Scottish Catholic Observer

Do you remember the thrill of hearing the squeak of the wheels on the trolley as the teacher pushed the big television into the classroom for the class to watch a film as a special treat? Maybe you have memories of a school trip to the theatre or a play that visited your school. Or do you recall the contagious enthusiasm of an English teacher unravelling a novel or a poem? Let’s face it —whatever it is that has stuck in your head, it probably had something to do with the arts. So how can the arts play an effective role in stimulating the educational development of our Faith?

Michael McGrath, director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, said: “Through the arts —in music, drama and art—young people can experience such powerful impressions of what matters most in people’s lives. They can also be encouraged to express their own deepest feelings, values and beliefs in ways which are instinctive and at the very heart of what it means to be human. Such experiences can remain with young people throughout their lives and can help them to make a significant response to the Lord’s invitation to Faith.”

One of the ways in which AGAP has encouraged such action in Glasgow secondary schools is through an annual art competition with a faith-related theme. Themes for the art competition have ranged from scripture to church architecture and the writings of great Catholic thinkers. The competition has been judged by an array of artists that includes Peter Howson, Brendan Berry, Tommy Canning, Michael Gilfedder, Sarah Bookless and others. “The Archdiocesan Art Competition has been a great stimulus to help make the connection between faith and daily life,” Tom Docherty, principal RE teacher at St Margaret Mary’s Secondary School, said. “It has made our students think and respond on a deeper level and in a fun and creative way. It is a positive faith experience that has an impact and sense of achievement.”

Reacting to the theme for 2012, Maria McMahon, principal teacher of RE at Notre Dame High School said: “Pupils were exposed to the spirituality of Blessed John Henry Newman, linking this to their own artistic talent. The piece produced by one of our pupils is on display in the School Oratory, further enhancing the spiritual life of Notre Dame High School.”

In 2010, the Year for Priests, AGAP invited primary school children to create a ‘Portrait of a Priest,’ which began a discussion about vocations, looking at priests in the local parishes as well as famous priests.  The results were outstanding and imaginative, showing what high regard the young people have for their priests. Stories abound about how this or that priest had helped various family members. Like the competition offered to secondary schools, participants came from a variety of religious backgrounds, including those of other Christian denominations and Islam.

Music can also be one of the most powerful tools for encouraging faith development. Many people involved in church music have found their vocation in this way.  For many years, primary schools in Glasgow Archdiocese have taken part in cantatas under the direction of Mgr Gerry Fitzpatrick, the archdiocesan director of music. These events are a feast of sound and colour as the lives of the saints are made accessible to young people through music and song, dance and drama, readings and visual art.

In 2008, an AGAP project with Turnbull High School, Bishopbriggs, brought pupils into contact with composer, James MacMillan.  Through a special music workshop, Mr MacMillan encouraged pupils to compose their own music which would ultimately contribute to a performance event in the parish of St Matthew’s, based upon the Beatitudes.

Drama workshops are often a route to catechesis and the exchange of ideas and attitudes towards faith issues.

Using games and improvisation, young people are physically on their feet, thinking through situations that may relate to the practical application of themes in the Gospel. These have included AGAP workshops on the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross. Primary school children in P6 and P7 have taken part in AGAP workshops that foster positive attitudes to responsibility for younger pupils.  Sometimes the themes explored in a workshop may culminate in a liturgical celebration led by a school chaplain.

Marie Birchard, faculty head of performing arts at St Mungo’s Academy, remarked on the positive effects of this approach with regard to senior secondary school pupils involved in AGAP’s theatre production for Lentfest.

“Through the workshop approach to rehearsing and performing in The Pilgrimage, the Caritas pupils in St Mungo’s were able to explore their own beliefs,” Mrs Birchard added. “The process of creating a character, learning lines, analysing motivation, blocking scenes and then presenting a polished piece of drama not only enhanced and embedded good drama practice but it allowed pupils to examine attitudes to religion.”

The arts can be useful in transcending the boundaries between religious education and other areas of learning, allowing Faith to find its appropriate place within these areas.

“Utilising the arts through AGAP’s play The Pilgrimage, as well as other projects such as the Brilliance in Brokenness silk workshops, was very effective in helping the young people of St Mungo’s Academy to express their beliefs and witness to their faith in a creative and innovative way,” Claire Butler, principal teacher of religious education at St Mungo’s Academy, said.

Mrs Butler also noted that ‘involvement with Lentfest afforded pupils the opportunity to increase the knowledge and understanding gained from their Religious Education programme by fostering in them the beliefs, values and practices associated with God’s call to relationship.’

The capacity for the arts to enhance and complement religious education was also confirmed by Maria McMahon, in regard to a ‘film and Faith’ event which AGAP led at Notre Dame High School.

“Through the exploration of the medium of cinema as a means of Faith development, pupils experienced the Gospel message anew,” she said. “Religious Education was taken beyond the boundaries of the RE classroom and linked to their own life experience and to the wider world.”

In a similar way, a performance of The Pilgrimage by AGAP Theatre at the school also contributed to this kind of development.

“Drama is always an effective way of delivering and the pupils were very much engaged,” modern languages teacher Giovanna McMahon said. “The question/answer session at the end was important in order for the pupils to put their views across.  As the play highlighted the pilgrims’ journey to Lourdes the RE and Modern Langugaes departments are now running an educational excursion to Lourdes in June 2014.”

Today, the New Evangelisation has highlighted the centrality of culture to our Faith development.  It is interesting to note that the document Instrumentum Laboris, produced by the Synod on the New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, mentions the arts specifically within the chapter on Faith and Knowledge: “Some responses refer to the subjects of art and beauty as places for the transmission of the faith and, therefore, are to be addressed in this chapter dedicated to the relationship between faith and knowledge.”

In this way, the document mentions that “the relation between faith and beauty is not simply a matter of aesthetics, but is rather seen as a fundamental resource in bearing witness to the faith and developing a knowledge which is truly a ‘holistic’ service to a person’s every human need.”

Perhaps as a direct result of this, we see a renaissance in the area of Catholic education which celebrates the relationship between Faith and the arts and seeks to strengthen this bond.  One such development is the establishment of the new St Andrew’s Foundation at Glasgow University, which will be launched next month. The foundation, which ‘will serve as the hub of Catholic teacher education in Scotland’ has already pledged to ‘promote creative cultural partnerships in Scotland and beyond.’

Plans are already afoot for AGAP to partner the foundation in an annual student theatre production.  The foundation’s director, Leonard Franchi, said: “The place of the arts in education cannot be over-stated.  AGAP’s work with young people across the Archdiocese is a sign of creative vitality and bodes well for the future.”

Recent times have also seen the emergence of the St Ninian Institute, a part-time distance learning college in Dunkeld.  It’s director, David Meiklejohn, a former course director and director of liturgical music at Maryvale, stated: “It is one of the long-term aims of the St Ninian Institute that we become a Centre of Excellence for Catholic liberal arts. In particular, we are fostering a love for Liturgy. Leading on from that the quote ‘The Liturgy is the summit towards which the Church’s action trends and at the same time the fountain from which all Her strength flows’ (Sacrosanctum Concillium 10) we must all bear this in mind when preparing for Mass.”

It is obvious that the arts are a vital part of the educational experience that contributes to our Faith formation. However, it is important for us, as Catholics, to remember that education is not confined to the school, the college and the university, but is part of an ongoing process that continues through life. In this regard, we have a wide range of resources at our disposal to support our faith and perhaps, by strengthening the cultural link between religious education and our engagement with the arts, our lessons in faith will be as memorable to us as the squeaky wheels of the television trolley in the classroom or the school trip to the theatre that sticks in our minds.

n http://www.agap.org.uk

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