Unit rationale, description and aim
Within Catholic schools, Religious Education is a key learning area and for Catholic schools in Australia, Religious Education has been one of the ways in which the Catholic tradition has been transmitted across generations. Religious education involves learning about religion and also participating in the Catholic tradition, so as to develop students as people of faith.
In this unit students investigate understandings of the nature and importance of ‘The New Evangelisation’ within the Catholic Tradition. They also examine and critique Church teachings on the New Evangelisation from Pope Paul VI to Pope Francis. A comprehensive process for effective evangelisation and intentional discipleship is developed throughout the unit with participants engaging in and critiquing contemporary methods and expressions of the New Evangelisation. A particular goal of the New Evangelisation and of this unit is to provide postgraduate students with an opportunity for faith formation. A ‘Porta Fidei’ retreat experience will be conducted focused on the essentials of the Gospel message, call to vocational ministry, with opportunities for prayer and worship. Principles and practice of the essential foundations for Catholic spiritual growth are examined and the type of faith leadership required for the New Evangelisation is reflected on.
The aim of this unit is for postgraduate students to develop an understanding of the New Evangelisation and how this is expressed within formal Church documents and through the lives of people. There is a particular focus on experiential faith development via the Porta Fidei retreat.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Describe the Church’s teaching on the essential na...
Learning Outcome 01
Explain the nexus between communion and mission in...
Learning Outcome 02
Investigate how teachers and ministry leaders can ...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
Topics will include:
- The Catholic Church’s teaching on evangelisation, including the New Evangelisation, especially it’s processes and the nexus between communion and mission.
- The critical importance and approaches to faith formation in the New Evangelisation
- The role of prayer and scripture, community, sacraments and service; discernment and charisms, in fostering the spiritual journey of faith.
- A variety of contemporary methods (skills in sharing the faith, evangelisation programs and apostolates, music and the new media) and expressions in the New Evangelisation (lay, religious and ecclesial Movements)
- Faith Leadership for the New Evangelisation.
- Catholic faith life experience – reflection and application to teaching and-or ministry.
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to successfully complete this unit, participants need to complete and submit two graded assessment tasks.
The assessment strategy used allows students to progressively develop their knowledge, understanding and analytical skills to the level of sophistication where they are able to evaluate ways to draw on foundational and contemporary expressions of Christian education in a community of faith and, with a focus on faith formation and evangelisation, to further develop this community.
In order to develop this knowledge and skill the first assessment task consolidates key theoretical and contextual understandings through synthesising factual and conceptual knowledge in an extended written response. The second task requires students to apply their understanding by participating in a series of Catholic faith life experiences and reflecting on this in the light of Church documents, scholarly literature and various styles of faith leadership required for leading in evangalisation and mission.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Extended Writing Task Critic...
Assessment Task 1: Extended Writing Task
Critically analyse the Church’s teaching on the essential nature, purpose and processes of evangelisation, including the New Evangelisation.
50%
Assessment Task 2: Critical Reflection This is a...
Assessment Task 2: Critical Reflection
This is a two-part assessment task. In Part A, students critically reflect upon ways selected experiences of Catholic life and faith have nurtured their spiritual awareness and growth illuminated by reference to relevant Church documents and/or contemporary academic literature.
In Part B, students outline some key characteristics of the type of faith leadership required for the New Evangelisation.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is offered in multi-mode and uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge, skills and experiences associated with educating people with the Catholic Christian tradition as expressed through the New Evangelisation. Students also have the opportunity to attend webinars-seminars to participate in the construction and synthesis of this knowledge. This approach allows flexibility for students who are largely engaged in full-time work.
A retreat experience will be offered as a part of the unit. This is named after the apostolic letter by Pope Benedict, Porta Fidei (2011). The retreat experience includes presentations by Catholic teachers and leaders concerning the core content of the faith (the kerygma) and the importance of encounter with Christ. The retreat includes testimonies by credible witnesses and participation in the sacraments. It is designed to give an opportunity for participants to enter more deeply into the heart of the faith in response to the Catholic Church’s teaching on a New Evangelisation, new in its ardour, methods and means of expression.This learning and teaching strategy will facilitate active participation in pedagogical approaches that demonstrate alignment of teaching, learning and assessment and the strategy is responsive to the diverse contexts of individual students and cohorts.
This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, video, workshops, and assignments etc.
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to:
Representative texts and references
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS AND REFERENCES
Ahern, K. (2013) Recasting the New Evangelisation Framework in Light of the Poor: Early Highlights and Analysis of Evangellii Gaudium Daily Theology,
https://dailytheology.org/2013/11/26/recasting-the-new-evangelization-framework-in-light-of-the-poor-early-highlights-and-analysis-of-evangellii-gaudium/
Barker, K. MGL (2018). Go set the world on fire: A New Evangelisation. Connor Court Publishing.
Barron, R. (2013). Catholicism: The new evangelisation video and study guide. Skokie, IL: Word on Fire.
Cantalamesso, R. OFM Cap (2014). Navigating the new evangelisation. Boston: Pauline Books and Media.
Hahn, S. (2014). Evangelising Catholics: A mission manual for the new evangelisation. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor.
Martin, R. (2013). The urgency of the new evangelisation. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor.
Pourteous, J. (2014) New evangelisation: Pastoral strategy for the Church at the beginning of the third millennium. Ballarat: Connor Court Publishing.
Weddell, S. A. (2017) Fruitful discipleship: Living the mission of Jesus in the Church and the World. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor.
Church Documents
Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, Directory for Catechesis (2020). St Paul’s Publications.
Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975) [Encyclical letter]. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html
Pope John Paul II, Christifideles Laici (1988) [Apostolic Exhortation]. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_30121988_christifideles-laici.html
Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (2013) [Apostolic Exhortation]. Retrieved from http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html