Learning from Experience: Liturgical Formation as a Central Component of Religious Education in Schools

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article reads very well and is very informative, even beyond the German-speaking (esp. Austrian) area. I also find the introduction with the Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi (DD) very inspiring. The author comes back to DD repeatedly in his explanations.
The subheadings are very well placed and structure the article.
Especially chapters 4 and 5 are of particular importance.
The bibliography is subject-specific, although inevitably mostly German (with a few exceptions).

The English seems pretty good to me as a non-native speaker, although a few corrections could be made:
"Church" (instead of "church") in lines 61, 65, 124, 403?
"fundamental" (instead of the first "basic") to avoid repetition in line 125?
could/should "him/her" and "he/she" be chosen in line 176 instead of "him" and "he"?
Shouldn't there be a comma after ...of light, ... (line 233)?
For "Religious Pedagogics" and "Liturgical Studies" as university disciplines I would have them begin with capital letters (lines 377, 379, 380).
Offizielle Gesamtausgabe (in l. 439) with capitalized O.

Author Response

Thank you very much for your careful review and appreciation of my article. I have gladly implemented the few corrections that were recommended.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Your paper addresses an important area and contains much good material and many convincing arguments.

In my view, its concern with confessional Roman Catholic schooling should be made more clear at the outset and its particular focus on the Apostolic letter DD signposted in the title/subtitle.

I would encourage you to seek the advice of a native English speaker in rewriting the paper so as to avoid some infelicities of style and ambiguities of expression (e.g., in lines 38 , 41, 56, 72, 104, 265, 276-7, 309, 344, 363).

For an international readership, it would be helpful to indicate what is the usual practice (and legislation?) concerning prayer/worship in the classroom and/or larger assemblies in Austrian schools. Is there a debate about the appropriateness of such prayer/worship that would be relevant to your discussion?

I think that a wider review of the literature on liturgy and learning. and something on the enculturation model of religious education, could be helpful. In particular, I would recommend drawing on some works in English: including those of John Westerhoff, who wrote on adult Christian learning through liturgical participation (see Liturgy and Learning through the Life Cycle (rev 1994) and Living the Faith Community (1985)), and of John Hull, who argued for the 'threshold of worship' as a possible location for learning outcomes in assemblies in non-church schools in England (School Worship: An Obituary (1975, pp. 42-8, 125). Some earlier seminal articles that might also prove useful may be found in the collections Astley and Francis, eds  (1994), Critical Perspectives on Christian Education, especially in part one, and Astley,  Francis and Crowder, eds (1996), Theological Perspectives on Christian Formation, especially in sections 1 and 7.

Further clarification of the affective and other learning outcomes engendered by worship might be helpful. This could be aided by glancing at chapters 6 and 9 of Astley's The Philosophy of Christian Religious Education (1994).

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English is rather 'clunky' and includes a number of infelicities of style and ambiguities in wording (e.g., in lines 38 , 41, 56, 72, 104, 265, 276-7, 309, 344, 363).

Author Response

Thank you very much for all the comments on my article.

I can understand the need to emphasize even better that the article refers to Catholic confessional religious education and am therefore happy to follow this recommendation. On the advice of the reviewer, I have also briefly outlined the status of religious education and its relationship to prayer and worship in the school context in Austria.

I have not mentioned Pope Francis' letter Desiderio desideravi in the subtitle because the title would otherwise have been too long and because, although the letter is an important current point of reference for the article, it is not at its center. However, it is referred to in the abstract.

I take up the recommendation to emphasize the relevance of the article for international readers by referring to the references recommended and thankfully provided in the review as further reading.  In order not to go beyond the scope of the article, the focus is maintained on the German-speaking region and I only refer to discourses in other areas. A further inclusion of the status of religious education in English-speaking countries, for example, would of course be fascinating and would merit further investigation, and the comparison in particular would be worthwhile.

I have taken note of the advice to check the article's English once again and have fundamentally revised and improved the language with the help of an external proof-reader.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Congratulations. This is a very interesting and well written paper. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

I think the problem presented is a very important one: Who is responsible for formation on the liturgy? Is it the parish or is it the school?

In Australia, Catholic Religious Education within schools, has focused on the study of other religions, or ethical behaviour. There has not been a focus on the practice of our faith. This paper highlights the need for formation on the liturgy. Children seem to think that the liturgy is boring and disconnect and so we have lost them from our churches.

I agree with the author that since Vatican II we have lost focus on this this type of formation and that we need to have a clear focus on how to present it.

This paper talks about the important aspects of the liturgy, how we can teach the meaning from an intellectual position and at the same time embrace the mystery of the liturgy.

I found it to be a valuable paper, as I know this is not being taught. We need more discussion on this topic so that the problem can be solved.

I appreciate that this paper is a position paper with the author stating an argument.

My only real suggestion for improvement would be to conclude the paper with a call for research on the stated problem: who should take responsibility for this type of formation; the parish or the school?

Author Response

Thank you very much for the positive comments on my article. I have gladly added the note at the end about the necessary cooperation between school and parish in this area.