Why should Catholic schools teach about religions of the world?

On the part of Catholic educators there is often difficulty in articulating not only the stance taken by the Church in regard to religions other than Christianity, but also their own stance. Some of this difficulty in articulation centers on the extent to which the Church recognizes other religions as capable of mediating salvation to their adherents. With unanswered questions in their own minds, and perhaps fearful of questions from students which they may not be able to answer, Catholic teachers can be tempted to leave a study of world religions out of their religious education curriculum. This is regrettable not only from educational and sociological standpoints, but also from a theological one. In this paper I argue that the theological position taken by the Catholic Church to other religions, not only allows but encourages their study in a Catholic school.