Catholic Schools and the Future of the Church

by Engebretson, Kathleen

• ISBN13: 9781623561666
• ISBN10: 1623561663
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-02-13
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

During the first decade of the 21st century the Catholic Church in the developed world has faced a decline in its moral authority, increasing accusations of irrelevance to a secular age, and a steep and steady decline in commitment among successive generations from the 1960s on. Despite this Catholic schools have multiplied and grown in popularity and educational achievement.

The book sets out a programme for the contribution of Catholic schools to the future of the Church, covering such topics as the religious education curriculum in its cognitive and affective aspects, the sacramental life of the school, selection of staff, the issue of staff and Catholic witness and many other topics.

Engebretson argues that Catholic schools are a powerful key to the future of the Church and shows how, within their diversity, Catholic schools can be ecclesial communities, which have at their heart the building up of the Church.

Author Biography

Kath Engebretson is Associate Professor in the School of Religious Education at Australian Catholic University. She is widely published both nationally and internationally, is one of the editors of the International Handbook on the Religious Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Education as well as the International Handbook of Inter-Religious Education.

Table of Contents

Chapter one: A Church without young people is a Church with a problematic future.

Chapter two: Challenging the theory of individualism by examining the emotional, ethical and religious connections as lived out in contemporary communities.

Chapter three: Catholic schools facing the phenomenon of the "communitarian" (weakly affiliated) Catholic, and the role of the Eucharistic community in supporting Catholic identity and faith.

Chapter four: The Catholic school and evangelization.

Chapter five: Young people and Eucharist now and in the future.

Chapter six: The religious education curriculum and its intention, content and assessment.

Chapter seven: Christian service, noblesse oblige or volunteerism?

Chapter eight: Passionate leadership in religious education, Catholic identity and mission as a pre-requisite for building up the Church in Catholic schools.

Chapter nine: The selection and formation of teachers.

Chapter ten: Students of other Christian denominations and other religions in the Catholic school: the roles of both witness and dialogue.

Chapter eleven: The Catholic school as an ecclesial community and its role in relation to families, parish and diocese.

Chapter twelve: A program for the future