The Role of Catholic Life Formation in Fostering Sustainable Environmental Attitudes among Selected Filipino SHS Students

Abstract

A relevant Religious Education needs to confront the life-threatening global issues humanity faces today. The present study investigates how Catholic Life Formation (CLF) through religious instruction may predict environmental attitudes among students in Cebu City, Philippines. This study analyzes how the following variables may influence Christian environmentalism: students’ reception of CLF inputs, Catholic Social Teachings (CST) perceptions, and students’ beliefs and environmental responses (STB) from a sample of 491 Grade 12 SH students of a private university in Cebu, Philippines. This descriptive quantitative survey used ordinal logistic regression to test our model. We adopted a two-step procedure to gather data: First, an open-ended interview was used to tease the themes and viewpoints of students. Second, incorporating the qualitative output from the interviews, a survey was conducted using a researcher-made self-report paired with the Christian Environmentalism Scale (CES) to describe student attitudes toward the environment. The findings are discussed with respect to Religious Education and CLF environmental advocacy.