Can the ancestors speak? For the 2022 annual meeting of the Religious Education Association (REA), themed "Becoming Good Ancestors," an essential question is, "can the ancestors speak?" To answer this question, the presidential address seeks to uncover: who are the REA's ancestors? Where are they speaking? What is the guild's…

In his video message sent on the occasion of the closing plenary of OIEC's World Congress, Pope Francis expressed sincere gratitude for all those who work in Catholic education. "I thank you for this service, and through you I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to all those who work in Catholic education: lay people, men and women…

Christian higher education (CHE) had been totally disappeared from the China mainland since the 1950s, and related studies only revived in the past 40 years since Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up policy in 1978. The present paper is an attempt to report what had happened in the past 40 years, and to illustrate some significant contributions…

Spirituality may not be able to be defined precisely but a number of models can be proposed which all recognise key sensitivities and experiences. Spirituality needs to be understood as being broader than the religious and should inform the whole curriculum and school ethos, if not the general concept of Secondary Education itself. To understand…

Imam Hatip Secondary Schools are the schools where the lessons related to religion (The Holy Quran, Tafsir and Hadith etc.) are taught as a compulsory part of the curriculum. In other secondary schools, only one religion lesson is compulsory, and the other religion-related lessons are taught as elective. The aim of this research is to examine the…

This article consists of remarks made during a panel at the 2017 annual meeting of the Religious Education Association in St. Louis, MO. From his vantage point as a former law enforcement agent, the author explores issues of ethical dilemmas present in policing; the current situation of militarized police forces; community policing and its…

Emilie Townes begins by describing her childhood growing up as a Black middle class girl headed toward womanhood in the South in the late 1950s, 60's and early 70s. Townes writes that growing up during that time filled her with a host of experiences and memories that continue to shape her today. She writes that she learned about racism from the…

Susan Ferguson reflects on the Catholic Higher Education Collaborative Conference of 2013 and the breakout group talk titled "Helping the Church Prepare for and Implement Publicly Funded Programs." The main point of the talk asked: "How Can Catholic Higher Education Help K-12 Catholic Schools and School Systems Prepare for and…

Emerging social media that build on digital technologies are reshaping how we interact with each other. Religious education and identity formation within these new cultural flows demands recognition of the shifts in authority, authenticity, and agency that are taking place, as well as the challenges posed by "context collapse." Digital…

These proceedings include selected presentations on Catholic identity by six participants of the 2011 Catholic Higher Education Collaborative (CHEC) Conference on Catholic Identity at The Catholic University of America (CUA). The conference, jointly sponsored by CUA and St. John's University, is the fourth in a series of five national conferences…

Explores the relationship between discipleship and citizenship, discussing ways Catholic educators can teach their students to be faithful to their Catholic ideals as they exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Service learning provides a means for integrating head and heart for students while working in a real world context.…

Describes the background of Froebel's religious ideas, focusing on experiences gained while a young child at home, an adolescent apprentice, and a young adult at university. Discusses briefly the reaction of the church to Froebel's thought and shows how Froebel's religious ideas influenced his ideas about educating young children. (RH)

The author, a dean at Valpariso University in Indiana (affiliated with the Lutheran church), addresses a Catholic conference on higher education. He identifies and discusses basic constitutive beliefs of Catholic and Protestant Christian education, including unity of the cosmos, universality of human nature and divine love, and the integral…

Historical background to Arkansas Act 590, mandating inclusion of creationism in public school curriculum, is given, including the history of antievolution bills, emergence of textbook watchers, and political issues in the law's passage. Suggestions are given for elementary and secondary teachers to become informed and active regarding…

Catholic universities and colleges are challenged to retain a lively sense of their Catholic identity and to fulfill their specific responsibilities to the Church and to society. Theology is a search to understand more clearly the heritage of faith preserved, transmitted and made explicit by the Church. (MLW)