The dual State-Catholic education model that secured the existence of many Catholic schools, especially after the Second Vatican Council, has made the role of principals more complex as they endeavour to balance their religious and educational leadership responsibilities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the provisions of the Private Schools Conditional…

This article is intended to contribute to the debate about the nature of a Catholic philosophy of education by exploring the philosophical issues involved in the apparent conflict between scientific and religious knowledge claims. The claim that modern science has rendered religious truth claims unreasonable appears to be influential among…

Research by Grace, G. R. (2002. "Catholic Schools: Mission, Markets, and Morality." London: Routledge/Falmer) and Wilkin, R. 2014. ("'Interpreting the Tradition': A Research Report." "International Studies in Catholic Education" 6 (2): 164-177) has drawn attention to the importance of spiritual capital amongst…

This study focuses on two major aspects of Jesuit pedagogy in Spain that should be held in mind in order to understand Jesuit educational transformations after the Second Vatican Council: Firstly (A), the theological renewal undertaken since the end of the 1960s, mainly by the Jesuit institute "Fe y Secularidad" founded in 1967 and the…

This article argues that although the preferential option for the poor is associated with Catholic schools there is an insufficient depth in the knowledge and understanding of this concept and the implications for the aims and operation of Catholic schools. The article provides a concise overview of the care for the poor in the Vatican documents…

Catholic educationalists have long stressed the role of Catholic universities in advancing the cause of social justice to counter the increasing commodification of business relationships and the lack of social responsibilities of the business world. Is this rhetoric or reality? In this empirical paper involving 501 US universities that have an…

This article examines why liberation theology needs to be a core resource in religious education settings, especially in Catholic secondary schools. It will first touch on key tenets of liberation theology and the reasons why it was silenced and underused. It will then analyse poverty in the Jewish tradition as an interfaith resource and…

While critical rationality is an explicit goal of Catholic education, its practice in confessional Catholic religious education can be problematic for epistemological reasons: the prevailing Catholic religious epistemology may not be conducive to critical thinking in the RE classroom. A survey among 1068 teachers conducted in fifteen Catholic…

The Word of God is 'the true light that enlightens everyone who comes into the world' and is the driving force behind the charism of the Immaculate Heart Sisters (IHM). Charles Heerey wanted the Sisters to be 'the fairest of the children of God'. Their life must be modelled on Jesus Christ, the great teacher and master to humanity. In view of this…

The conciliar declaration Gravissimum Educationis states that "All men of every race, condition and age, since they enjoy the dignity of a human being, have an inalienable right to an education that is in keeping with their ultimate goal, their ability, their sex, and the culture and tradition of their country, and also in harmony with their…

Papers in this journal on Bernard Lonergan by Brendan Carmody (2011) and on Karl Rahner by Sean Whittle (2014) have considered their significance for a philosophy of Catholic education. They were stars in the Catholic intellectual firmament in the mid-to-late twentieth century, acknowledged for their command of the longstanding Catholic traditions…

This article describes the way in which the Catholic faith shapes education at the University of Navarra. The two aspects of the institution's identity, i.e. the Catholic dimension and the university dimension, are not juxtaposed and one is not favoured over the other. Rather, they work together and mutually reinforce each other. The article will…

Readers of this journal will recall two articles on the Catholic philosophy education: "Towards a contemporary Catholic philosophy of education," by Brendan Carmody SJ, [Carmody, Brendan. (2011). "Towards a Contemporary Catholic Philosophy of Education." "International Studies in Catholic Education" 3 (2): 106-119],…

The preparation, convocation, and implementation of the Second Vatican Council sparked changes at theological and organisational levels in the Catholic church. Both types of changes created a new structure for the relationship of different elements within the church and between the church and the world. This was not the first time the Catholic…

This paper draws on the findings of a small-scale research study based on interviews with twenty serving Catholic headteachers from the primary and secondary phases and from the maintained and independent sectors. The focus of the study was to explore the concept of 'spiritual capital' among the headteachers and to evaluate the impact of two major…