Brisbane Catholic Education Office

Leuven Report

TYPES OF GRAPHS IN THE LEUVEN REPORT

COLUMN GRAPH

In the column graph

survey results are

represented as the

average / mean.

TRAFFIC LIGHT

GRAPH

In this survey results

are presented as

percentages to allow

for closer comparison.

POST CRITICAL BELIEF (PCB) SCALE (pp. 4-8) This scale considers the ways in which BCEO employees relate to and understand religious matters, their belief styles.

Literal Belief

- Faith is characterised by absolutes.

There are no grey areas; there is a

right way and a wrong way.

- Both scripture and doctrine are

accepted literally.

- Every faith question must have one

exact and unchanging answer

- Great importance is given to Church

teaching and authority.

External Critique - There is an absolute way

of thinking; no grey area. - This is a literal non-

believing position. - All religious belief is rejected

as absurd. - Certainty is sought via what can

be proven by science.

Relativism - Religion is approached in a

symbolic way; however a belief in God is excluded.

- All religions are equally true,

therefore all religions are meaningless.

- Any interest in religion is at an

intellectual level only, no personal commitment.

Post Critical Belief - Belief in God and there is a

relationship with God. - God is experienced through

mediations and symbols (e.g. rituals,

sacraments, music)

PCB SCALE

I NOTICE…

Write down 3-4 observations evident from looking at the graphs. These observations must

be free from inference or speculation and must be factual. Each observation begins with

the phrase “I notice that…..”

MELBOURNE SCALE (pp.9-17)

This Scale examines the identity options available to Catholic organisations and distinguishes the five different ways of establishing Catholic

Identity in a secularising and pluralising context.

Confessionally based Institution

- The school has always been

and continues to be a

traditional Catholic school.

- Ignores present day culture

and different lifestyle

choices.

-

- Catholic way of thinking is

the only way of thinking.

Secularisation

- Catholic school identity

erodes away until it is no

longer present.

- Religious Education and

Religious Life of the School is

unimportant and becomes

optional or non-existent.

Christian Values Education

- Correlation strategy between

culture and Christianity.

- Tries to link ‘good’ morals

with the Christian way of life.

- Focuses on similarities only.

- Leads to a watered down

form of Christianity.

Reconfessionalisation

- School actively promotes a

stronger, explicit

confessional identity.

- Focuses on catechetical

approach.

- Catholic faith is seen as

counter-cultural (in

opposition to secular

society).

Recontextualisation

- School seeks a renewed,

reinterpreted Christian

profile in a diverse cultural

context.

- All are encouraged to give

shape to their personal

identity through dialogue.

MELBOURNE SCALE

I NOTICE…

Write down 3-4 observations evident from looking at the graphs. These observations must

be free from inference or speculation and must be factual. Each observation begins with

the phrase “I notice that…..”

VICTORIA SCALE (pp.18-23)

This scale looks at the four different ways of combining Catholic Identity with cultural diversity and explores the ways in which a Catholic

organisation in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society manages this challenge.

Monologue School - Traditional Catholic school …of

Catholic- for Catholics and led by Catholics.

- It does not show openness to

other religions of philosophies of life.

- It strongly stresses its Catholic

identity and espouses the ‘one fixed truth.

Dialogue School - This school chooses to stress in

Christian inspiration in the midst of

diversity of religion / society. - A range of voices, views and

perspectives are recognised and engaged with.

- Dialogue is key. Dialogue with the

other, with faith traditions and with God.

Colourful School - A secularised and pluralised school

environment. - It dialogues with a variety of

religions and philosophies but rejects Christianity as the preferred option.

- Strong focus on social justice and

community building and shows

great interest in ‘the other’.

Colourless School - This is a neutral school, and

everyone is free to think what they like.

- The focus is on the individual,

but the idea of community is not well developed.

- Open and tolerant of other

religions but religion is seen as a private matter.

VICTORIA SCALE

I NOTICE…

Write down 3-4 observations evident from looking at the graphs. These observations must

be free from inference or speculation and must be factual. Each observation begins with

the phrase “I notice that…..”

THE PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE (pp. 24-30)

This section of the report is designed to report on a carefully selected range of background variables that determine the personal religious profile of

the respondents. These include:

- Gender

- Ethnic and cultural diversity

- Religious diversity

- Personal faith in Christ

- Support for the Catholic faith

- Personal prayer life.

This section indicates that the majority of the respondents share an affiliation with the Christian faith and that there is a strong faith in Christ.

The majority of respondents also have an active prayer life and an average to strong faith in Christ.

DOYLE QUESTIONNAIRE (pp. 31-34)

This section of the report shares information about the religious profile of BCEO. It reports on both the current (reality) and preferred future (ideal)

levels, with a focus on aspects of the organisation’s catholicity. These variables include:

- Support for Catholic school identity

- Belief in God

- A good place to grow closer to God

- Features of Catholic school identity

Most of the respondents give obvious support to Catholic school identity, with none of the respondents opposing it.

The majority of respondents indicate that BCEO is a good place to grow closer to God and that they would like this to continue into the future.

With reference to the features of Catholic school identity, BCEO personnel would like to strengthen their involvement in social justice programs,

ecological awareness and openness to other faiths and cultures.

OVERALL PICTURE OF BCEO:

This section synthesises the findings to outline strengths, challenges and recommendations as proposed by KU Leuven.

Strengths of BCEO (pp. 35-37)

Majority of respondents share an affiliation with the Christian Faith

2/3 of respondents have a strong faith in Christ, while 61% have an active prayer life.

95.7% of respondents support the religious identity of schools. In particular there is strong support for:

o Social justice

o Ecological awareness

o Openness toward different cultures

Strong symbolic belief exists among BCEO respondents

Strong support for recontextualisation and a dialogical model for schools

Strong resistance to secularisation and external critique

There is significant ethnic diversity within BCEO. KU Leuven believes this diversity is a strength and it will promote dialogue within the

organisation

There is a general uniformity with regard to religious affiliation to Christianity among BCEO staff, while at the same time there is diversity in the

identity options within the Christian faith.

Challenges / Critical Questions for BCEO (pp. 38-39)

There is a need to be mindful of the high levels of relativism. Promoting the symbolic understanding from the point of view of Christianity will

ensure that pure relativism does not develop.

BCEO relies too strongly on Christian Values Education, which looks for the lowest common denominator between Christianity and other life

options. With lower levels of confessionality, people will no longer make the link between the values and the Christian faith and this will lead

to secularisation.

There is a need to clearly and effectively communicate the processes of recontextualisation to the community, otherwise it may be mistaken

for reconfessionalisation.

Recommendations for BCEO (pp.39-43)

3.1 The prevailing trend towards Relativism among respondents should be critically assessed so that it becomes more of an awareness of other

religious and philosophical views, while still prioritising the Christian faith.

3.2 Encourage the discovery of new ways of reading and interpreting the Bible symbolically. It is important that BCEO staff are acquainted with

the most recent methodologies and approaches to biblical interpretation (e.g. Three Worlds of the Text model).

3.3 Encourage and foster among BCEO staff the witness of their own faith, in particular those who are guiding schools in developing their

Catholic Identity. This should be done in an invitational way, without compulsion.

3.4 Rethink and re-evaluate the use of a Christian Values approach to Catholic Identity. With the widening gap between faith and culture, this

correlation strategy will lead to increased secularisation. Recontextualisation should be prioritised instead.

3.5 Develop a consciousness of how strategies and activities are perceived and beware of promoting a reconfessional approach to Catholic

Identity. There is significant positive support for this approach among the respondents and this can lead to exclusion of the ‘other’. While some

reconfessionalisation is needed, this should be done from a recontextualising perspective, which is from a standpoint that is new and meaningful

for the current context of BCE.

3.6 Foster a dialogical model in the heart of BCEO culture:

Continue to foster openness toward the ‘other’ and search for ways to welcome the ‘other’ into the community.

Promote true dialogue, through the invitation to staff to share their opinions and experience on significant matters in a genuine way; as

individuals, in teams, and directorates as part of office process.

3.7 Foster a living and fertile prayer and spiritual life within BCEO. This would include communal and individual prayer and through a diverse

range of mediations (art, music, dance, biblical learnings, etc.)

3.8 Continue to form BCEO Leadership and all staff in Catholic Identity. Ongoing formation in cognitive, personal and spiritual dimensions is

required to enable staff at all levels to relate to the mission of Catholic Education in a post-critical and recontextualised way.

3.9 When feasible, establish a team that can enact the recommendations as presented in the BCEO ECSIP report and to plan and envision a

contextual response to the identified priorities, and monitor and evaluate progress.

REFERENCES TO ADDITIONAL LITERATURE

These publications and texts provide information about the theological background, the view on Catholic identity, the religious education didactics and the typologies of belief styles and school identity models that underpin the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project. BOEVE, L., Interrupting Tradition. An Essay on Christian Faith in a Postmodern Context (Louvain Theological and Pastoral Monographs 30), Leuven, Peeters, 2002. BOEVE, L., God Interrupts History: Theology in a Time of Upheaval, London - New York, Continuum, 2007. BOEVE, L., Beyond Correlation Strategies. Teaching Religion in a Detraditionalised and Pluralised Context, in H. Lombaerts & D. Pollefeyt (ed.), Hermeneutics and Religious Education (BETL 180), Leuven, Peeters, 2004, 233-254. D’ORSA, J., & D’ORSA, T., Leading for Mission. Mulgrave, Vaughan Publishing, 2013. GROOME, T. What makes a school Catholic? In T.McLaughlin, J.O’Keefe (Eds), The contemporary Catholic school: Context, identity and diversity (pp 107-125). London: The Falmer Press, 1996. POLLEFEYT, D., The Difference of Alterity. A Religious Pedagogy for an Interreligious and Interideological World, in J. De Tavernier et al. (ed.), Responsibility, God and Society. Theological Ethics in Dialogue. Festschrift Roger Burggraeve (BETL, 217), Leuven, Peeters, 2008, 305-330. POLLEFEYT, D., Interreligious Learning (BETL, 201), Leuven, Peeters, 2007, 340 p. POLLEFEYT, D., The Lustre of Life. Hermeneutic-Communicative Concept of Religious Education, English translation of the Dutch article: De Luister van het Leven. Hermeneutisch-Communicatief Godsdienstonderwijs, in Narthex 13/1 (2013), 62-68. POLLEFEYT D. & BOUWENS, J., Identity in Dialogue. Assessing and enhancing Catholic school identity. Research methodology and research results in Catholic schools in Victoria, Australia (Christian Religious Education and School Identity, 1), Zürich – Berlin, LIT-Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-90550-5, 472 p. POLLEFEYT, D., & BOUWENS, J., Framing the identity of Catholic schools. Empirical methodology for quantitative research of the Catholic identity of an education institute, in International Studies in Catholic Education 2-2 (2010) 193-211. POLLEFEYT, D., & BOUWENS, J., The Post-critical Belief Scale, the Melbourne Scale and the Victoria Scale ‘for dummies’, unpublished interpretation manuals of the typological scales of the Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project, K.U. Leuven, 2009. POLLEFEYT, D., & BOUWENS, J., Dialogue as the Future. A Catholic Answer to the 'Colourisation' of the Educational Landscape, English translation of the Dutch article: Dialoog als Toekomst. Een Katholiek Antwoord op de Verkleuring van het Onderwijslandschap, in P. Keersmaekers, M. van Kerckhoven & K. Vanspeybroeck (ed.), Dialoogschool in Actie! Mag Ik er Zijn Voor U?, Antwerpen, Halewijn / VSKO / VVKHO, 2013, 49-60.