Contemporary Practices and Issues in Religious Education

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Religions is dedicated to the topic of contemporary religious education, especially from the perspective of religious education in Christian faith communities and churches, with a particular focus on Catholicism. Religious education is an unavoidable topic within the framework of the discourse regarding contemporary education. An authentic educational process aims to develop the integrity of a person in all of its dimensions. Comprehensive education is fully focused on humans, their world, and their present-day material or spiritual problems. It is a topic that can be rather broadly interpreted, as it encompasses numerous issues related to religious education carried out in families, religious communities, preschools, and school educational institutions.

The current situation in which the contemporary Church lives and works, especially in the Western world, is imbued with deep cultural, political, ethical–spiritual and religious transformations, showcasing a clear tendency towards further complexity. The prevalence of numerous changes, such as globalization, pluralism, migration, the complex world of media communication, changes affecting the notion of a family, scientific and technological development, various forms of intolerance and conflict, processes of modernization, secularization, and materialism, which are increasingly difficult to manage, lead to changes in religious practice, as well as humans’ relationships with religion and the Church. Today's mentality, customs, values, and life choices are becoming ever-less rooted in the Christian faith or inspired by its teachings. 

We are also witnessing a crisis of religious socialization. Traditional educational institutions, such as family, school, and church, are losing their influence on children and young people. There is a strong crisis at work regarding the intergenerational transmission of faith. Family, which is the first educational and socializing institution, is increasingly distancing itself from passing on religious traditions to its own children. This Special Issue, therefore, considers the extent to which Christian parents, whose Christianity is only an expression of belonging to a certain tradition and culture, are able to raise their children in a Christian manner.

The scope and depth of contemporary changes have not circumvented the Christian community and its educational activities. Religious education/catechesis cannot ignore the historical and cultural context in which it is taught. Current religious education requires serious consideration of the modern world as a different interlocutor; it does not involve providing an answer to a person whose behaviour, thinking, sensibility, and language do not belong to such a world. A special challenge that religious education faces is the new culture, i.e., the so-called digital culture. Influenced by digital culture and the related phenomenon of cultural globalization, we are witnessing changes in behaviour, which then affect the formation of personal identity and interpersonal relationships. The global character of digital culture strongly influences the personal process of building an identity, as well as interpersonal relationships; awareness of time and space; how individuals understanding themselves and other people; how individuals understand and experience the world; the way in which people communicate, learn, inform and establish relationships with others; language, and personal formation. This context represents a challenge for religious education, especially in the context of communication and language. One of the major challenges facing religious education is the erosion of trust in religious institutions. This decline in trust has been particularly fuelled by the sexual and financial scandals that came to light in recent years.

Religious education in schools occupies a special place. When it comes to religious education, the situation in Europe is rather colourful and diverse. However, confessional religious education still prevails in most European countries. The predominance of confessional religious teaching necessarily brings about the multiplication of confessional school subjects, meaning that in most European countries in which confessional teaching is carried out, the school system offers several confessional versions, depending on the religious composition of the population. Many countries, in addition to denominational models, offer a non-confessional alternative. Issues related to the state of religious education in schools include the compatibility of confessional education and public secular schools, as well as the connection of the model of confessional education, which also represents learning religion, to the fact that young people are increasingly distancing themselves from religion and from the Church. A special challenge for religious education lies in the requirements of intercultural education and its religious dimension. Today, there is a broad consensus in Europe that religious education has an important place in the school system and represents an important dimension in the intercultural education of young people. In Europe, religious education has been recognized as a resource, i.e., a tool to be used for the purpose of promoting democratic values and realizing human rights and active citizenship. More precisely, religious education serves as one of the tools used to accomplish European policies related to the matter of coexistence in a pluralistic Europe. However, there is no consensus when it comes to the most suitable model of religious education.

Since the quality of religious–pedagogical and catechetical activity largely depends on the models of religious–pedagogical and theological–catechetical training used to instruct future teachers/educators, the initial and permanent religious–pedagogical and theological–catechetical training of teachers/educators is an issue of particular importance.

Papers that explore and present the relationships between family, society, the Church, school, media, and religious education are welcome. Theologians, philosophers, historians, educators, and religious educators are invited to submit their papers for publication in this Special Issue.

Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Areas of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following research topics:

Topics:

• Family and religious education;
• The crisis of adulthood and the consequences for religious education;
• Christian approaches to dialogue and reconciliation in an educational context;
• Religious education in the Christian community (parish catechesis);
• Education of mature Christians;
• Religious education of persons with special educational needs;
• Young people, faith, spirituality, and ecclesiasticism;
• Education aiming to promoting spiritual values as a counterbalance to globalisation, which is understood almost exclusively as an economic and technological phenomenon;
• Religious education at a time of growing public distrust of the Church;
• School and religious education;
• Religious education in Europe;
• Ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and religious education;
• The religious dimension of intercultural education;
• Media and methods in religious education;
• Contemporary religious and moral circumstances and religious education;
• Religious education and ecology;
• Bioethical issues in the framework of religious education;
• Digital culture and educational issues;
• The training of religious educators/religious education teachers;
• Institutions that train religious educators/religious education teachers.

Prof. Dr. Ružica Razum
Guest Editor

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• catechesis
• the Church
• confessional religious education in school
• crisis of religious socialization and education
• traditional educational institutions
• theological–catechetical formation of teachers/educators

Title: Establishing the Lay Ministry of Catechist in the Church: Preserving Tradition in New Circumstances

Abstract: The ministry of the catechist is rooted in the beginnings of the Church. Despite the various transformations this ministry has undergone throughout Church history, its identity has always been linked to faith education, teaching in faith, and guiding individuals on their journey of faith growth. Since the Church carries out its mission both within and beyond the Church itself, in the socio-cultural context of a given historical period, the ministry of the catechist should be viewed in both ecclesial and socio-cultural contexts. This is essential because the act of teaching in faith must consider these given circumstances. Therefore, in the first chapter, we will look at the ministry of the catechist in the early Church and its significance in the process of faith instruction, particularly during the reception of the sacraments of Christian initiation. In the second chapter, we will emphasize the key elements of the Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motuproprio Antiquum Ministerium (2021), through which Pope Francis establishes the lay ministry of catechist. We will analyze the facts, events, and circumstances that contributed to the establishment of this ministry in the Church, and attempt to answer the question of why the establishment of the lay ministry of catechist is necessary. Finally, in the third chapter, we will highlight the importance and significance of lay ministries in the Church, with a special focus on the ministry of catechist, its perception, and reception in the current circumstances within the Church and society.

Title: The continuing professional development of Religious Education teachers in Croatia – the perspective of the Education and Teacher Training Agency

Abstract: Religious Education (RE) as a school subject is an important part of education systems in Europe, and in Croatia also. Although instruction models for Religious Education differ, the key persons in charge of it are Religious Education teachers. In order to respond to the needs of school students, Religious Education teachers need to engage in continuing professional development. In the Republic of Croatia, Education and Teacher Training Agency is the national-level institution responsible for the professional and advisory support to teachers. The first part of the paper describes the state of affairs related to Religious Education in schools in Croatia, and points to the European and national guidelines for continuing professional development. The second part presents the data obtained from the survey on the Religious Education teachers of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Zagreb in the school year 2023/2024. The data was collected using questionnaires developed in the project Quality Assessment System of In-Service Teacher Training provided by the Education and Teacher Training Agency (ETTA, 2020.). The data obtained in the survey is presented in the context of the European and national guidelines. The aim was to verify whether the teacher training organised by the Education and Teacher Training Agency is in line with the European and national guidelines, to what extent the trainings are in line with the participants’ needs, and how they could be improved in the future.

Title: Values in Narratives. Religious Education as an Exercise in Emotional Rationality

Abstract: The domain of education deals with the issue of the possibility of a person's development so that the person would learn to become more of a human being through the educational process. An integral part of a person's development is first and foremost the dimension of his or her individual integration into society. Education for values plays an indispensable role in education. The technical aspect of education - as John Macmurray described it - has its foundation in the instrumental rationality, aiming at the realization of utilitarian values in order to achieve the necessary social cooperation for the purpose of an easier coexistence. That so-called instrumental conception of life has given birth to a special type of the contemporary man, homo faber. If, however, we strive to achieve the complete development of a human being through education, which is more fully realized only in the communion of people in the forms of friendship, fellowship and love, this instrumental conception requires supplementation through a communitarian conception of life, aimed at the realization of intrinsic values. In that sense, this article explores the contemplative and relational aspects of education from the perspective of religious education, which, according to John Macmurray, are based on the emotional level of rationality, which results in the acquisition and adoption of intrinsic individual and inter-individual values. The aim of this article is to show that when it comes to education, these values are best conveyed through narratives. The article also attempts to shed light on the way students internalize and personalize intrinsic values through their emotional involvement with the narratives, and especially with the value of reciprocity, which is key to authentic religious practice, and thus also to ethical awareness, which is important for the formation of moral awareness and character of a human being. Furthermore, the article explores the extent in which narratives as a form of religious knowledge are important in religious education, and in which they contribute to the formation of students' opinions, attitudes and identities as transmitters of religious truths. Narratives notably carry a strong potential for spiritual transformation of one’s personal and social life in such a way that they can motivate students to accept and realize certain religious and moral practices through experiential touching of values. Examples of narratives used in religious education textbooks in secondary schools in Croatia reveal how much they actually contribute to the goals of religious education in terms of education for intrinsic individual and inter-individual values. Key words: homo faber, John Macmurray, instrumental rationality, utilitarian values, emotional rationality, intrinsic values, narratives, instrumental and communitarian conception of life.

Title: Religious Truth in the Context of Public Education

Abstract: Although the market orientation of education has recently been emphasized more, the fundamental characteristic and the fundamental meaning of education is the search for the truth about man and the world in which he lives. However, the answers to the question of truth are different. That is why the article first shows the theoretical background of the problem of truth, especially from the perspective of philosophy. Since religious truth and the truth of natural sciences are generally presented as two opposed truths, the article analyzes the relationship between religious (theological) and natural scientific truths from the perspective of Catholic theology and Christian-inspired philosophy with the thesis that these two truths are not opposed but complementary. After the aforementioned theoretical explanations, selected subject curricula in the Croatian education system are analyzed. Their dialogic potential is explored concerning questions that essentially concern man, and which are common to both religion and natural sciences (the origin of the world and the evolution of man).

Title: Analysis of Youth Pastoral in Croatia Through the Prism of the Synod on Youth

Abstract: Pastoral care for young people is part of the general pastoral care of the Church aimed at women and men who we place in the category of young people. In the last few years, youth ministry has received special attention from the Church. This is supported by XV.'s regular general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which was held in Rome from October 3 to 28, 2018. The documents Instrumentum laboris and Cristus vivit are particularly interesting for understanding the main points of the Synod. In the Republic of Croatia as well, youth ministry has experienced significant changes, especially after the 1991 Homeland War, democratic changes and the re-introduction of Catholic religious education in public primary and secondary schools. The aim of this work is therefore to analyse documents, guidelines, programs and sociological research conducted among young people, as well as relevant literature on youth ministry and catechesis in Croatia. Using the method of analysis, synthesis and comparison, we will investigate to what extent the conclusions of the Synod on youth are recognizable in the current pastoral care and catechesis of young people in Croatia.

Title: How familiy dynamics impact the image of God and maturation in faith?

Abstract: In postmodern society there are many protagonists of a "distorted and unnatural" image of marriage and family, and there are those who consider that marriage and the family unit are a thing of the past. In the contemporary world, which is characterized by different kinds of "turbulence" that affect the human person on all levels of the psychic and spiritual life, and extreme oscillation between a normal and a distorted image of family and the image of God, all Catholics, especially Catholic families, are invited to be "Protagonists of the New Evangelization". But, the family as the heart of the New Evangelization" due to Catholic "mediocrity" can become less operative and effectively limited for its evangelical mission. The individualism of our postmodern era and progressive liquid relationship impact the family bonds. Catholic families are not immune to the negative trends that generally affect families today. Many Catholic families face challenges and difficulties that can damaged relationship between child and parent. The aim of this article is to explore how contemporary family dynamics of Catholic families can affect the attachment between parent and child and furthermore how do children's perceptions of parents relate to their perceptions of God. The intention is also to recognize the consequences of certain images of God on religious development. Does God become an ''substitute attachment figure'', when one parent is absent from the family, and if it happens, how to help the person through the religious education to mature his faith and relation with God abbandoning the infantile attachment. Keywords: family, relationship, attachment, image of God, religious education

Title: Education, Freedom and Truth. Jacques Maritain's Philosophy of Education and I's Relevance for Contemporary Religious Education

Abstract: This paper aims to present and critically reflect on the elements of the philosophy of education in the thoughts of Jacques Maritain. Maritain was certainly one of the most significant philosophers of Thomistic provenance in the 20th century who, among other things, made a substantial contribution to the philosophy of education. Starting from the idea that man as a rational animal is predominantly a free being, Maritain develops a philosophy of education that strives to enable the pupil to reach the truth in freedom and fully realize his human potential. In the first part of the article, we will try to outline Maritan's contribution as faithfully as possible, with special emphasis on his fundamental concepts. The second part of the article will try to see to what extent Maritain's philosophy of education is relevant in today's social context. Keywords: Jacques Maritain, Thomism, philosophy of education, freedom, truth

Title: Intercultural competence in the Catholic religious education

Abstract: This paper is focused on Catholic religious education in primary and secondary education. Data is collected using semi-structured interviews among 10 Catholic religious teachers in Zagreb County, Republic of Croatia. Qualitative research is based on findings of a quantitative survey conducted among Catholic religious education teachers in 2022. The research questions are: 1. What are the obstacles to experiential learning? 2. Is conflict resolution a skill that can be developed in the RE classroom? 3. Are RE teachers developing analytical and critical thinking among students? The paper aims to examine the methodical approaches of RE teachers in the development of intercultural competence, as well as the obstacles they encounter in the process of imparting knowledge about other religions and worldviews within Catholic religious education. Keywords: intercultural competence; RE teachers; religious education; interreligious learning

Title: Some aspects of religiosity among youth. Research among candidates for Confirmation in the Split-Makarska Archdiocese (Croatia)

Abstract: The authors will present the results of research on some aspects of the religiosity of youth (candidates for Confirmation) in the Archdiocese of Split-Makarska (Croatia). The presented results are part of a more extensive study conducted in 2020 on a sample of 472 candidates with the primary goal of investigating their satisfaction with the quality of preparation for Confirmation. The research used a survey, while the sampling method was non-probabilistic (convenient sampling). First, we will introduce the topic of the religiosity of youth from a theological and sociological perspective and present several recent studies on this topic in Croatia. In the second part of the paper, we will focus on research findings. In the research, the personal religiosity of youth was measured by indicators: religious self-identification, the importance of religion in life and the actual religiosity with the frequency of attending mass and personal and joint prayer with the family. The research showed that religious self-identification significantly relates to the participant's actual religiosity. Those who identify as believers often go to mass more and practice personal and joint prayer with their families. We did not prove the influence of the variables of gender and parents' education on the frequency of personal and joint prayer (personal religiosity) and on the frequency of going to mass (actual religiosity). The research also showed a connection between the size of the settlement where participants live with a degree of religious self-identification and the frequency of going to mass.