Because it has experienced a process of secularisation for more than three centuries, France can be considered as a laboratory of the relevance of faith in a society for which it is no longer the cultural matrix. By showing how the central question of secularisation is in fact that of the relationship between faith and culture, this article…

In the Early Third Republic (c. 1880-1914), the role of Catholic educators was called into question by the convergence of two different calls for change within French society. As the government of the Third Republic sought to reform primary-school instruction, there were renewed debates in French society about the role of Catholic institutions.…

The effects of secularisation on society demand a rethinking of the identity and mission of Catholic schools in France. In 2013, the French bishops published a new directory which offers new approaches, described here, based on the three challenges facing Catholic education in France: linking social responsibility and evangelisation, setting up…

The Brothers of the Christian Schools, popularly known in the United States as Christian Brothers, have made numerous significant contributions to the development of Catholic education. Building and staffing schools, colleges, and orphanages, producing textbooks and catechetical materials, advocating for the poor, and creating new models of…

The French Revolution bears an ironic responsibility for generating works of charity. To counteract the devastating social effects of that late 18th century uprising, numerous religious communities were founded in France, among them the Congregation of Holy Cross. The Congregation of Holy Cross, the founding religious community behind the…

Special issue dedicated to reveiwing aspects of Catholic training in French schools. (DS)

Discusses recent theory in teaching theology in France. (RL)

Special issue dedicated to reveiwing aspects of Catholic training in French schools. (DS)

Describes the political, religious, and legal problems involved when, after 1761, the Crown and Parliament began the shift of control over local secondary education from the Jesuits to local municipalities. (MF)

Reviews the educational reform movement in France during the late nineteenth century which produced one of the most tightly organized, centrally controlled, and pedagogically effective models of elementary education in the world, with emphasis on the role of the Catholic clergy and attempts of the republican regime to uproot clerical influence in…