7th May 2022 Sala Verde – Fondazione Collegio San Carlo – Modena
By Federica Candido
During the conference held in Modena on 7 May 2022 Obiettivo 4 dell’Agenda 2030 per uno sviluppo sostenibile e insegnamento del fatto religioso a scuola experts and researchers of different disciplines discussed and debated the topic of teaching RE in public schools in the light of the different historical experiences in European school systems and following the statement in Goal 4 of Agenda 2030.
The conference can be listened to in full at this link.
The first speech by Prof. Vincenzo Pacillo (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), L’insegnamento del fatto religioso a scuola e l’obiettivo 4 dell’agenda 2030: alcuni suggerimenti dal percorso pedagogico di Mario Lodi e dalla giurisprudenza della Corte Europea dei Diritti umani, retraced the revolutionary experiments of Mario Lodi’s educational method with respect to the proposed teaching of religion. According to Pacillo, Gianni Rodari and Mario Lodi thought of the school as a place where the purpose was the formation of the citizen. And in this place, the aspect concerning knowledge of the religious fact and religions also plays a crucial role.
Rita Benigni (Roma Tre University) with her paper L’educazione religiosa nelle scuole d’Europa. Percorsi e temi comparativi spoke of the differences that European school systems present in the area of religious education and the teaching of religion. She emphasised the absolute necessity on the part of the State to plan, in a community dimension, the teaching of RE.
Maria Chiara Giorda (Roma Tre University) in her report Insegnare la religione o le religioni? Appunti sulla teoria e sul metodo stated that she considered the term ‘Sciences of religions’ to be more appropriate to express the plurality and complexity of the teachings concerning religion and religions.
Michele Madonna of the University of Pavia (Tra passato e futuro. L’insegnamento della religione cattolica nel diritto della Chiesa e le sfide dell’Agenda 2030 per uno Sviluppo Sostenibile) retraced, from a historical-juridical point of view, the teaching of religion in Catholic law in the Church and traced an outline of the existing canonical system. The paper, moreover, reviewed the challenges that the teaching of the Catholic religion faces today in the Italian state school, highlighting above all the test that today concerns the teaching of “Educazione civica”.
In the last speech (L’esperienza di ERENews, Bollettino di informazione sull’insegnamento della storia delle religioni e delle religioni nella scuola e nelle Università) Federica Candido had the opportunity to present the bulletin created and managed for 18 years by Professor Flavio Pajer and, as of March 2021, inherited by the Department of Humanistic Studies (DSU) of the Roma Tre University.
The discussion and working hypotheses arising from the round table are numerous and it will be possible to read the papers discussed in ‘Il Diritto Ecclesiastico’ (issue 3-4/2022).