Catholic Education and Intercultural Dialogue: Continuing the Conversation

Abstract

As one of the most influential and widespread educational agencies in the world, the Church has a responsibility to ensure that its global network of schools, colleges, and universities, no matter the social, political, and cultural contexts in which they find themselves, offers challenging and life-enhancing educational experiences to all students. Given current scholarly and political interest in the juncture between globalization and education, it should come as no surprise that the Congregation for Education has recently turned its considerable resources to addressing the issues arising from this growing contemporary phenomenon. (1) The publication in 2013 of Educating to Intercultural Dialogue in Schools: Living in Harmony for a Civilization of Love is a significant moment in the history of the Holy See's teaching on education in that the document proposes as overarching aim of schooling. (2) For the purposes of the present article, the meaning of intercultural dialogue will be understood as referring principally to dialogue between people of different religious traditions. (3) Educating to Intercultural Dialogue, published almost fifty years after the Second Vatican Council's Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimum Educationis, (4) offers a seven point plan as a supportive template for intercultural approaches to education. (5) While the title of the document asserts (or so it seems) that so-called intercultural dialogue leads to social harmony, it remains necessary to engage critically with the nuances of this powerful proposition. Only then can we begin to make sense of what seems to be a radical shift in the aims of education. In recognition of this evolving context, the present article begins with some general observations on the nature of in education. Two principal arguments are then proposed. First, the development of processes for purposeful intercultural dialogue must be predicated on a mature understanding of one's own faith tradition. Second, the authentic formation of teachers in their own religious tradition is essential for the success of the intercultural enterprise. Two keys to this formational process are then proposed: the importance of liturgical formation and active love of the Church's educational tradition. Culture in Education A systematic reading of Educating to Intercultural Dialogue makes it clear that the commitment to intercultural dialogue cannot be interpreted as a cipher for a weakening of identity. On the contrary, the school remains called to exemplify in its mission authentic culture. (6) How can this be done? The Church must approach all forms of dialogue from a position of strength and confidence in its own worthy philosophical, theological, and educational traditions. A commitment to dialogue is not a position of relative weakness aimed simply at gathering some meagre crumbs from the unsympathetic table of secularism. Furthermore, it goes without saying that, given the plural context in which schools normally find themselves today, the tone of any debate on what is understood by and its relationship to education and evangelization requires forms of language and imagery that are positive and welcoming. The starting point is to see how the mind can illuminate the debate. This intellectual tradition is, as Muldoon rightly argued, an intellectual tradition in service to the human family and as such it is motivated by love. (7) While are competing visions of how best to define terms like Catholic intellectual tradition, agreement that it does indeed exist is a step forward. (8) Three points naturally flow from this. First, authentic understanding of the implications of the term Catholic culture must move beyond a simplistic view of as something out there to which the Church has to respond. …