All humans now are born into the fallen, post-garden state of our ancestors, which is why God sent his own Son to redeem us through his life, death, and resurrection. But our redemption requires that we trust in Christ and his work. Which means there is an educational component to redemption. Someone has to teach us what Christ did so that we may believe. This education in the gospel can come through a preacher or a friend telling us about Jesus. And both appeared serious, grim even, which jarred with the mirthful image we have of Chesterton today.

In anxious times, this practical book is good news for parents, teachers, and catechists who introduce Catholic faith and morals to children and young people. The author offers a way forward that is Trinitarian, Christ-centered, and yet fully attentive to the needs of the child.”Then, that antique rang! For a brief instant, the third man’s hand flashed through the small circle of light, seizing the receiver. In a world where cultural challenge is the first, the most provocative and the most effect-bearing» [59], the Catholic school is well aware of the onerous commitments it is called to face and it preserves its utmost importance even in present circumstances. Educating in Christ has come out of the substantial educational and research experience of the author. It offers guidance to parents and teachers on all of the significant areas of religious education: Scripture, Sacraments, moral formation, doctrine, and prayer.” But our education in Christ does not stop after we first believe. We then need the “training in righteousness” that comes through the written word of God in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16). Christ died and was raised so that we may have new life in him. We need continual education in the Bible so that we may know God and walk according to his ways. Christ the Educator The shared mission, besides, is enriched by the differences that the lay faithful and consecrated persons bring when they come together in different expressions of charism. These charisms are none other than different gifts with which the same Spirit enriches the Church and the world [37]. In the Catholic school, therefore, «by avoiding both confrontation and homologation, the reciprocity of vocations seems to be a particularly fertile prospect for enriching the ecclesial value of educational communities. In them the various vocations […] are correlative, different and mutual paths that converge to bring to fulfilment the charism of charisms: love» [38].

Unfortunately, Adam’s and Eve’s educational sequence took a wrong turn when they failed the test of just one prohibition, “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (see Genesis 2:17). Notice this was a tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve desired what they would gain from this forbidden tree, and so they disobeyed God and ate. They received a kind of education, but not in the way of righteousness. Instead, Adam and Eve came to know sin, and God banished them from the garden-paradise of his presence. This requirement assumes even more importance and urgency within the sphere of the Catholic faith, experienced in the love of ecclesial communion. In fact, the Church, the place of communion and image of Trinitarian love, «is alive with the love enkindled by the Spirit of Christ» [51]. The Spirit acts as an «interior power» that harmonizes the hearts of believers with Christ’s heart and «transforms the heart of the ecclesial community, so that it becomes a witness before the world to the love of the Father» [52]. Thus, «beginning with intra-ecclesial communion, charity of its nature opens out into a service that is universal; it inspires in us a commitment to practical and concrete love for every human being» [53]. In this sense, the Church is not an end in itself, it exists to show God to the world; it exists for others. In other words, Israelite parents were to frequently teach their children the Word of God. His teachings were to be a regular part of life and passed down through the generations (Psalm 78:1–8). This includes practical teachings, as seen in the king’s instruction to his son in the book of Proverbs. “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7), and such knowledge ought to lead him to be honest, hardworking, and faithful to his wife. The goal of Catholic religious education is Education in Christ, an holistic and lived-out education in relating to the eternal Word. Which is why Professor O’Shea begins his book, as any good Thomist would, by considering the ultimate goal of human life and of Catholic education. Next come chapters on human and faith development, and on moral formation of the body, mind, heart and will. Chapters on liturgy, scripture, prayer and family, and their place in R.E., precede a comprehensive survey of the magisterium on these matters that I am pleased to say I commissioned when Gerard was working for Parramatta!What makes this testimony really effective is the promotion, especially within the educational community of the Catholic school, of that spirituality of communion that has been indicated as the great prospect awaiting the Church of the Third Millennium. Spirituality of communion means «an ability to think of our brothers and sisters in the faith within the profound unity of the Mystical Body, and therefore as “those who are a part of me”» [21], and «the Christian community’s ability to make room for all the gifts of the Spirit» [22] in a relationship of reciprocity between the various ecclesial vocations. Even in that special expression of the Church that is the Catholic school, spirituality of communion must become the living breath of the educational community, the criterion for the full ecclesial development of its members and the fundamental point of reference for the implementation of a truly shared mission.

In this context it becomes especially urgent to offer young people a course of scholastic formation which is not reduced to a simple individualistic and instrumental fruition of service with a view to obtaining a qualification. As well as gaining knowledge, students must also have a strong experience of sharing with their educators. For this experience to be happily accomplished, educators must be welcoming and well-prepared interlocutors, able to awaken and direct the best energies of students towards the search for truth and the meaning of existence, a positive construction of themselves and of life in view of an overall formation. In the end, «real education is not possible without the light of truth » [1]. The communion experienced in the educational community, animated and sustained by lay and consecrated persons joined together in the same mission, makes the Catholic school a community environment filled with the spirit of the Gospel. Now, this community environment appears as a privileged place for the formation of young people in the construction of a world based on dialogue and the search for communion, rather than in contrast; on the mutual acceptance of differences rather than on their opposition. In this way, with its educational project taking inspiration from ecclesial communion and the civilization of love, the Catholic school can contribute considerably to illuminating the minds of many, so that «there will arise a generation of new persons, the moulders of a new humanity» [58]. Organized according to the diversities of persons and vocations, but vivified by the same spirit of communion, the educational community of the Catholic school aims at creating increasingly deeper relationships of communion that are in themselves educational. Precisely in this, it «expresses the variety and beauty of the various vocations and the fruitfulness at educational and pedagogical levels that this contributes to the life of the school » [39].The continuous rapid transformation that affects man and today’s society in all fields leads to the precocious aging of acquired knowledge that demands new attitudes and methods. The educator is required to constantly update the contents of the subjects he teaches and the pedagogical methods he uses. The educator’s vocation demands a ready and constant ability for renewal and adaptation. It is not, therefore, sufficient to achieve solely an initial good level of preparation; rather what is required is to maintain it and elevate it in a journey of permanent formation. Because of the variety of aspects that it involves, permanent formation demands a constant personal and communal search for its forms of achievement, as well as a formation course that is also shared and developed through exchange and comparison between consecrated and lay educators of the Catholic school.

In fact, the daily dialogue and confrontation with lay and consecrated educators, who offer a joyful witness of their calling, will more easily direct a young person in formation to consider his or her life as a vocation, as a journey to be lived together, grasping the signs through which God leads to the fullness of existence. Similarly, it will make him or her understand how necessary it is to know how to listen, to interiorize values, to learn to assume commitments and make life choices. If you Regard the objective of religious education as the formation of a Catholic heart, memory, intellect, and imagination, then you will consider Educating in Christan indispensable text. Drawing on ideas from Maria Montessori and Sofia Cavalletti, it explains how to hand on the faith at different stages of a child's development. every Catholic teacher should read and apply it."--TRACEY ROWLAND, University of Notre Dame, Australia Jesus commands us to love God with our whole being, including our mind (Matthew 22:37). And so we study the word of God, that the Holy Spirit may teach us (John 14:26) and make us more like Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). Educating Together in Catholic Schools. A Shared Mission between Consecrated Persons and the Lay Faithful It is, moreover, of fundamental importance that the service carried out by the associations is stimulated by full participation in the pastoral activity of the Church. The Episcopal Conferences and their continental versions are entrusted with the role of promoting the development of the specificities of each association, favouring and encouraging more coordinated work in the educational sector.When Christians say communion, they refer to the eternal mystery, revealed in Christ, of the communion of love that is the very life of God-Trinity. At the same time we also say that Christians share in this communion in the Body of Christ which is the Church (cf. Phil 1: 7; Rev 1: 9). Communion is, therefore, the “essence” of the Church, the foundation and source of its mission of being in the world «the home and the school of communion» [12], to lead all men and women to enter ever more profoundly into the mystery of Trinitarian communion and, at the same time, to extend and strengthen internal relations within the human community. In this sense, «the Church is like a human family, but at the same time it is also the great family of God, through which he creates a place of communion and unity through all continents, cultures and nations » [13]. Dr. Gerard O’Shea, is a Professor of Religious Education at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Australia. He is also Assistant Director for Catholic Education for the Diocese of Wilcannia-Forbes.He and his wife Anne have five children, and seven grandchildren. While the content he suggests for his curricula is not identical - O'Shea's interest is more on general education than specifically creative arts - he provides an educational framework that is based upon the same philosophy of education and into which, in my opinion, the particular focus of the Way of Beauty could be inserted quite happily. In presenting this document to those who live the educational mission in the Church, we entrust all Catholic schools to the Virgin Mary, Mother and educator of Christ and of persons, so that, like the servants at the wedding of Cana, they may humbly follow her loving invitation: «Do whatever He tells you» ( Jn 2:5) and may they, thus, be together with the whole Church, «the home and the school of communion» [60] for the men and women of our time. The shared mission experienced by an educational community of lay and consecrated persons, with an active vocational conscience, makes the Catholic school a pedagogical place that favours vocational pastoral activity. The very composition of such an educational community of a Catholic school highlights the diversity and complementarity of vocations in the Church [45], of which it, too, is an expression. In this sense, the communitarian dynamics of the formational experience become the horizon where the student can feel what it means to be a member of the biggest community which is the Church. And to experience the Church means to personally meet the living Christ in it: «a young man can truly understand Christ’s will and his own vocation only to the extent that he has a personal experience of Christ» [46]. In this sense, the Catholic school is committed to guiding its students to knowing themselves, their attitudes and their interior resources, educating them in spending their lives responsibly as a daily response to God’s call. Thus, the Catholic school accompanies its students in conscious choices of life: to follow their vocation to the priesthood or to consecrated life or to accomplish their Christian vocation in family, professional and social life.