Professional Documents
Culture Documents
It is 50 years since the Catholic Church convened the second Vatican Council. One
most important document produced by the Council, Gravissimum Educationis,
reflected the central importance which the Church gave to education. And yet, com-
pared with other Council documents, the importance of the pronouncements on
education has been rather neglected. This welcome collection of 17 papers from
several countries reminds us of the significant contribution the Council made to the
continuing debates about the aims of education in general and of Catholic education
in particular. Given that the Catholic Church is the largest provider of schooling in
the world, it is important that we should be reminded of the post-Vatican II think-
ing on education – especially with respect to the continuation of Faith Schools in an
increasingly secular society. This the contributors to the volume do exceptionally
well, covering detailed analyses of the subsequent documents, new thinking on edu-
cation produced by the Church in different countries, and proposals (in the light of
both philosophical reflection and empirical evidence) for the future.
Richard Pring
University of Oxford
It is only in the years since Vatican II that the new thinking about Catholic education
has crystalised into shape. This collection of essays provides an opportune moment
to take stock of the impact of Vatican II on Catholic education. This volume brings
together many leading advocates of Catholic education to consider the various ways
in which Vatican II and its teaching on education has been received and to engage
with the challenges and testing times that beset faith-based education in the twenty-
first century.
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Contents
Preface ix
Introduction 1
SEAN WHITTLE
PART I
Vatican II on Catholic education 11
PART II
International perspectives on Catholic education since
Vatican II 37
PART III
Theological and philosophical perspectives on Catholic
education and Vatican II 121
PART IV
Practical perspectives on Catholic education and Vatican II 171
PART V
Vatican II and the Catholic university 205
Conclusion 236
SEAN WHITTLE
In June 2015 the Heythrop Institute: Religion and Society hosted an inter-
national conference on Catholic education. The conference was convened to
mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II’s document on education, Gravis-
simum Educationis. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to
both celebrate and take stock of the new thinking about Catholic education
that Vatican II has generated. I am very grateful for all the practical help and
support that many colleagues at Heythrop gave me to make the conference
so successful. In particular I would like to acknowledge the help of Annabel
Clarkson.
In this volume many of the high quality papers presented at the confer-
ence have been collected together in order to create an ongoing legacy from
this event. I am very grateful to all the contributors. There has been much
careful work undertaken to produce well-written and skillfully argued con-
tributions. I would like to thank all the contributors for their hard work
and above all for the high quality of what they have produced. Each of the
contributors made the task of editing both straightforward and enjoyable. I
am grateful to the publishers, Taylor and Francis, for the practical help they
provided in bringing this volume to fruition.
As in so many aspects of my life, the key person I must single out for
thanks is my wife, Bernie Whittle. Without her constant love, support and
practical help it would not have been possible to undertake all the editing
work required to publish this book. Thank you for this and all that you do
for me.
Heythrop College has played a huge part in my Catholic education, as
an under-graduate, post-graduate and more recently as a research fellow. I
am deeply grateful for all that Heythrop has given me and so many others.
During the 400 years that it existed, Heythrop did so much good work for
the greater glory of God.
Sean Whittle, Editor.
Introduction
Sean Whittle
This volume brings together many leading scholars working in the field of
Catholic education to consider the various ways in which Vatican II and its
teaching on education has been received. Almost all of the chapters have
their origin in an International Conference on Catholic education, held at
Heythrop College (University of London) in June 2015. The book, like the
original conference, seeks to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II’s
declaration Gravissimum Educationis, which addresses the importance that
the Catholic Church attaches to education. The fiftieth anniversary, reached
on the 28th of October, 2015, provides a highly apt opportunity to consider
afresh the new thinking about Catholic education that Vatican II ushered in.
Five decades on, it is apparent that Gravissimum Educationis is regarded as
one of the lesser fruits to have come from Vatican II. However, at the same
time it is clear that the place of education and the Catholic school is an
increasingly central feature of the life of the Catholic Church. For many of
those inside as well as outside of it, the ordinary or every day way in which
the Church is encountered is through the Catholic school.
The seventeen chapters in this volume offer a wide range of perspectives
on the new thinking about Catholic education that emerged from Vatican II.
Taken together they provide a rich insight into current thinking about Cath-
olic education. As we move beyond the fiftieth anniversary, this volume will
continue to serve as a detailed snapshot of the state of Catholic education
both in the UK and throughout many parts of the globe. Indeed one of the
central strengths of this volume is that it includes a range of international
contributions, including ones from Australia, Belgium and France, as well as
individual chapters on the contemporary situation in England, Scotland and
Wales. The international theme is further complemented by other contribu-
tors, most notably from Italy and Ireland.
Before presenting an overview of this volume, some attention will be given
to a number of the themes that permeate to some degree the various chapters.
It is important to begin by pointing out that the contributors to this volume
are committed advocates of Catholic education. Not only are they practi-
tioners with decades of experience gained from working in Catholic places
2 Sean Whittle
of learning, but most also are themselves products of a Catholic education.
There is a fundamental recognition amongst each contributor that Catholic
schools and Catholic education more generally is something that is valu-
able and worthwhile. Beyond this positive stance towards Catholic educa-
tion, there are some theological and philosophical themes that deserve to
be pointed out from the beginning. The first is of course the ecclesiological
concept of reception. Vatican II continues to be a seismic event for the Catho-
lic Church, being on a par with other key events such as the Reformation.
Almost before Vatican II ended, commentators and theologians had begun
teasing out the reception of both the individual documents and the council
as an event in itself. This volume is concerned with the reception of Vatican II
vis-à-vis education. As such it straddles two sets of issues. One being the
more general ecclesiological question about how Vatican II as a whole is
being received within educational settings. The other is the more specific
question of how the declaration Gravissimum Educationis has been received.
Numerous contributors to this volume point out that the reception of this
document has been marked by a degree of indifference or disinterest. Indeed
in Chapter 1 Gerald Grace makes an impassioned case for moving interest
away from Gravissimum Educationis and turning instead to a document
issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education in 1977 on The Catholic
School. In contrast, others such as François Moog (in Chapter 5) and Dermot
Lane (in Chapter 9) put the emphasis on Vatican II as a whole. It is the whole
council, and the seminal insights from Gaudium et Spes in particular, that has
been or needs to be received by those working in Catholic schools. Thus in
many respects this volume explores the reception of Vatican II on a number
of levels. At one level it explores the way that one of the smaller documents
from the council has been received over the past five decades. This is illus-
trated in the chapters that describe the situation in various countries, from
Australia to Wales. At another level the focus is on the way Vatican II more
generally has influenced and informed contemporary thinking on Catholic
education. It is the broader themes and general stance inaugurated by the
Council that has been soaked up by those working in Catholic schools.
Part-and-parcel of the reception of Vatican II is recognising the changing
social and political context within which the Church exists. The past five
decades have witnessed significant social changes and shifts in attitudes.
Lieven Boeve’s analysis of the situation in Belgium draws attention to signifi-
cant alterations concerning the place of religious practice and values amongst
wide swathes of society. The discussions by Martin Poulsom (in Chapter 10)
and Jill Gowdie (in Chapter 3) pick up a strong resonance between the situ-
ation in Belgium and other countries. These wider changes in society add
further complexity to the reception of Vatican II and matters of Catholic
education. The Bishops at Vatican II approved a positive statement about the
importance of education and firmly reiterated the Catholic Church’s right to
be involved in the provision of education. They did not seek to formulate or
affirm a robust defense of Catholic schooling. Amid the huge social changes
Introduction 3
in recent decades, it is difficult not to read Gravissimum Educationis as
being devoid of much content in this respect. For contemporary advocates
of Catholic education, such as Michael Holman (in Chapter 14) and Bishop
Michael Campbell (in Chapter 13), there is pressing contemporary need to
spell out in more detail a defense of Catholic education. There is now much
explicit criticism of all faith schools, even well established and high achiev-
ing Catholic ones. There are also shifts in government policy initiatives that
put pressures and fresh difficulties on Catholic schools. As such there is a
need for a careful re-reading of Vatican II in order to distill insights and
answers to the contemporary challenges facing Catholic education.
A number of these re-readings are considered by several of the theologians
who have contributed to this volume. For example in Chapter 4 Lieven
Boeve makes the case for reframing Catholic schools as ‘Catholic dialogue
schools’. The concept of dialogue when theologically informed can read-
ily draw upon the insights and stance of many documents from Vatican II,
in particular Gaudium et Spes. In this constitution the Church committed
itself to be in a positive dialogue with the whole of humanity, embracing the
joys, fears and hopes of all people. In Chapter 2 Sean Whittle goes beyond
the position of Boeve by arguing for the development of a non-confessional
account of Catholic education. This involves exploiting the ambiguity and
suggestiveness of Gravissimum Educationis by arguing for different kinds
of Catholic schools, including those which are non-confessional. An alter-
nate re-reading is implicit in Chapter 9 when Dermot Lane explores the
anthropology of Vatican II and considers how it is a focus for the theology of
Catholic education. This chapter explores the way that an integrated anthro-
pology is able to inform and frame Catholic education.
Beyond the theme of reception, another one which is bubbling beneath
the surface of many chapters is concern about the relationship between a
Catholic education and the practice of faith. Five decades after the end of
the council there is what might be regarded as a paradoxical situation facing
catholic education. Throughout the world there are numerous popular and
well-regarded Catholic schools, but despite this large numbers of those who
belong to Catholic schools (or who have had a Catholic education) do not
practice the faith. It is as if Catholic schools are just not any good at yielding
young people who want to practice the Catholic faith. Some contributors,
such as Bishop Michael Campbell (in Chapter 13), draw attention to par-
ents who, despite their desire for their children to attend a Catholic school,
do not regularly practice their faith. In failing to be good role models these
parents weaken the goals of a Catholic education. In contrast, others draw
attention to bigger social trends in which formal practice of Catholic faith
is diminishing. Thus Lieven Boeve draws on research which characterises
Core Catholics as people who practice their faith at least monthly and who
do some kind of voluntary work. Being a core Catholic certainly does not
equate with weekly observance of the faith. Similarly Michael Holman (in
Chapter 14) voices a concern about the Catholic school’s limited ability to
4 Sean Whittle
successfully achieve faith formation amongst young people. Despite having
successful religious education and eager participation in religious formation
programmes at school, this typically does not lead to these young people
being active in the life of their parishes in the years immediately after leaving
their Catholic school. For Holman the root of this is found in the broader
culture, which is impacting young people, particularly in the all consuming
nature of social media. Whether it be triggered by the wider society, the
inconsistent example of their parents or by young people themselves, there
is a significant dissonance between a formal Catholic education and the
practice of Catholic faith.
One facet of this theme is a question or debate around the meaning of a
Catholic education. It can of course be taken in highly confessional terms. As
such it is primarily about the formation of Catholic children into the Catho-
lic faith. However, this is not the only way in which it can be taken. In Chap-
ter 2 one contributor attempts to speak up for Gravissimum Educationis by
pointing out how a careful re-reading of the declaration readily indicates a
number of different senses to the meaning of a Catholic education. The Bish-
ops at Vatican II deliberately changed the name of the declaration in favour
of one that suggests a more inclusive treatment of Catholic education, rather
than a narrower discussion of the Catholic School. This allowed the docu-
ment to deal with both matters relating to Catholic schools and to have
some sections on universities and higher education. Gravissimum Educatio-
nis makes clear through its inclusion of paragraphs on Catholic universities
that the meaning of Catholic education is broader than the Catholic school.
In recognition of this, the last two contributions (Chapters 17 and 18) deal
with the Catholic university. These chapters are important in two respects.
First, they engage with issues that are important in themselves, such as
John Sullivan’s nuanced discussion on relative autonomy in the Catholic
university. Second, the fiftieth anniversary is one that also coincides with
the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The
Catholic university has a central role to play in the life of the Church and it
is an integral part of a Catholic education.