Religious education and the Church's evangelizing mission

Here is a letter, from the Congregation for Catholic Education, to the presidents of the various bishops' conferences, on the mission, and importance of Catholic schools:

The nature and role of religious education in schools has become the object of debate. In some cases, it is now the object of new civil regulations, which tend to replace religious education with teaching about the religious phenomenon in a multi-denominational sense, or about religious ethics and culture – even in a way that contrasts with the choices and educational aims that parents and the Church intend for the formation of young people.

Therefore, by means of this Circular Letter addressed to the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences, this Congregation for Catholic Education deems it necessary to recall some principles that are rooted in Church teaching, as clarification and instruction about the role of schools in the Catholic formation of young people, about the nature and identity of the Catholic school, about religious education in schools, and about the freedom of choice of school and confessional religious education. . . .

Read the whole thing.