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 21
st 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. I
gnatius 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.
