This journal, International Studies in Catholic Education (ISCE) is currently accessed by 60+ countries across the world, from Argentina to Zambia. In terms of full text downloads of articles by researchers, academics, teachers and students, the leading countries are, at present, Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Philippines, Ireland, Canada, The Netherlands, Kenya, China and India.
However, the Editorial Board of ISCE is always attempting to extend the global range of the journal in terms of both accessing it and, of course, sending in draft articles to be considered for publication.
It gives me, therefore, great pleasure to report that in this issue we are publishing approved articles from researchers in 4 countries that have previously not featured in ISCE. These are Palestine, Pakistan, Ukraine and Uruguay.
From Palestine (and the Holy Land). Brother Peter Bray, FSC, ED.D, Vice-Chancellor of Bethlehem University writes a powerful and moving article (with the assistance of Professor Bart McGettrick) about the mission struggle of this educational innovation in the Holy Land. Described as a joint venture between the Holy See and the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Brother Peter analyses how the University has survived for almost 50 years, despite the turbulent conditions in which it is located. We hear also the voices of the teachers and the students speaking of evaluations of their Catholic education and of personal struggles in simply trying to access the University under present conditions.
Father Jeyaraj Rasiah, SJ, PH. D contributes an article entitled, ‘Jesuit Schools in the Archdiocese of Lahore, Pakistan: A Service for the Poor’, which shows that in a country with a 96.2% population of Muslims and only 1.5% Christians, the Society of Jesus schools are not only providing high quality educational service in their schools, but are also assisting in the development of better relations among the Muslim and Christian students admitted to those schools. As Dr Rasiah argues, ‘the Jesuit Schools contribute towards a better inter-religious relation which argues well for the future’.
From the Ukraine, we received an article from Dr Olena Dzhedzhora from the Ukrainian Catholic University, ‘the only Catholic University in the territory of the former Soviet Union’. This is a valuable historical analysis of the struggles to establish and maintain such an organisation in challenging and sometimes hostile conditions. She also provides an inspiring account of the many ways in which the University is meeting the needs of the citizens of present-day Ukraine.
Dr Adriana Aristimuño of the Catholic University of Uruguay in Montevideo was an original contributor to the International Handbook of Catholic Education in 2007, when she wrote a chapter, called ‘Challenges for Catholic Schools in Uruguay’ (Chapter 8, 149–163). At the request of the Editor, she agreed to undertake more research to up-date the situation as at 2019. In her article, she reports many interesting new projects which focus on the need to increase access to Catholic schools for more of the poor and the powerless in Uruguay. This is an international problem for the Catholic Church. Dr Aristimuño highlights the crucial role of the Archbishop of Montevideo (a member of the Salesian Congregation) in giving leadership for these projects of increased access for poor communities. Perhaps it is time that more Archbishops, in more countries, should follow this leadership model from Uruguay.
In this issue, we are pleased to report Part 2 of Dr Quentin Wodon’s survey data research on Catholic education and Other Faith-based schooling in Africa entitled, ‘How Well do Catholic and Other Faith-based Schools serve the Poor? A Study with Special Reference to Africa: Part II: Learning’. As he concludes, ‘Estimates of performance for selected African countries are provided. The results are sobering: too many children are not learning while in school’. He reviews the interventions that could improve learning in the future.
The Editorial Board of ISCE commends this challenging article to the attention of our readers, and also the articles written by Dr Paul Collins on Irish Higher Education Policy; Dr Glenn Morrison on the Affectivity of Good Teaching; and Dr Monica Kowalski and Associates on the impact of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) in the USA.
I hope that you will find the articles in this issue both inspiring and helpful for your own mission in Catholic and Other Faith educational projects.
If your region of the world has not yet been represented in our pages, please consider undertaking some local research and scholarship and send us a draft article as your contribution. Thank you.
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As ever, we invite your evaluative feedback about the articles we publish and also your suggestions for possible future articles.