Catholic Church documents on religious education

Abstract

In the discourse about religious education in the Catholic Church one of the greatest difficulties has been with language and definition. The meanings of terms such as evangelisation, catechesis, religious education, education in religion, religious studies and religious instruction are confused, often lack clarity, and at other times are used with contradictory meanings. Moran (1971, 1983, 1984, 1989) has been a consistent voice in the debate about the language of religious education, and the difficulties that are faced in developing a systematic and cohesive language. The issue of language, Moran argued in 1971, had reached the point where there was a crisis of religious education that emerged ‘from the relationship between the two words religious and education’ (Moran, 1971, p. 18). He concluded in the late 1990s: Despite the term’s limitations, I do not know a better term in English to refer to all the possible relations between religion and education (Harris & Moran, 1998, p. 7). Other researchers have echoed Moran’s concern about the language of religious education. In the USA, Boys referred to the language issue as being ‘characterised by endemic confusion and conflicting directions’ (Boys, 1982, p. 128). In the United Kingdom, Nichols commented on the confusion between the language of catechesis and religious education and stated that ‘catechesis is a square peg in this educational hole’ (Nichols, 1979, p. 17). A number of simple steps can be taken to help an accurate reading of the texts about religious education. The reader needs to be clear about the authorship, purpose and context of the particular document being read. For example, both Gravissimum Educationis (1965) and The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium (1998) have a focus on catechesis and religious education in a broad sense. A critical factor to keep in mind, apart from these two documents being thirty years apart historically, is that Gravissimum Educationis is addressed to the broad educational mission of the Church and parish, and that The Catholic School on the Threshold of the Third Millennium is addressed to schools. Therefore these documents have different audiences, purposes and meanings. While different documents use the same term, e.g., catechesis and religious education, the context in which the term is used may require an adjustment of meaning and interpretation. For example, when ‘catechesis’ is being used in the context of family life it has a different meaning from the same term being used in the classroom teaching of religious education. There is a need to be careful of the uncritical transference of terms from one context to another, thus making the assumption that there is a single meaning to the term. Understandably the broad focus of Church documents is the mission of the Church in the world and its commitment to evangelisation and catechesis. Catholic schools throughout the world are an extraordinary example of this missionary activity, and are therefore, by implication, places where evangelisation and catechesis can take place. Nevertheless, the question needs to be raised whether the terms evangelisation and catechesis are the most appropriate to, or are synonymous with, a theory and practice of religious education as it occurs in specific classrooms.