Feast of St. John the Evangelist

Across the Christian world, the feast of St. John the Evangelist on December 27 is a timely moment to remember the famous opening of his Gospel: 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

These famous lines, so often recited in grave tones in churches across the world, are one of the first signs of the Christian engagement with concepts arising from Greek philosophy. It is here that the roots of the partnership between faith and reason are found  - and from this dynamic partnership emerged the Catholic intellectual tradition which, as we know, is the foundation of western education.

Perhaps we can use these days of rest to reflect on the roots of our contemporary educational systems. This is not a call to remain fixed (or fixated) in the past but it is our duty as educators to become more and more familiar with the family tree of educational thought in order to plant the seeds for the future.

Once again, happy Christmas 2013.

Holidays and education

Education continues when schools are closed for holidays. This might be self-evident but we so often conflate education and schooling that we could be forgiven for thinking that education is a school-based endeavour.

At this time of the year education in the virtues is important, especially the virtue of detachment from a surfeit of materialism and the virtue of charity. Families and various community groups, including our schools, have a wonderful opportunity to demonstate these virtues by going to the aid of those in any kind of need.

In looking towards 'the other', we educate ourselves in detachment from our own needs by the practice of charity towards the needs of others. The exchange of gifts between friends and family is of little merit if we cannot give freely of our time and interest to at least one of the many social initiatives designed to promote human flourishing.

During this Christmas holiday, perhaps we can take some time to consider ways in which we will support some worthwhile project in 2014. Who knows, we might even decide to start up one of own!

A Reason Open to God

The election of Joseph Ratzinger in 2005 brought one of the foremost theologians of Catholic Church to the Papacy. As an academic, he had played a significant role in the Second Vatican Council. Afterwards he helped to found the influential journal Communio, a publication intended to ensure that the Council’s legacy remained faithful to the “Catholic intellectual tradition”. In the following decades, he interrogated the fertile fields of liturgy, the relationship between faith and culture and inter-faith dialogue, to name just three. 

Click here to see the full  review of A Reason Open to God on www.mercatornet.com

St. Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education

I am privileged to be the director of this new initiative in Catholic teacher education: the St. Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education.  I will refer to it in later posts. In the meantime, if you are a Facebook member please 'like' our page:

https://www.facebook.com/StAndrewsFoundationForCatholicTeacherEducation

Back in business

The blog has been 'down' for a while. This was the result of other activities which demanded my full attention. I am happy to say that I am now in a position to restart the blog.

In this short post I wish to highlight a new initiative in the University of Glasgow. The St. Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education aims to foster a vibrant research and teaching culture in the field of Catholic teacher education, both in Scotland and further afield. There are some exciting initiatives afoot and this blog will keep readers posted.

Click here for the Facebook page of the St. Andrew's Foundation.

Looking beyond the self - learning from the Liturgy

It is not often we consider links between authentic Catholic liturgical practice and education but here goes…

At a ‘Year of Faith’ conference in the City Chambers of Glasgow on December 1 2012, Cardinal George Pell called for significant reforms in contemporary liturgical practice. His support for the practice of Mass celebrated ‘ad orientem’ (facing East towards the risen Lord) was the most poignant moment for me. His words merit repetition:

Christ should always be at the centre of the Mass, rather than the priest. As a consequence, I strongly support placing a crucifix between the people and the officiating priest and would support a return to the practice of the celebrant facing east, with his back to the people. This would make it abundantly clear that whoever is at the centre of the celebration, it is not the priest.

This makes utmost sense in liturgical terms. It is rooted in the history of the Church as seen in its artistic patrimony. Even today, it is the standard practice at the side altar used for daily morning Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome. (See also this example of the Pope saying Mass ‘ad orientem’ in the Sistine Chapel.)

Putting liturgy to the side, what does the symbolism of ‘ad orientem’ mean in educational terms? I suggest that it is a sign of the importance of the ‘other’ in place of the idolization of self, of the community to which we belong. The educational journey at its best is a process leading us out of our own limited vision and allowing the core of our being to be refreshed by the encounter with the ‘other’ - the great minds of the past and present. This allows us to ‘rise’ from our limitations and seek wisdom in those ancient streams of knowledge which are so often unjustly blocked in the field of contemporary education. The well-trodden pathways of beauty, truth and goodness are the antidotes to educational programmes which promise excellence yet offer nothing more than a rusty chain of paltry, platitudinal and performative ‘aims, outcomes and success criteria’.

There is a better way. It lies hidden beneath the crust of so-called progressive education and its horizontal anthropology. It is called the Catholic Intellectual Tradition’. Taste it and see!

Review of 'Creating Catholics - Catechism and Primary Education in Early Modern France'

Karen Carter’s interesting study (2011, University of Notre Dame Press) explores ‘religious education’ in pre-Revolutionary France. This original study allows contemporary educators to immerse themselves in a world which is quite different to 21st century educational systems. What unites these epochs is the enormous influence of religious bodies in the provision of schooling. To be sure, the education provided in the period covered by this book is limited in scope when set alongside the wider curriculum of today’s schools: we would certainly wish to go beyond learning to read simply in order to read the Scriptures and portions of a catechism. However, this is where we glimpse the roots of local provision of education; thanks to some fascinating insights from extant primary sources, the reader becomes immersed in the complex interaction between clergy and lay people as they strove to build an effective schooling system.

What can we learn from a volume such as this? Given the title, this book will be of direct interest to historians of France, historians of education and contemporary students of religious education. More broadly, we come to understand how parents and communities would go to amazing lengths to provide an ‘education’ – albeit a simple instruction in basic skills - to their children. Alongside the impressive range of historical detail, the book reminds us that the aspirations of parents remain constant: to offer educational opportunities to their children which they might not have enjoyed. Is this much different today?

Education remains the bedrock of a good society. In a publicly-funded system, it is easy to forget the hardship and sacrifices suffered in the past by people of modest means who were prepared to dig into meagre resources to fund schools and teachers.

I end with a question: what kind of education system will we bequeath to our children?