ABOUT THE PROJECT
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
Among others, the project starts from the following assumption: democratic thinking and political-institutional forms of the current democracies came about a time and in contexts that no longer exist. Social changes have taken place at a staggering pace and theoretical, legal, and political developments have not been able to keep up with global events. This observation leads us to think that the crisis of the current democracies is also deeply connected to the distance between the “historical” vision of democracy and the new global scenarios, rich in changes and upheavals. Among the most obvious examples, we can mention the rise of new forms of populism, the influence exerted by new political, economic and financial aristocracies, the disconnection between politicians and civil society, as well as the return to neo-sovereign, nationalist, and separatist ideas. We can also refer to the migration issues and the effects of international terrorism that contribute to generate insecurity among people. Moreover, all these changes take place in a global, multicultural and multi-religious scenario, in which citizens share the same public space even though they belong to different cultures, traditions, and religions and they have different political attitudes, different views of the legal system and equal opportunities, a different sensitivity with respect to cooperation and solidarity.
We believe it is urgent for modern democracies to develop appropriate instruments to deal with these new circumstances. For example, they have to confront with the real causes of populism, as opposed to instruments of inclusive growth, far-reaching investment in education, and the fight against all forms of violence and poverty.
Those listed are good reasons to believe that Christian culture and experience in humanity should find a place in the current debate about democracy in a globalized, multicultural and multi-religious context. It is not also part of the scholars’ endeavor to rethinking the principles, the institutions and the rules of the new world order, suitable for the 21st century? Whys should they be afraid to awaken the young generations from their numbness and restore their taste for an authentically democratic world, as they are aware that they are jointly responsible to it?
Experts agree that it is an educational challenge. In fact, often and with increasing emphasis Pope Francis said, “To change the world, we must change education.” It is the way forward if we are to re-establish “good governance” for our countries and for the whole world.
Democratic education is necessary to transform the new planetary needs into a vision, a language and a renewed political practice. In this perspective, only education can enrich political awareness with the principles of global interdependence and common destiny (“Common House”), inspiring decisions that take into account inclusion, representativeness, dialogue and participation – aspects that are at the heart of a vital, relational democracy and promote the values of common good, solidarity and peace.
This is the path that the project “Democracy: an educational urgency” has the ambition to follow with a critical, positive and practical method, overcoming together unsuitable interpretations of the meaning of living and proposing new educational paths. It is certainly a particularly sensitive initiative from a cultural and ethical point of view, daring and realistic at the same time. It is also inevitable, a long-term process, which requires a far-sighted definition of the actions to be implemented that would make it possible to verify the quality of results.
The preparatory phase of the project required a year’s work, during which a group of experts identified the different – historical, anthropological, philosophical, socio-economic, pedagogical, and communicative (mass media) – perspectives of the issue. Now a new phase of the project has begum: through a process of analysis and participation that will take place in fourteen universities, representing the five continents, we want to bring out and incorporate local approaches to the problematic, sharing contributions and challenges with other institutions concerned at local and international level.
Prof. Msgr. Guy-Réal Thivierge
Secretary-General
Fondazione Gravissimum Educationis
ABOUT THE FONDAZIONE GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS
Throughout its millennial history, the Church has made an outstanding contribution to the culture, education and development of the peoples who have come into contact with Christianity.
To the new challenges of the modern world, the Church responded with the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which from 1962 to 1966 brought together bishops from around the world. They reaffirmed the need for the Church to lead its ministry in all fields of education, with conviction and competence. In this context, the conciliar document Gravissimum Educationis was issued, on Christian education for the schools and universities.
“All men of every race, condition and age, since they enjoy the dignity of a human being, have an inalienable right to an education that is in keeping with their ultimate goal, their ability, their sex, and the culture and tradition of their country, and also in harmony with their fraternal association with other peoples in the fostering of true unity and peace on earth.”
(Ec. Counc. Vat. II, Decl. Gravissimum Educationis, 1)
To revitalize this teaching, updating it to today’s challenges, the Holy Father Francis and the Congregation for Catholic Education created the Gravissimum Educationis Foundation.
Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and plurireligious contexts
The rise of new populisms, the attention-seeking behavior of new political and economic-financial élites, the distance between the political establishment and the civil society, the return of neo-sovereign, nationalism and separatist ideas… Democracy is called to reorganize itself to reply to change.
Democratic thinking and the political-institutional forms of democracy arose in a time and contexts that no longer exist. The modern democracies are called to deal theoretically with this distance and, from a practical point of view, to reorganize themselves to reply to change.
To this process the Gravissimum Educationis Foundation contributes with the project: “Democracy: an educational urgency in pluricultural and plurireligious contexts”. The project is carried out simultaneously in 14 Universities in the world (the so-called antennas), which in their context are carrying out two types of activities:
Intellectual, through researches about the relation between education and democracy; Educational, trough educational training about the democratic citizenship.
The project aims to start educational trainings capable of transforming democratic practices, informing them of the positive values of peace, solidarity and the common good. In this way, the project wants to support the harmonious co-existence of citizens with different religious faiths, ethical visions and traditions in pluralistic democratic social systems based on the mutual recognition of identities and related legitimate interests.
To achieve this goal, the project has some specific goals: Organize an international group of experts, professors, Ph.D. students, and public or private entities, to promote an open debate on democracy; Establish a democratic thought that cares of the principles and values of the social doctrine of the Church, coordinated to the new educational challenges that are necessary to build democracy in our age of cultural and ethical-religious pluralism; Promote educational training about the democracy citizenship, for schools and universities (without excluding other social agents); Publish guidelines for educators, for the education to democracy of the youths.
