Religious education and the changing landscape of spirituality: Through the lens of change in cultural meanings

A number of constructs like secularisation, privatisation of religion etc. have been used to describe the significant change in spirituality of many of the young people in Australian Catholic schools over the last 50 years from a more traditional religious spirituality to something that is more secular, eclectic and individualistic. To some extent, this change has been acknowledged; but the religion curricula in Catholic schools still give the impression that all of the students are, or should be, regular church goers – as if Sunday mass attendance was to be the end point of their education in spirituality. An interpretation of change in spirituality in terms of change in cultural meanings has been developed for the purpose of understanding contemporary spiritualities in other than a deficit model. Such an interpretation may be more persuasive in promoting a view of religious education that will enhance and resource the basic human spirituality of young people – whether or not they ever become active members of a local community of faith. The argument, that provides a useful framework for interpreting how and why spirituality has changed, has relevance to education in spirituality in other contexts.