VULGARISED RAHNERIANISM AND POST-CRITICAL RECONTEXTUALISATION: SOLVENTS OF CATHOLIC IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY CATECHESIS

It would appear that the whole Catholic educational project faces an important decision regarding its future development. Decades of support for the vulgarised Rahnerian anthropological vision is now serving as a conduit for the Re-contextualisation perspectives of Boeve and his collaborators, and a parallel effort to re-define the meaning of a successful Catholic educational enterprise. Despite the clear findings of contemporary educational research of eminent and respected theorists such as Hattie, Sweller, Kirschner, Clarke and Lillard (all of whom support a narrowing of the field of study of novice learners), determined efforts are still being made in the field of catechesis to emphasise the symbolic over concrete real; a disparagement of content in favour of process. This continues to find its most damaging application in the denigration of a permanently valid and divinely revealed Deposit of Faith (admittedly, one which continues to be subject to ever deepening understanding). Contemporary students are encouraged to exchange this patrimony for a brave new world of moral and intellectual autonomy, whereby they are encouraged to opt for their own inexpertly constructed, personally validated version of reality, made in their own image and according to their own taste. It can be argued, of course, that such a worldview is neither brave nor new. Students are merely being asked to situate themselves outside the hermeneutic circle of the Catholic faith, and told that they should make up their own minds regarding what they will accept – all based on their own independent inquiries. Catholic schools now face the choice of grounding themselves in an effective epistemology, supported now both by the traditions of the Church and the findings of modern educational research, which is capable of mediating the Christian message with clarity. Further work needs to be done to articulate the practical implications of such a desirable prospect. Alternatively, Catholic schools may choose to adopt a Recontexualising trajectory and widen the gulf between themselves and their traditional roots still further.