Teacher pilgrims at World Youth Day: a preliminary examination

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the experiences of six teachers from a regional, Australian diocese who attended World Youth Day (WYD). It also reports on aspects of their worldview and their experience working in Catholic schools. Overall participants were very positive about working in Catholic schools, and though not connected in an ongoing way with parish communities, they were happy to support the religious dimension of Catholic schools and were often involved in parish-based programmes when there was a connection with school activities. Their worldview could be characterised as having much in common with dominant cultural paradigms that sees religion in moral terms along with a deistic sense of God. Established social networks supported them in these views. Teacher pilgrims reported that WYD gave them the opportunity to experience a broader, more diverse Catholicism as well as the experience of going overseas and being part of a large gathering. Participation in WYD may open up opportunities for reflective discernment on the part of teacher pilgrims and a result has implications for the formation of teachers working in Catholic schools.

KEYWORDS:

• World Youth Day
• worldview
• young teachers
• Catholic schools

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Richard Rymarz

Richard Rymarz began his career in education in Catholic schools in Melbourne where he worked as a Year Level and Religious Education Coordinator. He is currently Head of Religious Education and Director of Research at the Broken Bay Institute – The Australian Institute of Theological Education. Prior to this he held the Peter and Doris Kule Chair in Catholic Religious Education, St Joseph’s College, and University of Alberta. He has had wide experience in educational research and has an extensive research and publication record. His general area of interest is religious education as part of a wider framework on how groups pass on religious beliefs and values. His most recent articles examine the formation of young teachers in Catholic schools, senior high school religious education, worldview of students in Catholic schools and links between parishes and schools. His most recent book, co-edited with Angelo Belmonte, is Religious Education in Australian Catholic Schools.