved 20/1/2012). Whitehead, B. (2006). An overview of social and cultural trends influencing youthful sexuality. (Paper presented at the Catholic Common Ground Conference on sexual decision making and today’s Catholic college students.) Cited in D. Overstreet. —(2010). Spiritual vs religious: perspectives from today’s undergraduate Catholics. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 14, 2: 238–63.

2

The Catholic High School and Religious Socialization

Introduction The previous chapter demonstrated that in today’s western Catholic Church – which faces a pronounced decline in the participation of its youth, the indifference of the secular culture in which it exists, and a great loss of its moral authority – Catholic schools are more important than ever. More than any other Catholic institution, they are able to lead the necessary transformation of the Church into the future. Drawing on sociological theory, this chapter argues that despite the religious apathy and alienation of many of the parents in secular cultures who select Catholic schools for their children, these schools still have the ability to offer young people the real choice to be Catholic. Here I explore the nature of socialization and religious socialization and propose a map for attending to Catholic socialization in a Catholic high school.

The process of socialization Socialization is normally understood as the sum of processes by which a new generation learns to live in accordance with the beliefs, values and norms of the society, and to contribute to the future of the group (Berger, 1990). As the people of the new generation are initiated into the culture, they learn to participate in it, to accept or critique the roles as well as the identities that make up its social structure, and to contribute to its future or be part of its transformation. Therefore socialization occurs in two directions, the first

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being the objective way in which society acts upon the individual. Agencies of socialization – people, groups, media – transmit the objective culture with its symbols, values, expectations, meanings and roles. The second direction is subjective, and it refers to the way in which the individual responds to society. Socialization is a learning process within the individual as he or she adapts, relates to and critiques the hegemonic culture and the persons who consciously or unconsciously transmit it (Fichter, 1973). Socialization, therefore, is strongly connected with identity formation, which is a dialectic process, for identity develops in conversation. In socialization ‘the individual becomes that which he/she is addressed as by others’ (Berger, 1990, 16). The individual appropriates the meaning of the society in conversation with others. This socializing conversation is not merely verbal, it is full of non-verbal symbols, but language does have a privileged place in it. Usually reality maintenance in conversation is implicit rather than explicit, for most conversation ‘takes place against the background of a world that is silently taken for granted’ (Berger and Luckman, 1966, 152). The subjective element in socialization means that identity formation through socialization is far from being a submissive process (Vermeer, 2010). The pluralism of contemporary societies has led to a strong focus on individuation, which is the construction of a unique personality with personal autonomy, goals and a drive for self-fulfilment. Since the fixed roles and uncontested norms and values of earlier times are now much more fluid, the process of socialization can no longer be thought of merely as the transmission, internalization and adaptation of an uncontested culture. Individuation is at the core of socialization in plural societies (Vermeer, 2010). In the socialization process in these societies identity is no longer a fixed outcome of birth, class or religion. It is constantly constructed and re-constructed. However, a functioning society relies on the transmission and integration of cultural and social values, so this process continues to be a core element of the contemporary process of socialization. Therefore in contemporary culture socialization can be thought of as an active process of simultaneous personality development and the acquisition of core values (Vermeer, 2010). A social identity necessary for the person to act effectively in the world is acquired alongside the development of a personal identity necessary for authentic action and relationships. The simultaneous



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development of these social and personal identities is a complex process requiring hermeneutic and critical skills and may at times bring the individual into conflict with the culture as the personal identity is constantly constructed. A key role in this process is played by ‘reference others’. As developing identities are tried and tested in daily life the person re-defines, modifies or changes these identities in order to become more acceptable to the important others whose opinions about themselves they value (Schlenker, 1986). Through repeated interactions with people whose opinion they value they construct ‘desirable identity images’ (25). These images are influenced by personal values, by the people with whom the person interacts constantly and by ‘reference others’. A ‘reference group’ or ‘reference others’ are those groups or individuals whom the young person aspires to be like. Once reference others have been established the young person internalizes the values, norms and attitudes of these reference others and they are a powerful force in socialization. A key factor then is the kinds of values and attitudes that reference others model for the young person. We will return to this issue later in this chapter when we consider the role of the Catholic school in religious socialization.

Religious socialization Religions, religiosity and spirituality The concern of this chapter is religious socialization, but writing about any aspect of religiosity always requires an author to define and distinguish between terms that are often used and/or interchanged in quite confusing ways. Here are some fundamental definitions that inform the discussion in the rest of this book.1

Spirituality Since a great deal of what has been written about spirituality is vague at best and misleading at worst, it is necessary to identify what is distinctive about See K. Engebretson (2013). Teenage Boys and Life Experience. In Z. Gross, Davies and Al-Khansaa Diab (eds), Gender, Religion and Education in a Chaotic, Postmodern World (Dordrecht: Springer), 285–302.

1

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spirituality. I contend that it is in its transcendent dimension that spirituality can be distinguished from other dimensions of life such as aesthetic appreciation, appreciation of nature and so on. In his classic (1958) work, James collected hundreds of stories of people who had spiritual experiences, that is experiences of an ‘absolute reality behind phenomena’ (67), a reality to which they sometimes referred as God. In Smart’s (1996) theory of religious experience the numinous experience (that is the sense of the power and presence of the Divine) generates contemplation, ‘devotion, love, a sense of grace, spontaneity’ (172), which in turn leads to ‘self-awareness, wisdom, moderation and equanimity’. The experience of the numinous and the contemplation it engenders may develop into a sustained relationship (Dreyer, 1995) which deeply influences one’s life. This was what Harris and Moran (1998) meant when they defined spirituality as ‘our way of being in the world in light of the mystery at the core of the universe’ (109) and what Christian theologian McBrien (1994) also meant by the words ‘Spirituality has to do with our experiencing of God and with the transformation of our consciousness and our lives as outcomes of that experience’ (1057). Drawing on these and other thinkers from a variety of religions, I define spirituality as a relationship with the sacred Other (whom Christians call God) which illuminates lived experience, and which is grounded in numinous experience and contemplation. Spirituality may be held quite distinct from religion, but a religious person always has a unique spirituality derived from his or her religion.

Religion It is much easier to define religion since it is so visibly and diversely manifested in human life. Religions are organized and coherent systems which express and ritualize beliefs, and which usually have stories, rituals, symbols, values and laws as well as their own history and organizational structure. Religions encompass, preserve and foster an original spirituality and their role in this is singularly important. So Buddhism preserves, teaches and hands on the enlightenment of the Buddha and his teachings; Christianity preserves and develops the insights of Jesus of Nazareth; Judaism enfolds, protects and reflects on the pivotal moment of the covenant; Islam guides its followers according to the Qur’an as given to the Prophet.



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The whole point of the religious structures is to preserve and foster the spirituality so that it develops as a life-giving spiritual tradition, one which is open to new insights while retaining all that is best of its original inspiration … a certain amount of organisation or institutionalism can be helpful. Without it, a spiritual tradition is likely to remain vague … So the structures of religion can safeguard a spiritual tradition, can help to purify and develop it, and can ensure that it is handed on faithfully to future generations. (Dorr, 2005, 263)

A religious person therefore is one who holds to the beliefs of the religion, practises its rituals, knows and tells its stories, reads its sacred books, integrates its values into daily life and participates in the social structure of the religion. Religiousness always shapes and defines spirituality. For example, it is common to hear people say that they are ‘spiritual but not religious’ and given a diffuse, insubstantial view of spirituality as a religious quest, this is certainly possible, even widespread. It is not possible to be ‘religious but not spiritual’, however, for every religion guards, communicates and celebrates an original spirituality that developed in the foundational time and continues today. So a religious person is not just spiritual, but has a Jewish spirituality, a Muslim spirituality, a Catholic spirituality and so on (Moran, 2007). Further, there may be even more specific levels of religious spirituality. For example, someone may have a deep Christian spirituality interpreted through an Orthodox tradition, an ethnically Catholic tradition or a particular Protestant tradition. Muslim and Jewish spiritualities are also influenced by time and place, just as Buddhist spiritualities are influenced by the form of Buddhism to which a person adheres.

Religious experience Religious experience is distinct from the more diffuse spiritual experiences defined above. They specifically arise within religions and are understood in terms of religions (Smart, 1971). Religious experiences do not have to be of the traumatic or highly mystical type, for believers commonly have religious experiences as they participate in their religions (Habel and Moore, 1982). First, a religious experience involves the believer in an experience of the presence of the Other as his or her religion describes it. For a Christian this may be an experience of the Virgin Mary, of Jesus Christ, of God the Holy Spirit or the Trinity. It may be an experience of a saint to whom the believer

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has been praying. For a Jew it may come through a participating in a reading of the Torah, for a Muslim through a sermon or the rituals of daily prayer, and for a Hindu through the joyful rejuvenation of ritual bathing in the Ganges. For a Buddhist it may come through meditating on Nirvana or the teachings of the Buddha. The experience is emotionally charged, takes place within and is interpreted in light of the religion. In religious experiences the experience of the Other is mediated through rituals, symbols, sacred texts or participation in the life of the religious group. The call to prayer, for example, can arouse in Muslim men and women an emotional reaction which puts them into touch with the teaching of the Prophet and guides them to a relationship with Allah. So religious experience always takes place in the context of a religious tradition and it is understood to be valid or authentic to the extent that it conforms to the beliefs and practices of the religion. The nature of religious experience has to be seen through the mists and flavours of practice … Loving worship involves well known prayers, hymns, lighting candles, prostrations … The material dimension is usually geared up with much richness of texture to give the faithful a feeling of bakti (the numinous). (Smart, 1996, 173)

This historical–contextual nature of religious experiences is illustrated in the fact that Christian saints who claim to have had visions of Mary always see her as she has been depicted in Christian art. Religious experiences arise from the symbols, rituals, prayers, beliefs and values of a religious tradition. Therefore while they have a certain numinous quality in common with more diffuse spiritual experiences, they are distinct from these.

The process of religious socialization In this book we are specifically concerned with the role of the school in the socialization of young Catholics into the Catholic Church. We are concerned with allowing children and young people to develop Catholic religiosity and spirituality. Hence the term Catholic socialization is sometimes used and sometimes the more general religious socialization. Religious socialization proceeds in extremely similar ways across Christian denominations and across religions.



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Like all religions, the Catholic Church from its beginning to today has constructed meaning from its Scriptures, its history, its beliefs eventually expressed in Creeds, its efforts to distinguish true from false teaching, its early teachers and martyrs, the challenges it faced in the Middle Ages and its efforts to reform, the writings of the saints, popes and bishops, the challenges to its moral authority that it has faced particularly in recent times, and its moral and social justice teaching, in all from its two sources of Revelation, Scripture and Tradition. In fact, the Church has – as have all religions – a great body of objectified meanings, meanings which are not merely subjective to individuals but which are accepted and taught objectively as the story and Tradition of the religion. For any religion to continue, its objectified meanings – its beliefs and teachings – must be effectively passed on to successive generations. Therefore, like every religion, the Catholic Church faces the problem of transmitting its objectified meaning (its beliefs and Tradition) from one generation to the next (Berger, 1990) and of having the succeeding generations legitimate these (Berger and Luckman, 1996). This problem is particularly addressed in the religious socialization of the young. The new generation is initiated into the meaning of the culture, learns to participate in it, to accept or critique the roles as well as the identities that make up its social structure and to contribute to its future or be part of its transformation. The future of the Catholic Church in the western world assumes that among those who will carry it forward there will be knowledge and experience of the Church as it is now and a robust Catholic socialization that has been personally negotiated and constructed.

Religious socialization and legitimation Religious socialization is a highly affective process and it requires passion on the part of the community as well as passionate educators within it (Dean, 2004). The individual not only has to learn the objectivized meanings of the religion, but for socialization to occur the person must draw in these meanings, claim ownership of them, be transformed by them, and, as Berger and Luckman claim, legitimate them. Berger and Luckman (1996) describe legitimation as occurring horizontally when the learner first learns about the

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claims of the religion and is able to discern their plausibility and ascribe them cognitive value. Second, it occurs vertically as the individual moves through the religion in successive stages and is immersed in the symbols, rituals, stories and practices of the religion. In another context, Moran (2007) has referred to this as learning about religion and learning to be religious in a particular way, that is a Jewish, Christian or Muslim way. The first process is a critical cognitive one and the second a process of critical cultural immersion and legitimation. Like socialization in general, Catholic socialization, if acquired, is not a passive or submissive process. A Catholic identity is acquired alongside other aspects of identity – intellectual, social, physical, psychological and emotional aspects – all of which are also actively and critically acquired. In the process of constantly being acquired, a Catholic (or other religious identity) influences the way the individual works and relates in the world. As the Catholic identity develops it does so in both positive and negative relationship with the religious tradition. As the individual acquires the hermeneutical and critical skills that will allow him or her to develop an authentic religious identity, this unique identity is constructed in relation to religious socialization agencies, or at times tangential to or in conflict with them. In other words, just as in socialization in general the individual does not simply absorb the values and mores of the culture, but sifts and sorts them, integrating into personal identity those that ring true in that time and place, so religious identity also is a process of hermeneutic construction, a process which is both required for and explains development and change in religions.

Characteristics of a religiously socialized person At first it seems foolish, even impertinent, to describe the characteristics of a religiously socialized person, since religions are so diverse and multifaceted and their expressions vary widely across the world. Yet scholars of religions have repeatedly found that despite this rich variety certain likenesses and patterns can be discerned across the world’s religions (Carlton, 1973; Eliade, 1979; Gwynne, 2009). In fact there is surprising agreement about the ways in which religiosity is manifested. Two of the most enduring sociologists



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of religion, Rodney Stark and Charles Glock, have agreed on five dimensions of religiosity that are manifested in the religiously socialized person across nations and religions (Stark and Glock, 1970). The first of these is beliefs. In general, the religious person holds the tenets of the religion to be true, although there are always variations in the content and scope of these beliefs. This dimension, consisting of beliefs about the nature of reality and the nature of the disposition of the supernatural, is fundamental to all other dimensions and is at the heart of religiousness. The second is religious practice, meaning the things that religious people do to carry out their religious beliefs. There are two aspects of religious practice, the first being formal rituals, which are expected of all adherents, and the second being devotion, which consists of personal, informal and private acts of worship and prayer. Both religious practice and devotion take place within the framework of belief and are incomprehensible apart from it. The third dimension is religious experience, which involves contact and communication with the divine. The fourth dimension is knowledge, closely related to belief, which means that the religious person has at least basic information about the religion, its beliefs, rites, texts and traditions. There are often differences of opinion about the relative importance of knowledge and belief. Certainly a person can be knowledgeable about a religion but not a believer. Likewise, a person can have a deep belief in the tenets of a religion but not have any depth of theological understanding of them. Different Christian denominations and at different times in their history have placed emphasis on one or the other. The fifth dimension Stark and Glock (1970) refer to as consequences. This refers to the ways in which religiosity affects the day-to-day life of the believer, the consequences it has for his or her decisions and the ways in which he or she acts and relates in the world. In order to test the veracity of Stark and Glock’s list, Anthony, Hermans and Sterkens (2007) put the five dimensions into a cultural context, specifying cognitive, normative and expressive as the three dimensions of culture. The cognitive system refers to the concepts and ideas through which reality is understood and interpreted, including scientific, mythological and aesthetic notions. The normative system is that aspect of culture which defines values and norms, gives direction to actions and enables actions and ideas to be judged as good or bad. The expressive system consists of the means by which

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the cognitive and normative systems are communicated and includes spoken and written language, symbols, rituals and aesthetic interpretations. They describe religiousness therefore as the ways in which the believer engages in the religious cognitive system, the religious normative system and the religious expressive system, and their perspective has both institutional and personal forms. Table 2.1 shows the ways in which, drawing on Stark and Glock (1970), Anthony, Hermans and Sterkens (2007) developed a map of religiosity. Readers will find discussion of these institutional and personal forms of the cognitive, normative and expressive systems throughout this book.

Agents of religious socialization Religious socialization in secular societies Having established that religious socialization is a hermeneutical, critical process, it is helpful to think about how the religiousness or otherwise of a society has an impact upon it. The data referred to in the following paragraphs was gathered by Kelley and de Graaf (1997) through the International Social Survey programme and was collected in 1991 from Christians in fifteen nations. The survey gathered data about adults’ religious beliefs, their parents’ religious development and church attendance, and the religious or secular national culture in which they grew up. The culture of a nation was judged to be religious or secular according to the average of church attendance in the nation as a whole and religious belief in the nation as a whole. Secular nations were divided into five groups, with East Germany and Norway being the most secular, and Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Hungary, Slovenia and the Netherlands forming the second highly secular group. West Germany and Table 2.1  Dimensions of religiousness (Anthony, Hermans and Sterkens, 2007, 104) Cultural Perspective Religious cognitive system Religious normative system Religious expressive system

Social Perspective Institutional form Doctrinal knowledge Ethical consequence Formal ritual

Personal form Belief outlook Moral consciousness Popular devotion



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Austria were in the third group, and the United States and Italy the fourth and least secular group of the secular nations in which the survey was conducted. Religious nations from among which the data were collected were Northern Ireland, Poland and Ireland. That parent religiosity matters greatly in the religious socialization of their children was the first finding (Kelley and de Graaf, 1997, 644, 650). People with religiously devout parents are much more likely to acquire orthodox beliefs than those without. The second finding was that people born into religious societies are much more likely to hold orthodox religious beliefs than those born into secular societies. People with secular parents who were born into secular nations had very low levels of religiosity. Those with secular parents but born into religious nations were more likely to have religious beliefs than those born into secular nations. Respondents from devout families living in secular nations scored high on religious beliefs and those from devout families born into religious societies scored highest of all on religious beliefs. A third finding was that even in secular nations devout families are largely successful in inculcating religious belief in their children, and the difference in the level of religiosity between those from religious families and those from secular families was high. The fourth finding was that in religious nations even those born into secular families were likely to acquire some level of religious belief. In other words, in religious nations the difference between those from religious and secular families was significantly less pronounced. In all, Kelly and de Graaf concluded from the statistical analysis of their data that the religious environment of the nation matters about half as much as parents’ church attendance. To summarize, in terms of religious socialization, in secular nations national context matters little or not at all, while family background matters a great deal. In societies of some religiosity national context matters more while family background matters correspondingly less. In devout religious societies, national context matters more than family background although family background is still important.

In the cited research conducted among Christians, it was shown that the same patterns were true for Catholics and non-Catholics, old and young, men and women, the well educated and the less educated, formerly communist

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and other nations and rich and poor nations. There is a strong interaction therefore between a nation’s religious environment and the way in which family background influences religious belief. The results suggest that religious beliefs continue in large part because the religious environment of a nation shapes the beliefs of its citizens. Devout parents raise mostly devout children helped by the religious culture of the nation. Crucially, however, even when parental religious socialization fails, the religious atmosphere of the nation and the devout beliefs of the overwhelming majority of potential friends, teachers, colleagues and marriage partners helped to inculcate belief. In other words, even when parental socialization fails, if the child otherwise lives among believing friends and teachers there is a strong chance that belief will be learnt.

Secular families in secular cultures This leaves us with questions about children from secular families living in secular countries such as those cited in the Kelley and de Graaf research and other secular nations not cited. These children are least likely of all to acquire religious belief or to undergo religious socialization – that is, unless within their secular society they are able to enter an enclave of religious belief and practice in which religion is taught, religious belief is modelled and religious devotion is ‘silently taken for granted’ (Berger and Luckman, 1967, 152). In this environment, which is that of the typical religious school, the child has the opportunity to begin to construct a religious identity with all of the hermeneutical and critical processes that are assumed in that term.

Australian research It is relevant here to refer to Australian research conducted by the author in 2008 through an online survey sent to young church-going Catholic adults in the age range of 18 to 35 years. There were 385 responses, 274 from females and 111 from males, and the respondents wrote about these questions.



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1. What factors in your life have led to and sustain your active Catholic commitment? 2. Among these what was the most important factor? 3. If you attended Catholic schools, was this an important factor in continuing your Catholic commitment beyond school? Why or why not? 4. Do you attend Mass in your own geographical parish? Why or why not? 5. If not, what attracts you to the parish or parishes where you attend Mass? The young peoples’ responses to questions 1 and 2 concurred with Kelley and de Graff ’s (1997) conclusion that the religious devotion of the family is an extremely important factor in the religiosity of their children. In the following table, which tabulates the responses to the first question, ‘family’ refers to the influence of the young person’s family on his or her present Catholic commitment; ‘education’ refers to his or her Catholic and/ or religious education at school or university; ‘engagement’ refers to participation in church activities; ‘religious experience’ refers to experiences of faith, prayer and closeness to God; ‘significant others’ refers to a spouse, close friend or mentor. The responses are listed in the table below (2.1) in terms of the frequency in which they appeared in the young peoples’ comments. The table shows what we intuitively know: that in a secular nation the family is the most important factor in predicting the Catholic commitment of a young person. However, many young people from religiously committed families do not remain committed themselves and gradually dissociate from or actively turn away from the Church. This phenomenon is most evident in secular countries, for one source of the durability and continuance of religious belief is the religiosity of the nation as a whole (Kelly and de Graaf, 1997). In religious nations where people are constantly exposed to religious culture and even to pro-religious government policies, their friends, teachers, colleagues and potential spouses are most likely to be religious. In secular nations, however, despite the religiosity of the family, a young person will acquire non-religious friends and be taught by non-religious teachers unless he or she attends schools where there is the opportunity to develop friendships with religiously motivated others and be taught by religiously convinced teachers in a social and educational environment in which religious devotion is openly manifest and modelled.

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Table 2.2  Significant factors in developing Catholic commitment Question 1: What factors in your life have led to and sustain your active Catholic commitment? Gender

Age group

Factors mentioned in order of frequency

Female Female Female Male Male Male

18–21 22–25 26–30 18–21 22–25 26–30

Male

31–35

Family, education, engagement Family, religious experience, engagement, education Religious experience, family, engagement, education Religious experience, family, engagement, education Religious experience, engagement, family education Family, religious experience, engagement, life experience, education Family, religious experience, education, significant others

Question 2: Among these, what was the most important factor? Gender

Age group

Factors mentioned in order of frequency

Female Female Female Female Male Male Male

18–21 22–25 26–30 31–35 18–21 22–25 26–30

Male

31–35

Family, engagement, faith, significant others Family, engagement, significant others Family, commitment, engagement Family, faith, relationship with God, engagement Family, engagement, commitment Family, engagement, faith, significant others Family, engagement, faith choice, emotions, personal growth Family, relationship with God, choice, personal growth, values

The religious school as an agent of religious socialization In a secularized society the influence of the parents on the religious socialization of their children is often diminished and the peer group becomes more important. If peers are positive about the religious tradition, this can have a positive effect on the religious socialization of a young person. More often, however, in a cultural context of the privatization of religion and a secular culture the peer group may be quite distant from religion, preferring a personal form of spirituality or being completely disinterested. Much has been written about this phenomenon across secularized societies (Collins, 1999; Hoge et al., 2001; Mason, Singleton and Webber, 2007). This is underlined by the fact that young people spend so much of their time in educational institutions, where their associations with peers, teachers and curricula devoid of religion helps them to gradually withdraw from the primary influence of their



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family and interiorize other values and cultural norms. The extent to which this will aid or obstruct religious socialization depends to a large extent on how religious the society is and therefore how much time is given to religion in the curriculum. In most secular nations (with the exception of the United Kingdom) government schools do not provide studies in religion, so it is most likely that even though a young person may come from quite a religious home, in the government school system his or her religiosity will be at least challenged if not lost. In the face of ineffectiveness of parental religious socialization – either because parents themselves are distant from the religion or cannot compete with the secular culture for their children’s attention – the role of the religious community becomes extremely important. This community must increase its efforts toward the initiation and education of the young. In these countries often religious communities – and the Catholic Church is a good example of this – develop education systems which have as their mission the education and religious socialization of their young people.

The Catholic school and reference others The second part of the 2008 research conducted by the author asked the young committed Catholics whether, if they had attended Catholic schools, this education had been an important influence on their present religious commitment. The collated responses were as shown in Table 2.3. The responses were particularly interesting in terms of what they revealed about the aspects of Catholic school life that encouraged Catholic commitment. Approximately two-thirds of the females who had attended Catholic schools nominated Catholic schooling as a definite factor in their present Catholic commitment, with younger females, 18–26, more frequently claiming this than the older females, 26–35. The reasons why this Catholic schooling was a factor were in order as follows: a) Education: the role of the school in educating about the Catholic tradition; b) Engagement and practice: the role of the school in providing opportunities for prayer, Eucharist and other sacraments, and opportunities for service; c) Faith development – the role of the school in nurturing Catholic faith; d) Values/ethos – the role of the school in

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Table 2.3  The significance of Catholic education Question 3: If you attended Catholic schools, was this an important factor in continuing your Catholic commitment beyond school? Why or why not? Female, 18–21 (103 surveys): Yes, 72. Religious education, values/ethos, faith development, religious practice. No, 26. Religious education unengaging Female, 22–25 (53 surveys): Yes, 33. Religious education, faith development, religious practice, immersion. No, 15. Religious education negative Female, 26–30 (65 surveys): Yes, 31. Religious practice, faith development, religious education. No, 9. Religious education negative Female, 31–35 (53 surveys): Yes, 27. Religious education, community, religious engagement. No, 20. Religious education negative Male, 18–21 (26 surveys): Yes, 16. Religious education, values, faith development. No, 9. Religious education negative Male, 22–25 (32 surveys): Yes, 15. Faith development, religious education, religious engagement. No, 14. Religious education negative Male, 26–30 (26 surveys): Yes, 13. Religious education, faith development, role modelling, values. No, 8. Religious education negative Male, 31–35 (28 surveys): Yes, 15. Religious education, faith development, religious engagement, values. No, 10. Variety of reasons

promoting character formation, Christian values and morals; e) Immersion – daily contact with the Catholic culture; f) Role-modelling – the witness of teachers and other students (‘reference others’) to Catholic faith; g) Familiarity and a sense of peer community in faith; h) Career direction – the role of the Catholic school in providing direction in life and career. Approximately one-half (53 per cent) of the males who had attended Catholic schools nominated Catholic schooling as a definite factor in their present Catholic commitment, with the youngest males (18–21) more frequently claiming this than the three older groups. The reasons why this Catholic schooling was a factor were in order as follows: a) Education – the role of the school in educating about the Catholic tradition; b) Faith development – the role of the school in planning and nurturing Catholic faith; c) Engagement and practice – the role of the school in providing opportunities for prayer, Eucharist and other sacraments, and opportunities for service; d) Values/ethos – the role of the school in promoting character formation, Christian values and morals; e) Role-modelling – ‘reference others’, the witness of teachers and other students to Catholic faith. For this small group of



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respondents, it was good religious education, as well as the pervasive culture of the Catholic school that most influenced their later commitment. What of the one-third of females and approximately half of the males who had attended Catholic schools and yet said that this was definitely not a factor in their present Catholic commitment? The complaints were invariably about the lack of a strong, defined and vibrant Catholic culture in both academic and more affective areas. Typical comments concerned routine and unengaging RE classes, little emphasis on Catholicism in the RE curriculum, teachers who themselves were unconvinced about Catholic faith, a lack of inspiring role models among teachers and students and lack of opportunity to celebrate sacraments especially the Eucharist. In other words, the strength of the religious culture of the school was valued by the respondents when it was present, in which case it did affect their later religious commitment. It was regretted and missed when it was absent by those who continued Catholic commitment despite a weak Catholic culture in their schools. The diffusion in Catholic culture in some Catholic schools noted by these research participants is not limited to Australia. In the United Kingdom a study by Francis (2002, 81) has shown how diverse the student population of Catholic schools is, even if, as is the case in Australia, most students identify as Catholics. There are great variations among them in what this identification means and the obligations it puts on them. Francis pointed out how these variations can lead to diffusion in the overall Catholic character of the school. Practising Catholic parents who wish their children’s religious and moral formation to be shaped by a practising Catholic environment may be frustrated to discover how fragile this assumption can be within some Catholic schools. (81)

Conclusion: Catholic schools can make a difference Catholic schools can and do make a difference in Catholic socialization of youth, even in highly secular cultures. All of what has been argued in this chapter underlines the importance of the culture and cultural witness of Catholic schools and their teachers. They give young people permission to inherit their Catholic culture and to be part of its future. In their study of Catholic higher education Morey and Piderit (2006) pointed out:

38

Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church The vibrancy of organizational culture requires knowledge about content, its beliefs, and its shared assumptions and norms. Cultural knowledge alone, however, it is not enough to sustain the vitality of organizational culture beyond the present generation. Cultural inheritability in a group or organization requires significant levels of commitment from the community of cultural catalysts and citizens in order for there to be any chance it will appeal to the future generations required to sustain it. Commitment connects what a person wants to do with what he or she is supposed to do. (271)

There are many individuals prepared to work in Catholic schools and to claim that they support its ethos. They feel comfortable promoting personalized spirituality but are the first to say that don’t know much about Catholic spirituality and the historical and cultural riches that underlie it. Far fewer are those who are prepared to create and animate the ethos of the institution instead of just supporting it, who are prepared to embody the beliefs and values that the institution proclaims, who are passionate about the religious and cultural riches of the Church. All of this rests on a personally appropriated and legitimated grasp of the cognitive riches of the tradition and an immersion in its life. It rests on a cognitive and affective knowledge that transformation and growth in a tradition can only take place on the basis of what has gone before, and that the future can only be imagined from the vantage point of the present. In this way Catholic schools and the educators within them can undertake an intentional programme of invitation to young people to be part of the transformation of their Church. The issues inherent in this claim and a programme for pursuing it are the focus of subsequent chapters of this book.

Review MM

MM

MM

MM

Who have been referent others for you? For your children and/or students? Who or what were the agents of religious socialization in your life? How useful do you find Anthony et al.’s (2007) six elements as descriptions of a religiously socialized person? What are your views about the claim made in this sentence? ‘In secular nations, however, despite the religiosity of the family, a young person will



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acquire non-religious friends and be taught by non- religious teachers, unless they attend schools where they have the opportunity to develop friendships with religiously motivated others and be taught by religiously convinced teachers in a social and educational environment in which religious devotion is openly manifest and modelled.’ To what extent do Catholic schools have a role in Catholic socialization? How is this role best carried out?

References Anthony, F. V., Hermans, C. and Sterkens, C. (2007). Religious practice and religious socialization: comparative research among Christian, Muslim and Hindu students in Tamilnadu, India. Journal of Empirical Theology, 20: 100–28. Berger, P. (1990). The Sacred Canopy (New York: Anchor Books). Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1996). The Social Construction of Reality (New York, Anchor). Carlton, E. (1973). Patterns in Belief Vol. 2: Religions in Society (London: Allen & Unwin). Collins, S. (1999). Immanent Faith: Young People in Late Modernity. In L. J. Francis (ed.), Sociology, Theology and the Curriculum (London: Cassell). Dean, K. (2004). Practicing Passion (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans). Dorr, D. (2005). Time For a Change: A Fresh Look at Spirituality, Sexuality, Globalisation and the Church (Dublin: Columba Press). Dreyer, E. (1995). Christian Spirituality. In R. McBrien (ed.), The HarperCollins Encyclopaedia of Catholicism (New York: HarperCollins). Eliade, M. (1979). Patterns in Comparative Religion (London: Sheed & Ward). Fichter, J. (1973). Sociology, 2nd edn. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press). Francis, L. (2002). Catholic schools and Catholic values? A study of moral and religious values among 13–15 year old pupils attending Non-denominational and Catholic schools in England and Wales. International Journal of Education and Religion, 3, 1, 69–81. Gwynne, P. (2009). World Religions in Practice: A Comparative Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell). Habel, N. and Moore, B. (1982). When Religion Goes to School: Typology of Religion for the Classroom. Texts in Humanities (Adelaide: South Australian College of Advanced Education).

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Harris, M. and Moran, G. (1998). Re-shaping Religious Education (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press). Hoge, D., Dinges, M., Johnson, M. and Gonzales, J. (2001). Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice (Washington: University of Notre Dame Press). James, W. (1958). The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: The New American Library). Kelley, J. and de Graaf, N. D. (1997). National context, parental socialization and religious belief: results from fifteen nations. American Sociological Review 62, 4: 639–59. Mason, M., Singleton, A. and Webber, R. (2007). The Spirit of Generation Y: Young People’s Spirituality in a Changing Australia (Mulgrave, VIC: John Garratt, 2007). McBrien, R. (1994). Catholicism (Melbourne, VIC: Collins Dove). Moran, G. (1991). Understanding Religion and Being Religious, in Professional Approaches for Religious Educators. Our Sunday Visitor. Boston. Morey, M. and Pideret, J. (2006). Catholic Higher Education (New York: New York University Press). Schlenker, B. (1986). Self-identification: Toward an Integration of the Private and Public Self. In R. F. Baumeister (ed.), Public Self and Private Self (New York: Springer-Verlag), 21–62. Smart, N. (1971). The Religious Experience of Mankind (London, Collins). —(1996). Dimensions of the Sacred: An Anatomy of the World’s Beliefs (London: HarperCollins). Stark, R. and Glock, C. (1970). American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment (Berkeley: University of California Press). Vermeer, P. (2010). Religious Education and socialization. Religious Education 105, 1: 103–16.

3

Mapping the Catholic Identity and Mission of Catholic High Schools

Introduction The Catholic identity and mission of Catholic schools was not an issue in the days when nuns, brothers and priests led them. The schools were visibly Catholic in the institutional sense – places where the spirituality of the sponsoring order permeated the atmosphere. Baby-boomer Catholics were perhaps the last generation to experience this kind of Catholic schooling. After the Second Vatican Council, as noted in Chapter 1 of this book, so many changes occurred in the staffing, student population and daily routine of Catholic schools that their Catholic identity became, if not problematic, certainly much harder to define. Today the Catholic identity and mission of Catholic institutions of education is on the agenda again, and it is my hope in this chapter not so much to define these as to identify their elements. In this way I will make proposals that teachers and school leaders may use to reflect on the Catholic identity and mission of their own schools.

The Catholic identity of the Catholic school The identity and mission of Catholic institutions is the focus of debate in Europe, the United States and Australia, and is a key theme in Benedict XVI’s 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est (Ormerod, 2010). According to this encyclical, all Church-based institutions share in their own way, but with differing emphases, in the identity and mission of the Church. In the words of

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John XXIII (1961), the Church is, both ‘Mother and Teacher’ (Engebretson, 2008). She is herself an educating institution, and this mission of education is most naturally expressed in the Catholic school. The Catholic identity of the school derives from the Church, and, as within the Church, it is the heart and foundation of the school. As the document The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (CCE, 1998) argues: ‘It is from its Catholic identity that the school derives its original characteristics and its “structure” as a genuine instrument of the Church, a place of real and specific pastoral ministry’ (11). The ecclesial nature of the Catholic school is therefore at the heart of its identity. This ecclesial identity is not an added extra but a constitutive characteristic (Engebretson, 2008) which pervades its educational activity and gives impetus to its mission of Christian education. I propose that the Catholic identity of the school has at least the following six elements: 1) it is a community in faith; 2) it is centred on the vision of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus Christ; 3) it is a Eucharistic community; 4) it is a community which strives for holiness; 5) it lives and witnesses to Catholic values; 6) it is an inclusive community. I consider the first three and the fifth of these elements in the paragraphs that follow, while the fourth (Christian service ministry) is considered in Chapter 9 and the sixth (inclusion) in Chapter 10.

Elements of the Catholic identity of the school The Catholic school is a community in faith It is a fundamental premise of Christian faith that the baptized are the adopted children of God, calling God their Father and Christ their brother. In the words of St Paul: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. (Rom. 8.15–17)

This spirit of family typified the communities of the early Church. Today’s Church, which has developed from these early communities as a living organism develops (Ormerod, 2010), is also marked indelibly with, and



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ceaselessly called to, community. It is from its membership of the Catholic Church therefore that the Catholic school is a community in the Holy Spirit, while paradoxically continually challenged to strengthen and renew this community (National Conference of Catholic Bishops [NCCB], 1972, 22). The community in faith of the school includes all who come within its influence – teaching and leadership staff, administrative and maintenance staff, parents and students, and parish and diocesan personnel. Everyone directly involved in the school is a part of the school community: teachers, directors, administrative and auxiliary staff. Parents are central figures, since they are the natural and irreplaceable agents in the education of their children. And the community also includes the students, since they must be active agents in their own education. (CCE, 1988, 32)

As a community in faith, the Catholic school functions in an ethos of Christian love. According to the gospels, Christian love is an intentional, active attitude of goodwill, kindness and compassion towards others in the community. This naturally flows outward beyond the school to the local and global communities. It values co-operation, participation, human dignity and co-responsibility, not simply for the sake of good citizenship but because they flow from the call to community based in kinship with Christ through the Church. Well-developed community life is widely regarded as the distinguishing feature of Catholic schools. But, what distinguishes these faith communities from their public and private counterparts is that the who, what, and why of community is intentionally connected to the Gospel, making these faith communities ‘Gospel Cultures’. (Cook, 2003, 15)

The Catholic school is a community in faith centred on the supernatural vision of the Kingdom of God as lived and taught by Jesus Christ At the heart of Christianity is the spirituality of Jesus of Nazareth, the firstcentury Palestinian Jew who came to be recognized by his followers as Messiah and Son of God. As a Jew, he believed in the one God of the Sinai Covenant. With his fellow Jews he also believed that his nation was elected by God, that through Israel God would speak to the world, and that very soon God would act in history to validate the Jewish people and bring about a reign of peace

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and justice. Within this atmosphere of expectation and hope, Jesus announced the kingship of God as the centre of his vision and message. Central to this idea was his conviction, proclaimed constantly to his fellow Jews, that the Kingdom of God was indeed about to come, but that it did not look as they expected (Borg, 1994). It was not a political or military kingdom to challenge the dominance of Rome. Rather, the battle was against the rampant injustice and oppression he saw within his own society, with its insistence on religious purity resulting in great social divisions between the clean and the supposedly unclean. This spiritual kingdom of God – a kingdom of compassion, equality, justice and peace – was breaking, Jesus proclaimed, into history in his own person and ministry. In all of this he implicitly and explicitly summoned other Jews to abandon alternative visions of the future and join him in his. He called his fellow Jews to leave behind their obsession with ritual purity and embrace their vocation to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Borg, 1994). Jesus’ end – his execution at the hands of the Roman government with the collusion of powerful elements among the Jewish elders – is well known. Very soon his death was followed by the joyful dawning of belief among his disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead, a belief they subsequently carried into the world around the Mediterranean and beyond. It is this vision of Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, which is at the heart of the identity of the Catholic school. It brings a commitment to the Church that formed in his name, first as groups of tightly knit Christian communities across the Greek and Roman worlds and today a worldwide Church of 1,196 million. It brings hope for the future of the Church and life in the Kingdom of God, and it understands that despite its sinfulness the Church still carries and attempts to incarnate that original vision of Jesus of Nazareth.

The Catholic school is a community in faith gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist1 The Eucharist is the ‘Sacrament of Sacraments’ (John Paul II, 1994, 1211) and the ‘fount and apex’ of Christian life (Lumen Gentium, 1964, 11). In the See Anthony, Hermans and Sterkens (2007). Religious practice and religious socialization: comparative research among Christian, Muslim and Hindu students in Tamilnadu, India. Journal of Empirical Theology, 20: 100–28, especially the characteristics of a religiously socialised person and participation in formal ritual as outlined in the previous chapter of this book.

1



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Eucharist the Church remembers and celebrates its identity as the Body of Christ. From the Eucharist its community life and mission originate, and in the Eucharist this life is constantly renewed. Sharing in the life of the Body of Christ the Church in which the Eucharist is central, the Catholic school also has at its centre the celebration of the Eucharist. The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on Christian Education (Gravissimum Educationis, 1965, 2) stated that Christian education should ‘introduce students to knowledge of the mystery of salvation’ and ‘challenge students to become more appreciative of the gift of faith they have received. This growth in knowledge and the integration of faith should take place especially through liturgy.’ In a Catholic school every group that gathers for Eucharist is an assembly of the Catholic Church united with the local parish, the diocese and the universal Church. The assembly acknowledges its union with Christ as the source of its life. All of the social justice activities in which teachers and students engage are directly related to and flow from the Eucharist. Therefore the Catholic school must provide a sound education in what the Eucharist is, what it means to the Catholic community and how it is celebrated. In addition, it needs to give students many experiences of celebrating the Eucharist, in small groups, class groups, year and whole school groups. The practicalities of this and a programme of liturgical experiences is the work of each individual school. It is also vital that Catholic schools redress the mistaken but widely held idea among young Catholics that weekly attendance at Mass is an option, a ‘nice’ practice but not really necessary to Catholic life (Piderit and Morey, 2008, 76). For a Catholic, attendance at Sunday Mass is the marker of objective Catholic commitment, and it belies the ‘believing without belonging’ (Davie, 1994, 94) and the kind of loose ‘spirituality’ prevalent across western nations. Weekly Eucharist is not just a pious practice but a very important one for anyone who takes his or her Catholic life seriously. It seems that there was a time when Catholic schools stopped putting this with conviction to their Catholic students, and perhaps now is the time to state this again distinctly. Over 2010–12 I conducted research in 17 Catholic high schools across the Australian state of Victoria, and I will return several times to this research in the following chapters. These high schools had been recommended to me by their local Catholic Education Offices as exemplary in their modelling of Catholic culture. In all of the schools I found that there was an emphasis on

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home room prayer and occasions of prayer in religious education groups.2 Celebration of the Eucharist was prized and a good deal of effort was put into making school liturgies memorable and prayerful experiences in which the students were closely involved. Eucharist was held in year level, class and whole school groups, the latter usually for the opening and closing celebrations and founder’s day. City schools more than regional schools found it difficult to get a priest for Eucharist and tended to come up with individual solutions to this. One city school encouraged each class to attend a parish weekday Mass with their teacher before school on a regular basis. Two schools had strong liturgical music groups which encouraged musical students who would not otherwise be interested in liturgy to take a role in music ministry. These exemplary Catholic schools strove to be communities of prayer and Eucharistic celebration.

The Catholic school is a community in faith, committed to a Catholic ministry of service This theme is developed extensively in Chapter 6 of this book. All of the research schools were eager to instil a sense of service and provided many opportunities for students to be involved in Christian service learning, as well as the personnel to facilitate this. However, in only one school was there an explicit linking of the service learning with Scripture and Catholic social teaching. In all of the others it appeared to exist in a vacuum. Because of this the service learning tended to be seen as ‘noblesse oblige’ rather than an imperative of Catholic faith and life. In addition, while many schools focused on Catholic charities such as Caritas and missions belonging to the order whose charism the school carried, others cited service learning for Red Cross, bushfire relief and other community-led programmes as part of the RE curricula. While it is important to give students a sense of the need to be involved in fundraising for the community, I argue that the RE curriculum should support specifically Catholic charities alongside learning about the Scriptural and social teaching imperative that underpin them. They are the natural consequence of Eucharistic celebration. Ibid., Popular devotion, ethics and personal morality.

2



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The Catholic school is a community in faith living out and witnessing to Catholic values3 Young people need a clearly defined value system against which to test other values and to discover their own. In the Catholic school every student should meet a clearly defined value system that is not just given lip service, but is observed in the attitudes of staff and in the entire life of the school community. This is a powerful way in which the Catholic school contributes to the religious socialization of its students. The formal and informal modelling of Catholic values is a crucial part of education in a Catholic school. If the permeation of Catholic values throughout the life and curriculum of the school is a primary source and trademark of that Catholic identity, it is important to identify what these values are. Certain values in Catholicism are found in the gospels. However, Tradition – the teaching of the Church derived from reflection on the Scriptures and recorded in Church writings over 2,000 years – is also a rich source of values. The list that follows is taken from the website of the Catholic Education Office Sydney (CEOS), Australia and it records a Values Education Project called Sense of the Sacred. The project promotes an approach to values education that infuses the entire curriculum, both formal and informal. Introducing the Project, the CEOS says: Values education is part of a whole-school approach that acknowledges values in every aspect of school life. The values guiding the life of the Catholic school are drawn from the gospel and Catholic tradition. ‘A Sense of the Sacred’ is a Values Integration Project across all subjects in the school curriculum drawing on gospel Values, Church Tradition and Catholic Social Teaching. The project is built on the conviction that values are implicit in the content and conduct of every lesson, and that teachers can make a conscious and informed choice about the values and attitudes outcomes they seek to achieve for their students.

In Catholic schools, while there will be some instances when certain values are explicitly addressed in units and lessons, mostly values education occurs through a process of infusion (Krebbs, 2000). This means that the values permeate the curriculum; they are the ‘given’ at the foundation of the curriculum and they are witnessed in the lives of the students and staff. Unlike Ibid., Ethical consequence, moral consciousness.

3

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Table 3.1 Gospel values: a summary statement Faith

Faith is the gift by which one recognizes and surrenders to God. In the Christian faith one grows in knowledge of the mystery of God revealed in Christ. This is the foundation upon which all authentic gospel values are built. Awe and wonder An ability to marvel at the complexity of the created world. Celebration Appreciating the human need to commemorate important events and life stages by various rituals. Common good Total human well-being, which takes into account the needs of the whole community. Individual rights must always be assessed in light of the common good. Community A sense of belonging among a group of people with a shared vision committed to loving service. Conservation Maintaining and cherishing what is good in the environment with a view to ecological/environmental sustainability. Courage Choices, commitments and actions made in accord with what one believes to be true and right; a willingness to persevere in the face of suffering and opposition. Cultural critique Informed awareness of the injustices and inequities in society and a willingness to work to change these. Dignity of each The person is created in the image of God, therefore, all person human life is sacred. The basic source of human dignity lies in humanity’s call to communion with God. Respect for life, and above all the dignity of the human person, is the ultimate guiding norm of any sound economic, industrial or scientific progress. Family However it is expressed or understood, the family is cherished and fostered as the primary unit of belonging in society. It assumes personal values of identity, love, commitment and self-sacrifice for the sake of the family unit. Global solidarity and All creatures and all of creation are intrinsically valuable and the earth community linked. Hope A spirit of optimism and joy sustained by faith; an enduring and sustaining trust in providence. Hospitality An attitude of openness, understanding and welcome to others. Human rights All people have the universal human right to live with dignity and freedom from oppression. Justice The right ordering of relationships and right exercise of power in a way that is life-giving for all people. Love The gift of sincere care, concern, empathy and compassion extended to others. Multicultural Positive interaction with other cultures for mutual understanding enrichment; an openness to understanding and dialogue toward those of different cultural backgrounds.



Mapping the Catholic Identity and Mission of Catholic High Schools

Peace Reconciliation Sacredness of life Service Stewardship of creation Structural change Self-respect (self-esteem)

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Peace is the fruit of justice and is dependent upon right order among humans and among nations; seeking peaceful, life-enhancing solutions to conflict. Reaching out in a spirit of dialogue, forgiveness and mutual respect. Seeing life as a gift from God to be treasured and preserved. Loving care for the needs of others. Honouring the created universe as a gift from a loving Creator God given in trust for all. Addressing root causes of injustice and striving to change unjust systems and structures. Proper esteem or regard for the dignity of one’s character and person; a deep conviction of one’s own inner worth.

knowledge and skills, their acquisition cannot be measured or assessed. They are the hopes that the school community has for its students. In a Catholic school there are several ways in which students may be challenged to adopt or change values. Drawing on Rossiter (2003), some of these are: MM

MM

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Absorbing beliefs/values/attitudes from human relationships: the way in which a student is treated can have an impact on his or her values in positive or negative ways. Emulation of the values displayed by others: students may imitate values displayed by others (both positive and negative). If people they like and respect and whose approval they want display certain values, students are likely to copy these. Adopting values out of a sense of idealism: young people are naturally idealistic. The attraction of an ideal can stimulate the development of particular values. Adopting values inspired by spiritual/religious beliefs and practice: religious beliefs can inspire development of the values on which they are based. Changing values/attitudes in the light of the experience of different cultures: schools where students are involved in immersion or Christian service programmes often report significant development in their students’ values as a result of the experience. In addition, good inter-faith programmes in schools often lead to greater appreciation of religious diversity and individual faith traditions.

50 MM

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Developing values through personal reflection on experience or learning: opportunities to reflect on the implications of new knowledge can fuel value change and development. Developing beliefs/values/attitudes in the light of experience of an ethical, formal educational process: formal programmes in morality, moral development and ethics can stimulate valuable discussion and reflection on specific values.

The mission of the Catholic school: Hunter’s (2010) theology of faithful presence within I have proposed above six elements that belong to the Catholic identity of the school. What, then, is the mission of the Catholic school?4 An almost automatic response to this question is that the Catholic school shares the mission of the whole Church, which is evangelization. Evangelization, however, is a complex term which takes in direct proclamation, explicit teaching, preaching, witnessing, and ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, and it tends to be couched in language of change – changing the world, transforming the world, changing the culture. In this section I argue that Hunter’s (2010) theology of ‘faithful presence within’ has much to offer a consideration of the mission of the Catholic school in this secularized age. Christian biblical studies and theology have long led Christians to believe that they must strive to change the world, and much of the rhetoric about the place of religion in education expresses this desire. However, world changing, Hunter (2010) claims, does not often work. Just as there have been times when the efforts of Christians have done great good, there have also been many times when their efforts, intentionally or otherwise, have led to harm. Hunter’s argument is that the social theory that guides the religious person in the effort to change the world is flawed, because it is based on a view that culture changes when individual minds and hearts change. If enough minds and hearts are changed, the theory goes, culture will ultimately reflect

See Engebretson, K. (2013) Religious Schools Engaging with a Secular Age. In M. T. Buchanan (ed.), Leadership and Religious Schools (New York: Bloomsbury), 165–84.

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Christian values and beliefs. Guided by this conviction, religious people have sought social change though direct evangelism, social action movements, and often through political movement. The heart of Hunter’s argument is that social change does not come about in these ways, but through the direct intentions and actions of those in the halls of power. It normally does not come about from action on the social periphery where religious groups work. Furthermore, Hunter asks whether world changing is really the right goal for Christians, since it implies a problematic use of power and domination such as that exercised by the Church in the Middle Ages, a use of power that aided and abetted corruption. Hunter characterizes religions’ approaches to secular culture as a) ‘defensive against’ – the position of the religious right – b) ‘relevance to’ – the position of the religious left – and c) ‘purity from’ – the position of certain radical, enclosed religious groups. These groups adopt their positions in relation to what they perceive most needs changing in the dominant culture. For the religious right it is secularization, for the religious left it is the exploitation of people and the environment caused by capitalism, and for the radical religious movements it is the violence and corruption of the market economy. Hunter argues that none of these positions is adequate to engage with the world today. Good intentions are not enough and a strategy must be found that is different from the old models of engagement, which cannot address this deeply secularized age. The strategy must be both faithful to the historic truths of faith and the call to holiness in the present, and must be adequate to the challenges of the time. Hunter offers a model of engagement which he calls ‘faithful presence within’. To illustrate his model, he quotes from the Book of Jeremiah: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jer. 29.4–7)

Jeremiah wrote this text from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon to help them to find a way of living faithfully in exile. He did not advise them to be

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defensive against Babylonian religious culture, to be relevant to it or to seek purity from it, but to live within it in ways that were historically and theologically faithful to their own religious identity. He assumed that the exiles would be in Babylon for several generations. Neither nostalgia for a past that could not be recovered nor insurrection in the hope of being restored to Jerusalem was God’s plan for them. Exile was where God was at work. He advised them to settle in for the long term and to be ‘faithfully present within’ Babylon. More than this, they were to pray for their captors, the very people who had destroyed their homeland and Temple, because the welfare of the Babylonians was linked to their own welfare. The people of Israel were being called to enter the culture in which they were placed as God’s people – reflecting in their daily practices their distinct identity as those chosen by God. He was calling them to maintain their distinctiveness as a community but in ways that served the common good. (Hunter, 2010, 278)

A theology of faithful presence calls Christians to be faithful and distinctive in the circumstances in which God has placed them and to actively seek the human flourishing of the communities in which they live. This is a project for every Christian in all walks of life, and the ‘shalom’ (Hunter, 2010, 279) they enact they carry into every institution of which they are a part, and every new institution they found. They recognize that they share the world and their local communities with many traditions, communities, ideologies and religions, and that ‘faithful presence within’ implies a commitment to human flourishing in a pluralistic world. Catholic schools, then, are to live faithfully within the secular culture in which they find themselves, and the Catholics within those schools are to live faithfully within the pluralistic culture of the school. The implication of this for Catholic schools is that fervent evangelizing is not only unnecessary – it is counterproductive. Faithful presence within requires a gentle yet distinctive presence which is in dialogue with the culture, not against it. Terms such as ‘redeeming the culture’, ‘transforming the world’, ‘reclaiming the culture’, ‘reforming the culture’ and ‘changing the world’, with their overtones of domination and power, are not useful in this pluralistic culture. Another implication is that religious educators must live in a secular culture in which they find much to affirm as well as much to critique, even



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to abhor. For all the good that can be embraced, especially the flowering of new approaches to spirituality and religion, there are dehumanizing and destructive trends that must be named for what they are and undermined. Among these are the fact of the preponderance of the world’s resources in the wealthiest countries, the commoditization of human beings through technology, dispositions that discriminate against people on racial, gender or religious grounds, materialism, inflated individualism and the mentalities of ‘success’ that measure the worth of a person in career and financial terms rather than in terms of intrinsic dignity. In Catholic schools, as proposed in Chapters 1 and 2 of this book, the psychological and social landscapes of the young people of the school are shot through both consciously and unconsciously with secularization. This means that if they have religious beliefs or practise religion it is held by their society to be a private matter. Many of them will have disassociated themselves from their religion and many others will never have known a religious tradition. Among these young people there will be a pervasive individualism in spirituality and religious expression and often a dominant spirituality which rejects belonging to a faith community for a personal search (often quite undefined). For many of them spirituality will be an eclectic collection of ideas from a range of religions and ideologies, and for a few others their religious beliefs will deeply define their identity. There will be a good deal of religious illiteracy among these young people. The secular culture in which they live is one in which individualism is rife, there is an easy acceptance of human rights and equality, there is a sense that justice must be available to all, and there is detailed knowledge through technology of the conditions of the world in ways previous generations have never had. Among these good things there are things to abhor and to be undermined, things that deny human dignity and may ultimately lead the young person to depression and despair. The culture of the religiously affiliated school is a sometimes chaotic mix of experiences, relationships, spirituality, ideologies, religions and beliefs, all overlaid with the developmental tasks of the young. Meeting this culture and eager to witness within it to Christianity, the Catholic educator must listen with attention to the young people who live in the culture, trying empathetically to enter their world in order to know where in this culture goodness and truth can be found and where inhumanity and

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untruth lie. In all of their dealings with the young people of the secular age, the Catholic teacher is a ‘faithful presence within’. As a faithful Christian, his or her witness is in listening and dialogue rather than in noisy evangelism. The young people of the school, immersed as they are in secular culture, are the teacher’s partners in the dialogue towards authentic religion. The teacher is never isolated from the culture, but holding to the distinctiveness of his or her religion seeks to understand the culture and learns to work within it, ‘critically affirming and strengthening its healthy qualities and humbly criticizing and subverting its most destructive tendencies’ (Hunter, 2010, 275).

Conclusion: Distinctive in plurality In this chapter I have tried to describe six elements of the religious identity of the Catholic school, understanding these as ideals to be pursued rather than fully formed aspects of identity. The Catholic school as a faith community is always in formation, and these six elements are offered for reflection towards this formation. I have also proposed a way of thinking about the mission of the school that moves away from direct evangelization to the more nuanced and dialogical ‘faithful presence within’, a position, I believe, which both preserves the distinctiveness of Catholicism within the culture of the school but also allows for an ongoing conversation with other worldviews.

Review MM

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What, if anything, would you add to the six elements of the Catholic identity of the school that are proposed in the first section of this chapter? What is the theological and scriptural rationale for building community in a Catholic school? What are the implications of this claim for a Catholic high school? ‘All of the social justice activities in which teachers and students engage are directly related to and flow from the Eucharist.’

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If a Catholic school is built on the message of Jesus about the Kingdom of God, what characteristics would it have? Which values provided in Table 3.1 are most important in your view of Catholic education? In your view, does Hunter’s theology of faithful presence have something to offer Catholic educators? Why or why not?

References Benedict XVI (2005). Deus Caritas Est. Encyclical letter. http://www.vatican.va/ holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_ deus-caritas-est_en.html (retrieved 15/1/2013). Benedict XVI (2008). Address to Catholic educators (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America). http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/ speeches/2008/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080417_cath-univwashington_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). Borg, M. (1994). Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time: The Historical Jesus at the Heart of Contemporary Faith (New York: Harper). Catholic Education Office, Sydney: A Sense of the Sacred Values Integration. http:// senseofthesacred.ceosyd.catholic.edu.au (retrieved 5/10/2013). Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) (1988). The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_19880407_catholicschool_en.html (retrieved 15/1/2013). —(1998). The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium. http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_27041998_school2000_en.html (retrieved 15/1/2013). Cook, T. (2003). Architects of Catholic Culture: Designing and Building Catholic Culture in Catholic Schools (Washington, DC: National Catholic Education Association). Davie, G. (1994). Religion in Britain Since 1945: Believing without Belonging (London: Blackwell). Engebretson, K. (2008). The Catholic school called to dialogue: a reflection on some consequences of the ecclesial unity of the Catholic school. Journal of Beliefs and Values 29, 2: 151–60. —(2009). Called to be holy: the transformative potential of Christian service programs in Catholic schools. Journal of Beliefs and Values 30, 2: 193–204.

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Gravissimum Educationis (1965). Paul VI, Declaration on Christian Education. http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v2educ.htm (retrieved 15/1/2013). Hunter, J. (2010). To change the world: the irony, tragedy and possibility of Christianity today. Oxford Scholarship Online. DOI:10/1093/acpro f:oso/9780199730803.001.0001. John XXIII (1961). Mater et Magistra. Encyclical letter. http://www.vatican.va/holy_ father/john_xxiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater_en.html (retrieved 15/1/2013). Krebbs, M. (2000). Values infusion: a systemic response to Catholic identity. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 3, 3: 306–14. Lumen Gentium (1964). Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (retrieved 15/1/2013). National Conference of Catholic Bishops (1972). To Teach as Jesus Did (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference). Ormerod, N. (2010). Identity and mission in Catholic organisations. Australasian Catholic Record 87, 4: 430–9. Piderit, J. and Morey, M. (2008). Renewing Parish Culture: Building for a Catholic Future (New York: Rowman and Littleford). Rossiter, G. (2003). Catholic education and values: a review of the role of Catholic schools in promoting the spiritual and moral development of pupils. Journal of Religion in Education 4: 105–36.

4

Reviving the Chain of Memory

Introduction In this chapter, drawing on Hervieu-Leger (2005), I argue that religious belief and practice can be conceptualized as a ‘chain of memory’ in which the foundational and salvational story is passed on through the layers of history from believer to believer. When the chain of memory is broken, when the story is not passed on, such as is frequently the case in the secularized western world, specific effort is needed to pick up the chain and restore it. This claim has many implications for teaching religious education in Catholic schools. In empowering children and young people with knowledge1 about their Catholic heritage, Catholic educators can begin to restore the chain of memory and equip their students to contribute to the future of the Church.

Religious illiteracy among young Catholics In 1992 a contributor to the Australian Journal of Religious Education asked why it was that, although his son had attended a Catholic school for some years, the boy’s knowledge of Catholicism was ‘bordering on the illiterate’. In the 20 years since this article appeared, there has been a growing consensus

See Anthony, Hermans and Sterkens (2007). Religious practice and religious socialization: comparative research among Christian, Muslim and Hindu students in Tamilnadu, India. Journal of Empirical Theology, 20: 100–28, especially doctrinal knowledge as characteristic of the religiously socialized person (cf. Chapter 2 of this book).

1

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among Catholic religious educators that the young Catholics they teach do not know very much about what their religious tradition believes and teaches. In their study of ‘core Catholic’ young people in Australia, Rymarz and Graham (2006) found that the young Catholics they interviewed could not articulate what was significant and unique about Catholic belief. They tended to equate being Catholic with being a good person and treating others well. On the whole, these young people, who did mostly attend Sunday Eucharist, saw Jesus as a role model and a ‘good guy’ (Rymarz and Graham, 2006, 379) but showed no awareness of the fundamental Catholic belief in the Incarnation. Ignorance among Catholic youth about what Catholics believe is not limited to Australia. After more than 30 years of teaching American Catholic undergraduates, Rausch (2006) claimed that the majority of his students could not give a sound explanation of basic Catholic beliefs. They did not know any history of the Church, had a very flimsy understanding of basic Catholic beliefs such as the Incarnation and had little or no knowledge of Catholic social teaching. Their theological knowledge of Jesus was practically non-existent, they were unfamiliar with the Bible and with biblical history, they were unaware of the teachings of the Apostles and they had little knowledge of Catholic prayer and devotions. In addition, they had little sense of sin and no sense of obligation or loyalty to Catholic practice. In these observations Rausch drew on and affirmed the results of a 2005 study by the University of North Carolina (UNC), which surveyed 3,370 Catholic teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 and also carried out 267 in-depth interviews with randomly selected Catholic teenagers. The study concluded: Religious language, duty, faithfulness, obedience, calling, obligation, accountability and ties to the past are nearly completely absent from the discourse of U.S. teenagers. Instead religion is presumed to be something that individuals choose and must re-affirm for themselves based on their present and ongoing personal felt needs and preferences. (UNC study cited in Rausch, 2006, 11)

Focusing on Catholicism in western Europe, Davie (1999) has painted a picture of widespread ‘vicarious religion (82) where the few churchgoers hold and protect the collective memory of faith on behalf of, and with the consent of, the majority. The ‘vicarious religion’ of the majority is removed from the worshipping community and is nominal and of a national rather than a



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religious character. Because of this lack of direct contact between the Church and the population, Davie claims, there has been in western Europe a: dramatic generation by generation drop in religious knowledge: an ignorance of even the basic understanding of Christian teaching is the norm in modern Europe especially among young people. (83)

Why does religious illiteracy matter? In the previous chapter I introduced the research that I conducted across 17 Australian Catholic high schools that were recommended to me by their respective Catholic Education Offices. Although it concerned them to greater and lesser extents, the leading teachers of RE to whom I spoke seemed to accept that their students would never actively belong to the Church. There was a troubled acceptance of this and a claim that they would express their Catholic commitment in service rather than in Mass attendance. Many times I have conducted workshops and had conversations with religious educators who have acknowledged that their students have very superficial knowledge of their religious tradition and will probably not be part of their religious community in the future. Nevertheless, they have qualified their remarks with the observation (paraphrased): ‘Oh, but they’re great kids. They are compassionate, they help others. Their Christian commitment will be in service to others.’ This would be true if the service taken up by the young people was inspired by Scripture and Catholic social teaching, but there was little evidence that this was the case. This issue of Christian service in Catholic schools and its links with Scripture and Catholic social teaching is analysed in Chapter 9 of this book. From his North American perspective, Rausch provides a similar observation, claiming that for many young adult Catholics being Catholic is reduced to ethics or even more simply to being a good person. While claiming that social justice is important, their sense of social justice is not noticeably informed by Catholic teaching. Paraphrasing the NCR: Being religious means simply being a good person. If they saw more clearly the connection between social justice and a specifically Catholic identity, including

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Knowledge matters. It is a problem that young Catholics do not know the foundational stories of their tradition, the stories of Jesus, the early Church and its missionary outreach, and the stories of the saints. It matters that they do not know the history of their tradition, that they cannot say why the Eucharist is so important, that they have no language to talk about the Trinity and the Incarnation. It matters that they do not know the beliefs and values on which the Church bases its ethical and social justice teaching. Without knowledge, they cannot contribute to the life of the Church or make informed decisions about Catholic commitment and the Catholic ethical life. They need to be taught these things. As D’arcy (1993) remarks: I do not experience the changing of the bread and wine into our Lord’s body and blood at Mass, anymore than I experience the neuronal changes occurring in my brain. But a knowledge of the latter is an item of every educated person’s general knowledge; a knowledge of the former is an item of every well instructed Catholic’s faith-knowledge; and in both cases one acquires the knowledge not through experiencing it, but by being taught it by those who already possess it. (492)

How did it come to this? No doubt many factors have contributed to this situation, including some already noted in Chapter 1. Because this book is about Catholic schools I will develop an argument that changes in emphases in RE teaching in the second half of the twentieth century were at least as important as other factors. While I will focus on movements in Australia, particularly in the eastern states, I do this with confidence that, if not mirroring the situation in other dioceses and nations, it has much in common with them. From 1973, influenced by the insights about Revelation that emerged from the Second Vatican Council (1962–5) and by catechetical scholars of the time (Amalorpavadass, 1971), the Archdiocese of Melbourne adopted and promoted an experiential or life-centred approach to religious education. (Similar approaches to religious education were also adopted in most western nations.) In Melbourne the



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experiential approach was subsequently enshrined in all editions of the Guidelines for Religious Education for Students in the Archdiocese of Melbourne (Catholic Education Office Melbourne, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1984. 1995). These were a guide to RE curriculum design and were directed by the Archbishop to be used as a framework for the development of school-based RE curricula. Based on the pedagogy put forward by the catechetical scholar Amalorpavadass in 1971, the life-centred approach emphasized the sharing of life experience between students and teacher, reflection on this life experience, and the linking of this reflection with growth in knowledge and affective understanding of faith content. There is no doubt that there were many benefits in this approach, not least among them being the possibility that the rigidity of earlier more dogmatic approaches (Lovat, 1989, 3–8) could be replaced with concern for the student’s life experience and for a more relational understanding of faith. However, there were also disadvantages. Reflection on life experience tended to take over the pedagogy, understandably, for this was safe ground for the many teachers who in the years following the Council had to carry RE curricula in schools. These teachers were usually not trained to teach RE and would mostly have lacked the depth of knowledge they needed to use such a methodology well. Stories abound of RE classes in high schools in those years being little more than free-flowing discussion about anything and everything. The emphasis on life experience in the pedagogy diminished, intentionally or otherwise, the importance of knowledge in and for itself, and not only as a direct means to faith. Key cognitive concepts related to Catholic life, celebration and belief were often neglected in favour of an understanding of Revelation that was rooted in the learner’s existential sense of how God acted in his or her life. Approaches in RE that took account primarily of knowledge as a channel to finding meaning and religious understanding were seen as irrelevant and outside the capability of the student. The inexorable pursuit of relevance meant that in some schools throughout the 1970s and 1980s there was a dependence on contemporary magazines and pamphlets centred on themes and drawing on aspects of youth culture. There was a general distrust among teachers of more permanent curricula and the resources such as textbooks that would support them. RE became a textbook-free zone, spontaneity and informality in the subject’s teaching was encouraged and efforts to suggest clear educationally developed curriculum

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structures were viewed with suspicion. In time it became clear how little students really knew about their own religious tradition, or about any other. The emphasis on relevance, and tying content to the experience of the student, had meant that key topics had been neglected and there were large gaps in the students’ basic knowledge about Christianity (Flynn, 1985). By now, however, those Catholic students who would later become RE teachers in Catholic schools had experienced the life-centred approach with its concomitant pursuit of relevance and were formed by it.

The experiences of religious education teachers in the immediate aftermath of the Council By the 1970s most teachers in Catholic schools were laity (Martin, 1983). Rymarz (2009) conducted in-depth interviews with 12 Catholic high school teachers who recalled their experiences of RE classes between 1976 and 1984. They spoke of uncertainty and challenge (an experience of the whole Church at that time after the Council), as the model of RE they had experienced disappeared and there was uncertainty as to how to replace it. The teachers found little support and struggled to find ways to teach their subject. In the interviews the teachers spoke of RE being ad hoc, unstructured, unsupported by resources. Typical quotes from the teachers were: We were doing a lot more stuff with kids about what they thought of things and what they felt, trying to relate it to their own experience.

The units of RE were focused on human relationships, human development. There were always students with moral dilemmas. We did a lot of that. They could come to class and talk about pros and cons. We did a lot of talking. A new way of understanding Jesus, we needed to make him much more human and relevant to the lives of teenagers.

When Rymarz asked the teachers about the intent and content of the RE curriculum at that time, they gave a picture of a curriculum with little depth and direction. I would say it had a wishy-washy focus. There was very little kind of academic stuff at all. It was very much experiential. There’s nothing wrong with that. It



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was very much sort of outreach and that was fine too. But it didn’t have the foundation there.

As a result of the confusion in teaching RE from the time of the Council until arguably the 1990s, with a determined emphasis on the life experience of the student, Rymarz argues that generations X and Y (the age groups that are predominant among Catholic teachers today) left school with little knowledge of theology, Scripture and history of the Church. Unless they undertook tertiary study in these areas they carried this diminished knowledge into their own RE teaching.

Religious education: Reviving the collective memory These well-intentioned methodologies tended to neglect the fundamental concept at the heart of any religion, which is the memory of its foundational event. Indeed, religion is a chain of memory (Hervieu-Leger, 2005), and religious belief and practice proceed from memory. The structures of religions encompass, preserve and foster an original story and an original spirituality and their role in this is exceptionally important. The whole point of the religious structures is to preserve and foster the spirituality so that it develops as a life-giving spiritual tradition, one which is open to new insights while retaining all that is best of its original inspiration … a certain amount of organisation or institutionalism can be helpful. Without it, a spiritual tradition is likely to remain vague … So the structures of religion can safeguard a spiritual tradition, can help to purify and develop it, and can ensure that it is handed on faithfully to future generations. (Hervieu-Leger, 2005, 263)

Religions mobilize collective memory. They tend to have historical events at their core, events which are continually re-told and re-interpreted in the present. To the extent that the present is incorporated and understood in light of the foundational events, the religion can be seen as a lineage of belief. It spirals from and defines itself in terms of memory. At the source of all religious belief is belief in the continuity of the lineage of believers. Religious rituals are the means by which a community of believers signifies to itself and to the world a continuing line of descent which gives it meaning

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in the present. Indeed, Hervieu-Leger (2000) claims that the existence of this continuing line of belief is typical of those systems we call religions. The whole point about religion as a chain of memory, however, is that it must be passed on. Like every religion, the Church faces the challenge of transmitting its beliefs and Tradition from one generation to the next (Berger, 1990) and of having the succeeding generations legitimate these (Berger and Luckman, 1996). The religious education curriculum in the Catholic high school has a distinctive and unique although not exclusive role in this. The concept of religion as a chain of memory has implications for a scrutiny and renewal of what is taught in RE classes in Catholic schools. As proposed in Chapter 1 of this book, secularization has three stages: a) the separation of Church and state; b) a decline in formal religious belief and practice; and c) changes in the ways in which people choose to be spiritual and/or religious, changes that are particularly related to a search for authenticity (Taylor, 2007). The era of life-centred RE gave supremacy to human experience and was influenced by the diffusion of worldviews that characterized this era and continues today. In this process for many young Catholics the unique chain of memory that is Catholicism was broken.

Revisiting the chain of memory John Paul II’s new evangelization encyclical Redemptoris Missio (1990) drew attention to this. In his letter John Paul proposed certain groups to which the Church should address new evangelization. The first of these was the traditional mission ad gentes – that is, to those groups and cultures that have never heard the gospel. The second was to adherents of religions other than Christianity and of other Christian denominations, with whom the Church seeks dialogue. Critically, however, for Catholic schools, new evangelization calls for a renewed proclamation to those baptized Catholics who are disassociated from the chain of memory of Catholic belief, tradition and practice. There are many students in Catholic schools who fall into this group, as the statistics proposed in Chapter 1 of this book demonstrate. Frequently they claim that they are atheist or agnostic, or simply that they are not interested in religion. Many say that they are spiritual but not religious. They have lost, if



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they ever had it, ‘a living sense of the faith’ (John Paul II, 1990, 33). The heart of their faith that leads to genuine commitment is absent and their typical demeanour in RE classes is apathy. Others, while not hostile to religion, are happy to be inactive Catholics while holding on to some shred of their Catholic identity. Smith and Denton (2005) commented about American Catholic youths that they were content to be part of the tradition they were raised in, but not really interested in having it as an important part of their lives. John Paul II proposed the content of the new evangelization in these words: The programme already exists: it is the plan found in the gospel and the living tradition; it is the same as ever. Ultimately it has its centre in Christ himself who is to be known, loved and imitated so that in him we might live the life of the Trinity, and with him transform history until its fulfilment in the heavenly Jerusalem. This is a programme which does not change with shifts of time and culture, even though it takes account of time and culture for the sake of trust dialogue and effective communication. This programme for all times is our programme for the third millennium. (John Paul II, 2001, 29)

In telling the old but ever-new story, RE in Catholic schools needs to feature content that is Trinitarian, Christ-centred, Scriptural, communal, ecclesial, liturgical and sacramental. It needs to incorporate the recognition of the universal call to holiness, to be based in Catholic social teaching and centred on prayer (Engebretson, 2008). It must be Trinitarian because through Christ Catholics believe that they are admitted into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. United with Christ, they become children of God and are caught up in the mystery of the one undivided Trinity. It must be Christ-centred in faith and doctrine. Catholics believe that Christ is true God and true man, and that in him there is an inseparable union of the two natures. As truly human, Christ is the exemplar of true humanity, while being the one in whom God has ‘made his face shine upon us’ (Ps. 67.1). Christ’s self-emptying into the pain and darkness of the human condition led to his exaltation as Lord of all. These are fundamental truths of Catholic faith that cannot be smoothed over in an inadequate understanding of Jesus as a ‘good guy’ or as a role model. The new evangelization must be firmly based in Scripture, both first and second testaments. The first testament prefigures Christ and the vision of the Kingdom, which is realized in the establishment of the Church. Catholics

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believe that all of Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit and that the second testament expresses a vision of faith based on the historical testimony of the Apostles. Although redacted and shaped to a catechetical purpose, the gospels are historically trustworthy. While they are not biographies of Christ, in them ‘the face of the Nazarene emerges with a solid, historical foundation’ (John Paul II, 2001, 18). The gospels tell of Christ’s public ministry, beginning with the profound experience of his baptism where he experienced his identity as beloved son of the Father, and continuing with his itinerant preaching of the Kingdom of God in the company of men and women disciples. These narratives portray the tensions gradually developing around him and the dominant groups in the religious society of his time which brought about his death (John Paul II, 2001, 18). They end by witnessing to his victory over death in the Resurrection, the pivotal belief which gives Christians grounds for hope. From as early as 1943 in the encyclical Divino Afflante (Pius XII) the Catholic Church has advocated the historical critical method for analysing the many layers of the Scriptural texts. Referring to the ‘literal’ meaning of the text, the encyclical urges exegetes and teachers to constantly penetrate the layers of culture, archaeology, language and genre to discern the meaning that the sacred author intended. The content of new evangelization in the Catholic school is both communal and ecclesial. It promotes Christian love among the members of Christ’s body and reaches out from this to embrace the needs of the world. It treasures diversity in giftedness and diversity of callings within the Church. It respects ecclesial authority while encouraging informed critical thought. It hopes for and seeks unity among Christian Churches and pursues knowledge about and dialogue with the religions of the world, especially Judaism and Islam. In addition, the new evangelization is both liturgical and sacramental. It emphasizes the importance of Sunday Eucharist, teaching children and young people that sharing in the Eucharist should be the heart of Sunday for every baptized person. It is a fundamental duty, to be fulfilled not just in order to observe a precept but as something essential to a truly informed and consistent Christian life (John Paul II, 2001, 35). It honours all of the sacraments, teaches about them and provides opportunities in the school to celebrate the sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation. The new evangelization recognizes the universal call to holiness, which is based on the holiness



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of the Church both as a gift and a command. It invites students to holiness through loving service in light of Scripture and Catholic social teaching. Lastly, it provides constant opportunities for students to learn to pray by praying (see Table 2.1 in Chapter 2).

Mapping the content of the religious education curriculum The exemplary Catholic high schools that I studied all had a cognitively rich, intellectually challenging RE curriculum which was supported across the school, along with an array of faith formation activities. The schools either had or were working towards strong curricula based on diocesan guidelines. They emphasized the importance of knowledge tempered by opportunities for personal reflection, questioning and outreach activities. As one teacher said of the school’s RE curriculum: It has to be relevant and engaging. I experienced a haphazard programme when I was at school, there was no real planning. There needs to be something in the course that makes sense to the kids and it needs to be systematic. It needs to be structured, and the teachers need to know what content to teach without it being overly prescriptive. It needs to be rigorous. The RE curriculum should provide the intellectual tools for them to grow in understanding of their tradition. In addition, the kids who are ‘churched’ often don’t know why they believe. The RE curriculum needs to be rigorous and challenging so that our kids have something solid on which to build a rationale for their faith. There is no such thing now as blind faith. We need to understand it and be able to explain it. Theology is ‘faith seeking understanding’. We give them the ‘whys and wherefores’ in the hope that this will nurture their existing faith or invite others into faith.

The table below shows one approach to putting a lens on the RE curriculum of any Catholic school. In this it fails to take account of local conditions, which must be the work of the individual school. However, it proposes a basic overview against which any elementary or high school could check its curriculum (Hore, 2010). At the end of elementary and high school, surely it is not too much to hope that most Catholic students could speak in an informed way about most of the following.

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Table 4.1: An overview of content God

Jesus Christ

The Holy Spirit The Trinity

Church history

Creed Sacraments Eucharist

God is mystery, eternal, ever-present, all-knowing God is creator of the universe and all that is within it God is one Images of God in Hebrew Scripture His Jewish religious culture His life and teaching within his Jewish identity His public ministry His teaching about the Kingdom of God His parables and their meanings His teaching about prayer His relationship to God, whom he called Father Mary, Jesus’s mother as referred to in the gospels His passion and death The development of the belief in his resurrection Jesus as portrayed in the four gospels Jesus sends the Holy Spirit The work of the Holy Spirit as strengthening and confirming the Christian community The declaration of the belief in the Trinity in the early Nicene creed Exploring the meaning of the Trinity as appropriate for different age groups and class levels The birth of the Church in the first century The journeys and teaching of St Paul The life and death of Peter and the other Apostles Parting from Judaism Persecution in the early centuries The rule of Constantine The teachings of selected fathers and saints of the Church The break between east and west The Middle Ages and the Reformation The Catholic reformation and the Council of Trent The Second Vatican Council The Church today in many nations The Church alongside other ecclesial communities and other religions The history of the local Church The Nicene creed as recited by Catholics today The history and symbols of all of the sacraments and their meaning for Catholics The history, symbols and meaning of Eucharist for Catholics. The celebration of Sunday Eucharist as a fundamental sign of Catholic faith The structure and order of the Mass The observance of Sunday Mass as the essential act of Catholic life

The liturgical year Vocations After death Catholic moral teaching Prayer Mary

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The seasons of the Church’s year and key feasts The call to holiness for everyone. The diversity of vocations within the Church Catholic beliefs about the afterlife and the communion of the saints Moral development; Catholic responses to various ethical and moral issues; Catholic values as these play out in everyday life The traditional formal prayers of the Church Informal and spontaneous prayer Praying with the Scriptures Mary in the gospels and Catholic beliefs about Mary

Characteristics of the content The following chapter covers the topic of pedagogy in religious education, so it is sufficient to say at this stage that there are five essential characteristics of teaching in religious education in Catholic schools. First, it needs to be comprehensive, in that it needs to cover developmentally all aspects of the life of faith – not just those that are of particular interest to children and young people, or those that busy teachers may find less demanding in terms of preparation and implementation. Second, it need to emphasize the acquisition of knowledge about the life of faith, the history and life of the Church, and the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It needs to be theologically correct and intellectually challenging in ways appropriate to age groups. Third, it is invitational. It calls students to interior transformation always in the understanding that this goal and the development of personal faith is a lifelong task. Fourth, it is orthodox, not in a reactionary or needlessly conservative way, but orthodox in that it presents faithfully and attractively the life of faith as lived in the Church. Few religious educators would disagree with the claim that the religious education classroom with its captive audience of impressionable children and young people is not the place for futuristic discussion about potential theological directions or theological speculation. Nor is it the place to air the uncertainties about the Church that any individual teacher may hold. Finally, it is experiential. It immerses young people in the prayer, liturgy and community life of the Church by providing a range of prayer and sacramental opportunities (Engebretson, 2008).

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Conclusion: Religious education and the development of doctrine In the faithful education of children and young people about the life and beliefs of the Catholic community, religious educators empower them to become part of that community’s future. No one can take part in the conversation through which the Church responds to its time and place unless he or she has a level of knowledge of what the Church believes, celebrates and values and why. To give children and young people this is one task of the Catholic school. As Newman’s (1845) famous essay on the development of doctrine in the Church argues, doctrine develops through a prayerful and careful reflection on Scripture and Tradition. Faithful development of doctrine, he claims, has these characteristics: a) Preservation of type – the development, although larger and broader than the original is recognizable as the same doctrine although expanded; b) Continuity of principle – the principle that originally informed the doctrine clearly informs the development of the doctrine; c) Power of assimilation – the developed doctrine is able to assimilated into the community’s code of beliefs and to belong there naturally; d) Logical sequence – the development is the result of logical thought and analysis and can be demonstrated as such; e) Anticipation of its future – the development was imagined even anticipated at an early period in the history of the doctrine; f) Conservative action upon its past – while being a development of an original doctrine it does not contradict that original doctrine but affirms and develops it; g) Chronic vigour – a faithful development of doctrine endures. Newman’s theory of the development of doctrine assumes and demonstrates that the Catholic community has the capacity to reflect on its Revelation and continually to learn from and develop it. In comparatively recent times the most impressive example of this is the explosion of ideas, faithful to original Revelation, that arose from the Second Vatican Council. Because they are within the institution of the Church, Catholic high schools are part of the process of this reflection and learning. Indeed it is possible to say that the RE classes in Catholic schools contribute significantly to the continual process of the development of doctrine in the Church. This assertion, however, is predicated on the assumption that RE classes provide the knowledge upon which reflection and development may occur.



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Review MM

MM

MM

MM

Have you experienced religious illiteracy among the young people you know? If so, how is it manifested? Did you experience life-centred catechesis either as a student or teacher? What were its strengths and weaknesses? Is there anything you would add to the overview of the content of the RE curriculum given in this chapter? In what ways do Catholic high schools contribute to the development of doctrine in the Church through their RE curricula?

References Amalorpavadass, D. S. (1971). Theology of Catechesis (keynote address delivered at the World Congress of Catechesis, Rome). Berger, P. (1990). The Sacred Canopy (New York: Anchor Books). Berger, P. and Luckmann, T. (1996). The Social Construction of Reality (New York: Anchor). Catholic Education Office (1973, 1975, 1977, 1984, 1995). Archdiocese of Melbourne. Guidelines for Religious Education of Students in the Archdiocese of Melbourne (Melbourne: Catholic Education Office). D’Arcy, E. (1993). The new catechism and Cardinal Newman. Communion. Fall, p. 492. Davie, G. (1999). Europe: The Exception that Proves the Rule. In P. Berger (ed.), The De-secularization of the World: Resurgent Religion and World Politics (Ethics and Public Policy Centre, Washington, DC. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), pp. 65–85. Dorr, D. (2005). Time For a Change: A Fresh Look at Spirituality, Sexuality, Globalisation and the Church (Dublin: Columba Press). Engebretson, K. (2008). Mission to the Teenage Lifeworld: Principles and Practice of the New Evangelisation for Religious Education in Catholic High Schools (unpublished monograph). Flynn, M. (1985). The Effectiveness of Catholic Schools: A Ten-Year Study of Year 12 Students in Catholic High Schools (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). Hervieu-Leger, D. (2005). Religion as a Chain of Memory, trans. Simon Lee (Cambridge: Polity Press). Hore, G. (2010). What Catholics Believe (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls).

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John Paul II (1990). Redemptoris Missio: The Mission of Christ the Redeemer. Encyclical letter. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/ documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). —(2001). Novo Millenio Ineunte: At the Beginning of the New Millennium. Apostolic letter. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/ hf_jp-ii_apl_20010106_novo-millennio-ineunte_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). Lovat, T. (1989). What is this Thing Called Religious Education? (Katoomba, NSW: Social Science Press). Martin, F. (1983). Catholic Education in Victoria 1963–1980. In Catholic Education in Victoria Yesterday Today and Tomorrow (Melbourne: Catholic Education Office). Newman, J. H. (1845). An Essay on the Development of Doctrine (Ringwood: Penguin). Pius XII (1943). Divino Afflante Spiritu. Encyclical of Pope Pius XII on Promoting Biblical Studies. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/ documents/hf_p-xii_enc_30091943_divino-afflante-spiritu_en.html (retrieved 20/1/2013). Rausch, T. (2006). Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press). Rymarz, R. (2009). Religious Education in times of change: recollections of RE teachers working in Catholic secondary schools 1976–1985. Journal of Religious Education 57, 4: 14–21. Rymarz, R. and Graham, J. (2006). Drifting from the mainstream: the religious identity of Australian core Catholic youth. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 11, 3: 371–83. Smith C. and Denton, M. (2005) Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press Online). Taylor, C. (2007). A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press).

5

Principles and Practice of a Methodology for Religious Educationin Catholic High Schools

Introduction Over my time as a teacher of RE, leader in RE in schools, academic, researcher and teacher educator in RE, I have constantly heard teachers lament that the students they teach in their Catholic schools don’t know very much about their religion. Because of their lack of very basic knowledge, the teachers argue, and because of their lack of experience of the tradition, it is very difficult to teach them anything. This always puzzles me. You can liken the situation to a student undertaking study of a new language, or a new aspect of history, or indeed any other subject. The students begin with very little knowledge, but the task of the teacher is to teach them the knowledge they need – appropriate to their age level – to be versed in the subject. This applies in RE as much as in any other subject. It does not at all imply that the student must accept in faith what the teacher teaches, or that she or he should necessarily agree with it, but in a Catholic school students can be expected to learn basic information about their religious tradition so that they can at least discuss it in an informed way. This objective learning should be a given, and the more affective aspects such as enhanced Christian spirituality and values are hopes of the religious educator and the school. A curriculum model for doing this and the practical pedagogical directions of the model are the subject of this and the following chapter.

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St Paul in dialogue with culture The documents of the Church that discuss new evangelization often refer to it as a dialogue between faith and culture (John Paul II, 1998, 72; John Paul II, 2003, 16, 37). In my experience, phrases like this are often used superficially, with neither the speaker nor the listener taking the time to dig through the phrase to discover its meaning and implications. In working for a dialogue between faith and culture today’s religious educators face challenges similar to those faced by the Christians of the first centuries (John Paul II, 1998). These early Christians took the gospel into Roman and Greek cultures that were hostile to it. The classic biblical example of dialogue between faith and culture is an image of St Paul in approximately 52 ad. He proclaimed Christ to the elders of the homicide court, the Areopagus, on the hill of Ares at the foot of the Acropolis, in full view of the Parthenon with its towering statue of the goddess Athena. In that centre of Greek religion, language and law, Paul integrated Greek culture with his proclamation. First, he drew on the religious and intellectual curiosity of the Greeks, with their thirst for new ideas. Then he used their inscription to the unknown god to speak of the God of heaven and earth, not confined in temples nor made of stone and clay, not needing statues built to him, and not needing the worship and service of humans. This God, he said, sent his Son Jesus Christ, whom he raised from the dead (John Paul II, 1998, 16, 37). While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.’ (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, ‘May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.’ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as



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unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’ When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them. (Acts 17.16–34)

The first thing to note about Paul’s teaching is that, while stating his convictions without apology, he did not hammer his listeners with his proclamation. The second is that he knew and appreciated the Greeks’ culture and used this as his opening. In his teaching before the Areopagus, Paul integrated the gospel message with the culture of that time and place.

The young Catholic’s spiritual and religious lifeworld Aspects of spirituality In Paul’s preaching at the Areopagus we see a dialogue between two lifeworlds: that of Paul the passionate Christian Apostle and that of the intellectually sophisticated Greeks. The Areopagus before which the religious education teacher stands is the lifeworld of the personal, social and spiritual landscape of the student and the group of students as a whole. The ‘lifeworld’ is the ground of all individual and shared life experience.

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As Husserl explained: In whatever way we may be conscious of the world as universal horizon, as coherent universe of existing objects, we, each ‘I-the-man’ and all of us together, belong to the world as living with one another in the world; and the world is our world, valid for our consciousness as existing precisely through this ‘living together.’ We, as living in wakeful world-consciousness, are constantly active on the basis of our passive having of the world … Obviously this is true not only for me, the individual ego; rather we, in living together, have the world pre-given in this together, belong, the world as world for all, pre-given with this ontic meaning … The we-subjectivity … [is] constantly functioning. (Husserl, 1970, 108–9)

The individual and shared lifeworlds of the students are composed of countless strands of family and social life, contemporary culture, the peer group, social networking, the influence of the media, the claims of identity and physical social and psychological development. Added to this is all that has been learned in the past and assimilated into the particular person’s and generation’s life. The lifeworld is the conscious and unconscious realm that the student and group of students inhabit. It is permeated with the culture within which a student’s generation operates and steeped in attitudes, reactions, memories and assimilated patterns of thought and behaviour, the complex sum of which is shared by all but integrated individually. The lifeworld of the young people who attend Catholic schools (generation Y, born approximately between 1984 and 2002, and generation Z, born from around 2002) has certain spiritual and religious characteristics that have been noted over and over again in research and already referred to in previous chapters of this book.

Spirituality, religion and religiosity In Chapter 2 of this book I have provided definitions of spirituality, religion, religiosity and religious experience. Of generation Y (and less assuredly of generation Z, where there is still research to be done) we can safely claim the following. In spirituality and religion, members of this generation are highly individualistic, just as they are in other facets of their lives. Hoge et al.’s



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(2001) study of the spiritual and religious attitudes of young Catholics in the United States revealed that personal choice rather than a sense of obligation most strongly influenced their religious choices. For them, the awareness of Catholicism as a community within which people have obligations to God and to each other and within which they share a set of commonly held beliefs has dissolved. Instead there is an eclectic approach that selects from the tradition what is attractive to the individual. Generation Y Catholics put together a selective religious identity according to preferences and opinions that may or may not be influenced by traditional beliefs and teachings. This has been referred to, not necessarily derogatorily, as ‘cafeteria Christianity’, an approach where individuals ‘shop’ for religious ideas of which they approve. Generation Y morality, spirituality and religion are washed through with relativism. Relativism claims that there is no objective truth that can be known, but there are endless ways of seeking truth, each valid in its own way. In this argument there are no overarching truth claims, but many stories about truth and many stories which purport to explain the world. Each of these is valid for those who hold them. Typical of a relativist view of truth are the statements that are often heard from students in Catholic schools. ‘If that’s true for you that’s fine, but it’s not true for me. We can agree to differ.’ Similarly, a relativist view of the world declines to make judgements about right and wrong. It argues that we cannot judge these because we cannot know all the cultural, social and personal circumstances that led to a particular choice. In this atmosphere of relativism it is very difficult to assert the uniqueness and distinctiveness of any one religious tradition. Most generation Y Catholics reject the idea that the belief and value claims of the Church should be accepted simply because the Church has pronounced on them. The worldview of generation Y that shapes their spirituality is essentially relational. This was accentuated by a UK report (Savage et al., 2007) which argued the desire for happiness as a descriptor of the generation Y person’s worldview. They want happiness for themselves, their families and their friends, and relationships with these groups provide meaning in their lives. I too found this in my 2007 research among 1,254 Australian teenage boys (Engebretson, 2007). In recurring themes, meaning and joy were found in relationships with friends and family. In my research with the teenage boys, peer relationships was the topic on which they wrote most fulsomely, warmly

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and even eloquently. The categories of their peer relationships were with other boys, with girls who were friends, and with girlfriends. They showed insight into their need for friendships, mistakes they had made in friendships and the qualities of friendship that they valued most. Their reflections on being a true friend included being trustworthy, reliable, listening, empathetic, honest and caring.

Religious identity The Australian study The Spirit of Generation Y demonstrated that generation Y Catholics hold on to a significant portion of traditional Catholic beliefs, especially those that are undemanding in terms of lifestyle and moral choices (Mason, Singleton and Webber, 2007, 317–19). In this age group, and differing from earlier generations, males and females are equally religious or not religious; the great majority do not think that one religion alone is true; they often pull together a religious system composed of diverse items from a number of spiritual traditions and they distrust institutional authority especially that of the Church. On the whole, they are not impelled by social issues, and are indifferent to citizenship and politics. In terms of belief in God, Collins’ study (1999) of 1,090 15- and 16-year olds in the UK demonstrated that generation Y’s worldview had little or no transcendent element. Their ‘faith’ revolved around the self, friends and family and where Christianity was professed it was peripheral. Religion was rarely part of their worldview. Another study (van Duyvenbode, 2010) found that while relationships in general were highly valued among generation Y, any relationship with God was unimportant. In this study it was shown that among those who identified as Catholics, 35 per cent believed in a personal God, while others adopted the notion of God as an impersonal creator or higher power. Surprisingly, 7 per cent of those who identified as Catholics did not believe in God at all. The US researchers Smith and Denton (2005) claim that among Protestant and Catholic teenagers there is a highly generalized belief in a distant God who casually watches human life and only expects people to be ‘nice’ and fair to each other. The goal of life is personal happiness among friends and



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family. God is called upon for help with problems, and there is still an expectation that ‘good’ people go to heaven. In these teenagers’ spiritual systems there are really no objective moral requirements. One simply chooses what feels right, regardless of any other views. Concepts such as commitment, duty, faithfulness, obedience, calling, obligation, accountability and ties to the past are foreign. Religion is a consumer item, selected according to one’s present needs. Individual conscience, rarely informed by religiosity, is the sole authority. Consequently, for young Catholics, Catholic teaching on issues such as birth control, divorce, mandatory clerical celibacy, homosexuality and female ordination are seen as needlessly restrictive and at odds with the lived reality of many Catholics. Several significant studies demonstrate respect for others, respect for the self and non-violence as key moral determinants, while sexual ethics are the choice of the individual. In the following chapter of this book, Richard Rymarz develops Smith and Denton’s theory more fully. With rare exceptions, the spiritual and religious lifeworld of the Catholic school student can be described as an assorted system where individual choice rules, where religion has declined in favour of an ill-defined spirituality focusing on personal happiness and relationships; nevertheless, vestiges of Catholicism, especially those that are undemanding, remain like a skeleton of the past. This is the Areopagus with which the RE teacher seeks to dialogue, in which he or she hopes to bring faith into dialogue with culture.

Dialogue between Catholicism and the spiritual and religious lifeworld of the student1 Elsewhere (Engebretson, 2009), I have used the model shown in Figure 5.1 as an illustration of a theoretical and curriculum model for educating primary, secondary and tertiary students in understanding and appreciation of the religions in their communities. This model drew on Husserl’s (1970) concept of the lifeworld to characterize inter-religious education as a constructively empathetic conversation between lifeworlds, a conversation which is evaluative,

This section of the chapter is adapted from K. Engebretson, In Your Shoes: Inter-Faith Education for Australian Schools and Universities (Ballarat, VIC: Connorcourt, 2009).

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reflective, reciprocal, critical and transformative. With a little adaptation I use it again to illustrate the process of religious education in a Catholic school in a new evangelization paradigm. The reasons for this are simple. In inviting students to enter into learning about and conversation with a religion other than their own, we are able to presume that they have little prior knowledge and experience of that religion. Hence the curriculum model is presented as a dialogue between spiritual and religious lifeworlds – that of the student(s) and that of the religious other. Given what research and experience tell us about the religious and spiritual lifeworld of young Catholics (summarized above), we can assume the same thing in relation to Catholic religious education of these students: that their knowledge and experience of the lifeworld of Catholic Christianity is sparse. They need to learn about Catholicism as one would learn a second language – as if for the first time, imbibing culture along with language. COGNITIVE

AFFECTIVE

Evaluative

Reflective

Spiritual and religious lifeworld of the student (s)

Constructive Empathy Lifeworld of Catholicism Reciprocal Critical

Transformative

EXPERIENTIAL

Figure 5.1 The process of religious education

Elements of the curriculum model RE in this model rests on the three supports of education, understanding and appreciation. Education is a critical enquiry process which involves the student in reflective, evaluative dialogue with new knowledge. Understanding involves cognitive learning about an aspect of human experience, in this case the religious tradition of Catholic Christianity into which most of them have



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been baptized, and to which many come as outsiders. Appreciation of the tradition is the hoped-for outcome of knowledge and understanding. Thus learning outcomes focus on the cognitive – recalling, understanding, applying, analysing and evaluating content (Bloom, 1956). However, the goal is not just knowledge, but also appreciation of the tradition. This goal encompasses the possibility of students’ growth in awareness of their own spirituality, beliefs and values in light of the spirituality, beliefs and values of the Catholic tradition. The hoped-for outcome of appreciation is made possible when the affective and experiential processes are added to the mix. The affective process consists of giving students the opportunity to reflect on the implications of the content, integrate the content with life experience, be challenged by the content to deeper awareness or sensitivity, or to respond in a personal and creative way to the content. The affective dimension is implicit in the learning process, but the teacher will often make it explicit by providing opportunities for reflection and response. The experiential process is the immersion of the student(s) into the life of the tradition, by helping them to experience liturgies, times of prayer, retreats and opportunities for Christian service. Although it shuns preaching, proselytizing, indoctrination or an evangelistic tone, the entire process is intentional. It has a purpose which is the sharing of the Catholic/Christian story and lifeworld within the lifeworld of the student and his or her generation. It is creative in that it continually seeks the appropriate images and language that can converse with the religious and spiritual lifeworld of the student. It is empathetic in that it listens with respect to the lifeworld of the student and student community and genuinely seeks to know what it is like to inhabit that lifeworld. As noted earlier, it is cognitive but also invitational and calls on the experiential world of the student (their religious and spiritual lifeworlds) as well as whenever possible advancing learning through experience. It is reflective and evaluative as all genuine conversation is. It asks and responds to questions and seeks an inquiring attitude on the part of the student. No relevant question is disallowed and no view is rejected, but all views are brought into the conversation which is skilfully managed by the teacher. This model of dialogue between the religious and spiritual lifeworld of the student and the lifeworld of Catholic Christianity is that proposed by Pope John Paul II as the method for the new evangelization, and it brings with it the possibility of interior growth, even transformation.

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Not as easy as it sounds Of course, it is relatively easy to develop a curriculum model in RE, but a far more complex thing to put it into practice with a captive audience of often resentful and bored students. Yet there are teachers who do it superbly on a daily basis. In a related but different research project from that already discussed in previous chapters, over three years (2010–13) a colleague and I conducted research with 70 highly motivated and successful religious education teachers from a variety of primary and high schools in four Australian dioceses. Once again, the teachers had been recommended first by their respective Catholic Education Offices and then by their principals. More detailed findings from these interviews are presented in Chapter 7 of this book, but to conclude this chapter I share some observations about their spirituality communicated in their conversations about work.

The spirituality of the religious educator Religious educators’ spirituality is one of witness to the redemptive truth of Jesus Christ in their own lives. It is authentic in that they believe and have made a commitment to the religious tradition they teach. They have a genuine Christian love for the young people they teach. This love seeks the good for the students, places them before God in prayer, respects each of them as children of God and hopes for their full incorporation into the life of the Church. They have a spirituality of unity with the Church and the power of their teaching is not diminished by the airing of ideological disputes, or disparagement of other members or sections of the Christian community or its leaders. They trust that the journey of the People of God will take many turns on its way to the realization of the Kingdom. They are fervent in their teaching, in that they genuinely believe in and continually try to live out a Christian vision of life. For religious educators, faith is not something comfortable that can be put down and taken up at will, but it is a guiding passion. Despite the real demands of the work, religious educators do not give in to pessimism, cynicism or collusion with an apathetic or antipathetic culture, but persevere in faith, hope and love. In their work they need the full support, understanding, educational



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investment, trust and proud affirmation of the Catholic school and local Church. Here are some of their reflections.

On faith Peter: I think we need to have a lived experience of the faith. I don’t know how some teachers go who don’t actually live the faith, as in participate in some form of parish life, how they manage, but for me it’s a really important aspect of teaching. Adrian: At the heart and centre of what we do is just establishing a relationship with God through knowing the person Jesus Christ. That’s what the school stands for, that’s the critical part and I’ve often said to people, ‘Once we lose sight of that, I’m out of here.’ Carmela: To have an experience with the Church helps you to link the student’s experience and helps you to talk about it authentically. Jaclyn: For me, personally, it’s a matter of living it, I guess, going to Mass and doing all of that. But I’m not really into verbally saying, well, this is what you should do, or this is what I think … Sarah: There certainly needs to be firm groundwork in things such as Catholic practices, and you need knowledge of Scripture, as well as knowledge of Catholic morals and ethics. The teacher who’s in front of the kids needs to have a very good background of what the tradition is about. Michelle: You need to know the Catholic Church’s thinking and beliefs, and teachings on contemporary issues, and also a history of the way the Catholic Church has evolved is very important.

On engaging the students’ lifeworld Mark: I think classroom discussion’s really important, and therefore listening to everyone’s input. So, giving students the opportunity to feel that they can express their viewpoints without being shot down by the teacher and/or the students. They need a warm environment to do that. I aim for full participation, so each student in the class is having an input over the course of the semester.

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Glenn: I think you have to be well planned. However, that can also go out the window. So you get into a classroom and you’ve just got to be prepared to go with the flow a bit, as well, I think – RE, more than any other subject that I’ve taught. Maree: I think discussion works as well as anything, for me, personally. They’ve always got a story and then you just link the topic in with their story, that’s where I generally start. Carmela: It needs to be relevant to life, using newspapers, using current affair issues, using things that have happened and they need to question and have time just to absorb what’s happened. I also think that if you can respect your students and they feel comfortable, I think in any subject you’re going to win them and you eradicate the discipline problems, you eradicate the feeling of boredom in the classroom. I think there really needs to be a relationship going, as I said, not just in the RE class but across the board and I had to learn that the hard way. As a young teacher, I went in, coming from a very strict all-girls Catholic school where we didn’t say boo and there were harsh penalties if we did – I walked in thinking that that was going to be the same. In my new class I had four or five boys on probation and I didn’t even know that and they were going to be tough cookies and I went in yelling and screaming and doing all the things that you shouldn’t do twenty odd years ago. I’ve learnt that if you really, really respect and like the students, they repay it tenfold. Mary: In RE class too, I find that sometimes they tell you things that they want to get off their chest about what’s happening in their life, about where their spiritual growth is or isn’t, and they need to be comfortable to do that, ’cause if they’re not comfortable, discussion is just not going to happen. And I always say to them, religion shouldn’t be a difficult subject for you, it shouldn’t be a subject that you struggle with as far as the assessment tasks, you should feel comfortable enough to approach me but there should be enough time in the class too, just to discuss, just to get to know and reflect.

On the need for preparation Josephine: You’re dealing with kids and young adults who come from a very materialistic world and for some of the things that you’re talking about to be



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relevant, you need to make sure that you’re exceptionally well prepared. I find it a lot easier to walk into one of my senior art classes or junior art classes today than to walk into an RE class. I think that you need to be well prepared. The more experienced that you become, the more aware you are that your preparation is really important. I could go and do a one-off lesson with a class and feel quite comfortable with that if I was thrown in to do something, but I think if you’re going to have that ongoing relationship with an RE class, you certainly have to be well prepared. Kids are very good judges of whether you are teaching something that you have prepared, but also believe in.

On critical learning Marika: I always try to bring it back down to some very basic understanding and in a lot of those sort of issues, I would talk to them about the Church’s understanding of sanctity of life and those biblical teachings of being made in the image of God, and when does life begin and what is its purpose and those types of things. I clearly acknowledge that they’re not in a position to understand that fully, and often we’re not in that position until there’s something that happens in our world or our lives that actually makes us think more deeply about that. So I would encourage them to challenge it. I don’t have a difficulty with them … I think they should be encouraged to challenge, because I think by challenging it and making them dig deeper into the information that’s available, I think that they will come to a better understanding.

Conclusion: Successful and enjoyable religious education These and numerous other impressive RE teachers demonstrate daily that their subject does not have to be an ordeal, where teachers battle students for their attention and interest. The goal of educating children and young people about the important aspects of Catholicism can be achieved successfully, even enjoyably, when respect is paid to both the tradition and to the religious and spiritual lifeworld of the students. Very few students are automatically hostile to religion. What makes them hostile is boring teaching, content that does not challenge them, false assumptions about their level of religious faith, language

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that excludes those who do not find themselves part of the Catholic ‘club’ and ignorance of or disrespect for their spiritual and religious lifeworlds. In the following chapter some guidelines for teaching challenging topics are spelled out in order to illustrate what the teachers quoted in this chapter have described.

Review MM

MM

MM

MM

MM

What is the culture of the time and place that the Catholic high school RE teacher encounters in the classroom? What are the prominent characteristics of the lifeworld of the young people you know? What examples can you provide to illustrate your agreement or disagreement with this chapter’s claims about the ways in which young Catholics construct their religious identity? What do you find helpful, difficult and/or challenging about the proposed teaching/learning model? Which of the teachers’ observations resounded most strongly for you and why?

References Bloom, B. and Krathwohl, D. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, by a Committee of College and University Examiners. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain (New York: Longmans). Collins, S. (1999). Immanent Faith: Young People in Late Modernity. In Leslie Francis (ed.), Sociology, Theology and the Curriculum (London: Cassell). van Duyvenbode, M. (2010). Mapping the terrain: the reality of young Catholics. Catholic Youth Ministry Federation. http://www.cymfed.org/ CYMFEDresearchMAPPINGTHETERRAIN (retrieved 21/1/2013). Engebretson, K. (2007). Connecting: Teenage Boys, Spirituality and Religious Education (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). —(2009). In Your Shoes: Inter-Faith Education for Australian Schools and Universities (Ballarat, VIC: Connorcourt). Engebretson, K. and Grajczonek, J. (2012). Professional standards for graduate



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teachers of Religious Education in Catholic schools: implications for teacher pre-service education. Journal of Religious Education 60, 2: 16–23. Husserl, E. (1970). The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, trans. David Carr (Evanston, IL: Northwest University Press). John Paul II (1994). Catechism of the Catholic Church (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). —(1998). Fidels et Ratio (encyclical on the relationship between faith and reason). http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_ enc_15101998_fides-et-ratio_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). —(2003). Redemptoris Missio (encyclical on the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate). http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/ encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). Mason, M., Singleton, A. and Webber, R. (2007). The Spirit of Generation Y: Young People’s Spirituality in a Changing Australia (Mulgrave, VIC: John Garratt). Savage, S., Collins-Mayo, S., Mayo, B. and Cray, G. (2007). Making Sense of Generation Y: The World View of 16–25 Year Olds (London: Church House). Smith, C. and Denton, M. (2005). Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press).

6

Christian Service Programmes in Catholic High Schools

Introduction Charity is the greatest social commandment. It respects others and their rights. It requires the practice of justice, and it alone makes us capable of it. (CCC, 1994, 1889)

Most Catholic high schools have mandatory Christian service programmes which are strongly linked with their Catholic identity. In this chapter I argue that this link is most real and visible when the Christian service or action for social justice is robustly based in Scripture and Catholic social teaching. In order to take up the Christian call to holiness, teachers and students need to understand Christian service not merely as charitable works but as the work of social transformation in light of Christ’s vision of the Kingdom of God, spelled out for our times in Catholic social teaching.1

The theological rationale for Christian service programmes The holiness of the Church: Characteristic and command In the New Testament the Church is presented as a sanctified People made holy in God’s election and through baptism in Christ and continually called

Some of the material in this chapter has been published in K. Engebretson (2009). Called to be holy: the transformative potential of Christian service programmes in Catholic schools. Journal of Beliefs and Values 30, 2: 193–204.

1

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to holiness of will and action (1 Pet. 1.14–16). In the words of the Second Vatican Council, the Church is ‘indefectibly holy’ (Lumen Gentium, 1964, 39), a holiness which comes from its identification with Christ’s life, ministry, death, resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit. This Paschal mystery brings Christians together as a People, bound together in faith in Christ, the sacraments, and the charismatic, ministerial and hierarchical gifts that allow it to continue Christ’s mission in the world. Therefore the Church is formally constituted as holy, being the body of Christ born from his redemptive work (Lumen Gentium, 1964, 11; Sullivan, 1988). The Church is holy because of the objective holiness of its gifts, the Eucharist and other sacraments, the Word of God, and the gifts and ministries of its people. These gifts are objectively holy because they are derived from Christ. Their holiness cannot be sullied by the human imperfections of those who preside at or celebrate Eucharist and the other sacraments, read the Word of God, or exercise ministerial and hierarchical gifts (Sullivan, 1988). The Church is also indefectibly holy because it is a consecrated people. Drawing on the first letter of Peter (1 Pet. 2.9–10), LG speaks of the Church as a chosen race, a holy priesthood and a People set apart. Baptized in Christ and anointed in the Holy Spirit, the Church is a ‘spiritual house and a holy priesthood’ (Sullivan, 1988, 72). Christians are consecrated into this priesthood through their sacramental initiation, where they are reborn in the Holy Spirit. This participation in the priesthood of Christ is a mark of the Christian, is unable to be lost by sin, and distinguishes the Christian as consecrated to Christ. Since the Church is a body of believers, the whole Church is consecrated as a holy, priestly people. Thus the indefectible holiness of the Church comes from its constitution by Christ as the People of God and from its consecration as a People set aside for God’s glory. However, Lumen Gentium (1964, 48) describes the Church as ‘marked with a genuine though imperfect holiness’. As a complex reality of divine and human elements, the Church is a mystery, both the mystical People of God and a hierarchical institution, and these divine and human elements contribute to her one complex reality. Therefore the Church as a human institution is inevitably marked by sin, but as the People of God is ‘indefectibly holy’ (Lumen Gentium 1964, 39). Genuine holiness is derived from God, for God alone is holy (Isa. 6.3), and the gift of holiness comes from God’s



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initiative (Deut. 7.6). However, while holiness is a characteristic derived from creation and election by God, it is also an imperative. God commanded the people of Israel to ‘be holy for I the Lord your God am Holy’ (Lev. 19.2). So the holiness of the Church is also a hope and a challenge (Sullivan, 1995). While the gift of holiness given to the Church by Christ cannot be destroyed, it can be poorly lived, diminished and not realized as fully as possible. While it is a gift, it is also a virtue to be achieved. Because of its holiness, the Church can never give up its struggle against its own selfishness and sinfulness, and it must constantly repent. Therefore the holiness of the Church is an object of faith, but also a test of, and a challenge to, faith. When Christians say that they believe in a holy Church, they express not just a belief but a hope that this holiness will be a constant mark of the life of the Church on earth, and that the Church will enter the Kingdom of God as a holy People. Therefore holiness is also a command for the Christian to become ever more holy and to discern what this holiness means in the complex realities of culture and context in which it exists.

The holiness of the Catholic school In an address to Catholic educators in Washington, DC in April 2008 Pope Benedict XVI explored the notion of the holiness of the Catholic school, seeing the school as within the Church, deriving its holiness from that of the Church, and as therefore sharing in the evangelizing mission of the Church. Catholic identity, he argued, was neither dependent on enrolment statistics nor on orthodoxy of content. Rather, it means that every aspect of the life of the learning community should resound with the ecclesial life of faith. In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly serve society. They become places in which God’s active presence in human affairs is recognized and in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ’s ‘being for others’. (Benedict XVI, 2008)

In Christians’ ‘being for others’ God’s concern for human affairs is reflected and the agenda of the Catholic Church and Catholic school for continually developing in holiness is pursued. Benedict XVI spelled this out in the same

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address, when he encouraged Catholic educators to be ‘the first friend of the poor, the homeless, the stranger, the sick and all who suffer’. In this way Catholic educators would be ‘beacons of hope, casting the light of Christ upon the world, and encouraging young people to discover the beauty of a life given completely to the Lord and His Church’. Church documents also strongly emphasize the service dimension of the Catholic identity of the school (Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education [SCCE], 1997, 62; CCE, 1998, 87; CCE, 1997, 4). The Catholic school, like the Church, is called continually to grow in holiness through service of others. One of the formal ways in which the Catholic high school carries out the call to holiness through service and social justice is through the expectation of Christian service by its students.

Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools Key Church documents claim that the Christian formation of young people is the vocation of the Catholic high school. By reason of its identity, therefore, the Catholic school is a place of ecclesial experience, which is moulded in the Christian community. However, it should not be forgotten that the school fulfils its vocation to be a genuine experience of Church only if it takes its stand within the organic pastoral work of the Christian community. In a very special way the Catholic school affords the opportunity to meet young people in an environment which favours their Christian formation. (CCE, 1997, 12)

One way in which Christian formation is encouraged and the journey to holiness undertaken by Catholic students is through community service learning within the religious education curriculum, or Christian service learning (Lavery, 2007). Community service learning in a variety of curriculum areas is very common in schools and tertiary institutions, where it provides an experiential complement to more theoretical learning and allows students to learn through serving the needs of the community. It may be defined as ‘experiential learning designed to provide a needed service to the community while allowing students to learn and apply course concepts in the real world’ (Krain



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and Nurse 2004, 190). Many Catholic high schools mandate service learning as part of their overall religious education curriculum (Youniss et al., 1999). In this context it is better referred to as Christian service learning, since it grows from the Christian vision and life of the school and is a direct way in which the school encourages students to put the principles of the gospel into action. While it draws on the theory and practice of service learning, when it is situated within a whole education in faith curriculum, it is inspired by the school’s Christian vision of life and values. It is based on the gospel imperative of love of neighbour, meets the needs of the community rather than the needs of the school or curriculum, is essentially concerned with developing relationships, and includes specific and structured time for students to reflect on their learning (Lavery, 2007). Viewed as Christian service, community service learning is a component of the continuing journey to holiness that the Catholic educational institution provides for its students.

A range of Christian service programmes In Chapter 3 of this book I introduced research that I had conducted in 17 Catholic high schools across the Australian state of Victoria. The schools were considered by their Catholic Education Offices as exemplary in their Catholic teaching and witness. The leading teachers I interviewed spoke of a range of Christian service activities, such as supporting local Christian service organizations, supporting missions either by fund raising or visits to assist in the work of the mission and, in the case of high schools conducted by religious orders, undertaking service in some of the outreach programmes of the order. All of the schools had strong personnel structures that supported their Christian service programmes and two of the schools had an extended personnel infrastructure that encouraged students to continue their involvement when they left school. In addition, there was an expectation in each of the schools that all teachers to some extent would be involved in the Christian service programme. As one leader of a boys’ school expressed it: They develop a strong sense of being men for others – for and with others. They have many experiences of that in the curriculum, and they have a strong sense

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This ‘noblesse oblige’ (Gerics, 1991) foundation for the Christian service undertaken by the students was common across the schools. In the boys’ school mentioned above, students were involved often after school hours, in supporting refugees, helping refugee children with homework, working in soup kitchens, and even in some construction projects which took them to developing countries. In other schools, students visited and entertained the elderly, gave their time to missions for the homeless, raised money for development projects in needy countries, and tutored and shared games with children with disabilities. All of the key teachers who were interviewed were of the opinion that their students expressed their Catholic identity more easily and readily through Christian service than through sacramental involvement. The four quotations that follow were typical. One group goes to Papua New Guinea, we have another group that goes to Bathurst Island, and the students who go on that, a number of them aren’t the people here you would say, Oh yeah, they go to Mass every Sunday. But when you get them up there, the witness they give is amazing. (Boys’ school, rural) I think their sense of identity is Catholic and that part of it is more easily expressed in service. You know, we have a small number of kids that are very committed to their Parish … I certainly think that it’s much easier to get people involved in stuff they can do. (Co-ed school, rural) Some will find a parish where they belong, but I think the larger number are more likely to be involved in something like soup vans or working with people who need help or even just occasional ministry. (Girls’ school, rural) The students who have gone on to embody some sort of faith it’s been through service, it’s been through having a gap year that wasn’t about saving money it was about actually going to a place that needed someone just to be there, I’m thinking of a few kids who have gone to India and have gone to places in Africa. (Girls’ school, rural)



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Outcomes for students of their involvement in Christian service programmes The views of the interviewees on the benefits to students of Christian service learning mirrored the literature about this (Baratte 2005; Horan 2005; DiGiacomo 2007). They argued that because the student placements were in institutions and situations that served the needs of the community rather than the outcomes of the curriculum, there was a genuine sense of reciprocity between the school and the service caring institutions. The students learned to do things with others rather than for others (Lavery and Richards, 2006). This benefited for the students by encouraging a heightened sense of belonging within and responsibility for the local community (Lavery and Richards, 2006). Last night I drove some kids down to the Edmund Rice Centre to help the Sudanese kids with their reading. The St Vincent de Paul group in this school is the strongest I’ve ever seen in any school I’ve been. They do the bread runs on a Thursday afternoon, picking up bread from bakeries to give to charities that feed the poor. There are 40 boys from Years 7–12 in St Vincent de Paul. (Boys’ school, rural)

The heightened sense of belonging and usefulness was very affirming for students, especially when they received positive feedback from the institutions where they gave their time. It helped to challenge the sense of powerlessness that many young people feel in confronting social issues that seem to them almost insurmountable (Engebretson, 2007). In addition, it has been demonstrated that the involvement of young people in community service learning contributes to positive identity development during an opportune developmental period (Youniss et al., 1999). In the community service some students who are shy or introverted often find that they are good at it. This can encourage them to keep on some form of ministry after school. (Leading RE teacher, co-ed school, urban)

Youth culture tends to divide youth from the adult world, and so activities that bring them into contact with this world are critical in the development of identity (Youniss et al., 1999). The leading teachers who were interviewed claimed that a common reaction of the students when immersed in a situation

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where they saw hardship, deprivation, and social problems was a sense of their own complacency and selfishness and challenge to the stereotypes they had easily assimilated from their culture (Leonard, 2004; Lavery, 2007). Another reaction was admiration for people who strive to lead deeply human lives under great disadvantage. The people they served in the correctional institutions, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, refugee centres and nursing homes were recognized as people rather than abstract entities about whom it is very easy to make superficial judgements (Krain and Nurse, 2004). They also grew in admiration for those who devote themselves daily to the welfare of others. The experiences also led to a sense of gratitude for all the benefits that they themselves enjoyed, and for some to a greater hope in the future of the human community. They see people who willingly give their own time to help others, day by day and week by week. I know that for some this makes them question the self centered way in which many people live. (Co-ed school, urban) It’s a wide range of ministries, and we hope that we are engendering a powerful sense of service within the Church. (Boys’ school urban)

Christian service learning in Catholic high schools and critical social analysis Among the schools, the foundational principle underlying the Christian service programme was predominantly that of the duty of the more fortunate to help those who are less fortunate. While this is perfectly compatible with the gospels, there is a further level of learning in which Christian service programme may reach their true potential as a means of religious and spiritual transformation. As Gerics (1991) asks: Is the purpose of community service exclusively or primarily personal growth through selfless volunteerism, or does community service involve a further dimension of social analysis and criticism?

He answers this question in the affirmative, claiming that Christian service programmes in schools that espouse a Christian vision of life are not merely charity, but are action for justice in keeping with the great principles of



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Catholic social teaching. Writing from the Jesuit education tradition, Gerics (1991) contends that the Christian service programmes provided in Jesuit schools (and by extension in all Catholic schools) flow unambiguously from the radical Catholic social teaching that espouses the principles of human dignity, social justice and human rights, solidarity, community and the common good, subsidiary, the option for the poor and vulnerable, the dignity of work and the rights of workers, the stewardship of creation, social participation and peace. When viewed against the background of Catholic social teaching, and of the call of the school as an ecclesial institution to continually grow towards holiness, the only conclusion is that Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools must be counter-cultural and critical. They require theological reflection directed at both personal conversion and social analysis, ‘including consideration of one’s own complicity in social injustice’ (Gerics, 1991, 255). They are not well served by merely being conceived of as a practice of ‘noblesse oblige’ (the privileged serving the less privileged), a description that is typical of the community service programme of secular institutions. ‘Noblesse oblige’ was evident in the comment of the religious education leader quoted earlier in this paper: ‘They [the students] have a strong sense that that is what’s required of them, it is a duty out of their education.’ Gerics challenges Jesuit schools, and by extension all Catholic high schools, to a deeper critical analysis in light of the gospel and Catholic social teaching. Christian service programmes, he argues, are not merely charitable works with their overtones of condescension and acceptance of the status quo of the inequality of opportunity between rich and poor. Rather, they flow from the call of the Second Vatican Council for the transformation of the world in light of the gospel principles of human dignity, freedom, solidarity and the option for the poor and vulnerable. These principles challenge the wealthy to reduce their wealth and privilege in favour of a more equitable society and to constantly question and critique the hegemonic structures that ensure that inequality of opportunity continues (National Catholic Education Commission [NCEC], 2007). The sections that follow provide some guidance for teachers in selecting content from Scripture and Catholic social teaching to lead students in this reflection and analysis.

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Using scripture to inform reflective thinking about social justice activities Hebrew Scriptures While the Bible cannot provide answers to all of the complex issues we face today, it is fundamental to a Christian vision of life. It reveals that the God Christians worship is a personal God who relates to humans, enters into human history in definitive ways and cares about the way humans live (Donohoe, 2005). For Christians, this God is revealed in the words, deeds and teachings of Jesus Christ. When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees to name the greatest commandment of the Law, he replied in the words of the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus (Deut. 6.5; Lev. 19.8): You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mt. 22.37–40)

A constant theme in the Bible, central to biblical Revelation (Donohoe, 2005), is that the love of neighbour is demonstrated especially in care for the poor, weak and powerless. In the lives of the ancient Hebrews, to act with justice was central to the covenant relationship with God. Their entire identity and the relationships that flowed from it were bound up in the Covenant and actions to protect the poor, weak and powerless were embedded in covenant law. In the Hebrew Scriptures the ‘poor’ are the powerless people, deprived both economically and socially. Usually, they are the victims of the powerful and wealthy. When the people of Israel lost sight of their Covenant and oppressed the poor and the weak, they were chastised, called to repent and warned of calamity to come by the prophets. Caring for the poor was a religious act, central to the covenant. Speaking on behalf of God, the prophets called for a radical return to their original relationship with God, which was marked by action on behalf of the poor. The prophets spoke for those who had no one to speak for them, and so the prophetic movement and the writings of the prophets as preserved in the Hebrew Scriptures are rich in textual material for educating students about social justice. They may be used as a background against which students may reflect on their own Christian service activities.



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There are at least two key principles to apply when teaching students about the prophets. First, the prophets continually called the nation back to the original Sinai Covenant. Under the monarchy (1 Sam. 8) Israel experienced urbanization and centralized power. After the death of Solomon, and especially after the split between north (Israel) and south (Judea), corruption and oppression of the poor by the wealthy and powerful was rife. Second, in using the prophetic texts with students it is essential to situate them within their historical contexts. For example, Amos prophesied at the royal court in the northern kingdom (Israel) just before Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 721 bc. This was a time of prosperity in the northern kingdom, which had witnessed the emergence of a wealthy upper class. In contrast with the classless society of early Israel before the monarchy, there was now a class of people who wanted to accumulate land, possessions and capital. The original concept of the land as the inheritance of every Israelite was lost (cf. the story of Naboth’s vineyard, 1 Kgs 21). The fierce words of the prophets against the rich and powerful must be read in this context. They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins – you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate. Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. (Amos 5.11–13)

A generation after Amos, in what remained of the nation of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judea, Isaiah pronounced harsh criticism against Jerusalem, calling the city a harlot (1.21) and reprimanding leaders because God heard in the city the cry of the poor. (5.7). The city was unfaithful to the covenant because its leaders: write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? (10.1–3)

A century later, Jeremiah too attacked the complacent wealthy: For scoundrels are found among my people; they take over the goods of others. Like fowlers they set a trap; they catch human beings. Like a cage full of birds,

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their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no limits in deeds of wickedness; they do not judge with justice the cause of the orphan, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord, and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this? (Jer. 5.27–29)

Although each of the prophets prophesied in a particular historical context, their constant message was a defence of the poor and powerless and an attack on the oppressive and unjust practices of the powerful and wealthy. The books of the prophets contain numerous texts which students may use to reflect on the unjust structures they encounter in their Christian service programmes.

Christian Scriptures Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God The spirituality, message and mission of Jesus Christ centred on his vision of the coming Kingdom of God. This spiritual Kingdom of God – a Kingdom of compassion, equality, justice and peace – Jesus proclaimed, was breaking into history in his own person and ministry (Wright, 2000). Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools must be based on an analysis of what the Kingdom of God meant in Christ’s teaching and what it means in the Church today. The grouping of references in the following table may assist such an analysis. Table 6.1  References for teaching about the Kingdom of God Repentance Parables of the Kingdom Who will enter the Kingdom? Jesus proclaims the Kingdom Jesus’ disciples proclaim the Kingdom What is the Kingdom like? Teaching about the Kingdom in the early Church

Mark 1.15 Mark 4.26; 4.30; Luke 13.18; 13.20; 23.42 Mark 10.15; 12.34; Luke 6.20 and following; Luke 10.9; 13.29; 18.16. Luke 4.43; 8.1; 9.11 Luke 9.2 John 18.36 Acts 8.12; 14.22; 19.8; 28.23; 28.31 Romans 14.17 Colossians 1.13; 4.11 1 Thessalonians 2.12; 2 Thessalonians 1.5 2 Timothy 4.18; Hebrews 1.8; 12.28; James 2.5; 2 Peter 1.11



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Jesus Christ and table fellowship In the Jewish society of Jesus’ time, eating together was the primary way of marking any significant event, both social and religious, and there were certain prescribed rituals for these occasions. The host was expected to extend gracious hospitality to his guests; the feet of the guests were washed, kisses were exchanged and the head of the guest was anointed with perfumed oil (Maloney, 1990). The extent to which these rituals were observed was an indication of the esteem in which the host held his guests (Lk. 7.44–47, also Jn. 13.3–17). Observant Jews were selective about what they ate and with whom they ate it. Dining together created a bond among the diners, therefore the selection of guests was significant. Jesus (e.g. Mt. 11.18–19) and later his disciples (e.g. Acts 11.3) were criticized for not being sufficiently selective about those with whom they chose to eat. Indeed, Jesus’ table fellowship extended to sinners and other outsiders, women and the poor. The gospels agree that Jesus shared his table with the sinners, outcasts and the broken and that he spoke boldly of such sharing as a sign of God’s presence as King (Maloney, 1990). Maloney explains how these stories illustrate the actual practice of Jesus and that they could not possibly have been devised by the early Church. Jesus’ dissimilarity with traditional Judaism in his meal-fellowship is very obvious. Table-fellowship indicated the distinction between the clean and the unclean, the righteous and the sinners. Tax­collectors, prostitutes and sinners simply had to be shunned if one was truly to belong to Israel. The narratives that tell of Jesus’ sharing his life and his table with people from this social setting could not have been invented by the early Church. We find them in the New Testament because such table-fellowship was a regular part of Jesus’ own life. This makes us realize the enormity of Jesus’ act in calling a publican to be one of his intimate disciples (Matt. 9.9) and announcing the Good News to publicans and ‘Sinners’ by sitting down to eat with them. (Maloney, 1990, 128)

As shown in Table 6.2, many texts that illustrate Jesus’ inclusive table fellowship may be used with students, either before, after or during their Christian service activities, to reflect on the social divisions present in their own society.

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Table 6.2  Stories from the gospel of Luke that illustrate Jesus’ inclusive table fellowship 5.27–39 7.36–50 9.10–17 10.38–42 11.37–54 14.1–24 19.1–10 22.7–23 24.13–35

Banquet in the house of Levi Dinner in the house of Simon the Pharisee The feeding of the five thousand at Bethsaida Hospitality in the house of Martha Noontime meal in the house of a Pharisee Sabbath meal in the house of a Pharisee Hospitality in the house of Zacchaeus The Last Supper The story of Emmaus

Catholic social teaching Scripture and Tradition are both sources of Revelation in the Catholic Church. Tradition refers to the collected writings and teachings of the Church, such as the writings of the early fathers and saints, the teaching of the popes and bishops found in encyclicals and other documents, and the teachings of the councils of the Church. Over the last 120 years the Magisterium has issued many official documents on the role and responsi­bilities of Christians in the world. These documents form official Catholic social thought or Catholic social doctrine. Table 6.3 provides information that teachers may follow up to teach their students about this rich and radical body of teaching.

Table 6.3  Catholic social teaching Date and author

Title

Leo XIII, 1891

Rerum Novarum (Of New Things)

Pius XI, 1931

Historical context Themes

Industrial Revolution; exploitation of workers Quadragesimo Fortieth Anno anniversary (The Fortieth Year) of Rerum Novarum; the great depression is underway and dictatorships are growing in Europe

The right to work; rights to private property, just wages, and workers’ associations Warnings against greed in capitalism and against communism; seeks partnership between labour and capitalism and repeats that workers need just wages to acquire private property; urges international economic cooperation; introduces ‘subsidiarity’

John XXIII, 1961

John XXIII, 1963

Vatican II, 1965

Paul VI, 1971

Synod of Bishops, 1971 Paul VI, 1975

Christian Service Programmes in Catholic High Schools Mater et Magistra (Mother and Teacher)

Despite science and technology advancements in developed nations, millions live in poverty in developing nations

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Inequality between rich and poor nations must be addressed; the arms race contributes to poverty; economic injustice threatens peace; wealthy nations must help poor nations while respecting those nations’ cultures; Catholics should know the social teaching of their Church and be active on behalf of justice Pacem in Terris Cold War, Peace is ensured through social (Peace on Earth) erection of Berlin rights and responsibilities on wall (1961), neighbourhood, national and Cuban missile global scales; the rights of crisis (1962) women; the arms race defies justice, reason and human dignity; the United Nations needs to be strengthened Gaudium et Spes Continuing Cold The Church is closely connected (Church in the War and arms with the world; social and Modern World) race cultural changes must be held up to the light of the gospel; concern for faith, family and humankind’s journey to heaven Octogesima World verging Urbanization and the ‘new Adveniens on recession; in poor’ – elderly, disabled and (The Coming western nations marginalized in the cities; Eightieth Year) civil rights discrimination in race, colour, and women’s sex, religion continues; movements and Christians are called to be Vietnam war involved in political processes to protests advance justice for all Justice in the World Increased focus Injustices and oppression must on liberation, be met by liberation rooted in especially in Latin justice. The Church must speak America on behalf of the oppressed, and be a witness for justice Evangelii Nuntiandi Rising atheism, Evangelization; a Christian’s (On Evangelization secularism, witness in evangelization should in the Modern consumerism influence their judgement, World) and a growing values, interests, thought, and consciousness of lifestyle. Evangelization includes evil of oppression challenging injustice and preaching liberation

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Laborem Exercens Great numbers (On Human Work) of people are unemployed and migrant workers exploited. Both capitalist and communist systems are exploiting the worker US Economic Justice In the United States Bishops, for All there were 33 1986 million poor, 20–30 million needy, and 8 million unemployed John Solicitudo Rei Debt, Paul II, Socialis (On Social unemployment 1987 Concern) and recession were having an impact on both rich and poor nations John Paul II, 1981

John Paul II, 1991

Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year)

John Paul II, 1995

Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life)

Benedict Deus Caritas Est XVI, (God is Love) 2005 Benedict Caritas in Veritate XVI, (Charity in Truth) 2009

The dignity of work as participation in God’s creative work; fair wages and the rights of workers must be assured; work must serve the family, with special consideration for working mothers; ensure that the disabled can participate in the workforce Economic inequalities and inequalities in power must be examined; there must be a preferential option for the poor

Economic gap between northern and southern hemispheres; we should be one united world; east-west tensions and competition work against world cooperation and solidarity; criticizes consumerism and waste, as well as international trade practices that hurt developing nations 100th anniversary Critiques communism as a of Rerum fundamental error; supports Novarum; collapse free market as recognizing the of communism in freedom of the human person; Eastern Europe warns against consumerism and rampant capitalism Prevalence of Sanctity of human life; speaks a culture of against abortion, euthanasia and death – abortion, the death penalty; calls for a euthanasia, death culture of life penalty A culture of Explains the true meaning of relativism love and affirms the Church’s mission to bring the love of Christ into the world Worldwide Human development requires economic charity, respect for the common crisis centred good, religious freedom, and on weakness the sanctity of human life; an in financial economy of communion and institutions and solidarity as a response to the the collapse of the present crisis housing market



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Conclusion: More than Noblesse Oblige Situated in the universal call to holiness of Christians everywhere, Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools must be informed by students’ knowledge of and reflection on Scripture and the social justice thought of the Church. Only then can worthy social analysis take place against the background of a Christian vision of life. Guided reflection on the experience of Christian service will assist students to see its deeper meaning and will help them to learn to critique the unjust structures that keep poverty and oppression in place. As DiGiacomo (2007, 11) observes: ‘Catholic school students need to engage in guided reflection on the meaning of their service, or they may simply be engaging in secular humanism without any faith dimension.’

Review MM

MM

MM

MM

MM

Why is Christian service learning in Catholic high schools more than good neighbourliness, or noblesse oblige? Do you agree that most Catholic young people will express their Catholic commitment through service rather than regular worship? What evidence of this is there? What are your reactions to the teachers’ quotations given in this chapter? What benefits do you see in Christian service programmes in Catholic high schools and how are they best conducted? Why is reflection and analysis essential to Christian service programmes and on what content may this be based?

References Baratte, L. (2005). Religious education in the prophetic voice: The pedagogy of Eileen Egan. Catholic Education 9, no. 2: 198–215. Benedict XVI (2008). Address to Catholic Educators (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America). Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) (1988). The religious dimension of education in a Catholic school. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/

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congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_19880407_catholicschool_en.html (retrieved 16/4/2013). —(1997). The Catholic school on the threshold of the third millennium. http://www. vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_ doc_27041998_school2000_en.html (retrieved 9/10/2013). DiGiacomo, J. (2007). Educating for a living faith. America 197, 6: 12–17. Donohoe, J. (2005). The Bible and Catholic Social Teaching. Will this Engagement Lead to Marriage? In K. Himes (ed.). Modern Catholic Social Teaching. (Washington: Georgetown University Press), pp. 9–24. Engebretson, K. (2007). Connecting: Teenage Boys, Spirituality and Religious Education (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). Gerics, J. (1991). From orthodoxy to orthopraxis: community service as ‘noblesse oblige’ and as solidarity with the poor. Religious Education 86, 2: 250–65. Horan, M. (2005) Justice education as a school wide effort: Effective religious education in the Catholic school. Catholic Education 9, no. 2: 215–30. John Paul II (1994). Catechism of the Catholic Church (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). Krain, M. and Nurse, A. (2004). Teaching human rights through service learning. Human Rights Quarterly 26, 1: 189–207. Lavery, S. (2007). Christian service learning. Journal of Religious Education 55, 1: 50–3. Lavery, S., and J. Richards (2006). Service-learning: More than just volunteering. Principal Matters Autumn, 17–18. Leonard, A. (2004). Service learning as transgressive pedagogy. Cross Currents Summer: 661–71. Lumen Gentium (1964). The dogmatic Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (retrieved 29/2/2012). Maloney, F. (1990). A Body Broken for a Broken People (Melbourne: Collins Dove). National Catholic Education Commission (2007). Catholic schools: why we have them and what they aim to achieve (Sydney: National Catholic Education Commission). Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education (SCCE) (1977). The Catholic school. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_ con_ccatheduc_doc_19770319_catholic-school_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). Sullivan, F. (1988). The Church We Believe in: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press). —(1995). Marks of the Church. In R. McBrien (ed.), The HarperCollins Encyclopaedia of Catholicism (New York: Harper Collins). Wright, N. T. (2000). The Mission and Message of Jesus. In K. T. Wright and M. Borg, The Meaning of Jesus. (San Francisco: Harper), pp. 31–52. Youniss, J., McLellan, J., Su, T. and Yates, M. (1999). The role of community service in identity development. Journal of Adolescent Research 14, 2: 248–61.

7

Teaching Complex Topics in Religious Education Richard Rymarz

Introduction A number of years ago a national RE curriculum was developed for Catholic schools. This was designed along modular lines, with approximately 60 units produced. Schools then ordered the units that they planned to use. After a decade or so the curriculum was revisited and new modules developed. There remained, however, a fascinating record of the micro-curriculum in Catholic RE in schools. The micro-curriculum is concerned with what teachers do in the classroom and is often in tension with what they are expected to do in the formal curriculum. The empirical record that was left behind by this project was a fascinating tabulation of what modules were ordered, from most to least popular. Some modules went out of print. These often dealt with relatively generic themes such as relationships and could, with some modifications, be used in other subjects in the curriculum. Those modules that were massively undersubscribed were those which dealt with very significant but quite theologically complex topics. One notable example were modules that dealt with the Trinity. A colleague who administered the programme commented: ‘They’ve left out all the hard stuff.’ Topics may be difficult because of their conceptual complexity or because of teacher unfamiliarity. Some conceptually difficult topics include the interaction between science and religion, philosophical topics such as the nature of God, and perennial theological topics such as Revelation. In addition, complex areas involve development of themes that are often covered in an introductory sense, but not taken beyond a rudimentary level. The best

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example of this is teaching Scripture. Stead (1999) demonstrated, with careful studies of classroom teachers, that Scripture tended to be presented in Catholic primary schools as episodic and repetitively revolving around a few key texts. Exegetical skills were not developed. Grace (2003) reached similar conclusions when researching the work of high school RE teachers. Other features of complex content areas in RE require specialized knowledge often including an understanding of a range of cross-disciplinary concepts and difficult ideas. Complex topics are difficult to explain to others and require excellent pedagogical skills on the part of the RE teacher. They often do not have a ready parallel in human experience. Most people, for example, have some ideas about human relationships and are interested in discussing them. In contrast, thinking about human origins in the light of Genesis and Darwin is not as immediately attractive. Complex content areas require sequential planning and can rarely be covered adequately in one lesson. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, complex topics are often of critical importance in defining what makes Christian thought and practice distinctive. They establish boundaries between what Christians believe, at least in theory, and what others believe. For this reason complex topics make demands on the content knowledge of RE teachers. Leaving out complex material in RE has consequences, even though it is to some extent understandable in contemporary culture. It does, however, impoverish students and is not an appropriate response to the challenge facing Catholic schools in a society that has changed even from 20 years ago. This chapter provides some contextualization of these changes and argues that Catholic schools are missing an opportunity if they do not address complex issues in the RE classroom. The chapter then focuses on providing pedagogy to teach complex topics.

The new terrain: Overcoming the cult of niceness As noted already in earlier chapters of this book, one of the features of youth and young adults in many western countries is a lack of knowledge concerning religion (Hoge et al., 2001; Flynn and Mok, 2002). The most eloquent statement of this, perhaps, is given by the eminent English sociologist Grace



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Davie (1999, 127), commenting here on the European situation: ‘an ignorance of even the basic understandings of Christian teachings is the norm in modern Europe, especially among young people; it is not a reassuring attribute’. Davie goes on to point out that this ignorance adds to a growing sense of alienation and rootlessness amongst the young. This is manifested in an unease about being closely connected to any particular worldview. Smith and Snell (2009) have described many emerging adults as having ‘graduated’ from religion in the sense that they have gained from it all that they need and have now moved on, not in a definitive sense, but more in keeping with a loosening of religious affiliation. This graduation from religion is part of a movement into adulthood. Smith et al. (2011) note that emerging adulthood is a difficult time, with significant challenges. For many young adults this is a period where they receive little support from the wider culture (Wuthnow, 2007). At this vulnerable time in their lives they face key challenges which if not addressed have significant consequences. Amongst the key challenges facing younger people are a general disengagement with society, confused reasoning – especially on moral issues – habitual intoxication, materialistic and unrealizable life goals, and damaging sexual experiences that are soon regretted (Bogle, 2008; Regnerus and Uecker, 2011). Smith et al. (2011) argue that one key reason why many young people accept uncritically what the wider culture imposes as normative is that they have serious deficiencies in how they think about and see themselves in the world. They note that a feature of emerging adulthood is the superficial and shallow moral reasoning that many in this cohort exhibit. This is not an innate characteristic of young people or due to a failing on their part, but is rather seen as a condition both culturally sanctioned and as a result of nurturing and formation in school and family networks. Such cultural pressure, however, leaves young people in a very vulnerable position, as they are not well equipped to deal with the problems of adult life. Smith et al. (2011, 60) observe: Emerging adults resort to a variety of explanations about what makes anything good or bad, wrong or right – many of which reflect weak thinking and provide a fragile basis upon which to build robust moral positions of thought and living.

There is much here to ponder for religious educators working in Catholic high schools. One key question is whether and how RE contributes to this

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weak thinking. A challenge for those involved in RE is to realize the moral dimension of not equipping students with the necessary cognitive tools with which to face adult responsibilities and to develop a well-rounded worldview. Smith et al. (2011, 61) point out: We are letting them down, sending many, and probably most, of them out into the world without the basic intellectual tools and most basic formation needed to think and express even the most elementary of reasonably defensible moral thoughts and claims. And that itself, we think, is morally wrong.

In the recent past, perhaps in reaction to the monolithic expression of Catholic culture prior to the Second Vatican Council, where teaching was often simply ‘passed on’, many in Catholic educational circles sought to better integrate experience and belief. This was done by encouraging a critical, but by no means hostile, attitude to experiences of religious belief and practice. In a methodology which he refers to as the capstone of his life’s work, Groome (2011) describes his process as a series of critically reflective movements from life to faith. In this approach individual religious beliefs and practices, acquired largely through family and buttressed by wider society, are taken as the departure point and used as the basis for further elaboration and critique in the RE classroom. Very few today, however, have an equivalent initial starting point when it comes to religious experience. In addition to a lack of personal connection, for many students, their a priori position is that any strong religious belief is both untenable and unattractive. The prevailing culture tends to contest all truth claims, so religious positions are often considered to be almost indefensible. Dulles (1995, 6) put this notion well when he wrote: ‘Our contemporaries, well aware that religious tenets are capable of being questioned, need to be shown how firm religious commitments may nevertheless be responsible.’ Dean (2004) lays out a very explicit challenge to the Christian Churches in terms of the message that they need to be presenting in an increasingly secular culture. Secular here does not mean hostility or overt anger about religious belief, practice and commitment. It is just that for an increasing number of people, and these are by no means just young people, religion has a relatively minor part in shaping what they believe and how they live. There is a very important distinction to be made here between overtly



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rejecting religion and regarding it, in practice, as having only a small impact on life. The latter position is one that is becoming normative in many cultures and is a good working definition of what secularization means in situ. Increasing secularization places clear challenges before religious communities. Dean (2010) articulates well many of these challenges. For her, a key issue is the integrity of the Christian message in the face of attempts to domesticate it. In this view, which is very much in keeping with the call for a new evangelization, the Christian Churches need to provide a cogent alternative to the rising, and some would say relentless, advance of an ersatz Christian message. Here the pinnacle of the Christian life is reduced to a weak and generic morality. This is described as the triumph of the cult of niceness – where to be a Christian is to be nice, just as Jesus was nice. This is, of course, a parody of Christianity, but the point that Dean raises, supported by much recent empirical work, is that it is becoming the default position of many young and not-so-young people, and it also represents the mentality of many Christians. The antidote here is not more of the same but a rigorous, thorough and educationally sophisticated presentation of the gospel with a recognition that some of this will be hard – both cognitively and affectively challenging. This is a sentiment encapsulated well by Dulles when he remarked that younger Catholics need to be ‘challenged … with the hard truths of the gospel’ (Dulles, 2003, 17).

Complex topics in religious education: Some basic issues Catholic schools have significant capacities to address some of the challenges laid out by Dean, Smith and others. RE is taught in Catholic schools at all age levels, and so the development of themes and topics can take place in a spiral and sequenced fashion. I propose that within this sequence due consideration should be given to seminal topics, as these often establish the basis for future learning. The need for students to tackle topics in RE that place strong demands on them and their understanding of the Catholic tradition can be supported by at least three arguments.

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An educational approach to Religious Education First, the dominant educational paradigm used in RE in Australia and elsewhere for at least the past two decades has been an ‘educational’ approach. An important aspect of this approach is that RE should be able to use the language and tools of general educational discourse and apply these to the subject. An important part of this discourse is the spiral curriculum, or the idea that as students progress through the school they are presented with more and more complex presentations of key topics. A corollary of this is that difficult ideas are also tackled in as educationally sophisticated a way as possible. If RE is educational it must be able to demonstrate a commitment to developing students’ understanding in a sequential manner and also not to avoid areas which require a high level of teaching expertise. It is hard to imagine another discipline not covering a conceptually important area because it is just too hard.

Coherence Second, a more philosophical argument arises from the need to provide RE students with a coherent understanding. For a position to be coherent, two conditions are essential: consistency and explanation. Coherent beliefs are consistent and have some explanatory power. One example of a core theme in religious education in Catholic schools is teaching about Jesus (Rymarz, 2007). If difficult notions such as the Catholic belief that Jesus is both human and divine are not covered, then much of what Catholics believe about Mary and about the passion and the resurrection of Christ do not follow. A wellgrounded understanding of what Catholics believe about Jesus will explain many factors of Catholic life and provide an entry into other areas of the faith tradition. The RE curriculum needs to be balanced with topics which have a strong cognitive base and which are pivotal to understanding the faith tradition. Study of these topics (designated ‘hard’ by many teachers) is likely to meet students’ needs, to extend them and help then negotiate their own identity in relation to the home tradition. They do not exclude an experiential emphasis when required. The fact that students find some topics in RE difficult is not a reason for excluding them from the curriculum. Students find



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many disciplines difficult, but this is an indication that the study has serious academic and intellectual claims. An important part of the role of RE should be to broaden and deepen the understanding of students in topics that are a critical part of the Christian tradition. The key question is how to teach hard topics better. The remainder of this chapter is an attempt to address this issue at a micro level of classroom practice.

Vygotsky’s social learning model as a way to proceed The social learning model of Vygotsky (1978) offers insights that can assist in the pedagogical role of the theology, religious studies or RE teacher. His theory of a learner’s zone proximal development (ZPD) refers to the distance between the real development of a child through independent problem solving and his or her potential development through problem solving under direct teacher guidance or in partnership with more proficient peers. Students appropriate the knowledge learned in assisted performance so that it becomes their own. A teacher’s task, according to Vygotsky, is to place learning in the ZPD through a process of structuring learning experiences, in order to achieve optimal results. The sense of challenging learners but also extending them with tasks which they may not be able to perform alone is one of the key insights in a Vygotskian learning paradigm (Bodrova and Leong, 2007). Being introduced to cognitively complex material plays an important role in assisting students to develop their full cognitive potential. It is something that the teacher does, to use Vygotsky’s term (1987, 212), to ‘waken a whole series of functions that are in a stage of maturation’. In the Vygotskian paradigm there is a strong assumption that the learning potential of the students is far greater than most educational models assume (Brown and Ferrara, 1985). With good interaction between teacher, student and the community of learners, students’ knowledge can be greatly enhanced. In RE the key to utilizing the learning potential of students is to provide them with enough support, or scaffolding, so that can integrate complex material and be able to use this to assist them with further learning. In terms of complex content areas in RE the teacher is required to assist and challenge students to expand their understanding by providing strong scaffolding for learning so that they can enter the ZPD.

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In a Vygotskian perspective, much is expected of the teacher. One of these expectations is that teachers are comfortable and familiar with the content areas that they are covering. In terms of RE, the teacher must have a good command of the topic. Learning can be understood as an ultimately transformative process, one that alters the way learners see themselves and the world around them. Within this framework the teacher’s role is to provide direction, support and structure to assist students in reaching their potential. The teacher works in collaboration with the learner in a mentor relationship. A good teacher mentor is one who is able to dialogue and to answer students’ questions well. If students ask difficult and demanding questions this is an indication that the students trust the teacher and also that the teacher is challenging the students in a fashion that extends but does not overwhelm. Implicit here is an assumption that teachers can also really engage with student questions by addressing them directly from their own cognitive bases.

Teaching complex content areas The first step in developing pedagogy for hard topics in RE is a commitment to tackling these issues in the curriculum. Without this it is unlikely that any satisfactory programme can be developed, due to the inherent difficulties that many of these topics present to RE teachers. Below I provide a way of approaching hard topics in the RE classroom.

A worked example: Teaching about God in Catholic high schools Smith and Denton (2005) argue that many religious communities are failing rather badly in religiously engaging and educating their youth. Where engagement and education of youth by their religious communities is weak, the faith of teenagers tends to degenerate into ‘Moralistic Therapeutic Deism’ (MTD) (Smith and Denton, 2005, 162). This belief, in essence, sees religion as a moral system which, at best, generates behaviours that benefit



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Table 7.1  Developing a teaching/learning sequence for a difficult topic Step Recognition

Description

Make a clear commitment to teach hard topics in the curriculum. This does not mean that every lesson should involve such themes but teachers should have a firm realization that these will arise and should be planned for. Orientation Examine the existing curriculum to see how the topic has been covered in the past, and recognize that it may be covered again in the future. Hard topics often require a number of treatments in a four- or six-year programme. Ask yourself what aspect of the topic will be covered here and what will be done later. Be aware of the age and prior learning of the students. Research Identify a number of key resources. The first group of resources are those which have been used by others to teach this topic. Be aware that a good deal can be achieved by some guided selective reading. The second group is resources that help teachers understand the topic themselves. One of the most significant challenges facing the teacher who wants to engage with complex themes is a lack of pedagogically focused resources. This is an indication of the lack of focus on complex themes in classroom religious education. There are very few generic approaches to teaching complex topics and this makes the search for comprehensive resources difficult. Focus Working with others, try to encapsulate as briefly as possible the heart of the issue. What is it that makes this topic hard and why do students have trouble understanding it? What is their thinking about the issues involved and especially what common misconceptions exist? Response Repeat the focus step but now try to identify Catholic teaching on the topic. Educational Using outcomes language write down what you expect of students goals who have completed this unit of work. Some teachers may prefer to do this step after completing the teaching strategies step which follows. Teaching This is the critical step. You are now at a stage where you are ready to strategies start developing a series of teaching and learning activities that will engage students. Rely here on your knowledge as a skilled teacher. Give some thought to how many lessons you will devote to the topic. Plan assessment strategies that will enhance the learning of the students. Review and Try to judge the success of your lesson sequence and record what consolidation was successful. Begin to develop a pool of resources that have been helpful so that when this topic is tackled again you have a starting point.

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the individual. It is highly personal and positivistic and the notion of God is relegated to a kind of impersonal, distant force that is part of the universe but not in an involved or decisive way. This kind of belief is not unique to Christians, but forms the background of much current discussion of the cultural forces that shape society in western countries (Bouma, 2007). In many ways, MTD is a default position to which most without strong counter views can easily subscribe. Dean (2010) develops a theological argument where the current overriding deism is seen not as a passive agent but as a virulent parasite that is displacing what she describes as the Triune God of the Christian tradition. She notes: ‘American young people are unwittingly being formed into an imposter faith that poses as Christianity, but that in fact lacks the hot desire and missional clarity necessary for Christian discipleship’ (Dean, 2010, 6). In popular parlance, she describes this ersatz Christianity as being one of the principal manifestations of her central thesis, namely, the triumph of the cult of Nice as a dominant mentality amongst younger Christians. As such, Christianity loses its impact on daily life and becomes largely inconsequential. The deistic God found in MTD is in stark contrast to the personal God of the Christian tradition. Teaching about God, an aspect of teaching about the Trinity, fits well into the category of complex topic. It also addresses some of the issues raised earlier about the current understanding of young people as superficial and uncritical. By addressing the issue of God very directly in the curriculum, RE in Catholic schools could empower students to critically engage with other views of the transcendent, especially those in popular culture.

Table 7.2  Developing an outline for teaching about God Step

Description

Recognition

Obviously teaching about God is an important aspect of religious education in Catholic schools. Teaching about God should involve an obvious development and lead students to an appreciation of the importance and profundity of the personal God of the Christian tradition.

Orientation

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In many curricula documents God is mostly dealt with as part of the study of Scripture. Images of God in the Old Testament, for instance, are used as a way of introducing the concept of a monotheistic God, but a God who also calls us into relationship. In this unit some of the key philosophical teaching about God from the Christian tradition is presented. These include basic principles such as: •  There is one God; •  God is not part of the created universe; •  God created the universe out of love; •  God continues to dwell in and sustains creation; •  human beings are invited into a relationship with God.

Research Focus

Response

Educational goals

The unit lays the foundation for future work on the Trinity which will appear later in the curriculum. A very useful resource for teachers is Robert Sokolowski (1995). The God of Faith and Reason: Foundations of Christian Theology (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press), 19. As identified by a number of researchers, the idea of God that many young people hold is very deistic. God is out there somewhere and, like the force from Star Wars, is always with us. This is quite a benign view, but it is not the God of the Christian tradition. Many students find talk about God confusing. They can’t see God, so how are you supposed to understand something you can’t see or touch? In addition, many have images of God that reveal some Christian sensibility, but these have never been consolidated (such as seeing God as an old guy with a beard). The challenge for teachers is to introduce the idea of a personal, loving God who calls people into an ongoing relationship. At the same time, teachers need to convey the idea that the God of Christianity is a ‘big’ God. This means that God can never be fully described by human categories. This concept is not illogical, but rests on a good presentation of the concepts of mystery. A mystery in theological terms is something that we can never fully comprehend, but this does not mean that we can never know anything about it. (This list is not exhaustive, but indicative of what can be done.) By the end of this unit students will have: •  participated in a role play that depicts the character of St Augustine and some of his teachings about God; •  viewed and made notes on a video on Augustine’s teachings; •  produced a concept overview chart which links some key Christian teachings about God; •  described the Catholic teaching on the relationship between God and creation; •  contrasted the Catholic view of God with the deistic view; •  explored some of their questions about God; •  discussed some of the difficulties and objections associated with teaching about God; •  listed and defined some of the key terms used in philosophical discussions about God.

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•  Give some historical background; introduce the key Christian thinkers like St Augustine. •  Brainstorm the question ‘Who do you think God is like?’ •  Use artwork to convey key teachings about God such as monotheism. Introduce some Trinitarian icons to lay the foundation for future units. •  Provide students with a simple statement of the Catholic understanding of God. Textbooks can be quite useful here. •  Design a worksheet that helps students define some key terms. •  Use selected Scripture passages that reveal something of the nature of God. •  Invite students to record in their diaries how they react to the idea of a personal God. •  Imagine that you were speaking to the greatest expert on God. What questions would you ask? •  Research one aspect of St Augustine’s life. Review and (Here is an example of teacher reflection.) consolidation The material that emphasized some of the tensions in the Christian view of God went very well. God, for instance, is initially concerned with us but at the same time is not part of the created order. Indeed, God created the world out of nothing – ex nihilo. Students found some of it tough going, especially how to understand how God, who can seem so distant, can know them personally. This is helpful to know because it can be used as a springboard for later units on the Trinity, especially in relation to the Holy Spirit. The main assessment tool was the cumulative work diary at the end of each lesson, two completed worksheets, a narrative dialogue between Augustine and a Deist, an analysis of two Scripture passages, a concept map about God and a statement of the Catholic teaching about God.

Conclusion: Don’t avoid the hard topics in religious education Our knowledge of what teaching actually occurs in the religious education classroom is inadequate. I suspect that hard topics are being avoided. In light of this, I have outlined here a pedagogical process for teaching difficult topics. These are an important part of an RE curriculum that takes the educative aspect of the discipline seriously. They are not, however, the only topics that should be covered. As Rossiter (1997) reminds us, the key to a good RE programme in the school setting is balance. One could easily construct a curriculum that was too heavily weighed down by hard topics. I do not see much danger of this at this time. A greater concern is an avoidance of these topics in the name of



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making the curriculum comprehensible and amenable to student interest. It is a matter of contention what, if anything, could make RE popular with students. I argue that an RE curriculum that approaches hard topics with confidence and expertise is just as likely to meet students’ needs, to extend them and help then negotiate their own identity in relation to the home tradition, as one which is self-consciously based on an experiential appeal to relevance. The fact that students find some issues in RE difficult is not germane to the argument here. Students find many disciplines difficult but this is an indication that the study has serious academic and intellectual claims. An important part of the role of RE should be to broaden and deepen the understanding of students in topics that are a critical part of the Christian tradition. The key question is how to teach hard topics better. An important aspect of this is the need to develop high-quality, wide-ranging resources that can assist teachers in their classroom practice. Along with this there needs to be a much greater emphasis on investigating pedagogical techniques that can assist teachers with complex content areas in RE. I believe a research focus on these issues is long overdue.

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In your experience or research, what are the most popular topics for teachers in RE? Why are these popular? From your experience or those you know, is the opinion in this quote justified? We are letting them down, sending many, and probably most, of them out into the world without the basic intellectual tools and most basic formation needed to think and express even the most elementary of reasonably defensible moral thoughts and claims. And that itself, we think, is morally wrong. Do you recognize this culture of ‘niceness’ among young Christians – that to be Christian is to be ‘nice’ as Jesus was ‘nice?’

MM

How do the challenging questions of students promote learning in religious education?

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References Bodrova, E. and Leong, D. (2007). Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson). Bogle, K. (2008). Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus (New York: New York University). Bouma, G. (2007). Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press). Brown A. and Ferrara, R. (1985). Diagnosing Zones of Proximal Development. In James V. Wertsch (ed.), Culture, Communication and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives (New York: Cambridge University Press). Davie, G. (1999). Europe: The Exception that Proves the Rule. In P. Berger (ed.), The Desecularization of the World (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans). Dean, K. C. (2004). Practicing Passion (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans). —(2010). Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (New York: Oxford University Press). Dulles, A. (1995). The Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System (New York: Crossroad). —(2003). Vatican II: substantive teaching – a reply to John W. O’Malley and others. America, 21 March, 17. Flynn, M. and Mok, M. (2002). Catholic Schools 2000: A Longitudinal Study of Year 12 Students in Catholic Schools, 1972–1982–1990–1998 (Sydney: Catholic Education Commission). Grace, M. (2003). The use of Scripture in the teaching of Religious Education in Victorian Catholic high schools (unpublished PhD thesis, Australian Catholic University). Groome, T. (2011). Will there be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples. (New York: HarperCollins). Hoge, D., Dinges, W., Johnson, M. and Gonzales, J. (2001). Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press). Regnerus, M. and Uecker, J. (2011). Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think About Marrying (New York: Oxford University Press). Rossiter, G. (1997). A cognitive basis for affective learning in classroom religious education. British Journal of Religious Education 4, 1: 4–11. Rymarz, R. (2007). At the coalface: teaching about Jesus. Journal of Religious Education 55, 1: 12–17.



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Smith, C. and Denton, M. L. (2005). Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (New York, Oxford University Press). Smith, C. and Snell, P. (2009). Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (New York: Oxford University Press). Smith, C. with Christoffersen, K., Davidson, H. and Snell Herzog, P. (2011). Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (New York: Oxford University Press). Stead, B. (1999). The influence of critical biblical study on the teaching and use of scripture in catholic primary schools in Victoria (unpublished PhD thesis, Latrobe University, Melbourne). Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press). —(1987). Problems of general psychology, in R. Rieber, R. and A. Carton (eds), The Collected Works of L. S. Vygotsky, Vol. 1 (New York: Plenum). Wuthnow, R. (2007). After the Baby Boomers: How the Twenty- and ThirtySomethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).

8

Teachers in Catholic High Schools

Introduction What does it mean to be a good teacher and a good RE teacher in a Catholic high school? What are the professional requirements of these roles? What position should teachers take on the issue of dissent with the Church, controversial topics in teaching RE and contradictions between their private lives and Church teaching? This chapter discusses certain issues concerning RE teachers, these being their preparation, their induction, formation and vocational mentoring in the school, the issue of dissent in regard to the teachers themselves and the students, and teaching about controversial issues. The chapter also considers the role of teachers who do not teach RE in upholding the Catholic identity and mission of the school. All of this is considered in relation to the overall aim of this book, which is to argue that a renewal of the Catholic identity of Catholic high schools is an indispensable, even basic, element in the flourishing of the Church in the years to come.

Religious education teachers In Chapter 4 of this book I introduced the research with highly motivated and successful RE teachers on which a colleague and I have been engaged. Each teacher took part in one in-depth interview that focused on the categories of professional knowledge, professional practice, professional relationships, professional values and professional learning, all categories which have been

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identified in educational literature in relation to professional standards in other disciplines. The teachers were placed in three groups – graduate (new or relatively new RE teachers), accomplished (experienced and successful RE teachers) and leading teachers (those who had curriculum leadership in RE in their schools). Concentrating on the middle group of accomplished teachers, after applying content analysis to the interview transcripts, and constant comparison of themes and subthemes, we found that they had at least the following qualities (see also Engebretson and Grajczonek, 2012).

Professional knowledge Accomplished RE teachers have a cognitive and experiential knowledge of Catholicism, Catholic life and ritual that is constantly maturing. Their knowledge of the Catholic tradition is usually informed by their own life experiences of it as children, young people and adults; their knowledge, although not necessarily specialist, is broad and deep enough that it is easily drawn upon; and their teaching and the content they select is neither simplistic nor overly complex. These teachers are versed in the historical– critical method of scriptural analysis and so are able to introduce students, relative to age, to issues such as literary genre and to help students peel away the layers of a text to seek the writer’s message. For a highly multicultural and multi-religious community, and in light of Catholic injunctions to interfaith understanding, they have a working knowledge of other religions and issues concerning religious diversity in the community. They are themselves thirsty for knowledge, and continue to develop their content knowledge in reading and research, postgraduate study, and from a range of other personal and professional sources. In view of the curriculum model of lifeworld to lifeworld dialogue (see Chapter 4), they constantly reflect on the spiritual and religious lifeworlds of the students and always consider how to use these in the presentation of content.

Professional practice Exemplary RE teachers have a detailed knowledge of their diocesan RE curriculum and use it flexibly for professional development, classroom



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planning, teaching and assessment. They see the diocesan curriculum document as a teaching tool and resource rather than a constraint, and they use it creatively within the lifeworld-to-lifeworld conversation. They plan their work thoroughly, both collaboratively with colleagues and individually. The strategies they select are influenced by their knowledge of the students’ lives, interests and spiritual and religious backgrounds and they are aware of each student as an individual learner. They are interested in the spirituality of children and young people and do all they can to learn more about and enhance this. In their teaching, exemplary RE teachers are able to engage students’ interest and create an atmosphere where their questions are valued. They use a range of technological resources to enliven RE lessons and are skilled in the selection and educational use of audio-visual resources in RE. They use many traditional techniques such as explicit teaching (outcome directed, scaffolded teaching of specific content) alongside a range of other more student-centred learning activities. They share their own experiences, thoughts and stories with the students where this will enhance their learning, and they create in the classroom an atmosphere of dialogue where the contribution of all is valued. They genuinely like the students, are at ease with them and expect and meet their questions. They are not confounded or rattled by students’ challenges, nor are they disconcerted when students challenge Church teaching. They do not engage in fruitless, defensive argument with them, but carefully explain the basis of Church teaching in terms of its beliefs and values. When relevant and appropriate they take the students beyond the classroom for RE learning and bring resources of the community into the classroom. In their understanding of RE as a worthwhile academic discipline as well as one which contributes to personal, spiritual and religious growth, they apply suitable assessment to cognitive outcomes using a variety of tasks alongside clear criteria.

Professional relationships and values Accomplished RE teachers have developed a network of colleagues and mentors with whom they discuss their teaching and share successes, failures and resources. They seek the support of mentors when in need and in turn act

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as mentors for less-experienced teachers. Their relationships with students are warm and they are not reserved, when appropriate, in witnessing to their own Catholic/Christian faith. They are passionate about teaching RE, are stirred by it, enjoy it and constantly reflect on the task and how to do it well. These teachers see the need of ongoing professional learning and take advantage of opportunities for this.

Reflective teaching Accomplished RE teachers actively hope for the religious, spiritual and moral development of the students. For them, each student is an individual imbued with human dignity. They often reflect on what it means to them to teach RE and have, to their individual levels of experience, developed a theoretical position in regard to it. Mentorship is an important part of their work. The newer teachers readily seek mentors and the more experienced exercise mentorship for the less experienced. All see the need for ongoing professional learning and take advantage of opportunities for this. Many of the less-experienced teachers hope to undertake postgraduate study in disciplines related to RE. All take opportunities to develop in their own Christian life and faith.

Further findings about Religious Education teachers In my research across the 17 Catholic high schools that had been recommended to me for their strong Catholic identity (introduced in Chapter 3 of this book) I found that all teachers were expected to be involved in the liturgical and mission programmes of the school. In addition, in most of the schools, RE teachers were specifically required to be faithful Catholics and enthusiastic about teaching RE. The difficulty of finding such teachers was acknowledged, especially in rural schools. For this reason the schools tended to value their RE teachers, to support them through mentoring, planning time and good leadership, and helped them to undertake professional learning. The schools provided in-house professional development for RE teachers and facilitated the use of diocesan-based opportunities for postgraduate studies in RE. Again, especially in the regional schools, it was acknowledged that not all RE teachers would have undergraduate study in religion, but other



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characteristics such as involvement in the Church and the teacher’s own Catholic education were seen as advantages. Here are some of the words of the teachers I interviewed: Young teachers find it a little more of a challenge to actually own what we have to present in the classroom, and part of that is their lack of a sense of obligation to the Church. Any of them that do have a strong faith stand out. Religious Education teachers must be Catholic because while there is a cognitive aspect to this curriculum they also need to be able to witness to the Catholic tradition. Some younger RE teachers, even though they are accredited, lack this confidence. We believe that you have to be a faithful Catholic to teach RE in a Catholic school. It’s not enough to just teach from the textbook. They need to care about it. A lot depends on the quality of your RE teachers. We’ve had some issues with the appointment of RE teachers, and we want to be sure that we have teachers who want to teach the subject, who are properly trained and who are given professional development. Part of a quality programme is that you have the right teachers in the classroom. We don’t want teachers who are there for all the wrong reasons. We’re trying now to have the whole process of staffing and timetabling led by RE. That is select the RE teachers first rather than the other way around. This way we avoid putting teachers into RE classes just to fill up their timetable. In a Catholic school teaching RE has to be a primary role. In this school the emphasis is on instruction and knowledge. The first action must be to set up the RE curriculum with the best teachers and then the rest of the timetable falls in around that.

The pre-service preparation of religious education teachers How do we educate and form teachers to develop as exemplary religious education teachers for Catholic schools? Canon law makes it clear that the Church has high expectations of RE teachers and that their work is within the teaching ministry of the Church. The instruction and education in a Catholic school must be grounded in the principles of Catholic doctrine; teachers are to be outstanding in correct doctrine and integrity of life. (803.2) The Catholic religious instruction and education which are imparted in any schools whatsoever or are provided through the various instruments of

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social communication are subject to the authority of the Church. It is for the conference of bishops to issue general norms about this field of action and for the diocesan bishop to regulate and watch over it. (804.1)

There are a number of assumptions here. The first is that the RE teacher is not teaching in his or her own name, but in that of the Church. A second assumption is that the teacher loves the Church, is loyal to it, and wants faithfully to witness to its life and teachings, and a third is that while the teacher may take a critical approach to aspects of Church life, this is done out of loyalty and love. The fourth assumption is that the teacher has a depth of knowledge about Church beliefs and teaching, the life and mission of Jesus Christ, Scripture, the sacraments and liturgy of the Church, the social structure and history of the Church, Catholic prayer, ethics and values and numerous other topics included in the curriculum. A fifth assumption is that the new RE teacher has the skills to transmit all of this sensitively in view of the spiritual and religious reality of their students, while a sixth is that he or she will participate in the Catholic life of the school and witness to the Catholic tradition. There is often, however, a chasm between these official expectations and the reality new RE teachers face in their classrooms. As part of the youth lifeworld (see Chapter 4 of this book), young teachers are often uncertain about their own beliefs and nervous about the expectation that they represent the official Church. These expectations and assumptions can sit heavily upon the shoulders of generation X and Y teachers. Within the dialogical pedagogy outlined in Chapter 4 of this book, they will need to be able to move between the lifeworld and questions of the students and the lifeworld of the Church, connecting these two when possible and presenting a Christian vision of life as lived in Catholicism as a real possibility for young people to consider. To do this well the teacher needs to be at home in the tradition, to honestly struggle with it without losing faith, and to authentically endorse the role of the tradition in his or her life and the world. As Rymarz comments: ‘The faithful teacher is one who should best be described as being alive and graced in the spirit – like a person who has found a treasure in a field.’ There are a number of implications of this that arise for the professional education of religion teachers. If they intend to teach in Catholic schools they need to be unambiguously aware of the mandate they receive from the Church



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through the local bishop. They need a pre-service education which strongly emphasizes the critical acquisition of knowledge about Catholic theology, ritual, Scripture, history and the numerous other topics they will be expected to teach. The pre-service programme must begin from the premise that sound content knowledge is the basis of good teaching (Rymarz, 2012). It cannot be assumed that teachers will have this in appropriate depth, so there needs to be rigorous teaching of content throughout the pre-service course. Just as importantly, new RE teachers need to be schooled in working with the spiritual and religious landscape of today’s students, to understand this and to be well versed in a dialogical approach to RE. They need to recognize what is good and true in the spiritual and religious worldview of the students and to work with this in dialogue with the presentation of the Catholic worldview. They need to have an experiential knowledge of Catholicism, not approaching it as an outsider, but as an insider aware of its humanity and sinfulness but believing in the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit within it. If this experiential dimension is not present, their teaching will eventually be revealed as hollow. This latter implication must be clearly put to aspiring RE teachers from the beginning of their pre-service education and taken into account in their recruitment in schools. In view of these stringent requirements, selection processes for those studying to be RE teachers in Catholic schools need to be strict. As Rymarz points out, in Finland, for instance, religion teachers are expected to have a least a master’s degree in a relevant discipline before they are allowed to teach about religion or ethics (Tirri, 2009). In Australia entry requirements to RE pre-service courses are far less rigorous, and I argue that there are strong grounds for making them more demanding. In time I hope to see high school RE teachers being required to have a bachelor’s degree in theology or religious studies before undertaking pre-service training as a religion teacher. This requirement of teachers to have strong formal qualifications in religionbased courses does not negate the need for specialist training both in teacher preparation programmes and also once they are working in schools (Rymarz, 2012).

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Induction, formation and mentorship of the new religious education teacher The induction, formation and mentorship of the new RE teacher is just as important as pre-service preparation. The new RE teacher who comes into a Catholic school where expectations are high, but where there is opportunity for continuing professional development and constant support from more experienced RE teachers, has every opportunity to thrive. However, even the most promising new RE teacher will flounder and lose confidence in a school where RE is not taken seriously and where they experience isolation. This means that there needs to be a precisely planned school-based induction and mentorship programme for new RE teachers. Writing out of his experience of Catholic education in Ontorio, Canada, Shields (2008) calls for a specifically Catholic approach to induction – carefully developed and constantly evaluated – for all teachers new to Catholic education. Along with its aims of induction and mentorship, the programme seeks to develop spirituality and a sense of Catholic vocation in the new teacher. Throughout this section of the chapter, I draw on Shields’ comprehensive model as a prototype that other Catholic schools may consider. It is important, Shields emphasizes, that principals and leaders in RE are realistic about the backgrounds and experiences of the new RE teachers. Despite the training in RE they have (hopefully) received, many will be ambivalent about their identity within the Church and unsure about some of its beliefs and teachings. Others will be committed and practising Catholics. Most will have made a specific choice for Catholic education, especially if they have good memories of their own Catholic schooling. Nevertheless, it is almost certain that most of them will not have reflected deeply on why they want to teach RE, and this lack of reflection will be exacerbated in the demands of the first year. The Catholic approach to induction proposed by Shields (2008) focuses not only on general professional competence, but also on acquiring knowledge of the tradition as well as developing spirituality, and a sense of vocation. He argues that from a Catholic educational perspective, spirituality, vocation and knowledge of the faith are intrinsic to working in a Catholic school and must be integral to any induction programme. The underlying assumption



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of the programme is that teaching in a Catholic school is participation in the ministry of the Church, and so the programme is concerned with inviting new teachers into a faith community. Therefore the programme is a communal, relational and mutual activity. It accentuates the freedom and dignity of all parties in the common task of identity formation in a community of faith. Most importantly, the programme is guided by experienced teachers who have themselves received the professional development and the resources to do it well. Principals therefore have a responsibility to select teachers for the programme who have the ministry of the Catholic education at heart, who are themselves successful teachers of RE, and who have the skills to engage the whole school community in reflective learning.

Shields’ model has seven concurrent elements Orientation Rather than seeing new teachers as passive learners to be fed information, they are seen as having many gifts to contribute. The orientation phase communicates to them that they are joining a Catholic learning community where Catholic belief and practice is central, and in which they are invited to develop their own educative identity.

In-service professional development Collaborative professional development is provided throughout at least the first year. This professional development is informed by the vision of the school, as a Catholic community. It aims to help new teachers to develop the knowledge and skill they need to teach their RE classes, to understand the complex interactions between diocese, parish and families in order to work well with these groups and to develop an understanding of the lifeworld of the students and the ways in which the RE curriculum can reach out to students effectively.

Retreats and days of recollection Away from the demands and distractions of the school environment these days focus on developing a sense of belonging, on nurturing spirituality, and inspiring a sense of mission and vocation.

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Journaling Journals focus reflection and personal enquiry, help teachers to consider issues encountered in their teaching, and to record both their dilemmas and their growth. They can be a potent aid to identity development within the Catholic community.

The mentoring environment The culture of the school itself, in the beliefs and values the it espouses, in the ways it treats staff and students, in its commitment to justice and truth, and in the ways it prays and celebrates liturgy is a powerful mentor to new teachers.

Experienced mentors An experienced teacher who takes on the mentorship of a new teacher is there to help in the teacher’s transition into the school, to affirm him or her in competence and skills, to help with difficulties and to model and communicate a sense of Catholic vocation. They are role models and fellow travellers. Experienced Catholic teachers who have already shown that they understand Catholic education as a lived reality, who have developed a competence that is recognized by their peers and demonstrated in a consistent, habitual, and genuine sense of mission, vocation, and professionalism sustained over a period of time, are in the best position to provide altruistic support. (Shields, 2008, 171)

A mentor wants the new teacher to be successful but also to become a participant in the Catholic life of the school. Therefore he or she will understand the context of the new teacher’s spirituality and religiosity and will help the new teacher to develop and expand these.

Peer mentoring It is natural for new teachers to seek out other new teachers, to share their experiences and seek support. They will informally reflect on their experiences in many ways, seeking the views of their peers on problems they encounter. This is a positive thing which can also contribute to the induction of the new teacher, as long as the interactions affirm the gifts of the teachers and help to bring them further into the faith community of the school. School



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leaders and mentors can use this natural socializing to strengthen networks for the new teacher.

The issue of dissent on the part of the religious education teacher A hierarchy of truths Before discussing the issue of doctrinal dissent on the part of the Catholic teacher it is important to understand the different levels of teaching in the Church. The Second Vatican Council (1962–5) taught that within the body of Catholic teachings there is a hierarchy of truths (Unitatis Redintegratio, 11) because the teachings of the Church vary in their relationship to the fundamental Revelation of Scripture and Tradition. The hierarchy of truths was re-stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (90), which nevertheless referred to the ‘mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, [which] can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the mystery of Christ’. Some teachings belong to the essence of the faith, others derive closely from these essential truths, while others are further removed from the essence. In the message of salvation there is a certain hierarchy of truths (Unitatis Redintegratio, 11), which the Church has always recognized when it composed creeds or summaries of the truths of faith. This hierarchy does not mean that some truths pertain to faith itself less than others, but rather that some truths are based on others as of a higher priority, and are illumined by them. (SCC, 1971, 43)

Church documents specifically list the following as fundamental truths of faith derived from Scripture, from which other teachings flow: MM

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the Trinitarian mystery of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Creator of all things; the mystery of Christ the incarnate Word, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and who suffered, died, and rose for the salvation of all; the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who is present in the Church, sanctifying and guiding it until Christ comes again;

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the mystery of the Church, Christ’s Mystical Body, in which the Virgin Mary holds the pre-eminent place. (SCC, 1976, 43) the centrality of the Paschal Mystery, and therefore of the Eucharist, in the sacramental system; the primacy of the two commandments of love of God and neighbour in Christian moral teaching; the Lord’s Prayer is as a ‘summary of the Gospel’ and sum of all petitions (Congregation for the Clergy [CC], 1997, 115)

At the pinnacle of these fundamental truths is the truth that God is Love (1 Jn. 4.8), and this love is fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Other definitive teachings are related to the fundamental truths of faith and are part of the Tradition of the Church but are not explicit in Scripture. Others again are more marginal and may change (McBrien, 2012). There are many differences between theologians, priests, bishops and the laity about which teachings belong in the second and third categories. For example, some theologians argue that the rules about who may be ordained belong in the third category (allowing the possibility in the future of ordination for women) although others among the theologians and the hierarchy would strongly disagree with this. Nevertheless, we can begin to see from this discussion what may constitute serious dissent from Catholic teaching and what less serious. For example, if someone were unable to accept the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in Scripture and/or unable to profess the teachings of the Nicene Creed, which is recited in every Catholic Church during the Sunday liturgy, it is impossible to see how that person could claim to be Catholic. This is a much more serious issue than a Catholic having doubts about the Church’s teachings on in-vitro fertilization, homosexuality and priestly celibacy. A Catholic who advocates abortion or euthanasia is in a much more difficult relationship with the Church than one who hopes that in some future time women may be ordained in the Church.

Excathedra teachings The most formal level of doctrine is ex cathedra teachings. This is a theological term for a teaching that has been declared ‘infallibly’ by the Pope. The Pope



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can proclaim a certain teaching to be truly from God’s Revelation, and when he does this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in his role as successor to Peter, Catholics believe that he is protected from error (infallible). So ex cathedra doctrines carry the full weight of papal authority. There are only two of a pope having proclaimed doctrine ex cathedra, the first being the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (declared by Pope Pius IX in 1854) and the bodily Assumption of Mary into heaven (declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950). It is important to note that by the time these beliefs were defined they had been part of the devotion and prayer of Catholics for centuries. When we see how limited the conditions on ex cathedra teachings are we see why they are so rarely invoked. According to the teaching of the First Vatican Council (1868–70), ex cathedra teachings are: a) to be declared by the Pope in his role as Roman Pontiff; b) he must declare that he is teaching ex cathedra; c) it must concern a doctrine of faith or morals; d) it must bind the universal Church; and e) it must be proposed as something to be held firmly and immutably (Vatican Council 1, Pastor Aeternus, 1869, Ch. 4). Arguably, most Catholics at some stage in their lives have doubts about some aspect of Church teaching (perhaps related to issues of sexuality, contraception, priestly celibacy, or papal infallibility, issues that have no historical connection with Scripture and Tradition). In the case of Catholic teachers, especially teachers of RE, they need to think carefully about a) whether these doubts disqualify them from teaching RE and b) how to go about their work faithfully and professionally despite these doubts.

Some reflections on the religious dissent and the RE teacher First, it is not the genuine doubt and dissent of the RE teacher that is at issue. Each person is responsible to his or her own conscience, and there are many avenues within the Church community where people have opportunities to discuss issues they may have with Church teaching and to be supported in their searching. At issue, however, is the situation that may arise where the RE teacher shares his or her doubts with students, perhaps in the guise of educating them to ‘responsible dissent’ or as another audience for the doubts they hold. This is both unprofessional and unfaithful to the role the teacher has taken on of educating young people in their faith tradition. While an

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adult may grapple with some aspects of Church teaching with the maturity, inner resources and support to do this, it is quite another thing to impose this on vulnerable young people who do not have the resources to process the teacher’s dissent. The RE classroom is not the place for the teacher to work out his or her problems with Church teaching. There are many other forums for this, while the correct and professional attitude as an RE teacher is to convey Catholic teaching faithfully and attractively without any overlay of criticism that may confuse students. As Lavada (1986) explains: It is very important then to distinguish private from public dissent. The private dissent of the teacher is still open to growth and to finding in the future a way to be at peace with the Church’s teachings. On the other hand, if this private dissent is shared, especially shared with vulnerable students, when a teacher’s opinion openly shared contradicts the teaching of the Church, a decision has been made to place one’s own judgement on a par with the teaching of the Church and to invite students to accept this as a legitimate proposition. The classroom is not the place for debate about Church teaching. Any teacher whose privately held doubt cannot be held privately while they are fulfilling their role as a teacher of religious education probably should reconsider whether they should be in that role after all.

Teaching about controversial issues Perhaps the most complex dilemma that arises for RE in Catholic high schools is teaching about controversial teachings of the Church with which many Catholics, including high school students, disagree. Church teachings on contraception, female ordination, in-vitro and donor-assisted conception, divorce and re-marriage, homosexuality and gay marriages and other such teachings must be faced squarely in the classroom. The problem is, of course, that many students live in families where there has been re-marriage after a divorce, where parents use contraception and no doubt will encourage their children to do so, where some students may have been conceived by the use of in-vitro technology, where some students may have gay parents or other family members, and where some students may be struggling to name their own sexual identity. How does the compassionate religion teacher find a way through this minefield?



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The first consideration is that these are not in the category of fundamental truths of the faith or infallible Church teachings, a distinction that has been explained earlier in this chapter. The Church teaches them definitively, but they are not directly derived from Scripture and/or proposed as infallible and therefore unchangeable (McDonough, 2010). In the documents of the Second Vatican Council there is a careful distinction between assent due to fundamental beliefs and the respectful submission due to other hierarchical teaching (Lumen Gentium, 25). There arises, then, both a dilemma and a challenge for Catholic teachers of religion. The dilemma is that many students disagree with the Church on issues that fall into this category, and are encouraged in their disagreement by their parents and peers. Yet teachers of RE in Catholic schools are required to faithfully present official Church teaching whether they or their students agree with it or not. More than this, good education requires that they present it in a way that does not insist on foreclosure (indoctrination). It requires that they listen as well as explain, invite questioning, discussion, comparisons, differences of opinion and critical enquiry in an atmosphere of mutual respect. In short, despite the respect and careful consideration to be given to all magisterial teachings, good pedagogy requires that the students are encouraged to think critically about religion as about all other disciplines. Teaching about these controversial issues is essential, but the challenge for the teacher is to find a way to do this that is both faithful to the Church and faithful to religious freedom and good education. It is essential therefore that an RE teacher consults with RE leaders in the school before teaching about such topics. This consultation and advice seeking from those who must take final responsibility for the religion teaching of the school will ensure that miscommunication is averted and the teacher is supported. In addition to this crucial advice seeking, I suggest that there are at least the following pedagogical movements in the process. First, the teacher provides a correct explanation of conscience as it is taught by the Magisterium (CCC, 1994, Article 6). This will include teaching about the duty to inform conscience and about the primacy of conscience when it is informed. Second, the teacher presents the issue stressing the beliefs and values that underpin it. For example, the beliefs that underlie the Church’s teaching about

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in-vitro fertilization include beliefs about the sanctity of human life from the moment of conception and therefore the immorality of creating embryos which will later be discarded; the belief that through their loving union in marriage husband and wife collaborate with God in the creation of another human life; the belief that a child has the right to be the product of the love between his or her two parents in marriage. There are many other beliefs and values on this issue in the Instruction Donum Vitae (1987, 1). For example: The fidelity of the spouses in the unity of marriage involves reciprocal respect of their right to become a father and a mother only through each other. The child has the right to be conceived, carried in the womb, brought into the world and brought up within marriage: it is through the secure and recognized relationship to his own parents that the child can discover his own identity and achieve his own proper human development.

This direct teaching about the beliefs and values underlying a particular teaching is critical. It must be well researched by the teacher and carefully and correctly presented in a way that students can understand. Relevant Church documents must be consulted in preparation. Third, the students are given the opportunity to put differing views which they or others may hold, but in every case they are asked to list and evaluate the assumptions, beliefs and values that underlie the opinion. Fourth, the students compare these with the Catholic position perhaps using a table or concept map to show the differences in the beliefs and values underlying each position. By now at the very least they have learned why the Church teaches as it does. Fifth, the students may be invited to reflect on what they have learned from the process and are reminded that whatever view they hold, and whatever situation people live in, God alone sees the heart and loves each person unconditionally.

The professional responsibilities of non-religious education teachers in Catholic high schools In my study of exemplary Catholic high schools I asked those I interviewed what they considered to be the role of non-RE and non-Catholic teachers



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in relation to the Catholic identity of the school. The schools expected all teachers regardless of their religious affiliation to support the ‘qualified educational project’ (CCE, 1997, 16) of the school, both within the school and in the community. A teacher whose attitude was ‘I just teach French’ was considered by the principal in one school to be untrue to the commitment that teacher had made in coming to the school: ‘The staff have learned that you don’t roll your eyes, you don’t groan, no good arguing about it, the Catholic identity of the school is going to be put first.’ It is clear that teachers of religion in Catholic high schools have particular responsibilities. They must have a solid command of their teaching content. They must witness to Catholic life in their involvement in liturgy, retreats and social justice programmes of the school, and they must be seen as authentic and trustworthy in this witness. Those teachers who do not teach religion, however, also have responsibilities to the Catholic culture of the school, even if they are themselves not Catholic. In their teaching role, they do not simply impart information. It is the nature of teaching that the teacher enters into a relationship with the students, and that in this relationship the wellbeing and the moral development of the young person is of the highest priority. That is why it is expected that teachers in government schools will uphold accepted community moral standards and values. Similarly, in Catholic schools, all teachers need to support the identity and mission of the school (Ford, 1986). The Catholic school has not come into being as a private initiative, but as an expression of the reality of the Church, having by its very nature a public character. It fulfils a service of public usefulness and, although clearly and decidedly configured in the perspective of the Catholic faith, is not reserved to Catholics only, but is open to all those who appreciate and share its qualified educational project. (CCE, 1997, 16. Author emphasis)

Every person has the unqualified right to a private life in which he or she may hold any lawful political or religious belief and engage in any lawful political or religious activity. However, by their acceptance of a position in a Catholic school, teachers share in the Catholic mission of the school (Ford, 1986). With their colleagues, they agree to help develop in the school community an atmosphere where faith, hope and charity based in the gospel may thrive. They help to develop this atmosphere as much by what they teach as by what

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they do and how they live. It is expected of all teachers in Catholic schools, whether they themselves are Catholic or not, to be respectful of Catholic teaching and moral principles. They must avoid undermining the developing faith of the students by, in words or actions, advocating values or lifestyles that are at odds with Church teaching. All teachers in Catholic schools should avoid behaviour in their private lives that may weaken the school’s Catholic ethos or give scandal to students and their families. A teacher who chooses to work in a Catholic school must realize that his or her known behaviour outside of the school may affect the moral outlook of the students. Students will be confused and perhaps disillusioned when they know that a behaviour or lifestyle of their teacher contradicts the moral values the school teaches. It would be unprofessional for any teacher to allow such a conflict to arise (Rymarz, 2008).

Conclusion: Catholic education is a work of the laity Historical forces at work in the schools of today lead to the conclusion that, at least for the immediate future, continued existence of Catholic schools in many traditionally Catholic countries is going to depend largely on the laity, just as that existence has depended and does depend, with great fruit, on lay people in so many of the young churches. (SCCE, 1982, 45)

The fact that lay Catholics are in the vast majority of leadership, religious education and other teaching positions in Catholic schools across the world means that the education and religious socialization of millions of young Catholics is in their hands. They need sound cognitive and affective pre-service education in Catholic theology, history and Scripture. Throughout their career they need professional learning that continues this education and helps them to develop their own Catholic spirituality. They need to find in their schools communities that provide broad and deep induction and mentoring so that they continually grow to become the kind of teachers who teach about and witness to a Christian vision of life, offering this to their students as a gift. In this they work for the future of the Church and the Kingdom of God.



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Review MM

MM

MM

MM

MM

MM

What is your reaction to the three quotes from teachers that are provided in the first section of this chapter? What are your views about the selection processes for pre-service RE courses? Shield’s model of induction and mentoring is comprehensive and demands a real commitment from the school leadership. What is your response to it? What issues are raised regarding religious dissent and the RE teacher and what is your response to them? How can a teacher cover controversial issues in RE in a way that is faithful to Catholicism and sensitive to the students and their families? What are your views about the responsibility of all teachers to the identity and mission of the Catholic high schools?

References Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) (1994) (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). http:// www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM (retrieved 21/10/2013). Congregation for the Clergy (1997). General Directory for Catechesis. http://www. vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_ doc_17041998_directory-for-catechesis_en.html (retrieved 29/4/2013). Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1987). Instruction on respect for human life in origin and on the dignity of procreation: replies to certain questions of the day. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_ cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html (retrieved 23/9/2013). Donum Vitae (1987). Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation : Replies to certain Questions of the Day. http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_ doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html (retrieved 18/10/2013). Engebretson, K. and Grajczonek, J. (2012). Professional standards for graduate teachers of Religious Education in Catholic schools for teacher pre-Service education. Journal of Religious Education. Ford, N. (1986). Professional Responsibility and the Private Lives of Teachers in Catholic Schools (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls).

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Lavada, W. (1986). Dissent and the Catholic religion teacher. originsplus@catholicnews. com 16, 10. Catholic News Service/US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Lumen Gentium: Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/ vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (retrieved 5/4/2013). McBrien, R. (2012). The hierarchy of truths: essays in theology. http://www.votf-li. org/McBrien-%20Hierarchy%20of%20Truths%203–9–12.pdf (retrieved 3/3/2013). McDonough, D. (2010). The problem of Catholic school teachers deferring to the home on controversial religious issues. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 13, 3: 287–305. Pastor Aeternus (1870). First Vatican Council definition of Infallibility, Chapter 4. http://www.ewtn.com/library/councils/v1.htm (retrieved 8/3/2013). Rymarz, R. (2008). The Professional Responsibility of Religious Education Teachers in Catholic Secondary Schools. In K. Engebretson, M. deSouza, R. Rymarz and M. Buchanan (eds), Cornerstones of Catholic Secondary Religious Education (Terrigal, NSW: David Barlow Publishing). —(2012). Isn’t there a town named after him? Content knowledge and teacher training in Religious Education. Journal of Religious Education 60, 2: 37–55. Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education (SCCE) (1982). Lay Catholics in schools: witnesses to faith. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_doc_19821015_lay-catholics_en.html (retrieved 23/4/2013). Sacred Congregation for the Clergy (SCC) (1971). General catechetical directory. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Paul06/gencatdi.htm (retrieved 3/4/2013). Shields, R. (2008). Nurturing spirituality and vocation: a Catholic approach to new teacher induction. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 12, 2: 160–75. Tirri, K. (2009). Ethical Dilemmas in Confirmation School Experienced by Finnish Confirmation Schoolteachers. In G. Skeie (ed.), Religious Diversity and Education: Nordic Perspectives (Munster: Waxmann), 157–78. Unitatis Redintegratio (1964). Second Vatican Council Decree on Ecumenism. http:// www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_ decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (retrieved 8/3/2013). Vatican Council 1. (1870) Pastor Aeternus. First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ.

9

The Faith Leadership Role of the Principal: What the Research Suggests Helga Neidhart

The principal as faith leader There is no person or role more vital to the Catholic mission and identity of a school than is that of its principal. If the contention of this book – that Catholic schools are key to the survival and development of the Church – is true, the issue of the faith leadership of principals in Catholic schools must be considered. There are strong expectations in Church documents, diocesan policy and specific role descriptions that the principal will take responsibility for the development of the school as a faith community. At the same time, researchers have for some time agreed that the principal is able to influence and shape culture within schools in ways beyond other school personnel or external bodies (Deal and Peterson, 2003; Grint, 2003; Lingard, Hayes, Mills and Christie, 2003). However, it is also understood that principal leadership in the changing socio-cultural context is more often than not quite challenging (Day, 2007). Likewise, faith leadership, as a dimension of principal leadership in Catholic schools, has proved to be no less so. In preparation for the turn of the century, the Vatican document The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (CCE, 1997, 1) situates Catholic education within the macro context of socio-political and cultural change. In doing so, this document points to ‘a crisis of values’, ‘the extreme pluralism pervading contemporary society’ that undermines the possibility of community identity and the de-humanizing effects of ‘rapid structural change, profound technical innovations and the globalization of the economy’. Consequently, society has experienced a rapid transformation

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and this massive and all-pervasive change has left no institution, including Catholic education, untouched. Within this changing context, Catholicism, at least in western society, has entered a period of chaos with the breakdown of religious culture and strong Catholic faith communities, as evidenced in lower levels of commitment to Catholic beliefs and practices (Dixon, 2003, 2005; Rymarz, 2004). At least in the western world Catholics are now less certain about their beliefs and less observant in their practice. Furthermore, this has occurred in a relatively short space of time. Principals in Catholic schools appreciate that now one can no longer assume that school families and staff are ‘connected’ (Neidhart and Lamb, 2012) to the parish and enamoured with ‘the Catholic thing’. Staff and parents are more and more ‘disengaged from parish life’ and ‘there is a growing gulf between the school and the parish community’. Acknowledging this breakdown of religious culture, Ecclesia in Oceania (John Paul II, 2001) calls for the re-evangelization of culture and the enculturation of the gospel message with special attention to youth involvement in the Church. This document also addresses Catholic schools with particular reference to the role of teachers: The great challenge for Catholic schools in an increasingly secularised society is to present the Christian message in a convincing and systematic way … The identity and success of Catholic education is linked inseparably to the witness of life given by the teaching staff … School staff, who truly live their faith, will be agents of a new evangelisation in creating a positive climate for the Christian faith to grow and in spiritually nourishing the students entrusted to their care. (John Paul II, 2001, 115–17)

Faith leadership: A challenging task In today’s secular society, we would expect that principals would find the enactment of faith leadership challenging. Secularism has resulted in a ‘degree of ambivalence and neglect’ (King and Crowther, 2004, 83) in respect to the place of religion in society and its institutions. Here religion is defined as ‘an organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals and symbols (Koenig, McCullough and Larson, 2001, 18) often described in terms such as ‘narrow



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… prescriptive … dogmatic … restrictive … closed … exclusive’ (Mitroff and Denton, 1999, 40). Rapid secularization has meant the marginalization of religion and the enshrining of ‘unbelief as a cultural product’ (Gallagher, 2003, 112) and we see evidence of ‘religious anaemia, secular marginalization, anchorless spirituality and cultural desolation’ (113). Therefore, those speaking and acting from a position of religious faith are likely to face what has been termed ‘institutionalized [religious] apathy’ (Thompson, 2010, 39). No wonder principals operating from a position of faith report feeling like the ‘odd one out’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 34) in an environment where there is little understanding or appreciation of the principal’s faith leadership role in the school community. Recognizing the challenge of faith leadership in a secular society, there has also been significant Australian research around the practical issues of faith leadership in Catholic schools. The problematic nature of faith leadership in Catholic schools came to the attention of researchers during a series of studies around the issue of leadership succession in the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (d’Arbon, Duignan, Duncan and Goodwin, 2001; Carlin et al., 2003). These studies are of particular interest given the finding that aspiring principals considered faith leadership expectations a deterrent to taking up a principal’s position. Subsequently, seven research studies have investigated the faith leadership role of the principal. Three of these involved secondary principals (Davison, 2006; McEvoy, 2006; Thompson, 2010), two involved primary principals (Coughlan, 2009; Neidhart and Lamb, 2010, 2011) and two other studies included both primary and secondary principals (Belmonte and Cranston; 2009; Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012). This body of research was informed by a pragmatic concern for the role of the Catholic school principal and it was expected that research findings would serve the practical purpose of improving professional practice. Each of these studies also focused particularly on the perspectives of the principals themselves. As Davison (2006, 36) explains: given the uneven and partial development of a clear theology of ministry in the Catholic educational context, it seems appropriate to explore the understanding and experience practicing principals have of their role … and by so doing, add

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to the collective understanding of the role as it currently is, and as it might become, in the future.

Read together, this Australian research offers a more informed and sophisticated understanding of the challenge of faith leadership, as well as a deeper appreciation of how principals conceptualize and enact it in the Catholic school.

From the principals’ perspective To date this body of Australian research has found principals recognize faith leadership as an important dimension of their role. They understand that they can never ‘opt out’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 32) of their faith leadership responsibilities and that faith leadership can never be totally delegated to others. This finding is not surprising given that principal role statements and related documents typically identify faith leadership as a key dimension of Catholic school principalship. However, principals’ responses to various research questions suggest that deeper motivations and values underpin this commitment. Moreover, it seems that these motivations and values are consistent with a contemporary theological understanding of lay ministry and evangelization. The term ‘lay ministry’ has a relatively brief history in Catholicism, first making its appearance in the wake of the Second Vatican Council and being more fully developed theologically only in the 1980s (e.g. O’Meara, 1983). Initially the term was loosely used to describe work or service within the Church community. Over time, the definition was refined to the point where ministry began to be understood in terms of, for example, liturgical, educational and catechetical activity with a number of characteristics. Today, it is generally accepted that ministry represents a sacred mandate to function at the behest of a Church rather than the generic provision of any service to the community (Osborne, 1993; Collins, 2002). This activity is intended to bring about the ‘reign of God’; it has particular limits and identity within a diversity of ministries. There are opportunities for both lay and clerical ministry and it generally involves a public commissioning.



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Developing this thought, theologians often link such contemporary views of ministry with an emergent understanding of evangelization, namely ‘new evangelization’ (Rymarz, 2010, 2012). This new evangelization is: transformative [and] leads the individual into a deeper relationship with Christ that transforms both personal and professional life. One clear manifestation of this transformation is a renewed emphasis on taking the gospel of Christ to the public domain in whatever ways best reflects the interest and expertise of the individual. The new evangelization then moves from a private personal encounter with Christ to proclamation. (Rymarz, 2010, 21)

Within this understanding ‘responsibility for evangelization is broadened, not to devalue the role of priests and religious, but to include the whole ecclesial community’ (Rymarz, 2010, 4–5), also embracing the laity who are leaders in Catholic schools. Furthermore, this new evangelization involves a process of ‘enculturation’, a process that ‘rests on a proclamation of the gospel, by word and deed and an understanding of how a particular culture mediates meaning, especially in relation to foundational beliefs’ (12). In other words, inculturation achieves a synthesis of faith and culture and relies on the expertise of individuals and whole communities to engage critically in conversation with others. Consistent with this thought, Ranson (2006) argues that: New forms of pastoral leadership [in Catholic schools] are set to emerge … no longer predominantly concerned with issues of identity in an adversarial climate but committed to invigoration of community discipleship and dedicated to a new impulse in evangelization. (418)

Thus ‘leadership [in Catholic schools] begins with a profound sense of mission’ (419) and presupposes a ‘community marked by Trinitarian qualities and at the service of fostering ever widening circles of that community’s relationships’ (420). As faith leaders, school principals are said to be both ‘ministers of the communio’ and ‘ministers of missio’: As ministers of the communio, we are to be agents of participation, collaboration and reconciliation forging a unity in the midst, but not at the expense of, diversity. As ministers of missio, we are to be agents of hospitality, embracing an eccentricity that in particular addresses the places of isolation, marginal­ isation and exclusion as they are experienced in whatever context the Christian discovers themselves to be. (420)

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Interestingly, this theological thinking is reflected in the way that principals conceptualize faith leadership. In the first instance, principals describe faith leadership as a form of ministry within the Church that begins with a ‘profound sense of mission’ (Ranson, 2006, 419). As noted above, principals believe that they can never ‘opt out’ (Neidhart and Lamb, 2012, 5) of their faith leadership responsibilities. One principal described his aim as: deliver[ing] diocesan expectations in Catholic faith and cultural development within the school. I believe that my role is to lead a vital aspect of the Church, i.e. the Catholic school. I believe that I have the responsibility to ensure that each aspect of school life is authentically Catholic and that the culture developed through curriculum, policy, practice and environment reflects the Gospel and the Catholic Tradition. (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 30)

Such comments are not unexpected, as Church documents have for some time focused on the Catholic educator’s role in faith leadership. For example, Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith (SCCE, 1982), whilst not dealing explicitly with the role of the principal, refers to the lay educators in Catholic schools exercising ‘a specific mission within the Church … they share in the sanctifying, and therefore educational mission of the Church; they cannot regard themselves as cut off from the ecclesial complex’ (24). Furthermore, this thinking is reflected in employment documentation about the role of principal in Catholic schools. For example, the South Australian document ‘Religious leadership in a Catholic school’ (SACCS, 2004) equates principals with ‘Those who are appointed to designated Religious leadership roles in a Catholic school [and] have committed themselves to a public ministry in the Church’ (5). However, it should be noted that, in conceptualizing their faith leadership role, principals spoke with passion and conviction, suggesting motivations beyond mere employers’ expectations. For example, in research conducted by Neidhart, Lamb and Spry (2012), principals referred to faith leadership flowing out of their ‘vocation’ (33) in the sense of ‘being people of God in service to others’ (Grace, 2003, 223) and this commitment appears to be much more than mere professionalism. For one principal this vocation is ‘too hard to turn off ’, as it flows out of the ‘core of who you are’ and ‘is related to baptismal commitment’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 33). For these



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principals, individual and organizational success and wellbeing depend on their ‘personal [faith] commitments and professional life [as a faith leader] and must come together’ (6). Related to this sense of vocation, principals conceptualize faith leadership in terms of a legitimate ministry within the evangelizing mission of the church. As one principal explains: I do understand my role as Principal, and as leader of the Christian community that is the Catholic school, to be exercising a ministry of leadership that is in harmony with other ministries as exercised within the general church community. (Davison, 2006, 84)

In such conceptualizations, principals see themselves as playing a leadership role in the mission of the Church and building Catholic identity and culture. In this context principals place the Catholic school within the broader mission of the Church with the intention of ‘maintain[ing] a strong presence of Church in our community and support[ing] those who are involved in the local parish’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 30). In addition, they link their faith leadership to serving humanity and promoting personal faith within a faith community. For these principals faith leadership involves spreading the Gospel message and helping others to develop a relationship with God. For one principal this meant creating ‘an opportunity for students, staff and parents to see and hear the message of Jesus of Nazareth’ (30). For another, faith leadership was about ‘provid[ing] an environment where young people have the opportunity and feel safe to learn about the richness of a relationship with our loving God’ (30). Mindful of this, principals frame the enactment of this conceptualization of faith leadership in an explicit ‘faith-based approach’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 1) to meaning-making within the context of the Catholic school community. To demonstrate their commitment principals are confidently able to provide researchers with a listing of faith leadership behaviours that reflect their approach. These behaviours include a commitment to developing personal faith, witnessing gospel values and Catholic teaching, leading school liturgy and prayer, supporting the religious education programme, organizing faith formation opportunities for staff and parish involvement (Thompson, 2010; Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012) .

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Interestingly, these behaviours suggest three significant elements in respect to the enactment of faith leadership. First, it seems that faith leadership understood as ministry and evangelization relies on a personal faith response, a deep personal faith commitment and a preparedness to witness to gospel values, and religious practice. As one principal explained: I draw a distinction between being faithful and being faith filled. I believe I’m faithful to a tradition because I have a role, and I try to fulfil that role with integrity – the role of Catholic school principal requires a specific response in relation to affiliation, transferring something of a tradition in terms of practice. At the same time I’m trying hard to be faith filled. I hope that with an understanding of the Gospel message, that the inherent richness of the Gospel, the values underpinning the Gospel will find their way into the way I do things. (Thompson, 2010, 176)

In this view, faith leadership requires a synthesis of being ‘faithful’ and ‘faith filled’. For these principals, witness to the gospel message, as the core teaching of the Catholic Church, demonstrates a deep commitment to the Catholic faith as well as an equally strong commitment to personal spirituality. In short, these principals argued that personal commitment and professional life must go hand in hand. Negotiating their role in this way, principals see themselves enacting faith leadership by ‘standing up for the Catholic religion’, ‘meeting people where they are at’ (33) and ‘welcoming’, or ‘inviting’, the members of the school into a faith community. For one principal this meant the Catholic school could not be just another ‘middle-class school’, but had to open its doors to ‘kids with special needs’. For another, a commitment to evangelization meant that ‘we hold the Gospel and we invite people to know the gospel through the Catholic tradition’ (33). It is also generally accepted that the ‘parish connection’ enabled the principal to provide a powerful faith witness to the other members of the school community, as well as nourishing their personal faith. Second, research findings also link the enactment of faith leadership to an interest in building a faith community. It is assumed that the Catholic school as ‘a safe and secure environment, together with a sense of welcome, celebration, and hospitality’ (Belmonte and Cranston, 2009, 301) offers an ideal environment for the provision of an education about and an experience



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of a Christian way of life within the Catholic tradition. Consequently, this approach is characterized in terms of ‘the primacy of relationship, the Gospel message and outreach through community. Principals understood their [faith leadership] role in terms of facilitating an environment where these aspirations were given structure and priority’ (Coughlan, 2009, 250). Finally, research findings suggest that principals as faith leaders look to engage others in faith conversations. The ideal environment, as described above, is seen to be more conducive to ‘conversation about faith’ and ‘open[ing] up the faith topic’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 32) with the various members of the school community. Reflecting on their experience of such conversations, principals noted that parents and staff were not necessarily ‘cynical’ about religion or anti-Catholic, rather they ‘just don’t know’ and there is an urgent need for faith conversations to further adult religious education. Accordingly, faith leadership facilitates faith conversations by giving structure and priority to ‘opportunities for participation, dialogue and collaboration’ (Thompson, 2010, 219). Reflecting on this approach to the enactment of faith leadership, principals are aware that ‘the role of the school principal in faith development has grown in significance as the [community] becomes increasingly disengaged from Church (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 31). Consequently, they have accepted the argument that the appreciation of spirituality makes a positive contribution to human development by focusing attention on connectivity and personal meaning making within community (Dent, Higgins and Wharff, 2005). However, this is not the anchorless spirituality that is often favoured in contemporary society. Instead, this spirituality is deliberately situated within a religious tradition. To offset possible negative attitudes towards religion, principals have accepted recommendation of a ‘partnership’ (1) between religion and spirituality. Framed in this way, spirituality becomes the personal quest for answers to ultimate questions about life, about meaning, and about relationship to the sacred or transcendent, which may (or may not) lead to, or arise from the development of religious rituals and the formulation of community. (Koenig, McCullough and Larson, 2001)

Here we have a new form of spiritual leadership (Kriger and Seng, 2005; Doohan, 2007) or ‘transcendental leadership’ (Lavery, 2012). By situating

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personal spirituality within a religious tradition, leaders are able to draw on a source of meaning that offers ‘the most integrated levels of inner meaning and realization which are possible’ (Kriger and Seng, 2005, 800) for themselves and others. For example, when personal spirituality and leadership are situated within the Catholic tradition and informed by the gospel message: Catholic school principals are called to be servant leaders in the spirit of Jesus; their leadership is based on deep reflection; they practise the Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity to ensure genuine decision-making opportunities for all members within the school community; and the spiritual standard by which they act is grounded in the wider notion of Catholic social doctrine. (Lavery, 2012, 36)

In this way, those writing about leadership in Catholic schools alert us to the transformational ‘power’ of spiritual leadership informed by the Catholic Tradition and Gospel Values. However, this scholarship also reminds us of the complexity of faith leadership in practice. For example, Kriger and Seng (2005) broadly define leadership in terms of ‘doing’ (behaving), ‘having’ (knowledge and skills) and ‘being’ (transcendental values and attitudes). For Doohan (2007), faith leadership, as spiritual leadership, requires the coming together of ‘personal traits and abilities; community building skills; managerial competence; organizational renewal; transcendental values’ (23–30). In short, faith leadership represents a synthesis of professional and spiritual competence. Recognizing the complex nature of faith leadership, principals continue to worry about faith leadership in practice and, at least for one principal, this leadership responsibility remains a ‘puzzle’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 41). Reflecting on their formation as faith leaders, most principals are aware that growing up in ‘strong’ Catholic families and parishes and being taught by religious men and women had given them a robust faith and some knowledge and skills to support their faith leadership. Whilst they were able to witness to gospel values in their personal and professional lives, principals were less confident in articulating a personal faith position and explaining the motivations and values that underpinned their decision-making. For these principals, ‘talking about a personal faith is challenging and confronting’. Moreover, they



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often felt ‘inadequate about their theological understanding’ and ‘questioned their knowledge base’. As one principal explains, ‘we should be very careful not to think we are okay in this area’ (35). Recognizing the limits of their professional and spiritual competence, principals consistently recommended a more systemic and deliberate approach to leadership formation especially for principals (Thompson, 2010; Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012). Also, mindful of the next generation of faith leaders, they recommend offering leadership formation opportunities for teachers as future leaders (Thompson, 2010; Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012). Here principals were anxious that future faith leaders could lack the knowledge, skills and attitudes to take up the challenge of faith leadership in Catholic schools. According to one principal, ‘even religious education teachers are unsure about Catholic identity’ and find it difficult to ‘balance the inclusive and the exclusive nature of the Catholic school’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 36). In addition, ‘staff are increasingly less confident about leading staff prayer’, as evidenced in their choice of ‘secular orientated reflections over prayers’ (36). Many also ‘seem reluctant to invest in faith study’ as they are ‘not necessarily committed to staying in Catholic schools’ (36). More often than not, staff members do not feel they need to participate in parish life. Based on this assessment, the principals recommended a diocesan approach to working ‘bottom up’ to build faith leadership capabilities by providing formation for teachers, as well as principals, their deputies and assistants. This finds support in the words of former secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, Archbishop J. Michael Miller (2007), who identifies ‘witness and sense of vocation’ (449) of teachers as a major challenge facing Catholic education. Indeed, the church’s evangelizing mission through Catholic education depends to a large extent on the vocation and witness of teachers. To address this challenge Miller refers back to the Code of Canon Law, which frames Catholic education in terms of ‘the formation of the whole person, so that all may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of society’ (canon 795). To form students in this way, teachers themselves ‘need a formation in educational philosophy provided by those with a Catholic world view’ (Miller, 2007, 473).

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Faith leadership formation Reflecting on this recommendation, it is significant that the principals recommend leadership formation rather than professional development. The notion of forming educational leaders has only recently found its way into the literature. For example, Duignan (2006) writes: The starting point, I suggest, for the development of authentic educational leaders is personal formation and transformation, leading to a deep understanding of personal values and a passionate conviction that they can, through a shared leadership approach, make a difference in the lives of their colleagues and the students in their care … educational leaders need to form and transform themselves. To help leaders do this we need to rethink much of what currently passes for educational leadership programs. (143)

Formation is a nebulous term; it is drawn from the Latin word ‘formo’, meaning to shape or mould. However, from a Christian perspective, formation is a lifelong process leading to ‘a new [religious] consciousness for people who seek a richer understanding of what is happening in their lives and in the world’ (O’Leary, 2008, 73). This is a spiritual and religious activity that ‘begins with the heart’ (129) and provides knowledge, skill and ritual to support heart experiences. The deeper consciousness that follows is ultimately expressed in discipleship and a particular vocation. Research findings suggest (e.g. Thompson, 2010; Neidhart and Lamb, 2010, 2011: Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012) that principals have already started the process of rethinking leadership formation in ways that integrate spirituality and religion. They have already alerted us to the complexity of faith leadership by identifying the way in which certain knowledge, skills and attitudes come together to support faith leadership behaviours. For example, principals have linked faith leadership to theological knowledge acquisition, as well as confidence and skill in leading the school community in prayer and communicating a personal faith position. There seems to be a real interest here in developing more effective faith leadership behaviours, together with moral and ethical frameworks for decision-making and communication. To this end, these principals recommend that educational authorities clarify role expectations and supervisors help aspirant faith leaders to focus on identifying ‘gaps’



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in respect to professional and spiritual competencies. Educational authorities are also encouraged to make leadership formation a strategic goal with more ‘targeted’ programmes to meet the individual’s learning needs. It is also thought desirable that such programmes include academic work. In particular, there should be formal academic programmes in theological, spiritual and educational leadership, as well as informal learning opportunities for ‘conversation’, ‘networking’ and ‘personal reflection’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 36). All in all, there is a strong emphasis on being more deliberate and systemic in respect to faith leadership formation. We gain a deeper appreciation of this recommendation by situating faith leadership formation within the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism (Stryker, 2002; Hewitt, 2003; Charon, 2001). This theoretical framework offers a useful account of role identity and role making and, in doing so, explains the perspectives and offers a way forward for leadership formation. According to this ‘roles provide us with an organizing framework that we can use to make a performance that will meet the needs of a particular situation’ (Charon, 2001, 102). Whilst traditionally roles are deemed to be ‘a set of expectations – or a script – that tells the individual what to do’ (168), symbolic interactionism offers an alternative role theory. Here it is claimed that ‘roles are fluid, vague and contradictory’ (168) and up for negotiation. In this view, the role statement is understood as a ‘general outline’ (168), or a practical guide, and individuals are free to adjust their role performance to suit personal goals, the expectations of others and the demands of the situation (Hewitt, 2003, 69). Explained in this way, symbolic interactionism suggests a way forward in respect to the provision of a more deliberate and systematic approach to faith leadership formation. Here it can no longer be assumed that the role holder is a passive recipient of a role or script and that professional development is about the acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet these expectations. From a symbolic interactionist view, the role statement offers a general outline of expectations that will need to be further negotiated in practice by the role holder. Here we are reminded that principals freely admit that they experience ‘angst’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 33–4) in respect to some church teaching and, whilst staying ‘true’ to what they considered to be the core teachings of the Catholic Church, they are prepared to negotiate

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their role. In this instance, leadership formation is about informing the negotiation process by providing professional learning opportunities for knowledge acquisition and skill development. However, such programmes transcend mere knowledge acquisition and skill development by encouraging attitudinal change. Individuals, through self-reflection activities, come to a deeper self-knowledge of the inner world of beliefs, motivations and values. Moreover, through social interaction, they become aware of the expectations of others (i.e. written policy and taken for granted assumptions) and begin to see themselves and the situation through another’s eyes. Yet, again, there are opportunities for individuals to ‘make’ their roles by applying their learning to the practical challenges of leadership within their spheres of influence. Thus by situating the principals’ perspective on faith leadership formation within the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism, we can begin to see the elements that would come together in a programme of leadership formation that is designed around symbolic interactionist principles. These elements and their relationship are illustrated in the following figure. In this model, leadership formation is seen to be synonymous with knowledge acquisition, skill development and attitudinal change. These outcomes, in turn, require a learning environment that encourages formal academic study, self-reflection, social interaction and reflective practice. A learning environment such as this is open to all aspirant faith leaders, including teachers, principals, deputies and assistants, and is designed, therefore, to meet the needs of both current and future generations of faith leadership Formal study

Self-reflection

Leadership formation

Skill development

Attitudinal change

Reflective practice Figure 9.1 A model for leadership formation

Social interaction

Knowledge acquisition



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in Catholic schools. In this way the practical wisdom of the principals and theoretical insights of symbolic interactionism coalesce to point the way forward for those interested in forming faith leaders in Catholic schools.

Conclusion: Recommending the faith leadership formation model This chapter focuses on the challenge of faith leadership in the Catholic school. The macro context of social, economic, and ecclesial change has left no institution, including the Catholic school, untouched. The very purpose of the Catholic school, namely its evangelizing mission, is under threat as Catholic identity and culture are undermined. Consequently, attention has shifted to the faith leadership in the Catholic school and there are new expectations on the principal to preserve the Catholic identity and culture of the school and ensure the success of its evangelizing mission. Recognizing this development, researchers have sought a more informed and sophisticated understanding of the principal’s faith leadership role. This research effort has resulted in a new understanding of what faith leadership is and how it is enacted in the Catholic school. Motivated by a sense of vocation rather than by mere employer expectations, principals conceptualize their faith leadership role in terms of a legitimate ministry within the evangelizing mission of the church. Moreover, when it comes to enacting this role, they rely on an explicit faithbased approach to meaning-making within the school community. To this end, they bring spirituality and religion together by witnessing gospel values and faith commitments, building a faith community and facilitating faith conversations. This research is also of interest because it alerts us to the limits of faith leadership capabilities currently within Catholic schools. Consequently, this chapter concludes by offering a model for leadership formation that situates the practical wisdom of principals within the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. Here faith formation is framed as a deep form of consciousness raising and role-making for aspirant faith leaders. To this end, the emphasis is on knowledge acquisition, skill development and attitudinal change within a learning environment that encourages formal academic study, self-reflection, social interaction and reflective practice.

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In conclusion, we recommend that education authorities within Catholic education take up the challenge of faith leadership and consider this model of faith formation as a way forward. This is a matter of urgency, as research suggests that the success and sustainability of the Catholic school depends on capable faith leadership into the future. For at least one young principal, failure to take up this challenge will result in Catholic education finding itself on ‘struggle street’ (Neidhart, Lamb and Spry, 2012, 36) in the not-too-distant future.

Review MM

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‘I believe that I have the responsibility to ensure that each aspect of school life is authentically Catholic and that the culture developed through curriculum, policy, practice and environment reflects the Gospel and the Catholic Tradition.’ Do you agree with the words of this principal? What implications do these words have for a principal’s leadership? In what ways can a principal support the religious education curriculum in a Catholic high school? Do you agree that for a principal in a Catholic school personal faith commitment and professional life go hand in hand? What is the responsibility of the principal of a Catholic high school to the local diocese?

References Belmonte, A. and Cranston, N. (2009). The religious dimension of lay leadership in Catholic schools: preserving Catholic culture in an era of change. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice 12, 3: 294–319. Carlin, P., d’Arbon, T., Dorman, G., Duignan, P. and Neidhart, H. (2003). Leadership Succession for Catholic Schools in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania (Strathfield, Australia: The VSAT Project, Flagship for Catholic Educational Leadership, ACU National). Charon, J. (2001). Symbolic Interactionism (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).



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The Code of Canon Law (1983). In English translation prepared by the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland in association with The Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand and The Canadian Canon Law Society. Collins, J. (2002). Deacons and the Church: Making Connections between Old and New (Leominster: Gracewing). Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) (1997). The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls). Coughlan, P. (2009). The mission of the Catholic school and the role of the principal in a changing landscape (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, Sydney). D’Arbon, T., Duignan, P. and Goodwin, K. (2001). Leadership Succession in Catholic Schools in New South Wales (Sydney: Catholic Education Commission). Davison, L. (2006). Lay principals under contract: Going down for the good turf. An exploration of the perceptions of selected secondary lay principals in relation to the religious and spiritual dimensions of their role (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne). Day, C. (2007). Successful Principal Leadership in Times of Change: An International Perspective (Dordrecht: Springer). Deal, T. E. and Peterson, K. D. (2003). Shaping School Culture: The Heart of Leadership. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass). Dent, E., Higgins, M. and Wharff, D. (2005). Spirituality and leadership: an empirical review of definitions, distinctions and embedded assumptions. The Leadership Quarterly 16: 625–53. Dixon, R. (2003). Mass attendance trends among Australian Catholics: a significant challenge for the Catholic Church. South Pacific Journal of Mission Studies 28: 3–8. —(2005). The Catholic Community in Australia (Adelaide: Openbook Publishers). Doohan, L. (2007). Spiritual Leadership: The Quest for Integrity. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press). Duignan, P. (2006). Educational Leadership: Key Challenges and Ethical Tensions (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Gallagher, M. (1997). Clashing Symbols: An Introduction to Faith and Culture (London: Darton, Longman & Todd). Grace, G. (2003). Catholic Schools: Mission, Markets and Morality (London: RoutledgeFalmer). Grint, K. (2003). The Arts of Leadership. In N. Bennett, M. Crawford and M. Cartwright (eds), Effective Educational Leadership (London: Paul Chapman), 89–108.

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Hewitt, J. (2003). Self and Society: A Symbolic Interactionist Social Psychology, 10th edn. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon). John Paul II (2001). Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation: Ecclesia in Oceania (Strathfield, NSW: St Pauls). King, J. and Crowther, M. (2004). The measurement of religiosity and spirituality. Example and issues from psychology. Journal of Organisational Management 17, 1: 83–101. Koenig, H., McCullough, M. and Larsen, D. (2001). Religion and Health (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Kriger, M. and Seng, Y. (2005). Leadership with inner meaning: a contingency theory of leadership in the worldviews of five religions. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, pp. 771–806. Lavery, S. (2012). The Catholic school leader: a transcendent leader? Journal of Catholic School Studies 84, 1: 36–42. Lingard, B., Hayes, D., Mills, M. and Christie, P. (2003). Leading Learning: Making Hope Practical in Schools (Berkshire: Open University Press). McEvoy, F. (2006). How is religious leadership understood and practised by principals in Catholic secondary schools in South Australia? (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne). Miller, J. M. (2007). Challenges Facing Catholic Schools: A View from Rome. In G. Grace and J. O’Keefe (eds), International Handbook of Catholic Education: Challenges for School Systems in the 21st Century (Dordrecht: Springer). Mitroff, I. and Denton, E. (1999). A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America: A Hard Look at Spirituality, Religion and Values in the Workplace (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass). Neidhart, H. and Lamb, J. (2010). Faith leadership and the primary principal (Part 1): an expanding role in Catholic schools. Journal of Catholic School Studies 82, 2: 13–28. —(2011). Faith leadership and the primary principal (Part 2): both religious and spiritual. Journal of Catholic School Studies, 83, 2: 52–61. Neidhart, H., Lamb, J. and Spry, G. (2012). The Faith Leadership Role of the Principal: Project Report (Strathfield, NSW: Centre for Creative and Authentic Leadership, Australian Catholic University). O’Leary, D. (2008). Begin with the Heart (Dublin: Columba Press). O’Meara, T. (1983). Theology of Ministry (New York and Ramsey: Paulist Press). Osborne, K. (1993). Ministry: Lay Ministry in the Roman Catholic Church (New York and Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press). Ranson, D. (2006). Forming a new generation of leaders for Catholic schools. Australasian Catholic Record 83, 4.



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Rymarz, R. (2004). Lost generation: the cultures of gen X Catholics. The Australian Catholic Review 82, 2: 144–54. —(2010). John Paul II and the ‘new evangelization’: origins and meaning. Australian eJournal of Theology 15, 1: 1–22, 2010. http://aejt.com.au/2010/ issue_15/?article=225396 (retrieved 20/3/13). —(2012). The New Evangelisation (Ballan, VIC: Mondotti Press). Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education (SCCE) (1982). Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (SACCS) (2004). Religious Leadership in a Catholic School (Adelaide: Catholic Education Office). Stryker, S. (2003). Symbolic Interactionism: A Social Structural View (Caldwell, NJ: Blackburn Press). Thompson, C. (2010). Catholic secondary school principals as faith leaders: A study of the Diocese of Lismore (unpublished doctoral thesis, Australian Catholic University, Brisbane).

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Catholic Schools are Distinctive and Inclusive

Introduction1 There is a perennial question about how Catholic high schools best express their Catholic identity. Should they do this by closing their doors to all but Catholic families, or does Catholic identity require an openness to all Christians, those of other religions and those of no religion? This chapter argues that if the school is to be truly Catholic, it must display the unity of the Church itself, and, paradoxically, this unity calls it to openness to all. This openness is not in conflict with a healthy Catholic identity, but is a constitutive aspect of this identity, just as important in the work of the Catholic school as linking Catholic children and young people with their local Catholic Church. A familiar argument about Catholic schools is that they have replaced the local parish as the point of contact with the Church for most Catholic youth, and the overwhelming evidence suggests that the argument is true. The situation gives rise to many questions, not least of these being the extent to which Catholic schools must be, and must be seen to be, ‘Catholic’. Often the focus of these arguments is on school enrolments and RE curricula. If a Catholic school is truly Catholic, it is argued, it should enrol only Catholic students. If a school is truly Catholic, its RE curriculum should deal only with Catholic theology, beliefs and practice. The arguments sometimes have This chapter is adapted from K. Engebretson (2008). The Catholic school called to dialogue: a reflection on some consequences of the ecclesial unity of the Catholic school. Journal of Beliefs and Values 29, 2: 151–60.

1

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the flavour of a retreat back to the safety, isolation and opposition to the ‘world’ that characterized the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council firmly positioned it in partnership with the world in working for the betterment of humankind (Gaudium et Spes, 1). A more balanced approach was taken by a group of Australian bishops in a pastoral letter of 2007 (Catholic Education Commission of New South Wales [CECNSW]). The letter argued that, since the Catholic education system was the main evangelizing and catechizing arm of the Church, it should be made available primarily to Catholic children. The following quotation outlines the bishops’ proposal for Catholic school enrolment policies. The Church remains committed to ensuring that there is a ‘critical mass’ of Catholic students in our schools, even though we readily welcome students from other religious backgrounds. We exhort our school leaders to re-examine how they might maximize enrolment of Catholic students, including those from socio-economic bands and special-needs groups currently under-represented in their schools. Parish schools should continue to seek out and give preference to children of their own parishioners, then to other Catholic children especially from the surrounding district, then to other Christian children before offering any additional available places to children of other religious backgrounds. Regional secondary schools and congregational schools should apply similar principles. (CECNSW, 2007, 10)

It is easy to sympathize with the argument for a quite exclusive approach to enrolments, but there are strong theological grounds for a more inclusive policy. In this chapter I claim that, in view of the ecclesial unity of the Church, openness to other Christian denominations and other religions is a constitutive element of the Catholicity of the Catholic school, and therefore must be reflected in enrolment policies and in the RE curriculum. In other words, the distinctiveness and the inclusiveness of the Catholic school are both important. Just as the Catholic school is indefectibly Catholic, it is also inclusive (J. Sullivan, 2001). However, inclusivity does not mean relativism. In human relationships true inclusivity is built on strong personal identity. In the Catholic Church, ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue is possible only because the Church is sure of her identity in Christ. To modify, give away or not fully express this



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identity is to nullify the power of the dialogue with other Christian churches and religions which stand within their own identity. To claim one’s identity truthfully and passionately is never a barrier to empathetic listening to, dialogue with and entering into relationships with the other. Indeed, it can be argued that it is a first necessary step. The discussion in the following pages considers how distinctiveness and inclusiveness work together in the identity of the Catholic school, and explores the schools’ responsibilities that follow.

The ecclesial identity of the Catholic high school ‘It is from its Catholic identity that the school derives its original characteristics and its “structure” as a genuine instrument of the Church, a place of real and specific pastoral ministry’ (CCE, 1997,11). As an ‘instrument’ of the Church, the ecclesial nature of the Catholic school is at the heart of its identity. This ecclesial identity is not an added extra but a constitutive characteristic which pervades its educational activity and gives impetus to its mission. In order to understand the characteristics of the ecclesial identity of the Catholic school, it is necessary to identify the characteristics of the Church itself. However divided they may be on other issues, almost all Christians profess their faith in ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’, the words of the Nicene Creed that were ratified in the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. ‘One, holy, catholic and apostolic’ are said to be the ‘marks’ or ‘notes’ of the Church (F. Sullivan, 1988). They are characteristics of the Church as held by those who belong to it. Each of these properties, one, holy, catholic and apostolic, belongs to the nature of the Church as People of God and Body of Christ animated by the Holy Spirit. The Catholic school is within the Church. Therefore, as a microcosm of the whole Church community, the ecclesial community of the Catholic school is known by faith to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic. It is the ecclesial unity (oneness) of the Catholic school as derived from the Church that calls it to be both catholic and Catholic, that is distinctive but also inclusive.

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The Church is one: Unity in diversity and Christian communion The Catholic Church is one in diversity. Within the unity of the Church a multiplicity of people and cultures belong. There are different gifts and ministries, and particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The bonds of unity are the love called for by Christ, the word of God in Scripture, the profession of one faith, the common celebration of the sacraments and the apostolic succession through the sacrament of orders (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1994, 815). The dogmatic constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) teaches that there is only one Church of Christ, united in faith, in worship and in apostolic succession, and that this Church of Christ is not co-extensive with, but subsists in, the Catholic Church. In other words, the Church of Christ, the historical Church of the New Testament that Christ entrusted to Peter and the apostles, continues to exist and is still to be found in the Catholic Church. The unity that Christ gave to his Church subsists in the Catholic Church as a gift it cannot lose (Unitatis Redintegratio, 4), as an institutional integrity, and it is there alone that the Church which Christ founded continues to exist with the fullness and the means of grace which Christ gave to it. It is also recognized that a real though imperfect communion binds together all the Christian Churches and ecclesial communities, which in various ways participate in the reality of the one Church of Christ (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3; Lumen Gentium, 15). When this claim was made in Lumen Gentium it affirmed that the Church founded by Christ and entrusted to the apostles continued to exist in the Catholic Church, but not that the Church of Christ exists nowhere else but in the Catholic Church. In this wording there is a significant recognition of ecclesial reality in other Christian Churches and communities (Sullivan, 1988). The Catechism of the Catholic Church also points out that divisions within the Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, do not take away its fundamental unity. The Church is one: she acknowledges one Lord, confesses one faith, is born of one Baptism, forms only one Body, is given life by one Spirit, for the sake of one hope, at whose fulfilment all divisions will be overcome. (CCC, 866)



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According to the Catechism, those separated from the Catholic Church remain part of her, in a mysterious way (Unitatis Redintegratio, 2). The Second Vatican Council explicitly recognized the separated eastern Churches as particular Churches, and acknowledged the ecclesial character of the separated ecclesial communities of the west, seeing their significance and importance in the mystery of salvation ‘not only in the sacraments and other elements of sanctification and truth present in them, but in these Christian communities as such’ (Sullivan, 1988, 33). Lumen Gentium’s recognition that there are elements of sanctification and truth to be found outside the limits of the Catholic Church was taken even further in the Decree on Ecumenism. Moreover some, even very many, of the most significant elements or endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church herself, can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church … All of these which come from Christ and lead back to him belong by right to the one Church of Christ … It follows that these separated Churches and communities … have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3)

The one Church of Christ, which the Second Vatican Council has declared subsists in the Catholic Church, is therefore a communion of churches, however imperfect this communion may at present be.

The unity and identity of the Church impels her to inter-religious dialogue The Second Vatican Council One of the most powerful reasons for Catholics to conduct inter-faith dialogue and to learn about other religions is that the Catholic Church declared, through the Second Vatican Council, that other religions are related to the Catholic Church, that there are elements within them that come from God, and that these elements also derive their salvific efficacy through the fullness of grace entrusted to the Catholic Church.

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Lumen Gentium (16) declared that ‘those who have not yet received the gospel are related in various ways to the People of God’. According to this constitution, God wills the salvation of all and all are called to belong to the Church. The Catholic faithful belong to the Church through their baptism and their continued fidelity to the sacraments and life of the Church. Others are related to the Church in various ways. While the Jews are in a unique relationship with the Church, other groups are included in God’s plan of salvation and are offered the grace that directs them towards salvation. Since all grace is directed towards a gathering of the universal Church in the eschatological kingdom (Lumen Gentium, 2), it is therefore also directed towards the Church on earth. In addition, grace brings the possibility of faith and, no matter how conceptually imperfect (F. Sullivan, 1992) this faith may be seen to be, it is ‘intrinsically directed towards the full profession of faith in divine Revelation which is had only in the Church’ (F. Sullivan, 1992, 155). Finally, the grace of salvation brings the gift of charity which directs the person intrinsically towards the communitarian charity which is at the heart of the Church. The Second Vatican Council claimed that the Catholic Church had an instrumental role in God’s plan for salvation. ‘Established by God as a fellowship of life, charity and truth, it [the Church] is also used by him as an instrument for the redemption of all’ (Lumen Gentium, 9). In other words, in regard to the great majority of people in the world who have neither Christian faith nor baptism, the Council affirmed that they are not only related to the Church by the grace that the Holy Spirit offers to them, but that the Church is also the sign and instrument of their salvation. The necessity of the Church for the salvation of humanity which the axiom ‘no salvation outside the Church’ expressed in so negative and misleading a way is the same truth that has received positive and profound theological expression in the Second Vatican Council’s presentation of the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation (F. Sullivan, 1992, 161). The Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) devoted a large section to words of reconciliation with Jews, but also included statements about other religions. First, the document advocated Christ as the ‘way’ of salvation. Indeed she proclaims and must ever proclaim Christ, ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14.6) in whom men [sic] may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to himself. (Nostra Aetate, 2)



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Second, it dealt very briefly with the issue of truth in other religions, claiming that: certain ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth … often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men [sic]. (Nostra Aetate, 2)

So while Christ is proclaimed to be the fullness of truth, other religions in various ways reflect that truth. The document did not actually announce that salvation may be achieved through other religions, but implied that this was possible to the extent that they ‘reflect’ the salvific truth of Christ. Further, the document did not give this status indiscriminately to all religious phenomena, but left the way open for the process of critique and discernment. Furthermore, it encouraged a search for understanding and engagement between Catholics and those of other religions. Prudently and lovingly through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, and in witness of Christian faith and life, acknowledge, preserve and promote the spiritual and moral goods found among these men [sic], as well as the values in their society and culture. (Nostra Aetate, 2)

In summary, the Second Vatican Council claimed the following in relation to religions other than Christianity. First, God wills the salvation of all, and this salvation is not offered or carried out in secret but through visible mediations. Second, the Church recognizes in other religions rays of ‘that truth which enlightens all’, or elements that come from God. The Council, however, did not imply that, given the presence of these divine elements in other religions, the Church’s missionary endeavour should cease, although it did insist that there be dialogue and collaboration between Catholics and the followers of other religions in which the spiritual and moral goods and values in these cultures could be acknowledged, preserved and promoted.

Papal teaching on other religions after the second Vatican Council: Pope John Paul II The key element in the teaching of John Paul II in regard to other religions was respect for the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit in non-Christians

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and in their religions – seen in their practice of virtue, their spirituality and their prayer. He claimed that the missionary attitude begins with a deep respect for what is already there ‘by the Spirit’ (Redemptor Hominis, 1979, 15). Recognition of the truth and the action of the Holy Spirit in other religions, according to Pope John Paul II, made true dialogue possible. John Paul II often quoted the following passage from Gaudium et Spes: All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all men [sic] of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since Christ died for all men [sic], and since the ultimate vocation of man [sic] is in fact one, and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to God offers to every man [sic] the possibility of being associated with this paschal mystery. (22)

The theme of the universal action of the Holy Spirit was further developed in Dominum et Vivificantem (1986), where John Paul II spoke of the action of the Holy Spirit even before Christ, in history and ‘outside the visible body of the Church’ (Dominum et Vivificantem, 53). The following passage from Redemptoris Missio (1990) expresses his thought clearly. The universality of salvation means that it is granted not only to those who explicitly believe in Christ and have entered the Church. Since salvation is offered to all, it must be made concretely available to all. But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the gospel Revelation or to enter the Church. The social and cultural conditions in which they live do not permit this, and frequently they have been brought up in other religious traditions. For such people salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his Sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation. (Redemptoris Missio, 10)

The contemporary Catholic position on other religions, therefore, is an inclusive one, with Christ and the Church deemed to be necessary for salvation but with the allowance that the grace of God can and does work outside the Church in ‘mysterious’ (Dominus Iesus, 2000, 2) ways through the ‘rays of truth’ (Nostra Aetate, 3) that can be found in other religions, and which



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draw their adherents to the salvific grace which comes through the Catholic Church. In consequence, an element of the evangelistic mission of the Church is inter-religious dialogue, in order to grow in understanding and empathy and to work with other religions, or with people of no religion, to advance goodness, justice and peace which are the fruits of the work of the Holy Spirit.

How does the Catholic school express and reflect this unity of the Church? Through fidelity to Catholicism Often what is perhaps fundamentally lacking among Catholics who work in a school is a clear realization of the identity of a Catholic school and the courage to follow all the consequences of its uniqueness (CCE, 1977, 66). The first consequence of its uniqueness is fidelity to Catholicism, reflected in the communication of a full, sacramental and ecclesial faith that is faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church. It is the teachers who reflect and communicate this faith, for the community of a school is made up of people and the teachers are its leaders and witnesses. Those who teach Catholic children and young people have a responsibility to ensure that they are really teaching what the Church believes and practices, and that they live it in their individual ways (CCE, 1977, 43).

Through commitment to ecumenism In an apparent paradox, however, the distinctiveness of the Catholic school is that which dictates its inclusive nature. Ecumenical openness and mission flow from the Catholic identity of the school, and Catholic schools should be ecumenical precisely because they are Catholic. As we have seen, Catholics believe that the Church of Jesus Christ subsists or exists within the Catholic Church, but is not co-extensive with it. There is one Church of Jesus Christ, and all baptized Christians are in some way in communion with that Church. Therefore the Catholic school respects and welcomes other Christians, and this welcoming is given from the basis of a Catholic identity that is visible and

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unapologetic. The Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis Redintegratio, 68) advises that Catholic schools should give an ecumenical dimension to religious education and should be pervaded by an ecumenical spirit of charity, respect and dialogue. Ecumenism, in other words, is not only a subject to be taught in Catholic schools, but a constitutive dimension of being a Catholic school, as it is a dimension of every other aspect of Catholic life. A fundamental goal of the Catholic school is evangelization. In reality most of the children from other Christian churches who are in Catholic schools are probably quite disassociated from their Christian church. What does evangelization mean in relation to these students? It is not to bring them into full communion with the Catholic Church (although this at times does occur) but rather to help them to be more aware and committed Christians within their own Churches. The worst approach, however well meaning, is relativism, or the tendency to reduce all Christian expressions to the lowest common denominator. Differences between beliefs and practices need to be acknowledged and discussed in an atmosphere where all are free to contribute. The 1993 Directory For the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism (DAPNE) declared that the Catholic school should give an ecumenical dimension to its religious teaching, should eliminate language and prejudice that distort the images of other Christian churches and that children and young people should be taught genuine ecumenism according to the doctrine of the Catholic Church (PCCU, Directory, 68). Teachers should be correctly and adequately informed about the origins, history and doctrines of other Churches and ecclesial communities, especially local ones. The document goes on to say that the facilities of the Catholic school should be made available for the pastoral work of ministers of other Christian churches (PCCU, Directory, 141). However, in this collaboration, ‘care must be taken that the education of Catholics in the Catholic Church should be well ensured in matters of doctrine and of Christian living’ (PCCU, Directory, 188).

Through commitment to inter-faith dialogue Swidler (1986, 26) claimed that the three goals of inter-faith dialogue were, first, to deepen one’s appreciation of one’s own religious tradition, second, to know the religions of others more authentically and through a friendly



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understanding and, third, to develop community of life and action among people from various religious traditions. These three are worthy goals for the Catholic school, goals which are at the heart of its Catholic identity. Furthermore, Thangaraj (1999) distinguished four levels of inter-religious dialogue. In various ways, all four can be part of the life of the Catholic school, depending on the levels of experience and maturity of the students. The first level of inter-religious dialogue is that of a shared community life with adherents of other religions, something that is becoming common in Catholic schools and will no doubt continue to be so. The second level is the dialogue of action, where people from various traditions work together for justice and peace. The third level is theological dialogue, a level that is certainly possible in the Catholic school through exchange visits, guest speakers and formal sharing of faith traditions among the students. The fourth level is the sharing of religious experience and, especially in the school, the sharing of ways in which adherents of other religions pray and search for God. Like attention to ecumenism, the development of a climate where inter-faith dialogue thrives in the Catholic school is integral to its Catholic identity.

Through linking students and teachers with the life of the parish and diocese Much recent research indicates that, while Catholic young people positively endorse the spiritual formation that is offered to them through their Catholic schools and claim belief in core Catholic teachings (Engebretson, 2007), they are less interested in formal religious practice, and for most their ties with the archdiocese (or diocese) and local parish are very weak. Young people today are more critical consumers of culture than were earlier generations, a fact that leads them also to a critical approach to Church life. For most young Catholics the Catholic school is their only contact with the Church. Yet the archdiocese (or diocese) and local parish are still the structures through which the life of the institutional church is experienced. While it is true that for many children and young people the Catholic school is the only contact they have with the Church, the fact remains that the school is not co-extensive with the Church. An experience of Church in the Catholic school, however rich, does not substitute for, but ideally complements, involvement in the life of the

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local and diocesan Church. The difficulty of making and retaining this link, however, is a challenge for all Catholic schools. Yet it is essential that young Catholics know what these structures are and where they belong within them. They should know and have opportunities to relate with their local priests (or other parish personnel). They should know the opportunities that are available to them through their local parish, understand what contribution they may make to their local church and in time, hopefully, develop a sense of belonging to that local community. All of this, despite its obvious challenges, also flows from the Catholic identity of the school. However daunting the task, ways and resources must be found for carrying it out effectively, not only by schools but by parish and diocesan leaders.

Conclusion: Distinctive in plurality To claim that the Catholic school is an ecclesial community is to claim that its identity as Catholic is constitutive of its nature. This means that the characteristics of the Church are therefore characteristics of the Catholic school. One such foundational characteristic is the unity of the Church, a unity that must be reflected in the Catholic school. It has been argued that to believe that the Church founded by Christ is one cannot imply a retreat from dialogue with the world and with other belief systems, nor can it imply an exclusive insistence on membership of the Catholic Church, among students or staff, for her own foundational documents do not insist on this. Rather, to believe in the unity of the Church is to be open to those whom the Church claims are related to her, those of other Christian churches and ecclesial communities and those of other religions. The practical implications of this for the Catholic school are a renewed claiming of Catholic identity within the family of the Catholic Church and a renewed emphasis on linking the school with the institutional church in effective ways. Alongside this, however, is the absolute requirement that through the Catholic school dialogue and working together with other Christian churches and other religions be continually initiated and maintained in ways that are appropriate to a learning community. In developing enrolment policies, Catholic school communities may profitably reflect on these theological arguments for inclusiveness.



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Review • What are your views about appropriate enrolment policies for Catholic schools? • In what way is the Catholic school distinctive? • How can a Catholic school best express that the Catholic Church is a communion of Churches? • How important is inter-faith dialogue in the Church today and why do you hold this view? • Do you agree that a Catholic high school is most Catholic when it is inclusive of young people and families from other Christian denomination and other religions? What can these young people bring to a Catholic school?

References Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE) (1977). The Catholic school. http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ ccatheduc_doc_19770319_catholic-school_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). —(1997). The Catholic school on the threshold of the third millennium. http://www. vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccatheduc/documents/rc_con_ccatheduc_ doc_27041998_school2000_en.html (retrieved 16/3/2013). Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994) (Homebush, NSW: St. Pauls). Catholic Education Commission of New South Wales (CECNSW) (2007). Catholic schools at a crossroads: Pastoral letter of the Catholic Bishops of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory). http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au/ dbpage.php?pg=view&dbase=news&id=89 (retrieved 16/3/2013). Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism (1993). http:// www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/general-docs/rc_pc_ chrstuni_doc_19930325_directory_en.html (retrieved 12/10/2013). Dominus Iesus (2000). Declaration on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/ documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html (retrieved 20/10/2013). Dominum et Vivificantem (1986). Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II. http://www.

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vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_ enc_18051986_dominum-et-vivificantem_en.html (retrieved 13/3/2013). Engebretson, K. (2007). Connecting: Teenage Boys, Spirituality and Religious Education (Homebush, NSW: St Pauls). Gaudium et Spes (1965). The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html (retrieved 12/2/2013). Lumen Gentium (1965). The dogmatic constitution on the Church. The Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/ vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html (retrieved 14/3/2013). Nostra Aetate (1965). Declaration on the relationship of the Church with non-Christian religions. The Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/ archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decl_19651028_ nostra-aetate_en.html (retrieved 3/1/2013). Redemptor Hominis (1979). Encyclical of Pope John Paul II. http://www.vatican. va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_04031979_ redemptor-hominis_en.html (retrieved 3/9/2012). Redemptoris Missio (1990). On the permanent validity of the Church’s missionary mandate. Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/ john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptorismissio_en.html (retrieved 5/2/2013). Sullivan, F. (1988). The Church We Believe In: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic (New York: Paulist Press). —(1992). Salvation Outside the Church? Tracing the History of the Catholic Response (New York: Paulist Press). Sullivan, J. (2001). Catholic Education: Distinctive and Inclusive (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2001). Swidler, L. (1986). Towards a Universal Theology of Religions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis). Thangaraj, M. (1999). The Common Task: A Theology of Christian Mission (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press). Unitatis Redintegratio (1965). The decree on ecumenism. The Second Vatican Council. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/ documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (retrieved 31/11/2012).

11

Voices from Catholic Parishes

Introduction In this final chapter I hope to provide some reflections on the future of the Catholic Church in western nations through the words of 28 parish personnel to whom I have spoken or who have completed my open-ended online questionnaire about this topic over the past year. Of these, 17 were parish priests, three were assistant priests, seven were female parish workers such as pastoral associates and parish administrators, while one was a (male) parish assistant. The parish personnel came from a range of different kinds of parishes, some in highly urbanized areas and some in remote country areas. I do not present the voices of these people as academic research because my exploration of this topic is ongoing. However, listening to them helped me to consider the issue of young Catholics and the future of the Church from a number of different angles, and so I will try here to share their voices for your own consideration. This may round out and nuance the previous chapters by arguing that while Catholic high schools and parishes have different roles in relation to young people they are unbreakably linked in their common mission.

Parishes where the presence of young people is strong All those to whom I spoke were concerned about the absence of young people from the Church except for five of the priests who were in specific kinds of

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parishes. Three had in common that they ministered in highly urbanized parishes where the majority of their parishioners were migrants. The other two both ministered in the same parish and belonged to a religious order which focuses on youth ministry. In their parish there was a vibrant, wellattended youth Mass every Sunday and numerous activities for different age groups of young people from junior high school to late twenties and beyond. The five parishes also had in common that they worked hard at being welcoming communities where young people felt at home. One of these parishes had a large population from southern India, and on one Sunday every month the parish offered a Mass in Syro-Malabar rite to which these parishioners belonged. Many visitors came from all over the city when that Mass was offered. The parish centre was opened to them after the Mass so the parishioners and visitors could cook their own food and socialize. This very popular occasion was a highlight of parish life. In the same parish a Friday evening Charismatic group was composed mostly of Filipino, Indian, Sri Lankan and Chinese parishioners, and they too were invited to use the parish centre after their meeting to cook and socialize. The parish priest described the sense of community that the parish hospitality created, with people from diverse races becoming friends. In this same parish there is a large university that attracts hundreds of international students every year, with Indian students being the largest group. The Catholic international students attend the parish Mass in large numbers and are afforded the hospitality on which this parish prides itself. The parish priest was not concerned about the absence of young people from the Church because in his parish there are many young people at Mass, but young people from cultures where religious devotion is the norm. Hospitality was also the theme when I spoke to another parish priest also in a densely populated area of the city, and once again a parish with a great diversity of cultures represented, among them Maltese, Italian, Filipino, Indian, Croatians and Albanians. There is a large group of youth here that gathers every Monday. Most of them are not from this parish, even the leaders are not from this parish. So why do they come here? They come here simply because they are given the facilities to use, in particular the hall where they can play, they can pray, they can shout. They have some materials from the archdiocese to guide them in their



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reflection. They have a time for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and they provide the music for the six pm Mass on Sunday. There are about forty in the youth group but about fifteen play and sing for the evening Mass.

Should we focus our hopes on migrant youth? In my parish we have a very high attendance of young people at Masses on Sunday; I realize this somewhat bucks the national trend. Reasons for this being the case, are, I suspect, that our parish has a high percentage of ‘new’ Australians who probably identify going to Church with holding on to their national identity. There is no doubt that in certain areas of my archdiocese and in other urban dioceses in Australia migrant young people, among them many international students, have brought about a resurgence in youth association with the Church. There are a number of reasons I believe, however, that we should be hesitant to claim that young people like this will ‘save’ the Church in the future. The first reason is that as these young people assimilate into the highly secularized lifestyle of this country there is no guarantee that they will continue their association with the Church. Even if they do, there is no guarantee that their children will not follow the trend of disassociating from Church during the teenage years, rarely to return for more than special occasions. Here are some reflections on this from one of the religious order priests. There’s certainly a definite sociological reality that’s going on, where the young people from ethnic communities are far more conspicuously present than Anglo-Saxon Australian kids. Part of that is that often these are first or second generation immigrants, and there are two aspects of that. One is will we see them maintain faith practice as generational change takes place? I think we need to be very wary of relaxing our thinking of ‘it’s all okay because here’s the future coming through and it’s quite strong’. The indications from some of those faith communities are that faith doesn’t necessarily translate as they integrate or assimilate – as they move into the Australian culture more deeply. Our ministry has to be to all young people.

In view of the long-term future Church, all young people must be invited, those from migrant communities and those whose families have been here for generations.

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Concern about the phenomenon of youth disassociation from the Church Among the remaining 23 to whom I spoke there was genuine concern at the absence of young people from the parish. Typical comments were: ‘If the youth and young adults are not actively involved now, where will the Church be in 10 to 20 years’ time?’ ‘It would take only one generation for the gospel to be lost altogether.’ ‘I think we’re in the middle of a crisis. The lack of regeneration is disastrous.’ One referred to the rise of a fundamentalist Catholicism among some young people, wondering what this might mean for the future. Two, however, stressed that numbers are not the issue: It does cause anxiety, but I don’t believe the situation is hopeless. Nevertheless, the majority are unlikely to be involved in Christian life in the future. This leaves a void that will be difficult to fill. Numbers don’t worry me, but what does is that some will no longer hear the message in order to make the decision of whether it speaks to them or not. Jesus spoke to thousands of people, we are told. In the end, how many joined with him? Twelve. But he didn’t give up. He didn’t say, oh, well, none of these thousands of people are coming to talk and to listen to me. He knew they were not going to join, but he didn’t give up talking to them and preaching to them and sharing his values with them.

Reflections on reasons for the decline The reasons the parish personnel proffered for the absence of young people from Catholic parish life can be grouped into 11 categories. The most frequent reason given for the disassociation from the Church of young people was the phenomenon of secularization. This has led to the privatization of religion across society and to its use as a consumer item. This secularization, according to one respondent (a parish council leader) has now affected three generations, with the result that faith is not communicated in the home. The secular culture is communicated and supported in the media, bringing with it hedonism and relativism in relation to moral standards which can leave young people feeling empty.



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I believe alcohol/drugs and sexual relationships actually takes them down roads where they feel shame and guilt from which they feel they can’t come back, so they give up and continue on in that same direction.

The second and related most-often-noted factor was the many distractions in a secular society that draw people, including young people, away from Sunday Eucharist. These included work, sporting commitments, public sporting fixtures and a very busy social life for young people. As one parish priest mused: Many more exciting things to do on the weekend, the Church is no longer the place where people socialize – indeed I wonder if ‘Church’ was more popular years ago as it was the social hub.

The next factor was also related to the phenomenon of secularization, and it concerned the lack of faith practice by parents and in the home. Here are some examples of the comments made by the respondents. The young people involved in our parish come from families who regularly practise the faith as a family. This coupled with the fact that at the ages of fifteen to thirty people are in the prime of their life and other factors of life such as career and raising a family are more of a concern to people of this age than issues of faith. Our experience shows that people post-thirty years of age are more inclined to participate in the life of the parish, as questions of faith start to become more pertinent to their lives. Perhaps the biggest factor is a decline in their family’s involvement. The faith commitment of young people – be they teens or thirty-something – is generally a reflection of their parents’ faith commitment. I think most parents have neglected their duties as teachers of faith to educate their children and bring them to Mass. One major factor is their priorities are somewhere else rather than attending Mass on Sunday. Their interest is to get a good education and have a family. Family life and marriage break down, leaving a big vacuum that should normally be filled by warm, happy family life that gives security and consistency to the practical living of Christian life.

The next four factors were mentioned in similar numbers. The first of these concerned poor communication with young people, especially on the part of the hierarchy. This can cause young people to feel that they are not valued and their voices not heard. The second concerned the disillusionment of Catholics

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generally and young people in particular in view of the sexual abuse scandal and its handling by Church leaders. Yes, this is a huge concern. We have a small parish and are constantly trying to engage young people and families at the parish level. We have a sad history of abuse [by two priests] which has damaged a great number of families and also the reputation of the Catholic Church in our rural area.

For one parish priest a sad result of this was that all priests were now under suspicion. I think that priests are not as trusted or respected as they once were which is so sad. Unfortunately there is a perception that they are all tarred with the same brush.

The third was a perception by some respondents that young people did not know much about the Church, and did not understand the importance of the Eucharist. Adding to this was the next factor of uninviting liturgies (one negatively referring to the new translation of the order of the Mass). Yes. I hear people say that it is because the liturgies lack vibrance. This is a contributing factor in my parish which we are working on; however, it indicates that young people want to be entertained when they come to Mass. This would indicate that they lack an understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist.

Peer pressure was mentioned only three times, but the following comment was pertinent. A feeling of discomfort at not belonging; memories of childhood, being dragged to Mass as unwilling participants. Not wanting to be seen with parents. Not wanting to involve themselves with youth groups because they remember the kids from school who were ‘churchy’ and they were weird.

Some of the respondents saw some fault with Catholic schools. Catholic schools’ education of the faith can be somewhat lacking, especially if the educators themselves are lacking. It is like having a teacher teaching Mathematics when that teacher dislikes the subject or is only half a page ahead of the kids. No enthusiasm and no encouragement. The lack of role models in our Catholic schools. Why expect young people to come to Mass when our own Catholic school teachers don’t see it as a priority? I think a further reason is that for many of our Catholic school teachers there is



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no commitment to the parish and its activities so that there is very little witness for the students to see any sort of social justice example. It does concern me because the strike rate of young people practising their faith, who attended Catholic schools, is very low indeed. I think that whilst Catholic schools have every good intention, the majority of the teachers are not practising Catholics and do not see RE as an important part of children’s education. This is especially the case in high schools where, for example, teachers become frustrated because their programme is interrupted by, for example, a Reconciliation service. They fail to recognize the importance of Reconciliation to the children and just see it as a disruption. I think the children sense this in the teacher’s behaviour. Having been in secondary teaching for almost twenty years I also think that Religious Education is being taught by a significant number of teachers who are not committed to the faith. RE is given to some teachers to ‘fill’ their face-toface teaching time and the quality of what is being taught leaves the students with the wrong message about Church and teaching. Students are encouraged to criticize Church teaching without knowing what it teaches in the first place (and the same can be said about some of these teachers). With all due respect to the older generation of clergy and religious, who are faithful and well intentioned, the catechetical experiments they conducted in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s contributed to the present crisis. I hope and believe the presently unfolding restoration of traditional catechesis can mitigate the crisis of faith.

A further three respondents reflected that affluence breeds a sense that we do not need God. This is an interesting view to consider, since it is in the affluent countries that the Church is in decline, while in poorer nations it is thriving. As one parish priest observed: I believe the real problem is affluence. When I was a child our parents had come out of the depression and many families had members of the family away at World War Two. People of all ages ‘needed God’. This need was often related to the need to put food on the table. There was always a concern about being employed or not. There was little help for the unemployed. Their first call was to seek help from God or the Church. Now most people have a job if they want to work, and most young people have an abundance of cash readily available to them. They think they are self-sufficient and do not need God or the Church. Life moves in cycles. When one examines the history of Israel and the Church one sees that over the years there is a constant cyclic movement between a rebirth in faith and a decline. This decline accompanies a rise in living

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standards and affluence. In an affluent society there is no real pressing need for God. It is only in times of struggle and trial that the need for God and faith becomes apparent, and this is borne out throughout history.

One parish priest saw the phenomenon as a normal manifestation of teenage rebellion while another believed it was because the Church itself had lost its way: I believe that the leaders of the Church in Australia and around the world have lost sight of her essential mission, to preach the Gospel and the doctrines handed down through the Church’s magisterium, whether contained in Scripture or unbroken Tradition. There have been too many failed attempts to soften the Church’s teaching, praxis and liturgy to the point where young people have little or no interest in the banalities offered to them. It is my experience that young people respond to the eternal truths and – when they understand them – the Church’s teaching on sexuality and related matters. Catholic education has dramatically lost its way, with only one to two per cent of Catholics practising after leaving school. This is a disgrace. Nor are the children rejecting something that they know and understand. Catholic schools have failed them in neglecting to teach clearly what the Church teaches.

Some took a more positive view A number of respondents were sanguine about the issue of youth disassociation from the Church, seeing it as both a challenge and potentially an opportunity for reflection and renewal. Others recalled their faith that the Church continues to be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is a challenge that we must face and battle. In looking at this question from an optimistic (rather than foolish) and spiritual angle, maybe it is the work of the Holy Spirit pushing us to seek a revival. We need to listen to them [young people] but we also have to provide a time when we are listened to as well. Yes and no. We are doing many things to try to boost involvement, but I wonder if we are just in the middle of a potentially exciting change in what is Church to these people. So many, one-to one, express strong faith and have very strong social justice values. They just don’t want to attend organized ‘church’ functions, Masses, liturgies.



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The decline causes me frustration at the depth of richness our faith has and so few seem willing or able to pick it up and take hold of it. As for the future, it has always been in God’s hands and still is.

Others pointed out that the decline was not universal and that some areas of parish life were rapidly developing. We can also see parishes with a significant number of young people and the numbers in these parishes are not decreasing. This is one of our problems … we focus on the decrease (the negative!) and we fail to look at the reasons why the individuals in the same age groups are going to Church and involved in parish activities. The baptisms of children continue at an amazing level. We also have very high participation in the other Sacramental programs – we link Liturgy of the Word for the children during a four-week period with very high participation rates. But … after the Sacraments – little or no further activity – even Mass for Christmas and Easter – amazingly light. The Church practice doesn’t fit into a hectic working, social and sporting lifestyle. Youth involvement in our parish has waxed and waned in recent years. Currently it is waning. I think parish involvement is a measure – not the only measure, but certainly a good measure – of a young person’s commitment to God and his or her faith.

Successful activities for teenagers and young adults In some parishes the involvement of young people was strong: We have a good number of young people here who are engaged in parish life in a variety of ways: youth choir, youth ministry, catechesis, altar serving.

Four of the priests stressed the development of relationships with teenagers and young adults in these words. My background and personality (all grace and gift) – interest in sport and life – which enable me to relate to many – of course not all. I delight in relating well and supporting young couples preparing for marriage, and those with children for the sacraments – I try to be good news. Relationships are the key. In the six months I have been in this parish, I have gradually become acquainted with the young parishioners, and then become

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friends. To begin with, I just catch up with people over coffee or a meal, and talk about whatever interests them. These are people who are coming to Mass, so I leave ‘the preaching’ to Sunday homilies, and discuss God and the faith only if the other person raises it. Having built up these relationships, I then started a weekly initiative. Nothing complicated – just a DVD and informal discussion, with food and drink provided. The DVD is catechetical, so the young people are deepening their knowledge of the faith. That in turn has influenced some of the conversation I’ve had with them one on one. Now I’m getting to the point of becoming acquainted with their friends who don’t go to Mass, and so the cycle repeats itself. I don’t hassle young people after they have left school. Let them develop their talents in sport and other fields. I keep contact with them and encourage them to live the gift of life as fully as they can. I try to make people feel welcome when they come to the Church for whatever reason, be it for sacraments or a school reference. These are opportunities to show young people that the Church does not stand in judgement of them, that they are valued members of the Church and they are welcome, whether they have been coming to Mass regularly or not. Frequent visits to the parish school, having a cup of tea with the school staff all help to create a positive picture of the Church. Even walking through the car park and saying hello to the parents when they pick their children up can have very positive reactions. It’s surprising how many ask me things in this non-threatening situation about the Church or the sacraments. The setting up of our parish play group has been very successful, as has been special midweek mothers and babies’ Masses in which all those who have had a child baptized are invited to attend with their babies and enjoy morning tea afterwards. Social events, great support for World Youth Day. Personal invitations to be ministers or actively involved in the liturgies, liturgies (not just Mass) targeted to the young people’s stage of life. Blessing of mothers-to-be, baptisms during Mass not outside Mass, recognizing important events/milestones in their lives.

One respondent wrote of a number of different activities in which the young people of the parish were involved: The most obvious answers would be activities such as World Youth Day and Days in the Diocese of 2008, but also activities to help those affected by the bushfires, whether it be fundraising or whatever. This Year of Grace is an important one for us because we can look back and thank God for our previous leaders in our parishes, our archdiocese, our schools and our community. Looking at this we need to assess where we are today and then look to see



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where the road/journey will take us. It is the Emmaus story. Do we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread and can we feel our hearts burning in having recognized him and recognizing him still. To use another Scripture theme, it is like fishing. One throws out the bait, waits patiently and when there is a bite … reel it in. Recognize if the individual is a leader or wants to be led and move on from there. For about twelve months I had one evening a month where we were able to meet and bring in comments, issues or questions of their choosing and open up discussion with these. This wasn’t so much of interest for teenagers but certainly some in their twenties and thirties. Recently we have been privileged to be involved with asylum seekers. We have a teenager, a couple in their twenties and some in their thirties wanting to be involved, as well as fundraising for overseas missions.

One problem was finding the people to take responsibility and lead the programmes for young adults. A few years ago we had a couple of very successful Antioch groups. We have not had any suitable adult couples to step forward and accept the responsibility. I have tried very hard to get a junior Youth Group off the ground. There were plenty of students keen to be part of it but the problem was an absence of youth leaders who were prepared to accept responsibility and hang in for the long haul. The older community says we should be doing things for the young people, yet are not prepared to take any action to support it. Like so many other things, it is somebody else who should be taking action.

Are you hopeful for the future of the Church? Faith in the Holy Spirit Two of the respondents said that they were not hopeful for the future of the Church but others were more optimistic, arguing from their belief in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church. Yes, considering that the Church is under the power of the Holy Spirit, and also that there are still some young people who want to know Christ and live his life. We continue to rely on the Holy Spirit – I am very impressed by the parenting of the majority of our families – the dedication, commitment and love of the children is outstanding.

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The Holy Spirit – and the history of the Church to be finding new ways of responding to the signs of the times – despite all evidence to the contrary. The traditionalism and conservatism of the younger priests and seminarians is both a puzzle and a shock and something I cannot understand or comprehend. I am most grateful to my educators in the 1970s. We were graced/blessed with amazing scriptural, theological education, and all with an appreciation of the modern society – where He continues to pitch His tent. There are many people searching for answers. If we are open to the Spirit the answers will be found. But perhaps we haven’t even found the right questions yet. Yes, I am still hopeful that God will continue His work through the Church but I think in order for that to happen there will have to be some major changes within the Catholic Church to keep up with society and compete with what society is offering people. Despite my anxiety, I am hopeful. It is God’s Church, and although there is no guarantee that the Church will survive in Australia, I am nonetheless hopeful that by God’s grace it will in fact survive and thrive. I think things are turning around. Maintain the faith, there is no need to change anything, what we are experiencing in Australia is cyclical and a result of the affluent society we live in. We as Church need only to be ready to assist people when trials come, which as history shows they will. The Church has stood for two thousand years, now is not the time to panic. The best hope we can offer people in time of trial and instability is stability and constancy. This stability and firmness of resolve on the part of the Church will be a greater assurance and comfort to people who will be searching for stability in their own lives. Sometimes. On a good day I believe that a cleansing breeze is blowing on our Church bringing with it change – and positive change. There is a groundswell of people who are passionate about their faith and will work hard to promote and nurture it. We will clean out the rubbish and get back to basics.

Hope in the popularity of Catholic education When one considers that for the past two years more children have started school in the Catholic system in Victoria than the government system it seems to indicate that parents are looking for ‘values’ education despite many things to the contrary. I still see parents bringing their children into our primary schools. The majority of these are in their twenties and thirties. They bring their children for



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the sacraments. Many may be un-churched … but they are hungering for information at the same time. For the young parents of children we have an evening that I have led with an adult commentary of Scripture that opened up an avenue for thought, questions and comments.

Hope in the devotion and commitment of migrants Yes. I am hopeful for the future of the Church, because already I am beginning to see signs of an increased awareness of God and the need for faith occurring in our parish. Added to this is the increase in immigration which has made a huge contribution to the life of the Church in Australia. Further, we are beginning to see that the good times and affluence that Australia has enjoyed over the past thirty years is declining, and as this further declines so we will begin to see people returning to their faith or beginning to explore the role of faith in their lives and seek God. In many respects the hope of the Church is with our migrants, for example the Vietnamese, Sudanese, Sri Lankans, Indians, Iraqis, Chinese, Maltese, and those who are poor and had the faith before they came to Australia.

Hope in the rising numbers of seminarians Yes, I am still hopeful for the future of the Church in Australia because there are still many good, practising Catholics and young men are coming back to the Church and even interested in following God’s call to priesthood and to religious life. Young women are less inclined in this aspect.

Issues with which we continue to contend I asked the respondents what they would say to the bishops of the nation if they had a chance to address them. Their responses were varied and interesting as shown in the quotations that follow.

Shortage of Priests In the diocese I work in, the number of priests who have come from another country and don’t speak English well enough to be able to express themselves sufficiently, and who don’t have a grasp of Australian culture, far exceed those

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from Australian cultural backgrounds. I believe these priests have difficulty relating to many Catholics and are keeping people away from the Church. The Church is important to young people, particularly when they want to marry and especially when they have children; they seem keen to have their children baptized and to attend Catholic schools. These are important evangelizing opportunities for clergy and I’m afraid some don’t see it as such and turn people away by making it difficult for young people to avail of these sacraments, or make them feel guilty because they have not been attending Mass or supporting the parish financially. In rural and semi-rural parishes one thing that works against us is that students and workers leave the parish to go to the city for tertiary education. When youth movements were strong most parishes had young assistant priests who had ‘the time to waste productively’ with the youth and it bore much fruit. Today most parishes are led by aged parish priests who are flat out caring pastorally for the whole parish and have little time to spend with the youth. We may also be too old to be on the wavelength of the youth. There is a concentration of young people in Catholic high schools. Why not have young dynamic priests appointed to the staff of these schools as chaplains?

Catholic education We need to get passion back into our schools. For example, RE teachers – many of them have lost the passion, or are so strict and old school that the RE curriculum does not get through to students nor stay with them. We also need to make Church and youth group ‘cool’ somehow … it’s a challenge, but it’s possible! Other Christian denominations seem to get through to their youth so why can’t we? Reform Catholic schools to ensure that they clearly teach Catholic doctrine. I would also like to see ACU [the Australian Catholic University] – being a national university – guided more by the Australian Bishops’ Conference. This institution of Catholic education should be more engaged in the life of the Church also, and should be forming the next generation of intellectuals with an unashamed Catholic identity, not just in values and ethics, but also in Catholic doctrine. I would further like to see the bishops crack down on the clergy to uphold the teachings of the Church, to obey Canon and liturgical laws and improve their spiritual lives. Look at what is happening in our Catholic schools and see why there is such dichotomy between the school and the parish.



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Bishops need to listen Listen to what the priests and parish personnel are saying. That is so important because they are at the grass-root level. What is more important is to take that information and then make decisions. Be leaders and healers. I do not doubt their love for the Church and that they are people of prayer. Sometimes it appears bishops and ordinaries could be thugs. I speak of this from personal experience. Recognize we have a love for the people and lead us to be united. Priests and bishops may need to be reprimanded. There has been too much disunity on all levels. No wonder the people feel confused and distanced. Come back to your parishes (without your regalia) and look and listen! Get to know the young by name. Our diocese had a bishop who was passionate about the involvement of youth and he had a huge following and many very involved young people because he got out there with them, knew so many by name and family, valued them and told them how good they are … that God does not make rubbish. Messages [like this] are greatly needed. Unfortunately, since his death, this has not been such a great focus, but those who were touched by him have largely stayed faithful. I am hopeful for the future of the church, if we have active and dynamic leaders who are genuinely interested in their flock at the human level as well as the spiritual. On some days I admit to feeling rather despondent when our Bishop and other hierarchy seem to be working against what we the people believe and aspire to.

Evangelization I’d say that evangelization is not something that needs to happen in the CBD (Central Business District) of capital cities, where centres have been set up, but every parish is a centre of evangelization. Every time someone phones the parish for a sick relative, a relative who has died, a baptism certificate or whatever, is an evangelization opportunity. These simple requests can be made difficult because parishes don’t return messages in a timely fashion and don’t see the need to oblige to the person making the request. It’s as if they are providing a service and people should be grateful. This is because they don’t see these simple situations as being evangelization opportunities, opportunities to show the human and caring face of the Church. The money which has been spent on the Evangelization Centre in CBD of my diocese could have been much better spent employing people to assist the parish priest in his pastoral duties. Priests appear to be burnt out and lay people have limited time to assist him. Parish priests need support in this area.

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Catholic Charismatic renewal I would say that praying with people is a charism that isn’t used much in the mainstream and they don’t know what they are missing out on. There are quite a lot of well-trained people to minister this charism but it is overlooked. The potential to bring people into the life of the church at a deeper level is enormous. I’m talking about charismatic renewal. The healing ministry was at least a fifth of the gospel stories. Everyone has gifts and they need to be explored and encouraged.

Conclusion: Towards the future The picture that emerges as this research continues is not all troubling. There are successes, stories of hospitality and welcome, priests and parish personnel who work at relationships with young people and listen to them. There is a continuing concern for the Catholic identity of Catholic schools and an enthusiasm for evangelization. There is the love, passion and commitment of priests and parish leaders of all ages and experience. Most of all, there is hope that the Church in western nations will continue with vigour in old as well as new forms, and it is vital that Catholic high schools are not only part of this development but take a leading role in it. MM

What quotations in this chapter have caused you to think again about these issues? With which do you agree and/or disagree?

Index affluence 183–4, 189 anger 8–9, 110, 118 Apostles 15, 58, 66, 68, 75, 166 areopagus 74–5, 79 Australia 1, 3–4, 7, 10, 12–13, 30, 37, 41, 47, 58, 60, 112, 129, 145, 179, 184, 188–9 Australian Catholics 11 authentic self 6 baby boomers 8–9, 41 beliefs 12, 21, 24–7, 29–32, 38, 49–51, 53, 58, 60, 64, 69–70, 77–8, 81, 83, 110, 112, 125, 128, 130, 132, 135, 137–8, 144–5, 147, 156, 163, 172 believing without belonging 4–5, 45 Benedict XVI 9–10, 41, 91, 104 Bible 12, 58, 98 Biblical history 50, 58, 74, 85, 98 Bishops 1–2, 15, 27, 43, 102–4, 128–9, 134, 164, 189–91 brothers 9, 12, 41 Canon law 4, 127, 153, 190 catechism 11, 14, 133, 166–7 Catholic/catholic 1–5, 7, 9–16, 21, 23, 25–8, 31–9, 41–7, 49–50, 52–5, 57–66, 68–71, 73, 76–84, 86, 89, 91–4, 96–7, 100, 102–3, 105, 107–12, 114–18, 123–4, 126–41, 143–58, 163–75, 177–8, 180–4, 188–90, 192 children 2, 12–13, 15, 163–4, 171 Church 1–3, 13–15, 21, 26–7, 35, 43, 45, 91, 133–4, 150, 155, 163–4, 166–8, 171–2, 174, 177, 182, 188 commitment 3, 5, 15, 32–7, 45, 59–60, 105 educators 16, 55, 57, 91–2 high schools 1, 21, 45, 54, 59, 64, 67, 70–1, 86, 89, 92–3, 97, 100, 105, 109, 114, 123, 126, 136, 138–9, 141, 158, 163, 165, 174, 177, 190, 192

identity 13, 28, 41–2, 47, 50, 59, 65, 89, 91–2, 94, 123, 126, 139, 149, 153, 157, 163, 165, 171–4, 190, 192 schools 1–2, 10–16, 21, 33, 35–9, 41, 43, 45–7, 52–3, 60, 62, 64–5, 69–70, 73, 76–7, 97, 107–8, 111–12, 116, 127–30, 137, 139–40, 143–5, 147–8, 152–3, 157, 163, 171–4, 182–4, 190 social teaching 11, 46–7, 58–9, 65, 67, 89, 97, 102 spirituality 25, 38, 140 teachers 63, 132, 135, 137, 182 young people 11, 58, 105, 173 see also exemplary Catholic schools Catholicism 2, 12, 15, 37, 47, 54, 57–8, 64, 77, 79, 80, 85, 124, 128–9, 141, 144, 146, 171, 180 chain of memory 57, 63–4 charity 89, 96, 104, 139, 168, 172 Christ 5, 11–12, 14–15, 25, 42–3, 45, 48, 65–6, 68–9, 74, 82–3, 89–92, 98, 100–1, 104, 112, 128, 133–4, 147, 165–71, 174, 187 Christian service 42, 46, 49, 59, 81, 89, 92–8, 100–1, 105 programmes 49, 89, 92–3, 95–7, 100, 105 church history 58, 63, 68–9, 128, 188 coherence 112, 133 Communion 2, 5, 12, 15, 48, 69, 104, 166–7, 171–2 community 5, 7–8, 13–14, 27, 35–6, 38, 42–9, 52–5, 58–9, 63, 68–70, 77, 81–2, 91–3, 95–7, 113, 124–5, 131–2, 135, 139, 144–7, 149–52, 154, 157, 165, 171, 173–5, 178, 186–7 in faith 36, 42–4, 46–7 confession 2, 12 confirmation 12

194 Index conscience 9, 11, 79, 135, 137 content 11, 29, 38, 47, 61–2, 65–9, 71, 81, 86, 91, 97, 105, 108, 113–14, 119, 124–5, 129, 139, 143 controversial topics 123 creed 14, 27, 68, 133–4, 165 cult of niceness 106, 111, 119 denominations 13, 15, 26, 29, 64, 164, 190 development of doctrine 70–1 dialogue 48–50, 52, 54, 64–6, 74–5, 79–81, 114, 118, 124–5, 129, 151, 164–5, 167, 169–75 Diocese 13, 16, 45, 60, 82, 131, 158, 173, 179, 186, 189, 191 dissent 8–9, 16, 123, 133–6, 141 distinctive 12–13, 23, 52, 54, 64, 108, 165, 174 distinctiveness 52, 54, 77, 164–5, 171 diversity 13–15, 49, 66, 69, 124, 146–7, 166, 178 Early Church 42, 60, 100–1 Eastern churches 15, 167 Ecclesial identity 42, 165 Ecumenism 15, 167, 171–3 education 1, 10–14, 33–7, 41–3, 45–7, 50, 55, 57, 59–64, 67, 69–70, 75, 79–80, 82, 85, 92–4, 97, 111–12, 114–16, 118–19, 123, 126–33, 136–8, 140, 143–4, 149, 151, 153, 158, 164, 172, 181–4, 188, 190 educational 13–14, 33–4, 39, 42, 50, 61, 83, 86, 93, 110, 112–13, 115, 117, 124–5, 130, 139, 146, 148, 153–5, 165 engagement 33–6, 51, 114, 169 ethical 11, 30, 50, 60, 69, 154 ethics of authenticity 6 ethos 35–6, 38, 43, 140 Eucharist 4–5, 9, 12–13, 35–7, 44–6, 54, 58, 60, 66, 68, 90, 134, 181–2 Eucharistic 42, 46 Europe 4, 8, 10, 41, 58–9, 102, 104, 109 Evangelism 51, 54 Evangelization 50, 54, 64–6, 74, 80, 82, 103, 111, 146–7, 150, 191, 192 Evangelizing 52, 91, 149, 153, 157, 164

ex-cathedra 134–5 exemplary Catholic schools 46, 67, 138 faith 6, 12–13, 15, 33–7, 42–9, 53–4, 58, 60–1, 65–70, 73–4, 78–9, 82–3, 86, 90–1, 93–4, 103, 105, 110, 112, 114, 116–17, 126–8, 130–5, 137, 139–40, 143–58, 165–6, 168–9, 171, 173, 179–89 leader 143, 147, 149, 151–4, 156–7 leadership 143–6, 148–58 faithful presence 50–2, 54–5 family 8–9, 31, 33–6, 42, 48, 76–9, 103–4, 109–10, 136, 174, 181, 183, 191 life 8–9, 181 first communion 12 formation 22, 36–7, 54, 67, 92, 109, 110, 119, 123, 130–1, 150, 152–8, 173 generation 3–4, 8–9, 11, 13, 21, 25, 27, 38, 41, 52–3, 59, 63–4, 76–8, 81, 99, 128, 156, 173, 179–80, 183, 190 Generation Y 11, 63, 76–8, 128 God 5–6, 24–5, 33–4, 42–4, 48–9, 51–2, 55, 61, 65–6, 68, 74–5, 77–9, 82–3, 85, 89–91, 98–101, 104, 114, 116–18, 133–5, 138, 140, 146, 148–9, 165–70, 173, 183–6, 188–9, 191 Gospel values 47–8, 149–50, 152, 157 Hebrew Scriptures 68, 98 hierarchy 10, 133–4, 181, 191 holiness 42, 51, 65–7, 69, 89–92, 97, 105 Holy Spirit 14, 25, 43, 66, 68, 90, 118, 129, 133, 135, 165, 168–71, 184, 187–8 hospitality 48, 101–2, 147, 150, 178, 192 human rights 7, 48, 53, 97 Humanae Vitae 9 immersion 28, 36, 38, 49, 81 in-service 131 inclusive 13, 42, 101–2, 153, 164–5, 170–1, 174 inclusiveness 164–5, 175 individualism 3, 6, 8, 53 induction 123, 130–2, 140–1 inter-faith 49, 124, 164, 167, 171–3

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inter-religious 50, 79, 167, 171, 173

obligation 4–5, 37, 58, 77, 79, 127

Jesus of Nazareth 11, 24, 43–4, 149 John XXIII 43, 103 John Paul II 44, 64–6, 74, 81, 104, 144, 169–70

parents 3, 10, 12, 21, 30–2, 34–5, 37, 43, 136–8, 144, 149, 151, 181–3, 186, 188–9 parish 33, 43, 45–6, 83, 94, 131, 144, 149–50, 152–3, 163–4, 173–4, 177–83, 185–6, 189–92 personnel 174, 177, 180, 191, 192 pastoral associates 177 pastoral leadership 147 peer mentoring 132 Pentecostal 7 People of God 5, 82, 90, 165, 168 pluralistic 52 plurality 54, 174 postmodernism 8 prayer 12–13, 26, 29, 33, 35–6, 46, 58, 65, 68–9, 81–2, 128, 134–5, 149, 153–4, 170, 191 pre-service 127, 129–30, 141 Priests 2, 6, 9, 12–13, 41, 46, 134, 147, 174, 177–9, 181–5, 188–92 principals 82, 116, 130–1, 139, 143–57 professional education 128 knowledge 123–4 practice 123–4, 145 relationships 123, 125 Prophets 24, 26, 98–100 Protestant 7, 12, 15, 25, 78

Kerygmatic 11 Kingdom of God 42–4, 55, 66, 89, 91, 100, 140 knowledge 6, 8, 11, 15, 27, 29, 30, 38, 45, 48–50, 53, 57–63, 66–7, 69–70, 73, 80–1, 83, 105, 108, 113, 115, 118, 123–5, 127–31 lay teachers 11–12 legitimation 27–8 life-centred 11, 60–2, 64, 71 lifeworld 75–6, 79–81, 83, 86, 124–5, 128, 131 liturgical 2, 45–6, 65–6, 69, 126, 146, 190 liturgy 14, 45–6, 69, 128, 132, 134, 139, 149, 184–5 Lumen Gentium 5, 44, 90, 137, 166–8 Mary 25–6, 68–9, 84, 112, 133–5 mentorship 126, 130, 132 methodology 61, 110 migrant youth 179 migrants 104, 178–9, 189 Ministry of service 46 mission 12, 14, 35, 41–2, 45–6, 50, 54, 64, 90–1, 93–4, 100, 104, 123, 126, 128, 131–2, 139, 141, 143, 147–9, 153, 157, 165, 171, 177, 184, 187 modernity 6 moralistic therapeutic deism 114 morality 6, 50, 77, 111 national attendance 3 new evangelization 64–6, 74, 80, 82, 111, 147 New Testament 89, 101, 166 non-religious 33, 39, 138 education teachers 138 North America 8, 10 Nostra Aetate 168–9 nuns 2, 12, 41

RE 10–13, 37, 59–65, 67, 70, 73, 79, 82, 84–6, 95, 107–14, 116, 118–19, 123–7, 129–31, 135–7, 163–4, 183 teachers 10, 59, 62, 85, 108, 114, 119, 123–30, 135, 137, 190 reason 4, 6, 10, 13, 35–6, 80, 92, 103, 108, 109, 112, 117, 126–7, 167, 179–80, 182, 185–6 reconciliation 49, 66, 147, 168, 183 reference others 23, 36 reflective teaching 126 Reformation 5–6, 15, 68 relative 29, 124, 191 relativism 77, 104, 164, 172, 180 relevance 51, 61–2, 119 religions 13, 15, 23–9, 51–3, 63–4, 66, 68, 79, 124, 163–5, 167–71, 173–5

196 Index religiosity 4, 7, 23, 26, 28–31, 33, 35, 38, 76, 79, 132 religious devotion 32–3, 39, 178 religious education 10, 36–7, 46, 57, 60–4, 67, 69–70, 75, 80, 82, 85, 92–3, 97, 112, 115, 118–19, 123, 126–7, 130, 133, 136, 140, 149, 151, 153, 158, 172, 183 teachers 10, 62, 82, 127, 153 see also RE religious experience 24–6, 29, 33–4, 76, 110, 173 religious illiteracy 10, 12, 57, 59, 71 religious practice 3, 15–16, 29, 36, 150, 173 religious socialization 14, 21, 23, 26–8, 30–2, 34–6, 140 religiousness 25, 29–30 revelation 27, 60–1, 70, 98, 102, 107, 133, 135, 168, 170 rituals 6, 24–6, 28–30, 48, 63, 101, 145, 151 role-modelling 36 role models 37, 58, 65, 132, 182 Ryan report 10

socialization 14, 21–3, 26–8, 30–2, 34–9, 140 spiritual development 7 spiritual leadership 152 spirituality 6–7, 23–5, 34, 38, 41, 43, 45, 53, 63, 73, 75–7, 79, 81–2, 100, 125, 130–2, 140, 145, 150–2, 154, 157, 170 St Paul 42, 68, 74–5 Sunday Mass 2–3, 12–13, 16, 45, 68, 94, 178–9, 181 symbolic interactionism 155–7

Sacrament(s) 5, 12, 35–7, 44, 66, 68, 90, 128, 166–8, 179, 185–6, 189 Sacred books 25 Saints 26–7, 60, 68–9, 102 salvation 14, 45, 133, 167–70 Scripture 27, 46–7, 59, 63, 65–70, 83, 89, 97–8, 100, 102, 105, 108, 117–18, 128–9, 133–5, 137, 140, 166, 184, 187, 189 Second Vatican Council 2, 5, 8–9, 11, 13, 41, 45, 60, 68, 70, 90, 97, 110, 133, 135, 137, 146, 164, 167–9 secular 5, 7–8, 21, 30–5, 37–8, 51–4, 97, 105, 110, 144–5, 153, 180, 181 secularization 5, 12, 16, 18, 51, 53, 64, 111, 145, 180–1 Seminarians 188–9 sense of the sacred 47 significant others 33–4 social analysis 96–7, 105 social change 51 social justice 27, 45, 54, 59–60, 89, 92, 97–8, 105, 139, 183–4

ultimate questions 151 unity 15, 66, 82, 138, 147, 163–7, 171, 174 universal 7, 14–15, 45, 48, 65–6, 76, 105, 135, 168, 170, 185

Table fellowship 101–2 teachers 10–13, 27, 32–4, 36–7, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47, 54, 59, 61–3, 66–7, 69, 73, 82–3, 85–6, 89, 93–5, 97, 102, 105, 107–8, 112, 114–15, 117, 119, 123–32, 135, 137–41, 144, 153, 156, 171–3, 181–3, 190 teenagers 2–3, 58, 62, 78–9, 114, 185, 187 transcendent 24, 78, 116, 151 Trinitarian 65, 118, 133, 147 Trinity 25, 60, 65, 68, 107, 116–18

values 4–5, 12–13, 21–6, 28–9, 34–6, 38, 42–3, 47–51, 55, 60, 69–70, 73, 81, 93, 103, 123, 125, 128, 132, 137–40, 146, 149–50, 152, 154, 156–7, 169, 180, 184, 188, 190 vicarious religion 58 vocations 69 witness 36–7, 42, 53–4, 82, 93–4, 103, 127–8, 139–40, 144, 150, 152–3, 169, 171, 183 world Youth Day 186 young adults 3, 85, 108–9, 180, 185, 187 youth workers zone of proximal development 113