Thursday, August 4, 2016

Teaching Religious Education in the Catholic School: 5 Methods to Teach Religious Education in any Content Area


The mission of the Catholic school is to carry out the mission of the Catholic Church. Therefore, the mission of the Catholic school is to evangelize, through catechism and the instruction of the faithful.

Now, while the methods in which Catholic schools have partaken on the task of catechesis and evangelization is broad throughout history, for the intention of this article we will only outline the current means of catechesis as they pertain to the Catholic High School in the 21st century.

So how exactly does the Catholic Church addresses the role of evangelization in the Catholic school? Gravissimum Educationis provides an answer, through the maturity of faith, the participation in the sacramental life and the development of a personal calling for the contribution of the common good in society.

The Church continued to refine her language to describe the role of evangelization in the educational setting. In 1971, the United States Bishop wrote, To Teach as Jesus Did, a document that outlines the mission of Catholic schools in the Unites States. The bishops declared the mission of the Catholic school to be rooted in proclaiming the gospel, living in community and fellowship, and the service to humankind.

But the outline of the mission of Catholic schools will be incomplete without reference to one contemporary document that serves as the consummation of all previous documents. The Holy See Teaching on Catholic Schools is a document that is essential and a point of reference for the mission of a Catholic School in the 21st century.

Holy See Teaching on Catholic Schools designates the following five marks as essential for a Catholic school:  1. Inspired by Supernatural Vision, 2. Founded on Christian Anthropology, 3. Animated by Communion and Community, 4. Imbued with a Catholic Worldview, 4. a) Search For Wisdom and Truth, 4. b) Faith Culture and Life, 5. Sustained by Witness and of Teaching.


In the characteristic identified as Imbued with a Catholic Worldview, The Holy See highlights the need for R.E.A.C (Religious Education Across the Curriculum) in every Catholic School. The Holy See articulates what the characteristic entails, ‘Catholicism should permeate not just the class or period of catechism or religious education, or the school’s pastoral activities, but the entire curriculum.’ The document continues, ‘instruction should be authentically Catholic in content and methodology across the entire program of studies. Catholicism has a particular ‘take’ on reality that should animate its schools. It is a ‘comprehensive way of life’ to be enshrined in the school’s curriculum.’

So what is religious education across the curriculum and why do Catholic Schools need it? As mention above, the mission of the Catholic school is to evangelize.  In order to fulfill her mission, the Catholic school cannot limit this great task to the religion department exclusively, but instead should be an affair that engages the entire school community—and hence, religious education should permeate the curricula of the school. R.E.A.C is then, the effort of the school to seek religious education throughout all components of the curricula of the school.

When we contemplate the question of R.E.A.C in the Catholic school, the question of building bridges between content areas and theology can become a burden. It does not have to be so. In fact, the task might become a burden when we lose track of the mission of the Catholic school, the intrinsic connection between education and faith, and the precedence of wonder and imagination over any content area.  If this becomes our center and point of departure, it is much easier to imagine a subject of study and its correspondent religious expression.

In our task to nominate all content areas to their religious foundation, let us begin with the natural sciences.
“The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.”  CCC 159.
And furthermore,
“Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason.” CCC 159.

The natural sciences have as their domain: creation. In the journey of unveiling truth in creation, we can see the hand of the creator, face-to-face as it were. In any of the natural sciences whether it is astronomy or physics that attempt to reveal the mysteries of the universe, biology that seeks to comprehend the vast and diverse domain of life, chemistry that seeks to actualize the concept of the incarnation by studying matter, or mathematics that unfold the language of the universe, creation is the scope of study. From the heavens, stars and galaxies, to the processes of homeostasis, to the vast diverse expressions of life, to the beautiful mathematical theories that express how the universe works, all of it unfolds the creation of God. In the natural sciences, not only the scope of study is religious but the process of engaging with the material too.

The social sciences examine the religious from a different view. The affairs of societies throughout history inform us on the nature of human kind. In this process, the content as well as the process is religious. While the natural scientist can be described as a contemplative, the historian or social studies teacher is concerned with creating a Christian community. The objective of the history and social studies is citizenship, the common good, and the dialectic process of transforming society through the education of its members. Some major themes of Catholic Social Teaching, that every social science teacher can incorporate in her curriculum and methodology include but are not limited to: Life and Dignity of the Human Person, Call to Family, Communion and Participation, Rights and Personalities, Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, The Dignity of Work and Right of Workers, Solidarity and Care for God’s creation.

While social studies and history explore groups of people and the process of humanity as a whole, language arts and the humanities focuses on the individual. The language arts place the content of study on the question: What does it mean to be human? Let us recall that the Holy See calls for an education ‘founded on Christian anthropology,’ where the expression of being human is celebrated as a whole. While the dimension of spirituality of the scientist is contemplation and the history teacher is establishing the Kingdom of God, the spiritual dimension of the English teacher is metanoia, or personal transformation and conversion. The English teacher seeks to create a classroom of introspective and reflective students that internalize transformation as a necessary cycle of life. In addition, the English teacher infuses literature as a tool to contemplate grace. The Catholic imagination is a tool of literature that helps students see God-in-all-things. Through the language arts students can learn to use their imagination to shape their spiritual life.

Finally, let us contemplate the arts. The arts teach us to find joy in life, to celebrate all forms of life. Whether it is music, theater, visual arts, foreign languages, and any other form of art, the content of their subject is to communicate beauty, in all forms. The Holy See takes the arts seriously in religious education, “faith and culture are intimately related, and students should be led, in ways suitable to their level of intellectual development, to grasp the importance of this relationship.” The arts teach the diversity of peoples and their expression of the divine in each culture. The art teacher can be referred to as the psalmist, praising glory to the creator through different expressions of art. For the psalm reads
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14.

5 Methods to Teach Religious Education in any Content Area

The method to apply R.E.A.C proposed here is solemnly grounded on the process of making questions in teaching. It encourages teaching faculty to formulate questions in their teaching based on five categories that link their content area to theology. Teachers do not need a background in religion and theology to formulate these questions. Also, in the effort to incorporate these questions in their teaching, teachers are not required to spend a lot more time planning. Instead, following these five categories below, at all time and in any lesson (even improvising), teachers can formulate these questions to add a theological and spiritual dimension to their practice. The categories are the following:
a.       Appealing to the Imagination and Curiosity: Finding God in All Things
b.      Teaching Contemplation: Falling in Love with the Good, the True and the Beautiful.
c.       Creating Christian Communities: Building the Kingdom of God.
d.      From Individual to a Global Conscience 
e.       Prayer and Rituals: Living in Community

a.       Appealing to the Imagination and Curiosity: Finding God in All Things.

No matter what you teach, the teacher is constantly appealing to the imagination and curiosity of the student precisely to lead to understanding. To conceptualize a mathematical problem, to
construct an image of a character, to visualize how societies lived in a particular time period, or simply to seek for a new way to solve problems, all of these processes require imagination and curiosity. The great Ignatius spirituality focuses on the power of imagination. St. Ignatius was convince that God can speak to us as surely through our imagination as through our thoughts and memories.

In the application of this thought process, questions can be generic enough for faculty only to encourage students to connect their subject area with their religious component. Relying on the fact that students learn best when they let their imagination and curiosity run free—the teacher is only but a catalyst that asks for students to seek connections between religion and their particular content area.

Questions can move from very generic to specific depending on the teacher’s emphasis. For instance, in biology class, a teacher may have students reflect on a question that links religion and their topic of study by asking a generic question:

“What is this topic have to do with how you understand God?”

However, the question can become more specific according to the lesson. In the same biology class, under the topic of elements, the biology teacher may ask:

“What do elements tell you about God in the way that they interact with each other to form new compounds?”

There is no right or wrong answer in this approach, only the task to spark the imagination of students to see God in all things. For a student who loves biology, God is already there. This only provides a language for her to express herself.


b.      Teaching Contemplation: Falling in Love with the Good, the True and the Beautiful.

Despite the subject of the teacher, in their practice they teach their students to love what is good, what is beautiful and what is true. In theology, this is called contemplation—the act of being mesmerized by something to the point of dedicating all your energy and time to this one thing. To have a student
fall in love with the subject he is learning is the dream of every teacher and as we have seen above, every subject already has as its content a religious expression because it either tells directly about God or about His creation. 

The way that this category formulates reflective questions is a little different than the first category. Instead of asking students to build the bridge between the content are and religion, a teach simply uses these three categories, mainly the good, the beautiful and the true, to build the bridge for them. These questions are posed in a way that has students reflect on what is good, beautiful and true in each particular content area. It is the task of the teacher to simply ask the question:

“How is this beautiful, true or good?” Or apply the negative,
“What is this lacking, in order to be true, beautiful and good?”

This process allows for contemplation in any content area. Let us take the language arts as an example. In the study of Romeo and Juliet, teachers can formulate the question:

“Is the love that Romeo and Juliet have for each other true? Is it beautiful? Why or why not? Or “Is sacrifice good in itself? Why or why not?”

These questions allow for teachers to have their students practice contemplation. To have students look not only think about what is good, true and beautiful but have a dialogue with it. In short, to have students fall in love with what is good, true and beautiful is to have them fall in love with God.

c.       Shared-Praxis Approach: Creating Christian Communities

One could say that one way to measure the success of education is through transformation. The Catholic school must create students who go out into the world imbued with a Catholic worldview. Students that are doers of justice, cultivators of peace, seekers of truth, in short, students that build communities grounded in love. This category focuses on the question, How am I going to make this world a better world. The theology translation of this question would be how am I going to build the Kingdom of God?

Every content area has a real application in life. In other words, students don’t learn concepts that have no use outside of the classroom. Instead, students learn skills that allow them to be good citizens. This approach speaks to the real application of learned skills in the real world.

This category is grounded on the application of teaching and the good news is that a lot of teachers already teach this way! The addition is that teaching faculty can formulate questions of reflection based on real problems in the world, country, or Mercy’s own community, in order to form Christian communities that seek metanoia, or transformation. These communities are the voices that proclaim the good news to the poor and marginalized. These communities are Christian communities that go into the world proclaiming the good news.

Let us take social studies as an example for this approach. In the study of U.S History, one current theme might be immigration. This is a social issue that has real applications and dimensions today, not only in the United States but in the Middle East and Europe. Teachers can use contemporary examples to create Christian communities that seek for change in this social problem. They can formulate questions such as:
“What does God teach us about treating the stranger?” Or “Why is immigration a Christian issue?” And, “What is a Christian response to immigration?”

d.      From Individual to a Global Conscience

This approach appeals to the Catholic value of teaching the whole child. In this commitment in the Catholic School, the curriculum should reflect a clear position on moral issues. There is an ethical and moral dimension to any content area. It is the responsibility of the teacher to instruct students to form their conscience intellectually and reasonably, considering the Teachings of the Catholic Church.

Teachers are required to teach by example. The curriculum we explicitly teach is only a written curriculum—but we teach with everything that we do. We set an example with every interaction that we have. Teachers need to model to their students the way in which to live a gospel-centered life. In their daily interactions with students—they are precisely doing so.

Having said that, teachers can also incorporate questions that appeal to morality and ethics without having any background on these disciplines by simply encouraging students to make the connection between their content areas and theology. Let us consider one example in the natural sciences and one in mathematics:
What do you consider the immoral or unjust application of science? Or, How could you use the rules and procedures for solving the current math problems you are studying as metaphors for living a good moral life as a Christian?  How could you apply them to specific moral problems?

e.       Prayer and Rituals: Praying in Your Content Area

This final category simply encourages teachers to ask questions that may be prayers. Teachers are encouraged to do this through their specific daily lesson objectives. There is extensive research that shows how slowing down and taking a moment to pray, mediate or simply gather one-self actually benefits teaching and learning.

A lot of teachers already incorporate rituals in their classrooms but instead they call them routines. That is, a series of actions that follow each other in an organized manner usually to have a positive
effect on classroom management. Teachers can incorporate an additional step in their numerous routines to aspire for better performance in the classroom and to yield to spiritual development. It benefits both worlds!

This category does not require the teacher to pray explicitly. While this is certainly one way to incorporate prayer in the classroom, there are many other different methods that do not require for the teacher to initiate prayer in the customary way we are exposed to prayer. Let us take the example of music class. In the beginning of class, the music teacher might have made it part of her routine to have students tune their instruments before they begin. One way in which she can incite students to pray is to simply add to this routine a question or statement. For example:

‘Today, while you tune your instrument, think about the talent you have been given form God,’ or ‘Do you attribute your talent to your own hard work, or do you attribute your talent to God?’

With no need to share response, the music teacher made an everyday routine—a theological reflection and perhaps a very intimate prayer as well. Teachers can be very creative in how they get students to pray. It is important to mention that the activity must not depart from the lesson. The teacher may find the creativity to simply add one more step to a routine he has set already. The language art can have them write a prayer, while the science teacher may practice meditation as students set up the instruments for the lab, or the language teacher may have them sing a song in another language with pictures on the background that show how this culture prays.

Finally, this area also allows for prayer in the wider context of the school to be done through the eyes of all content areas. In events where the school community gets together to pray, a prayer may be done in a way that incorporates other content areas. The campus ministry may use language to spark the imagination of students to see different content areas in prayer. Examples of this may include the replacement of God to other titles. Examples may include: Creator, Counselor, Master of the Universe, Advocate, Eternal Logos, Three-in-One, Healer, Spirit of Life, All-Powerful, Wisdom from on High, Comforter, Teacher, Spirit of God, Strong-One, My Shepherd.


Why is R.E.A.C so important in the Catholic School? Because without it the Catholic School ceases to be Catholic losing its identity by treating theology or religion class as another subject in the list. If the Catholic School fails to communicate her mission: to evangelize and to carry the good news, she ceases to be a Catholic School. The Catholic School must not do this through one subject; instead it must carry the good news in everything that she does—in every subject and content area. 

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