Interbelief dialogue and Catholic Education
Abstract
This paper will explore the nature of interbelief dialogue in Catholic education by outlining the key terms 'interbelief' and 'dialogue' and by sketching why this kind of dialogue might be vital in contemporary Catholic education.
It will begin by exploring terms. Dialogue is complex and contested term. As an interdisciplinary buzz-word, its elasticity is part of the difficulty of exploring its relevance to Catholic education. Dialogue can be unpredictable, open-ended and messy. There is no one blueprint for dialogue and it goes way beyond verbalisation and takes many forms. The Vatican document Education to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools (2013), helpfully identifies four main types of dialogue including the dialogue of life; the dialogue of works; theological dialogue and the dialogue of religious experience.[i] In this paper the term interbelief dialogue builds on this pluriform understanding of dialogue while extending it. Here dialogue denotes positive communication, cooperation and energetic collaboration among people of religious faiths and secular, humanist, agnostic and atheist convictional stances.[ii] It moves beyond the term ‘interreligious dialogue’ used by the Vatican to describe constructive Christian relations with people of other religions[iii] by extending it to include dialogue with non-religious groups as well. It does so because of the dramatic rise in Europe, the USA and Australia of the new ‘nones’ or non-religious groups. In a 2018 British Social Attitudes Survey[iv]52% self-describe as not belonging to any religion. In Ireland the fastest growing group in the 2016 Census is the 10% who tick the no religion box. It argues that dialogue with religious and non-religious groups and individuals is particularly appropriate to Catholic education at a time when the new ‘nones’ are literally replacing the old religious order! On the island of Ireland dialogue about different religious traditions and non-religious beliefs comes with a very particular memory of the ‘troubles’ and sectarianism. This paper suggests that such dialogue, including religious and non-religious groups, is particularly vital for Catholic education at a time when, in global terms, there is growing intolerance and hate crime and speech, fuelled by social media and the rise of the far right and left, in an increasingly polarised and binary world. The skills of listening to the other, learning from and with the other and being able to negotiate points of difference and disagreement are key skills for all educators.
Drawing on the work of The Enquiring Classroom[v] project, the paper will explore some methodologies that might be used in Catholic schools as an opportunity to invite students to explore their own religious beliefs in a safe space, with confidence and conviction, and as an aspect of a wider interbelief dialogue. Invitational, faith-friendly methodologies such as belief walls, belief circles, interbelief dialogue cafes, will be outlined. The emphasis here will be on a receptive interbelief dialogue which draws on Paragraph 2 of Nostra Aetate’s exhortion: ‘through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.’ Using Paul Murray’s research on ‘receptive ecumenism’ it suggests that through dialogue, Catholic education has much to receive, to learn, to enrich and bring back to the Catholic tradition. It is not so much what ‘they’ need to learn from ‘us’ but what Catholic education can learn from God through and with them. Paradoxically through dialogue with others we can deepen our own Catholic identity as educators.
[i] Congregation for Catholic Education, Education to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love, Vatican City, 2013.
[ii] Kieran, P. ed.( 2018) Interbelief Dialogue in Contemporary Ireland. Dublin: Veritas. p.30.
[iii] The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_pro_20051996_en.html accessed on 1 December 2019.
[iv] Phillips, D., Curtice, J., Phillips, M. and Perry, J. (eds.) (2018), British
Social Attitudes: The 35th Report, London: The National Centre for Social Research.
[v] O’Donnell, A., Kieran, P., DCherouvis, S., Bergdahl, L., with Langmann, E. (2019) The Enquiring Classroom: Values, Identity, Exploratiion. Erasmus +.
Interbelief dialogue and Catholic Education
This paper will explore the nature of interbelief dialogue in Catholic education by outlining the key terms 'interbelief' and 'dialogue' and by sketching why this kind of dialogue might be vital in contemporary Catholic education.
It will begin by exploring terms. Dialogue is complex and contested term. As an interdisciplinary buzz-word, its elasticity is part of the difficulty of exploring its relevance to Catholic education. Dialogue can be unpredictable, open-ended and messy. There is no one blueprint for dialogue and it goes way beyond verbalisation and takes many forms. The Vatican document Education to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools (2013), helpfully identifies four main types of dialogue including the dialogue of life; the dialogue of works; theological dialogue and the dialogue of religious experience.[i] In this paper the term interbelief dialogue builds on this pluriform understanding of dialogue while extending it. Here dialogue denotes positive communication, cooperation and energetic collaboration among people of religious faiths and secular, humanist, agnostic and atheist convictional stances.[ii] It moves beyond the term ‘interreligious dialogue’ used by the Vatican to describe constructive Christian relations with people of other religions[iii] by extending it to include dialogue with non-religious groups as well. It does so because of the dramatic rise in Europe, the USA and Australia of the new ‘nones’ or non-religious groups. In a 2018 British Social Attitudes Survey[iv]52% self-describe as not belonging to any religion. In Ireland the fastest growing group in the 2016 Census is the 10% who tick the no religion box. It argues that dialogue with religious and non-religious groups and individuals is particularly appropriate to Catholic education at a time when the new ‘nones’ are literally replacing the old religious order! On the island of Ireland dialogue about different religious traditions and non-religious beliefs comes with a very particular memory of the ‘troubles’ and sectarianism. This paper suggests that such dialogue, including religious and non-religious groups, is particularly vital for Catholic education at a time when, in global terms, there is growing intolerance and hate crime and speech, fuelled by social media and the rise of the far right and left, in an increasingly polarised and binary world. The skills of listening to the other, learning from and with the other and being able to negotiate points of difference and disagreement are key skills for all educators.
Drawing on the work of The Enquiring Classroom[v] project, the paper will explore some methodologies that might be used in Catholic schools as an opportunity to invite students to explore their own religious beliefs in a safe space, with confidence and conviction, and as an aspect of a wider interbelief dialogue. Invitational, faith-friendly methodologies such as belief walls, belief circles, interbelief dialogue cafes, will be outlined. The emphasis here will be on a receptive interbelief dialogue which draws on Paragraph 2 of Nostra Aetate’s exhortion: ‘through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.’ Using Paul Murray’s research on ‘receptive ecumenism’ it suggests that through dialogue, Catholic education has much to receive, to learn, to enrich and bring back to the Catholic tradition. It is not so much what ‘they’ need to learn from ‘us’ but what Catholic education can learn from God through and with them. Paradoxically through dialogue with others we can deepen our own Catholic identity as educators.
[i] Congregation for Catholic Education, Education to Intercultural Dialogue in Catholic Schools Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love, Vatican City, 2013.
[ii] Kieran, P. ed.( 2018) Interbelief Dialogue in Contemporary Ireland. Dublin: Veritas. p.30.
[iii] The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_pro_20051996_en.html accessed on 1 December 2019.
[iv] Phillips, D., Curtice, J., Phillips, M. and Perry, J. (eds.) (2018), British
Social Attitudes: The 35th Report, London: The National Centre for Social Research.
[v] O’Donnell, A., Kieran, P., DCherouvis, S., Bergdahl, L., with Langmann, E. (2019) The Enquiring Classroom: Values, Identity, Exploratiion. Erasmus +.