Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/803478
5 ONE outspoken opponent to the Arch- bishop's proposal was Fr Eric Cachia SDB, head of Savio College secondary school. When asked if he was open to the pos- sibility of starting to teach Islam or other religions in his school, he responded with a clear "No". He qualified his answer as not being be- cause of the school administration being opposed to change, afraid of new ventures or feeling threatened. "There are several proposals or process- es going on in other areas," he said. "One needs to focus, process and decide without increasing (further!) the change fatigue which parents, students and educators are trying to cope with." Cachia said that part of the Religious Studies syllabus thought in Church schools already focused on other faiths. "Besides imparting knowledge on main faiths other than the Catholic faith, our school spends time presenting the timeline and locates our Catholic church, with its lows and downs, into perspective," he said. Cachia explained that the school also formed and informed its students about tolerance, both formally at school and through informal formation sessions out- side the class. "Including a full-time subject for anoth- er religion is not on our agenda," he said. "Religious Studies goes hand in hand with the character formation, implying ethical, moral, human and social values which en- able a student to put into practise what is taught at school." MaltaToday asked Cachia if he felt that teaching other religions in Church schools would go against the mission, vision and vocation of Church schools. His answer, once again, was short and to the point. "Yes." Cachia said that such a decision would go against the Maltese Constitution, which – he said – gives the right to parents to choose the type of academic ethos/school- ing for their children and consequently it demands from faith/Catholic schools to honour this Constitutional right. Cachia said the proposal would also go against the Catholic education system, one fundamentally based on the Gospel values. "Our duty as Catholic schools is to keep alive this particular way of educating, which sets the grounds for an experience rather than simply providing a service," he said. In line with this, he explained, the college followed its past pupils through informal formation meetings and one-to-one/group encounters which accompany them, upon their desire, even through life choices. Cachia pointed out that Catholic schools in Malta benefited from a great level of synergy, training and consultation while respecting the diversity and the individual charisma of each religious institute. "A one-size-fits-all decision will tarnish this diversity in our approach," he said. In an apparent criticism of Scicluna's jus- tification of his stance on the issue, Cachia said that the Archbishop's reminder to be open and "not fear this inclusive vocation" had been circulating for quite some time. "The issue at stake is not 'fear' but 'ethos'," he insisted. As to the archbishop's claim that Church schools needed to be an open door to hu- manity, Cachia was quick to comment. "Humanity is not about Islam, it is about individual persons and their needs," he said. "As an open door for human- ity, Church schools have been forking out thousands of money each year to rein- force the psycho-social services which are vaguely being supported by the State." Cachia said he respected and even under- stood the Archbishop's invitation, but said that one needed to be sensible towards parents who might not be able to fully understand a sweeping statement which could easily and harmfully be taken our of context. maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 MARCH 2017 News feasibility of teaching other religions – St Paul's Missionary College head dents with disability, in some cases, severe. "Do they hinder the learn- ing process of others? No. Do they gain something from being includ- ed? Yes. Do other students gain something? Yes of course," he said. And in a very honest assessment of potential pitfalls, Bezzina said that he believed it would be more worrying and difficult to have lapsed Catholics in the school, than to have other students genuinely pertaining to other religions. But while, on one hand, he said that Catholics are called to be in- clusive and to share their values and ethos with others, Bezzina then goes on to criticise other religions for not holding on to the same val- ues as Catholicism. Within Christianity, mercy and forgiveness are taught, and all are encouraged to practice these val- ues, he said. Bezzina noted that Christians know how to recognise mistakes for being just that: mistakes, or sins. They then strive to get back on the right track, no matter how difficult the road. "Other religions may not necessarily hold on to these values, and would consider the exacting of vendetta not just a right, but also a duty," he said. "Here, and in similar cases, is becomes very difficult." Bezzina said that it could be dif- ficult to deal with students "whose family beliefs go contrary to what we believe in." In such cases, he said, even the student himself would find himself torn between two belief frameworks. "Another thing, a student coming from a different background would expect to be respected and rightly so," he concluded. "He would also be expected to respect our belief system." The emphatic 'no' – Savio College head 'Being open to humanity is part of our Christian ethos' ON the opposite side of the spectrum, the head of St Albert the Great College said that his school was open to all irrespective of creed, race, ethnicity or gender. "We are being open to humanity, as the arch- bishop put it, an integral part of a Christian ethos," Mario Mallia told MaltaToday. "By defi- nition, this embrace implies considering all as- pects of an individual – lock, stock and barrel." He said that if one were to consider the reli- gious and spiritual as an integral part of the per- son, they could not abdicate from the responsi- bility of attending, as best as possible, to these needs as well. Mallia confirmed that the schools currently hosts Muslims, Christians of varying denomina- tions and also non-believers. "In all, I would say that we have anything in the region of at least 10% of the whole student population," he said. "This is a conservative es- timate." Mallia acknowledged that a discussion on how to interpret religious education in an inclusive setting was still in its infancy and said that eve- ryone should avoid doing their part 'in their own exclusive corner', insulated from all the rest. "Being inclusive implies the need to provide common curricular spaces for children and youths to engage with beliefs other than their own," Mallia said. "Christians need to know what Islam is all about; these need to know what non-believers are all about and vice versa." This inclusivity involved dissolving the fences that people built while embracing their own faiths, to help them open up and understand those of others. "Working towards mutual re- spect is key and this is only possible by active engagement," Mallia said. He agreed with the Archbishop's insistence that Church schools serve as a manifestation of religious freedom. "If this is the case, then we cannot deny reli- gious freedom to others," Mallia said. "Christ opened his arms wide open to all and sundry. Schools who purport to profess the Christian ethos can therefore never close their arms to anyone." He insisted that no Church school should ever be about preserving its own interests and becoming an exclusive club. "In a world charac- terised by fences and a chronic fear of the other, schools of whatever inclination have the obliga- tion of going against the grain; of being a beacon of hope in being human." Rev. Dr Charles Mallia, delegate of Catholic Education in Malta, agreed. He said that Catholic schools were guided by the Vatican Council II declaration Dignitatis Humanae of 1965, which states that parents have the right to determine, in accordance with their own religious beliefs, the kind of religious education that their children are to receive, and that Government, in consequence, must ac- knowledge the right of parents to make a genu- inely free choice of schools. "At present however, Catholic schools do not have the resources in place to teach subjects which do not form part of the curriculum ap- proved by State authorities," he said. Mallia welcomed and agreed with the Arch- bishop's insistence that Catholic schools would always remain Catholic and that by accepting non-Catholic believers – "as has been happen- ing" – they would be strengthening their ethos of inclusion that respects religious freedom. Fr Karm Gauci, head of the Bishop's Conserva- tory Primary School, said that the school would follow national and diocesan policies. "Of course it all depends on the number of stu- dents of other religions you have in every class," he said. "I think it would not be very easy (for Church schools to start teaching other religions), especially in small schools." Gauci said that one Pentecostal student was currently attending the Bishop's Conservatory Primary. There are currently no children of faiths other than Catholicism attending Savio College. MaltaToday could not ascertain the number of non-Catholic students in Church schools be- cause that data – as confirmed by the Delegate for Catholic Education in Malta – was presently being compiled. Mario Mallia Fr Eric Cachia