Abstract - ASMRE



CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION: SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Spirituality has been considered a uniquely human attribute since the time of the Greek philosophers. The idea of ‘spirit’ gained a religious connotation when the ancient Hebrews wrote of the ‘ruach’ or ‘spirit’ of God infused into the human being at birth’s first breath. Twenty first century spirituality has morphed into a different concept and is no longer exclusively linked to institutional religion (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006).

In Christianity, there has been a long association between the concepts ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’. Spirituality was the expression, and the living out of one’s religious faith, usually involving a range of religious practices like prayer, reflection and spiritual reading, together with communal worship and liturgy. For many people, their spirituality remained, and still remains today, ‘religious’ in a traditional sense. But social and cultural changes, particularly in the twenty first century, affected the way spirituality was understood and practiced. Spirituality has morphed into a multiplicity of different forms; it is no longer linked with institutional religion in a relatively exclusive way (Horell, 2004; Crawford & Rossiter, 2006).

Promoting the spiritual and moral development of students has long been a key purpose of Australian schooling, both in government and independent schools. In 1957, the New South Wales (NSW) Wyndham Report proposed the development of “spiritual values” as one of the eight aims for public education (NSW Government, 1957, p. 40). National statements of goals for Australian schooling, the Hobart Declaration (1989) and the Adelaide Declaration (1999), as well as the National Values Education Study (Curriculum Corporation, 2003, 2005), affirmed the importance of personal development aims. But the specific term ‘spirituality’ has not been used in statements of purposes for Australian public education, probably because there remains a perceived strong link between spirituality and religion; and promoting students’ spiritual development in a ‘general’ way within public education would not want to imply that this required formal ‘religious’ education. Somewhat inevitably, there remains a gap between theory and practice as regards the spiritual aims for Australian public education (Crawford & Rossiter, 1993, 2006). In the United Kingdom, this problem has been negotiated successfully with ‘spirituality’ having a prominent place in educational theory and practice (Rossiter, 1996; Grimmitt, 2000).

In religious schools in Australia, where there has been a longstanding and important link between religion and spirituality, there is a specific interest in promoting young people’s spirituality within the context of the religious tradition sponsoring the school (Cleverley, 1978; Rossiter, 1981). This is particularly the case in Catholic schools which continue to give special attention to the purpose of developing young people’s spirituality in a Catholic context (Flynn, 1979 Dwyer, 1970; Holohan, 1999). This is notable in the formal religion program, a part of the core curriculum in Catholic schools across all year levels, as well as in the practices of prayer, liturgy and retreats, and in the purpose of having Catholic values and ethos influencing the social and organisational life of the school.

With increasing evidence of a great diversity to spirituality, including a divergence between the concepts spirituality and religion (Bouma, 2006; Zohar & Marshall, 2000), as well as extensive secularization (Mackay, 2000), it has become important for church schools, and in particular, Catholic schools to review their approach to spirituality. To what extent should their efforts remain focused mainly on teaching and practicing a traditional religious spirituality?

The Catholic Bishops Conference of NSW and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) (2007) expressed concerns about the religious effectiveness of Catholic schools because of the continual decline in the numbers of young people participating in parish life and worship. This view tends to presume a causal link between Catholic schooling and Church involvement. On the contrary, some educators argue that Catholic schools may well have excellent and effective programs for educating young people in spirituality, but this cannot by itself persuade youth to become active members of the Church (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006; Hughes, 2007). This latter view presumes a great complexity in the factors determining young people’s choices regarding church participation.

But whatever view is taken of the links between Catholic schooling and church involvement, a fundamental question remains about the link between the Catholic religion (as experienced in Catholic schools) and young people’s spirituality. While there have been a number of recent major research studies on youth spirituality (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006; Flynn & Mok, 2002; Hughes, 2006; Smith & Denton, 2005) they have been more general in focus and have not given special attention to the perceptions of the senior students in Catholic schools, or to their views on the relationships between their religion and their spirituality.

For educators in Catholic schools, ranging from classroom teachers, through the school executive, to system leaders, as well as for parents, and the clergy, there is an ongoing need to appraise research on young people’s spirituality and to consider implications for the theory and practice of Catholic schooling and religious education.

The following section identifies a number of the issues related to youth spirituality and Catholic schooling. And these issues point towards the need for more research investigating the contemporary spirituality of senior students in Catholic schools.

1. ISSUES RELATED TO SPIRITUALITY AND CATHOLIC SCHOOLING

1.1.1 A NEED FOR REINTERPRETING THE APPLICATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES TO THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE

Educators, when preparing professionally for involvement in Catholic schooling, have studied the spiritual and moral development of children and adolescents. Since the 1970s, such study has usually drawn on the work of the developmental theorists Piaget (cognitive development and moral reasoning, e.g., Piaget, 1955), Erikson (personal development, e.g., Erikson, 1958, 1965, 1968) and Kohlberg (moral reasoning, e.g., Kohlberg 1984), as well as drawing on the work of Fowler (faith development, e.g., Fowler, 1981, 1987), and to a lesser extent Kegan (development of the ‘self’, e.g., Kegan, 1982), and to a limited extent Oser (belief development, e.g., Oser 1991).

These theories have been used as lenses for analysing and interpreting how young people find their path through personal development. The pathways envisioned in these theories tend to presume particular, traditional views of what constitutes the ideal of maturity, and in turn this includes a constructive relationship with traditional community beliefs and values. However, the understandings of young people’s spirituality emerging from recent research suggest that their construction of a personal spirituality is often far from what might be regarded as ‘traditional’. Hence, there is a need to review aspects of some of the developmental theories to take the new situation into account.

The following note about the development of moral reasoning illustrates the problem.

An important component of a Catholic school’s endeavour to educate young people in spirituality involves the development of moral reasoning. Catholic schools set out to promote a strong sense of Catholic morality that is founded on the doctrines of the Church (Pope John Paul II, 1997a; Pope John Paul II, 1997b). Catholic education is guided by the aim to develop in young people a worldview based on the ethical and moral standards of the Catholic Church (Bishops of NSW & ACT, 2007).

In addition, the religious program at school intends to teach the traditional Catholic view of the spiritual/eternal consequences of breaking the laws and dictates of God and the Church. However, some students feel that this is an education in a set of ethical standards that are outdated, irrelevant, and that do not evidently relate to their lives (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006; Hughes, 2007). The moral laws of the Church may be perceived as ‘counter-cultural’ to young people, and at odds with their own conscience (McLaughlin, 2005).

Increasingly, students are developing their own sense of right and wrong apparently based on the acceptance of personal and moral relativism, with traditional religious values not accorded the respect they were given formerly. This growing contemporary attitude toward moral decision making may require some adjustment to the way that progress through Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning is interpreted (Kohlberg, 1984).

This growing sense of ‘moral individualism’ among young people may also have an impact on how other developmental theories are applied when analysing youth spirituality – for example the faith-development theory of James Fowler (1981).

The need for a review of this application of developmental theories in the light of increasing moral individualism is also reinforced by other socio-cultural trends such as secularisation, and the effects of cultural postmodernity. Young people may not be thinking and developing in the same ways as their counterparts did last century when these theories were first devised.

1.1.2 SOCIO-CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL’S ROLE IN EDUCATING SPIRITUALITY: INCREASED SECULARISATION, A DECLINING CHURCH, AND THE CONTINUING POPULARITY OF CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

A significant proportion of parents and students bring a different attitude to the Catholic school’s religious program than was the case in the past. Their views may well differ from those officially proclaimed by Catholic school authorities. If there is not a congruence in belief and practice between home and school, then the students’ overall perception and understanding of the role religious education plays may be diffuse (Crawford & Rossiter, 2006; Jackson, 2004; Rymarz, 2003).

In addition, studies of the beliefs and practices of the parents of Catholic school students point to an increasing secularisation and disengagement from the Church (Rymarz, 2001; McLaughlin, 2005). Contemporary society is experiencing an increased modernisation that has impacted heavily upon the more traditional attitudes and practices of the past (Dixon, 2005).

Secularisation has contributed to a significant decline in religious adherence throughout western, industrialised societies (Brown, 2006; Crawford & Rossiter, 2006). The Catholic Church in Australia has experienced a steady decline in Church attendance and parish involvement for each of the past four census surveys (Dixon, 2005). However, parents, in increasing numbers, are sending their children to Catholic schools. Thus, there is ‘a booming Church school system’ in a ‘declining Church’ – and this may be the real difficulty that Church authorities are trying to comprehend; they hope that the Catholic school system can be effective in revitalising the Church. But many of the enthusiastic patrons of Catholic schools are reluctant to commit themselves to active Church membership.

The Catholic school system in Australia has experienced continued growth with new Catholic secondary schools being established almost yearly (Tinsey, 1998). The reasons why parents choose to send their children to a Catholic school appear to be based mainly on an overall perception of a higher quality education, rather than on the religious component of the curriculum (McLaughlin, 2005). The largest recent increase in enrolments has been of students who are not Catholic (Bishops of NSW & the ACT, 2007).

If a significant number of parents are sending their children to Catholic schools, primarily for the quality of education, then the religious education program may not be supported and reinforced in the home. If Catholic schools have as their principal goal; ‘the formation of Christian disciples, with appropriate world view, character and behavior (Bishops of NSW & the ACT, 2007, p. 16)’ then this intention to develop young adults with more traditional Catholic beliefs and practice may fall well short of the situation and needs of most of the students in Catholic schools.

It is not that the handing on of the traditional religious heritage is unimportant. But a religious program with this as its exclusive purpose may set Catholic schools up for a judgment of failure to achieve this goal because no matter what the school may do, it will be unable to change the relatively secular spirituality of students and their parents. It may be both unrealistic and unfair to judge the spiritual effectiveness of the Catholic school because it cannot reverse cultural trends in secularisation and lack of engagement with religion.

There is a natural difficulty for a school representing a religious tradition, with a strong traditional religious spirituality, in working out what is the best way of offering an education in spirituality to young people that will do justice to its connections with the religious tradition while at the same time taking into account the increased complexity of social and cultural life.

Study of the personal spirituality of school students and of its links with the religious tradition will be important for reconceptualising the Catholic school’s role in education in spirituality.

1.2 THE IMPACT OF INDIVIDUALISM AND CULTURAL POSTMODERNITY ON YOUTH SPIRITUALITY

The term ‘cultural postmodernity’ has been used to describe the socio-cultural situation in Western industrialised countries where there is widespread questioning of the value of metanarratives (like religion) and a strong individualism in the way people construct their own meaning (Drane, 2000; Mackay, 2000). In turn, this cultural mood affects spirituality; it tends to shift people’s attention away from the traditional religious emphases on beliefs and acceptance of a religious worldview, towards a more individualistic, personal emphasis on the importance of spiritual experiences, and of making sense of life ‘here and now’ rather than in terms of its ‘preparation for an afterlife’ (Horell, 2004; Hughes, 2007; Crawford & Rossiter, 2006.)

Other aspects of cultural postmodernity – complexity, existentialism, pluralism, multiculturalism and relativism, as well as uncertainty about the reliability of knowledge and moral standards – also have a shaping influence on sense of self, search for meaning, connectedness with community, and moral/personal development.

1.3 THE FORMATION OF A GOD CONCEPT

A central aspect of spirituality is the sense of the transcendent. Research on youth spirituality has given attention to levels of religious belief, including belief in God. Recent major studies report that most young people believe in God (Hughes, 2007; Mason, Singleton & Webber, 2005; Smith & Denton, 2005; Flynn & Mok, 2002). However, there has been little research that has looked in detail at young people’s images of God. Of these studies, most examined the images of God in middle-adolescents and primary school students only (Duffy, 2004).

More data are needed on how senior school students think about God and about how this belief functions within their personal spirituality. Such research could also investigate the extent to which traditional Christian theology affects young people’s images of God. This could help show how the worldview of senior students is constructed, and what impact the Catholic school experience might have on their spirituality.

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This two part research study of the spirituality of young people will address the issues noted above as well as some related research questions. The first part of the project will be a documentary/analytical study of the literature related to youth spirituality. The second part will be a qualitative empirical study of the views of a sample of senior school students in metropolitan Catholic schools.

Three main themes will underpin the whole project as it explores the area of contemporary youth spirituality.

• Perspective on young people’s spirituality from developmental theories

• Components and characteristics of young people’s spirituality

• The influences of culture, especially a ‘youth culture’ on young people’s spirituality

1.4.1 Part 1. Documentary, analytical study

1.4.2 Moral and Personal Development

The first part of the review of literature examines the construction of youth spirituality from a developmental perspective, and it considers the impact of the contemporary cultural/societal situation on some theories of linear maturation.

1.4.3 COMPONENTS OF CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUALITY

The review then investigates contemporary spirituality, and the relationship between Religion and spirituality. It explores what has been written about the efficacy of Catholic/religious education and the passing on of the faith tradition, in the light of the less than traditional spirituality that is becoming more common among young people as well as adults.

1.4.4 THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE AND YOUTH CULTURE

Because young people’s point of contact with a spiritual/moral dimension to life is often conditioned by their existential interest in lifestyle (Hughes, 2007), a study of youth spirituality needs to consider trends in contemporary culture such as consumerism, multiculturalism, and the influence of television in terms of their impact on youth spirituality.

1.5 Part 2 - Qualitative, empirical part of the RESEARCH PROJECT

Part two of the research will include a survey questionnaire and focus group questions used in the qualitative, empirical part of the study. The following questions informed both parts of the research project and served as foundation for the research instruments.

1.5.1 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How does the construction of a contemporary youth spirituality relate to the stages of religious and moral development proposed in various developmental theories?

2. How do senior school students understand the concept of spirituality in their lives?

3. From what aspects of life do senior school students in Catholic schools derive personal meaning and purpose?

4. How have some aspects of contemporary culture influenced the spirituality of senior school students?

5. What factors are contributing to the relationship between senior school students and the Catholic Church?

It is important to note that the purpose of this study is not to highlight the aspects of traditional Catholic beliefs that senior students are accepting or rejecting. The focus is on the articulation of the characteristics of life that help forge a meaningful spirituality. This includes an investigation on the extent to which young people refer to their own religious tradition in their construction of spirituality. Another important feature of this project is an exploration of senior students’ images of God. This will involve identifying ideas and concepts of the divine that are personally relevant, and whether or not these endorse traditional/doctrinal notions of God.

If the teaching of Religion, and the overall thrust of the Catholic school are to be relevant to the needs of young people then Catholic education must take into account their contemporary spirituality. Identifying aspects of Catholic belief and practice that students are identifying with, as well as influences in lifestyle, cultural factors, the search for meaning, and identity development will all be important in developing a picture of youth spirituality.

The study will attempt to explore youth spirituality from a holistic perspective that encompasses the ‘what’, ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘why’ surrounding its many facets. Any critical exploration of spirituality, aspects of culture, and the beliefs and practices of young people needs to respect and acknowledge the many dimensions which are a part of, and which impact on, the consciousness, beliefs and attitudes of senior school students in Catholic schools.

This study is important for Catholic education, and it may lead to useful implications for theory and practice, because it will try to explore the essence of what young people find meaningful in their lives. It will look at the worldviews of students while trying to see if their Catholic education is regarded as a significant contributing influence on their spirituality. Increasing the knowledge base in this regard will assist educators to better focus their teaching, pastoral care, and mentoring energies.

1.6 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS

The introductory chapter briefly establishes the location of the research and how this project responds to particular issues that emerged from the literature in relation to a contemporary youth spirituality. Chapter 2 reviews the literature pertinent to the purpose of the study. The review of literature is organised under three main sections in line with the three key themes of this study noted above. Section one examines spirituality from a developmental perspective. Section two explores a number of interpretive and empirical studies on contemporary spirituality, and the various forms in which it is defined and expressed. While section three looks at how some aspects of culture may be impacting on young people’s life experience, their worldview and spirituality.

Chapter 3 explains the design and methodology of the empirical part of the study. Details of the research methods are described. Within the interpretive philosophy, an epistemological position of constructionism was adopted because it takes into account the focus on young people’s interpretation of their own spirituality as well as the potential impact of involvement in the research on the participant’s construction of meaning. The perspective of symbolic interactionism helps acknowledge the influence of context on the participants’ spirituality. A case study approach organised the collection of data from senior school participants attending three separate Catholic schools.

Chapter 4 presents the data collected from the questionnaire and the focus group interviews. This chapter also includes the responses of students to a number of caricatures portraying images of God.

Chapter 5 discusses the meaning and significance of the results presented in chapter four.

Finally, chapter 6 presents the conclusions from the study. It includes a synthesis of this research project’s findings in comparison with those of a number of major studies in young people’s spirituality conducted over the past decade. The final chapter also highlights some key conclusions gained from this study, and discusses the implications for the teaching profession, Catholic education, religious education, and further research on youth spirituality.

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