ACU Short Courses in Theology 16/8/18

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1 University Prayer Short Course in Theology The future of Catholic Education and Institutions Robyn Horner & Paul Sharkey 15 August 2018 God of all truth and goodness, bless us as we gather here at Australian Catholic University. May we be strengthened in mind and heart to pursue what you inspire, with insight and deliberation, that our world may advance In true wisdom and justice for all: Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 2 Short course in theology: The future of Catholic Education and Institutions What is the future of Catholic Education? Some questions we need to ask: 1. What does the context look like? What can we do to prepare for that future? What can we do that might be harmful? What can we do that could be helpful? The Context Changes in the Australian Religious Profile sus-2016-shows-australiaschanging-religious-profile-withmore-nones-than-catholics How do we actually know what is going on? (fake news?) Secularising Not the end of religion, but the secular as the norm for the organisation of common life. Pluralising Multiple religions and worldviews exist alongside one another Detraditionalising traditions and traditional identities are no longer easily or automatically handed down in families or by means of broader social structures, such as religious institutions Individualising a shift of authority: from without to within. * *Paul Heelas, "Introduction: Detraditionalization and its Rivals," in Detraditionalization: critical reflections on authority and identity, ed. Paul Heelas, Scott Lash, and Paul Morris (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1996), 2. Find evidence of what is going on in the context. Consider that evidence from a theological point of view Bring that evidence to bear on the choices we make for the future Participating in the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project is a way of gathering evidence, reflecting on the evidence theologically, and then bringing that evidence to bear in decision making and action. 6 Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 1

2 The ECSI surveys give us evidence. 1. What kinds of approaches to faith do students and adults within schools take? Literal belief? All things religious should be understood according to the letter (Matthew 5:30?) External critique? All religion is false Relativism? All religions are effectively the same Post-critical belief? God speaks to us by means of narratives, symbols, sacraments, other people. The Post-critical belief scale profiles these different approaches to Catholic faith. 7 8 Can we foresee what could happen if? Given the evidence, what might our options be? 1. Catholic schools only for (real) Catholics and only by (real) Catholics. 2. No difference between Catholic and State schools. Close the system. 3. Catholic schools are places where we teach people to be nice. 4. Catholic schools clearly articulate and live out Christian faith, in dialogue with a range of religious and other worldviews. The ECSI surveys give us evidence. 2. How do adults and students in Catholic schools perceive their identity as Catholic? Reconfessionalising? We will just tell you what to believe. Secularising? The Catholic thing is over; it is just part of this school s history. Values in common with society? To be a good person, you don t need to be (too) Catholic. Recontextualising? How can we talk about our Catholic beliefs and practices in new contexts? The Melbourne Scale shows us how adults and students perceive their Catholic identity and how they desire it to be reflected in the future The ECSI surveys give us evidence. 3. How do we relate to others in our religious learning? Monologue? We are only interested in talking to Catholics because only Catholics are right. Colourless? What you believe is not relevant at school. We just do school, here. Colourful? Everyone is welcome at this school! (Just don t talk too much about being Catholic.) Dialogue? In a Catholic school, we learn and experience what it means to be Catholic, in dialogue with others who might not be Catholic. The Victoria Scale shows us how adults and students relate to others religiously and how they desire to relate in the future Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 2

3 Why ECSI? What is the problem exactly? ECSI survey snapshots and analysis shows Gradual Secularisation becomes apparent especially in the results of the students in secondary colleges. However, it threatens the entire Catholic education network and primary schools certainly do not escape it either. The ECSIP 2012 research results show that for many students the Catholic identity markers have become somehow invisible: the students accept their presence as something evident, but an increasing number do not really notice, understand and incorporate their meaning anymore. D. Pollefeyt & J. Bouwens, Identity in Dialogue: Assessing and Enhancing Catholic School Identity. Research Methodology and Research Results in Catholic Schools in Victoria, Australia (Berlin: Lit Verlag) 2014), 298, emphasis added. 13 Does this ring true with your experience? Literal Reconfessional Monologue Cognitive dissonance OR Foreclosure Secularisation or Opposition to World External Critique Secular Colourless Secularisation Relativism Common Values Education Colourful Secularisation Post-Critical Recontextualising Dialogue Catholic Dialogue School Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 3

4 A view from Vatican II Theological Reflection on the Evidence Drawing from Vatican II The Church seeks to be in dialogue with the context PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD This Second Vatican Council addresses itself without hesitation, not only to the sons of the Church and to all who invoke the name of Christ, but to the whole of humanity. For the council yearns to explain to everyone how it conceives of the presence and activity of the Church in the world of today. The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics. GAUDIUM ET SPES 2, 4. Theological Anthropology A positive evaluation of the human person and the world PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD 1. The human is destined for a great purpose as the pinnacle of creation, and is made in the divine likeness 2. We experience sin but we can know the good 3. Complementarity of faith and reason 19 Revelation God speaks to us as friends DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION DEI VERBUM Chapter 1 1. Revelation takes place as dialogue. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1;15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself. 2. God speaks to us in the context of our lives, by means of Scripture, Tradition, prayer, human experience, reason, sacrament, relationship. Symbolic mediation As embodied creatures, the primary way in which we come to know our world is through symbols. We learn through language, concepts, images, and metaphors. It is through these symbols that God is able to "mediate the sharing of divine life that is the substance of revelation. Avery Dulles referred to this understanding of revelation as symbolic mediation. These symbols mediate or make present God's self-gift. God comes among us in ways that we can grasp, in deeds great and small and in a special way in the testimony of Scripture. Richard R. Gaillardetz and Catherine Clifford, Keys to the Council: Unlocking the Teaching of Vatican II (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2012) 35. Tradition Tradition is a living reality DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION DEI VERBUM Chapter 2 1. Tradition is a living reality which contains both the process and the product of the learning of the church, nurtured by her listening to God s Word. 2. Tradition is not a static whole of doctrines, rules and ritual, but develops over time, in relation to the historical context in which the church proclaims the gospel. Interfaith dialogue DECREE ON ECUMENISM UNITATIS REDINTEGRATIO Acceptance of other Christian denominations: some and even very many of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself, can exist outside the boundaries of the visible Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and visible elements too. All of these, which come from Christ and lead back to Christ, belong by right to the one Church of Christ. n.2 Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 4

5 Interfaith dialogue Further theological reflection by the Church Major documents on Catholic Education since Vatican II DECLARATION ON THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS NOSTRA AETATE There are elements of truth in other religious traditions The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. Other religions often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men. (n.2) 2017 Educating to fraternal humanism building a civilization of love 50 years after Populorum progressio 2014 Educating Today and Tomorrow: A Renewing Passion 2013 Educating to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools. Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love 2007 Educating Together in Catholic Schools. A Shared Mission between Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful 1997 The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millenium 1988 The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School 1982 Lay Catholics in Schools: Witnesses to Faith 1977 The Catholic School 1965 Gravissimum Educationis 1965 Gravissimum Educationis 1997 The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millenium 2013 Educating to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools: Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love 2017 Educating to fraternal humanism building a civilization of love 50 years after Populorum progressio Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 5

6 The context: Religion in decline in Australian schools? What can we do that is helpful? Sydney Morning Herald 13 Aug 2018 Australian school students are becoming more likely to identify with no religion even in religious schools, including a 68 per cent increase in Catholic schools. The trend, which mirrors changes in the wider population, has led the peak independent schools body to warn religious schools to rethink their marketing key findings: the need to shift From a literal reading of the text to the active involvement of the student in the meaningmaking process From Colourful or Colourless approaches to Catholic recontextualising dialogue From harmonising (CVE) approaches to an explicit and culturally plausible appropriation of Catholic faith 3 Challenges for our work with students 1. As students move from childhood into adolescence they engage critically with questions of faith and meaning. The challenge is to genuinely engage with student questions and critiques but to do so in a ways that present Catholic faith as being rich, viable and worthy of their life-long commitment. 2. As students move from childhood into adolescence they resist approaches that presume a prior Catholic commitment and become more open to secularised options. The challenge is to create explicit Catholic experiences (inside and outside of the classroom) where the richness of Catholic faith is received and appreciated within the student s world of meaning. 3. As students move from childhood into adolescence they are more open to identity options where questions of meaning or faith are downplayed or relativised. The challenge is to respect each student s voice but to ensure that the Catholic voice sounds confidently, unambiguously, explicitly, systematically, attractively and invitationally across the life of the school A Challenges for our work with teachers About half of our teachers (the orange wedge) believe that Catholic faith can be presented to students using concepts such as love, respect for creation, justice etc. The challenge is to ensure that teachers understand that whilst these concepts might provide entry points for their work with students, authentic Catholic formation only occurs when students engage explicitly with Catholic faith in liturgy, Scripture, doctrine and prayer. Teachers in the orange wedge need to understand that students must engage explicitly with Catholic faith (and therefore Christ) in liturgy, Scripture, doctrine and prayer. Christ is known personally, not in abstractions or proxies Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 6

7 Model 1 Model 3 Model Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project 7

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