This paper explores some of the ideas expressed in or associated with the work of Don Lorenzo Milani and the School of Barbiana and discusses them in the light of the teachings of the gospels. It draws out the implications of these ideas for a critical education in the Christian spirit. The focus throughout is on Christian education for social…

In the early decades of the twentieth century the question of mental disabilities was widely discussed in Italy, while the first special schools for the intellectually impaired were set up. An important role was played by the Franciscan friar Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959), a physician, renowned psychologist, and founder in 1921 of the Catholic…

A schoolteacher from Lombardy, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), founded the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC) in 1880. It was one of the 185 female religious institutes established in Italy in the nineteenth century. In the newly unified Italy, Cabrini found opportunities to formulate progressive Catholic…

When preparing students for study abroad, understanding the religious dimension of the target country/culture is generally viewed as essential for cultural competency training. What is generally left unexamined is the civil religious culture that might be operative. This essay first provides an introduction to the concept as it was introduced by…

This book delineates the evolution of the Study Centre for Catholic Schools (CSSC) in its first ten years of existence since its foundation in 1998 by the Italian Bishops' Conference. The volume is divided into three main sections. The first outlines the context and the activity of the CSSC during ten years: the role, the functions, the tasks and…

In the summers of 2007 and 2008 St. John's University's faculty arrived in Rome and spent two weeks working together at the university's campus in the Prati section of Rome as participants in a program that was half faculty writing retreat and half writing across the curriculum faculty development workshop. The focus of the St. John's University…

Only at the beginning of the Twentieth century, a confessional type of publishing, directed mainly at schools and teachers and devoted, almost exclusively, to publishing textbooks for every level and type of school, came into existence in Italy. In the period between the two World Wars and especially after the Gentile Reform (1923), this type of…

While the private sector in Italian elementary and secondary education does not account for a large portion of the educational system or enjoy special favor as in some other countries, there is strong debate over legislation concerning private schools and especially church-related schools. (MSE)