Integrating community spirituality into religious education: a school educator's role

Abstract

The pluralist, interreligious and intercultural contexts of the twenty-first century-society pose challenges for Religious Education (RE). One may claim that these challenges are tvvofold. First, at schools, the Church cannot conduct catechesis, that is, the formation of faith, which comprises the following four elements: announcement, the creation of the faith community, liturgy and serving others (Pope John Paul II, 1979, par. 18). The second challenge is posed by the diversity that exists in classrooms, as acknovvledged by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter Catechesi tradendae (1979, par. 32-34), that is, interpretations of religious language, which correlate with human and religious experiences. This chapter attempts to address challenges that instigate changes in the well-established systems of Catholic RE from a theoretical and a practical perspective. From the theoretical perspective, it will allow perceiving community spirituality as a new RE system that uses various literature and sources. From a practical perspective, the present investigation may contribute to integrating community spirituality with RE. The importance of integration may help not only the educator but also the school culture which "can be defined as a set of common values, norms, and expectations shared by people directly or indirectly with each other and demonstrated by their specific behaviour" (Lombaerts, 2007a, p. 192). In addition, it may provide a partial answer to the challenges of RE by making difficult decisions to change the system of RE.