Witness, Specialist, Moderator: The critical role of Catholic educators in our changing world
Bernadette Mercieca and Ann Rennie, GARRATT PUBLISHING, ISBN 9781922484741
Conversation and sometimes heated argument about religious education have long been a feature of Catholic life. Once they were polarised, providing more heat than light in the battle between some who saw virtue only in what had been done many years ago and others who saw it only in what had yet to be tried.
In an age where religious adherence is diminishing, the discussion is now calmer and more evidence based. We are all seekers. But some, such as Bernadette Mercieca and Ann Rennie are better equipped to offer guidance than others. In their book they bring to the conversation a lifetime within the Catholic Church and decades of being taught and teaching religion in Catholic schools.
In this book they describe in an informative and enlightening way the various changes of context and of response in the past 60 years. Their reminiscences on the Catholic Church and on the religious education of their childhood will evoke nostalgia in many readers. They describe even-handedly the subsequent changes in teaching method and syllabus. These were introduced in order to catch up with the rapid and multifaceted change in the Catholic Church and its place in society which the authors experienced as teachers and as coordinators in schools.
Their contribution to this sober but hopeful reflection on the challenges of the future is well summed up in the three roles of the title of their book: witness, specialist and moderator.