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Abstract
One of the major contributions of the Catholic school to the formation of people and to the mission of the Church is religious education. In the diversity of school systems in Europe, it is possible to identify three models: the politico-conciliar, the academic-curricular and the ethical-value-based. These models evolve in line with the religious reality of the societies in which they operate, but they retain their relevance in the name of the religious freedom that is at the heart of European democratic systems. Religious education thus contributes to the formation of citizens and to the integration of each individual in increasingly multicultural and multi-religious societies.
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Notes
1 The most comprehensive review today – with 53 country reports and some fifteen cross-comparative analyses – is the six-volume work edited by two professors at the University of Vienna M. Rothgangel and M. Jäggle: Religious Education at schools in Europe, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht-Vienna University Press, Göttingen-Wien Citation2014–Citation2020. See also: G. Robbers (ed.), Religion in Public Education, Citation2010. [https://ubt.opus. hbz-nrw.de/opus45-ubtr/frontdoor/ deliver/index/docId/ 502/file/ Robbersed _Religion_in_Public_Education.pdf]; M. Catterin, L'insegnamento della religione nelle scuole d’Europa: Analisi e contributi di istituzioni europee, Marcianum, Venice 2013. Some years ago, Protestant experts produced a comprehensive European report: P. Schreiner et al. (Eds.), Religious Education in Europe. Situation and current trends in schools, Iko-Iccs, Oslo Citation2007 (with about thirty national reports, but some countries with a Catholic tradition, such as Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Portugal, are missing). At the same time, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, on the initiative of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, promoted similar research on the teaching of the Catholic religion in Europe, almost totally ignoring the realities of other denominational teachings: L'insegnamento della religione risorsa per l'Europa. Elledici, Torino 2008. See also a Database map updated to 2017: Las enseñanzas en materia de religión (EEMR) en la Unión Europea: http://www.depeasturias.org/files/2017_mapa_religion_Europa.pdf.
2 This hendiadys pairs up with the binomial “Religions and Beliefs”, introduced by the OSCE/ODIHR document, Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching of Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, Citation2007. The fact of combining the term religion with other similar concepts can be a positive indication of a semantic attention inclusive of new sensibilities experienced by contemporary man, but, on the other hand, it can also weaken the canonical notion of religion, lowering it to the rank of the synonym with which it is associated. The same can be said for another well-known hendiadys, ‘Religion and Spirituality’, now commonly adopted in some religious sciences and popular discourse.
3 In the first case, the optional Catholic and Protestant courses were replaced by the compulsory curriculum Vie et société; in the second case, the five denominational options are now replaced by the compulsory Cours philosophiques et Citoyenneté. These two European countries followed closely in the footsteps of Québec, which had already replaced the Catholic and Protestant courses with the common curriculum Éthique et culture religieuse in 2008. At present, the latter program is also about to be converted into a more secular curriculum called Culture et citoyenneté québécoise.
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Flavio Pajer
Flavio Pajer, FSC, is a Brother of the Christian Schools. He completed his university studies in Education Sciences (Rome) and Theology (Paris), specializing in Pedagogy and Comparative Didactics of Religions. He is Professor Emeritus of the Catholic Institute (Paris), the Pontifical Salesian University (Rome) and CELAF (Abidjan). He is author of several educational books and manuals of religious culture, and has been president of the European Forum for the Teaching of Religion in Public Schools and director (editor) of Religion and Lasallian School.