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The State of Religious Education
by James Hitchcock
September 18, 2002
The state of religious education is usually discussed in terms of doctrine -- are students, from kindergarten through college, getting adequate knowledge of Catholic teaching?
But years ago Catholic education was considered to be comprehensive,
and Catholic schools usually had their own textbooks in literature,
history, and other subjects. Whatever might be said about the
teaching of doctrine, it is indisputable that a Catholic approach
to other subjects has now largely disappeared, and Catholic schools
at all levels now use the same textbooks as secular schools.
The abandonment of Catholic textbooks was justified on the grounds
that the truth about the larger world is available to everyone
equally, on the basis of human reason, and believers should not
approach the world any differently than non-believers. There
is no basis on which Catholics and non-Catholics should differ
about the causes of the First World War, for example. In some
subjects, such as mathematics, the very idea of a "Catholic"
approach seems absurd.
At present, however, there are three distinct groups of people
at work developing textbooks on ostensibly secular subjects for
use in Catholic schools. The first volume to appear, so far as
I know, is a sixth-grade text called All Ye Lands: World Culture
and Geography, published by Ignatius
Press, part of a series put out by the Catholic Schools
Textbook Project, edited by Rollins Lasseter.
I don't in fact think Catholics will be likely to understand
the causes of World War I any differently than non-Catholics,
apart from our belief in divine providence, which we cannot really
understand. But, as the new book shows, there are many aspects
of the study of human history where personal faith does make
a difference.
One difference is manifested in the simple recognition of how
important a role religion has played throughout human history.
We live a secular age, but even now religion is important, and
in times past, in its various manifestations, it virtually saturated
human societies. Textbooks by secular authors often underestimate
the importance of religion. The resurgence of a militant Islam,
to take the best current example, has puzzled many commentators
because they assumed that militant religion was a dying phenomenon.
A Catholic textbook also manifests the authors' understanding
of and sympathy with religion from the inside, in ways that are
ultimately impossible for non-believers. Even when religion is
given adequate attention in secular books, it can often be said
that the author can recite the lyrics but does not know the tune.
A believer understands the inner meaning of religious phenomena,
and why people find it credible and often sees how religious
beliefs have influenced the course of civilization in ways the
non-believer may not recognize.
The standard objection to using Catholic textbooks is that they
are biased and not "objective". But that claim itself
shows a certain bias. Why should it be assumed that believers
see history from a prejudiced standpoint, while non-believers
do not? There is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
But beyond this, contemporary educators no longer insist that
scholars should be detached from their subject. All kinds of
history is written in order to make students appreciate their
race or their gender, for example. One of the great losses in
modern Catholic education is that students are seldom exposed
to the glories of the Catholic past -- to the great saints and
to Catholic contributions to civilization. We need to be clear-eyed
about the past and remember the many ways in which Catholics
have sinned, often egregiously. But we also need to inculcate
in young people a sense of pride in their religious heritage.
Besides the series in history, books for English and science
courses are also planned. Information can be gotten at
www.catholictextbookproject.com.
James Hitchcock, professor of history at St. Louis University, writes and lectures on contemporary Church matters. His column appears in the diocesan press. His two-volume book on religion and the Supreme Court has just been published by Princeton University Press. E-Mail: Dr. James Hitchcock
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