Renewing a mission” “” “

After various months of preparation, the “assembly of Catholic teaching” was held in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 1st December. Its task, as explained by the assembly’s head of information Gilles du Retail, was to “renew the mission of Catholic schools and formulate a clear and concrete programme of action for implementing it”. Delegations of each academic committee and each national organization, some 10,000 persons in all, as well as members of the educational communities, met together on this national day of Catholic teaching. Paul Malartre, secretary general for Catholic teaching, declared in his opening address: “In the name of participation in the public educational service, in the school system of the French Republic, Catholic teaching cannot remain inert to the need to conceive of the school structure in a different way”. Ever since the law of 1959, Catholic teaching has collaborated with the State and is subject to a certain number of restrictions, in particular open access to everyone and ministerial control on teaching; this is the quid pro quo for the public funding it relies on for its efficient functioning. The legal restrictions have led to a difficulty in the pastoral and educational project: how can an authentic proposal of Christian faith be made to pupils, while at the same time respecting the diversity of their religious origins? To clarify the situation, a statute of Catholic teaching was promulgated by the French bishops on 14 May 1992. In its 96 articles the statute described the relation with the civil structure and recalled the foundations of Catholic teaching in canon law. “The school of Catholic teaching” has become “the Catholic school of teaching”. In other words, what determines the sphere of its mission is not teaching children to be Catholics but schooling: “the complete formation of the human person”, a competence claimed by the Church, “expert in humanity”. During the last national assembly discussion was devoted to how Catholic schools should be incorporated “in the social context in such a way as to reinforce and renew our responsibility”, explains Paul Malartre. “Today in France, one family in two enters at least one of its children in a Catholic school. The emergence of the educational questions recalls the teacher to his/her role, and schools to their mission and to their educational partnership with parents”. Over these last few months, at least 50,000 persons, in all the regions of France, have reflected on the working documents and made proposals in various directions: diversity in educational methods, differentiated courses, interdisciplinarity, ‘pedagogy of reflection’, systematic guidance of students, partnership with external structures, and fostering the pupil’s involvement in civic, community and ecclesial life. The national day of Catholic teaching was a point of departure, explained the organizers: Follow-up meetings on the recruitment and training of teachers and educational personnel are planned for the spring of 2002, with the triple objective: reviewing the current teacher-training system, comparing this review with the guidelines offered by the last assembly and, if necessary, correcting the chosen approach. Maryvonne Gasse – Paris Fact File – Catholic schools in France: the figures Cities: 1,969,991 pupils Overseas provinces and territories: 49.245 pupils 137,167 teachers of whom 40,906 in primary schooling, 90,961 in secondary schooling, 5,300 in agricultural schools. 65,000 administrative and ancillary staff. Expressed as a percentage of the total French school population, Catholic schools comprise: 13.32% of primary school pupils 20.2% of secondary school pupils 28.93% of agricultural school pupils.