Religion, a subject in decline

GironaAmong the words hidden in the word search there are fast, charity, Passover... Concepts specific to the Easter calendar, which religion teacher Pau Estanyol uses to introduce them in the class he teaches at La Vall del Terri School (Pla de l'Estany). Of the more than 250 students at the school, only two in the first year of primary school and one in the second year are taking this subject. This is the reality experienced by many Catalan public schools: the percentage of students who took religion in public schools during the 2023-2024 academic year was 10.50% (69,571 students out of 662,315 total students), according to data from the Department of Education. In private schools, including subsidized schools, the figure rises to 62.73% (198,696 students out of 320,821 total students).

Families do not choose for their children to take this subject for various reasons, including a certain distrust of the Catholic Church as an institution or the prejudice that it is construed as catechism. However, religion as a subject in both public and private schools, as well as in charter schools, encompasses, in the current curriculum—in accordance with the new education law (Lomloe)—a knowledge of other religious cultures and is responsible for disseminating cultural knowledge, heritage, and spiritual values. A "comprehensive education," argue those who defend it, that prevents the proliferation of the current "religious illiteracy," which leads to "cultural illiteracy," maintain the experts consulted.

"Until recently, we had a generation of parents who had not attended religion classes, but we had a generation of elderly people who had received religious education in their own way and at their own time. Now we have parents who have no religious education at all and grandparents who don't either," warns Pere M'ical.

Dolors Vidal, an expert in cultural tourism and professor at the University of Girona (UdG), affirms that religion "is part of human nature." "It is intimately linked to our cultural past, present, and future and is an act of union of humanity with transcendence." As its etymology suggests, "it reconnects what has happened and what will happen." According to this expert, "religious teaching is extremely important for a deeper appreciation of culture in general." For Rafael Muñoz, diocesan delegate of the Archdiocese of Tarragona, religious education personnel become "a first-rate cultural agent" for the dissemination of cultural heritage, since, he asserts, "80% of the cultural heritage in our country is religious."

A religion without catechesis

At the San Pablo Apóstol School in Tarragona, as well as at other schools within the various Catalan dioceses, religion is deeply rooted. With approximately 1,200 students enrolled, from 0 to 18 years old, this Tarragona school offers a subject for everyone and is adapted to each age group. "We start from the premise that we don't want to convert anyone or teach catechism, but rather to help them understand that our society has its roots in Christian humanism," explains director Pablo Muñoz. Students also work on spirituality because today "there is an existential void." "We prepare students to be citizens of the 21st century and to live in a context where religion is very present: in conflicts, in art, and at the level of heritage, while also addressing the most transcendent dimension, which is implicit in being human."

In the case of the Vedruna Gràcia School in Barcelona, ​​the school begins the program in preschool, under the name "religious culture," and completes it in high school. The director, Montserrat Castelló, explains that "it's an inclusive project, with an open and pluralistic approach, so that everyone can participate based on their own convictions and beliefs." "We don't try to impose anything: we want students to think and ask questions," she explains. Using self-published religious culture materials, the Vedruna centers—a Christian school with a social initiative (subsidized)—work on the discovery of religion and Christian-inspired values, which are universal, such as friendship, solidarity, and gratitude, the meaning of festivals and traditions, as well as the importance of a mosque or a synagogue. The goal is for students to understand "the plurality of religious denominations" and to understand that "there are more things that unite them than separate them from other cultures."

At the Josep de Ribot y Olivas public school in Vilamalla, in the Alt Empordà, on the other hand, "sustainable development goals" are taught, led by teacher Pau Estanyol, where they cover culture and other values ​​but linked to the natural environment.

Although at other educational stages in Catalonia a specific subject had been set for students who did not take religion, the new decree on the regulation of basic education teachings which came into force last year does not specify any subjects to be taught and, in practice, each center can program the activities it deems appropriate.

Every year fewer students

In recent years, the number of families choosing to have their child study religion in public school has increased. has been reducedAccording to the Department of Education, a total of 70,527 students studied religion—the vast majority Catholic (69,571 students), but there are also (approximately a thousand) who studied Islamic, Jewish, or Evangelical religion—in public schools (second cycle of pre-school, primary, and secondary school) in the 2023 academic year. In private schools, the figure rises to 201,983 students. Terres de l'Ebre and the Alt Pirineu and Aran are the areas of Catalonia with the highest percentage of students studying religion in public schools, specifically in the second cycle of pre-school (15% and 12%, respectively) and primary school (around 29%). Regarding secondary school, in addition to these two areas (25% and 30%, respectively), there are also Maresme and Vallès Oriental (with 31%). Students of South American or Ukrainian origin contribute greatly to maintaining a large portion of the religious education enrollment figures in public schools.

This year, in the Girona region, 3,458 fewer students are taking religion than last year in public schools and Christian schools in the diocese. Carme Panella, education delegate for the Girona diocese and representative of the Christian School Foundation in the diocese, attributes this to the drop in the birth rate, coupled with a loss of interest and ignorance of the heritage. "A student should know what the cathedral is, not to go in and be baptized," she asserts.

Specifically, Vidal highlights the tendency to admire what is distant and neglect what is our own. "Religious practices are very similar in many cultures. The axis that has built us is similar. Some admire Buddhism, which has many similarities with Christianity. Religious people in the contemporary world are sometimes perceived as belonging to the past, when they should rather be seen as the best people of the future."

Rafel Muñoz, also coordinator of SIERC, laments that Catalonia is "deeply" anti-clerical. And if we add to this the distrust of the institution linked to sexual abuse by members of the Church, then "this is already devastating." Micaló concludes that "religious illiteracy is not a problem of the Catholic Church, but a national problem," since we can end up not knowing, for example, what it means to weep like a baby, the symbolism of the Verges procession, or why they do the Patum in Berga.