Religious education in Australian Catholic schools: Three historical snapshots

This paper consider three pivotal moments in the history of religious education in Australian Catholic schools. I want to claim that each of these moments introduced some new or modified themes to the theory and practice of religious education for Catholic practitioners. I content that the forms for religious education discovered in these pivotal moments persist in the memory of religious educators who work in Catholic schools. Sometimes, these memories become submerged, not to see the light of day until a much later time. In most cases though, the reforms maintained and iron grip on the imagination of successive generations of religious educators. A retelling of these moments and an evaluation of their meaning can assist contemporary religious educators to understand their heritage and to respond in their contemporary context.