Conscience and Catholic Education: Theology, Administration, and Teaching

Overview

 “Catholic education is changing rapidly and facing many complex pressures. Now is the perfect time for a sustained and thoughtful analysis of the place of conscience at the personal and institutional levels. The authors in this collection engage the tradition and advance it. A must-read for Catholic educators.” —Emily Reimer-Barry, University of San Diego

 “First, every Catholic school administrator and diocesan education office needs a copy of this book. Then, across the country, we need to sit down and discuss each chapter together one-by-one over the course of many months, so that the wisdom and insight of each of the authors in this volume takes root in the daily discernment we are called to exercise as educational leaders.” —Ann M. Garrido, author, Redeeming Administration and Redeeming Conflict

 Pope Francis's contextual theology of conscience is the guiding star for this project, which aims to be both theologically substantive and practically useful for teachers, professors, and administrators. Contributors include college professors, K-12 teachers, and school administrators, on topics such as: conscience and academic freedom, conscience formation and neuroscience, transgender students in Catholic schools, and cultivation of an ecologically sensitive conscience.

 Kevin C. Baxter is director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to his current role, he served as chief innovation officer for the National Catholic Educational Association and was superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 

 David E. DeCosse is director of religious and Catholic ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, where he is also adjunct associate professor of religious studies. He is author of Created Freedom Under the Sign of the Cross: A Catholic Public Theology for the United States (Cascade 2022) and a contributing writer at National Catholic Reporter, and he is on Twitter @daviddecosse.