Vatican II Education Australia
Vatican II was a great revolutionary moment in the history of the Catholic church, when the windows were thrown open and the modern world let in. With sessions running between October 1962 and December 1965, it brought together around 3,000 bishops from all corners of the world, and changed every aspect of church life-including a new emphasis on the role of the laity, and a new spirit of dialogue with other churches and the secular world. (The Religion Report, 2002)Vatican II served, in many ways as a catalyst to change within the Catholic church and Catholic education. The demonstrative focus of the faith, during the 1962-1965 meetings of the church was specifically associated with a new ecumenical standard, as the church vowed to demonstrate greater responsibility for its place within the world, as a point of historical standards but more importantly as a newly invigorated center of faith and hope in a changing world. The world in which Vatican II firmly placed the Roman Catholic Church is one of postmodern expression of individual rights and free expression of religious belief and practices (Hughes, 2001, pp. 30-31) (Tinsey, 1997, pp. 1-3) as well as the church as the defender of all mankind, rather than as the defender of Ca
" 79 The Constitution urged that "the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one. 302)As Buetow notes there are limited direct references in the works of Vatican II to education, those that exist engender the development of the place of parochial Catholic education within the context of this newly envisioned, world. must acknowledge the right of parents to make a genuinely free choice of schools and of other means of education" without imposing unjust burdens or forcing children "to attend lessons or instruction which are not in agreement with their religious beliefs. 11-12) This sentiment, among others had begun to make the church feel as if its standards and practices of the past were no longer relavant and timely and therefore were in need of change. " 83 The help the Church offers to society as a whole is based on her religious role, in this role transcending the political, economic, and social orders. 303) The role then of Catholic Education must allow for the development of whole individuals in a whole reciprocating society and therefore create not children of heaven but children (and later adults) who understand their role as builders of the earth. 304)Though the stress on the Catholic school is intense the council also acknowledges the right of individual Catholics to choose to send their children to non-Catholic schools and for non-Catholics to send their children to Catholic schools as a way that best meets the needs of their children and the broader society. As educational standards began to change, and respond to new understandings of the world the scope of education also began to change. that man, confiding too much in modern discoveries, may even think that he is sufficient unto himself and no longer seek any higher realities. One comment, for example, seemed to speak to those who react with hostility and fear in the presence of new scientific theories and truths: Therefore, if methodical investigation within every branch of learning is carried out with a genuinely scientific manner and in accord with moral norms, it never truly conflicts with faith.
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Acceptance Essays
