Justice Education as a Schoolwide Effort: Effective Religious Education in the Catholic School

Abstract

This essay describes and analyzes one successful justice education program flowing from community service, and demonstrates how such a program in a Catholic school responds to several important "calls" to Catholic educators. These "calls" are issued by (a) the needs of the learners and the signs of the times, (b) official documents of the Church about the mission of the Catholic school and the faith growth of youth, and (c) a creative reading of history and contemporary expression of religious education that involves cooperation among all teachers and all subject areas in the school. The essay begins with a description of the justice education program at St. Pius XIII School, comprised of Grades 7 through 12. [The school is a fictional construct; it does not exist as one entity, but is the amalgam of the experiences of good practices in several schools.] Following the description is a treatment of each of the "calls" to which this effective justice education program responds.