Catholic education is not producing commitment to the Catholic faith parents and religious educators hope for and expect, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous wrote on his blog yesterday.
Despite the Church’s heavy investment in Catholic schools, participation in the sacramental life by young people graduating from Catholic schools was low.
“The Catholic Church in Australia can be rightly proud of the system of schools it has developed,” Bishop Porteous wrote.
“Catholic schools enjoy a high reputation in the general Australian society and are recognised by both State and Federal governments as worthy of significant financial support.
“However, they are not producing the results in the religious area that could be expected.”
Bishop Porteous hailed a book by Church researcher Richard Rymarz, The New Evangelisation: Issues and Challenges for Catholic Schools, as “offering a thorough investigation of the new social and cultural conditions that militate against the religious aspirations of Catholic schools”.
He notes Rymarz’ prescriptive call for “a cohort of committed teachers who are able to be living witnesses to what it means to be fully alive as a Catholic… to “revitalise and reconceptualise” religious education so that it engenders faith”.
Click here to read Bishop Porteous’ full blog post.