It is only in the years since Vatican II that the new thinking about Catholic education has crystalised into shape. Vatican II and New Thinking about Catholic Education provides an opportune moment to take stock of the impact of Vatican II on Catholic education. This volume considers the various ways in which Vatican II and its teaching on education has been received and engages with the challenges and testing times that beset faith-based education in the twenty-first century. With insights from an international range of leading and influential advocates of Catholic education, the volume demonstrates the differing contexts of Catholic education and explores the ways in which Vatican II’s teaching on education has been received over the past four or five decades.
Although not all contributors manage to translate the analysis of their particular context to a wider audience, most chapters offer interesting material for further reflection on what Whittle identifies as a great need of our time: a theology of catholic education. I particularly liked parts I & II, on the Vatican II documents regarding catholic education and on international perspectives. In general, I think this is a recommended reading for professionals in Catholic education, especially for education policy makers.