The teaching of religion in schools is crucial for children’s character formation and should be given more importance, according to the Archbishop, who insisted it should not be replaced by ethics lessons.
He was speaking during a Mass to mark Archbishop Gużeppi Mercieca’s death last month. The Mass was organised by the Secretariat for Catholic Education this week to honour Mgr Mercieca’s contribution to Church schools through the years. Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and teachers’ union president Kevin Bonello also attended.
Mgr Scicluna also spoke about the significance of maintaining a holistic approach when teaching children basic values, quoting Mgr Mercieca – who for many years spoke in favour of such an approach.
“The bishop, who was quite blunt despite being humble and timid, often warned about coming to a point where we start thinking that the good work carried out through the teaching of religion can be carried out through other means,” he said, adding that the late bishop was instrumental in the State and Church cooperating to improve the education system. Such attitudes, he went on, could have dire consequences and negatively impact the character formation of tomorrow’s citizens.
Such attitudes could have dire consequences and negatively impact the character formation of tomorrow’s citizens
The Archbishop said that the teaching children receive through Church entities should be backed up through lessons at school.
“To live together in a society as citizens, we have laws, ethical principles and codes of conduct; that’s all very important.
“But we have this spiritual and religious instinct that the education system cannot ignore, and this was something Mgr Mercieca felt very strongly about,” the Archbishop said.
At the start of the scholastic year, ethics education was introduced as a pilot project and is currently being offered in two colleges. By next year, the subject will be rolled out across other schools depending on demand.
As of January 2014, there were 1,411 students not taking religion classes. Parents have the right to exempt their children, but if no alternative subject is offered, they are often forced to sit out the lessons alone.