Richard Rymarz
A closer look at Catholic and non-Catholic students in Catholic
schools: Some insights for religious educators.
Religious education is deeply interested in the interface between religion and the wider culture.
One of the most important aspects of this interaction is how to better understand secularization.
To say that we live in a secular culture or that young people are becoming more secular is a very
common observation. What is meant by secularization is weighty and almost inexhaustible topic
but in this paper I would like to briefly outline some of the dimensions and implications of
secularization in situ. What does secularization look like when we examine the responses of
young people? I would propose that we need to develop a more nuanced understanding of
secularization, one which sees it not as a uniform and inevitable aspect of life today. Rather
secularization is best understood as having its greatest impact in practical lived experience. In
this sense it tends to impact across a broad range of groups and certainly religious communities
are not immune from the effects of this type of secularizing tendency. As we move away from
impact on everyday life then religious ideas re-emerge but these tend to be quite abstract notions
with low salience or impact. Salience is a sociological term that refers to how much influence
beliefs – in this case religious beliefs – have on how a person lives and what they think. Secular
here does not mean hostility or overt anger about religious belief, practice, and commitment. It is
just that for an increasing number of people, and these are by no means just young people,
religion has a relatively minor part in shaping what they believe and how they live. There is a
very important distinction to be made here between overtly rejecting religion and regarding it, in
practice, as having only a small impact of life. The latter position is one that is becoming
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normative in many cultures and is a good working definition of the process of secularization in
many Western post-industrial countries such as Australia.
This understanding of secularization can be seen more clearly if we examine the responses of a
selective, differentiated sample of young people. A range of studies have reported on the
religious and spiritual lives of contemporary young people.i Many of these have examined
representative samples in order to make inferences and draw conclusions about national trends. ii
In any representative sample, however, there is recognition that in obtaining normative data,
information about subgroups can be lost or obscured. In this paper I will be reporting on
research done on one such sub group, namely, students in Catholic schools in Sydney. Catholic
schools educate a significant number of people in Australia today.iii Enrolments are, however,
not representative of the wider community even though schools now educate large numbers of
non-Catholics. Indeed the enrolment growth in Catholic schools in recent times has been
driven largely by non-Catholics. In Sydney Catholic schools approximately 72% of students
identify as Catholics, 16% as other Christians, 4% as other faith traditions and 7% as no religion.
Despite changes in the wider community students in Catholic schools exhibit a marked
preponderance to professed Christian allegiance. Those with no religious allegiance account for
only 7% of enrolments and this is in contrast with the rapid growth of “nones” in the wider
community. This is a widespread phenomenon in Western countries. In Australia, for example,
in 1911 only 0.4% of the population described themselves as having no religious affiliation. In
the 2016 census this figure had increased to 30.1% and is expected to grow further in coming
years.iv
This Study
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Richard Rymarz
This is an ongoing research project and the results have been published in several journals . Due
to the scope of the study some decisions need to be made about the focus of individual reports
and presentations. In this paper attention will be given to responses on the worldview and
religious practises of Catholic and non-Catholic students. This study replicates an earlier
collection of data Survey responses to select items at Years 5, 7, 9 and 11 will be presented.
This is to examine changes over time in key response categories.
The survey consisted of 47 questions involving Likert scale responses or asking students to rank
order responses. In addition, there were some questions which invited short open ended written
responses. No presentation of the responses to these questions will be given in this paper. On
average the survey took about 30 minutes to complete. There were 13,857 responses with an
almost equal number of males and females (49.9%). The survey was completed in school hours
at the school the students attended. All students in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese, through
their parents or guardians, were invited to take part. The combined completion rate for all Year
levels was 68%.
Results and Discussion
Most students in Catholic schools profess some kind of religious affiliation what can be said
about differences or similarities between Catholic and non-Catholic students? A number of areas
will be reported on in this paper. The first examines support for Christian beliefs. A statement
such as “I believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man” reflects a dogmatic belief. The same
can be said for the statements and responses recorded in Tables 2 and 3.
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Richard Rymarz
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 83.9 (84.9) 78.2 (82) 65.6 (70.4) 61.2 (67.4)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 11.9 (11.3) 14.7 (13) 22.5 (21.4) 25.7 (32.2)
Strongly 3.8 (3.5) 6.5 (4.5) 11.2 (7.6) 12.8 (8)
disagree/disagree
Table 1: Responses to statement: I believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man. (Catholic students
only in brackets)
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 87.9 (88.7) 81.2 (85) 68.7 (73) 64.8 (70.4)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 8.2 (7.6) 11.7 (10.1) 18.4 (17.7) 21.4 (20.3)
Strongly 3.8 (3.5) 6.7 (4.5) 12.4 (8.6) 13.5 (8.9)
disagree/disagree
Table 2: Responses to statement: I believe that Jesus died and rose again
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 92.4 (93.6) 86.7 (89.8) 76.6 (80.9) 71.8 (77.6)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 5.7 (4.9) 9.3 (7.8) 15.3 (14) 17.7 (16.2)
Strongly 1.7 (1.4) 3.7 (2.3) 7.8 (4.8) 10.2 (6)
disagree/disagree
Table 3: Responses to statement: I believe in God
The three tables above show responses of all students and Catholic students only in brackets. The first
finding to note is the decline for both groups over time from what can be seen as traditional Christian
views. The largest decline seems to be between Year 7 and Year 9 and this continues into Year 11. It
can also be noted that there remains a majority view by students in Catholic schools that supports the
dogmatic statement of belief proposed. This is especially so of Catholic students but the figure for all
students also supports this conclusion. These finding are in accords with some researchers who have
found that belief in dogmatic statements of belief amongst younger Catholics remains high. v
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Affirmation of dogmatic beliefs can be compared to other responses which probe beliefs of a different
nature. If we ask students about topics that have a clearer referent in moral theology a different pattern of
responses is evident. In these respondents support of the traditional Christian worldview is not as clear
cut. This is in keeping with the view that secularization becomes more evident the closer an issue comes
to a person’s lived experience. Table 4, for instance, asks about the exclusivity of religious views. The
modal response of all students in Catholic schools is that it is OK to pick and choose religious beliefs.
There was little difference between Catholic and non-Catholic students.
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 42.9 (43.2) 44 (42.4) 42.4(41.6) 46 (46.3)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 29.1 (29.1) 31.8 (30.6) 31.7 (33) 31.8 (31.9)
Strongly 27.8 (27.3) 23.7 (26.1) 25.8 (24.6) 23.7 (21.3)
disagree/disagree
Table 4: It’s OK to pick and choose religious beliefs without having to accept all the teachings of
one’s religion
When asked explicitly about morals, Catholic and non-Catholic students responses were again very
similar and discordant from what could be seen as a traditional Christian view. This is also seen in Table
5 which shows a majority of students across all ages agree that morals are personal choices and there are
no definite rights or wrongs.
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 61.6 (62.2) 59 (59.4) 52.7 (62.8) 50.9 (52.4)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 26.2 (25.9) 31.1 (30.8) 33.6 (33.9) 29.9 (29.5)
Strongly 11.6 (11.5) 8.6 (8.5) 13 (12.6) 18.8 (17.7)
disagree/disagree
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Table5: Morals are a matter of personal choice because there are no definite rights or wrongs
The results of Tables 4 and 5 can be interpreted as being reflective of dominant moral cultural norms on
moral questions. In the wider culture the ascent of relativistic views has been well documented.vi In one
well-known categorization the dominant worldview of young people is described as Moralistic
Therapeutic Deism (MTD).vii This is a worldview that seeks to minimize difference between all groups in
a culture and lends itself very much to relativistic notions of morality. In MTD one of the key principles
is to recognize the open ended nature of moral judgements which need to be seen as being reflective of
cultural and personal preference. What “works” for one person may not be applicable elsewhere and a
perceived major transgression is to make judgements on actions or decisions. In light of the cultural
pressure to conform to these views it is interesting to speculate whether just under 20% of the Year 11
students in Catholic schools in this study disagreeing with the proposition that there are no definite rights
or wrongs is a high or unexpected figure.
If we now turn to indicators of praxis or how life is lived we find further evidence of lower religious
salience. Table 6, for example, records responses to a very explicit statement about life trajectory. It asks
students about how much they try and base their life on the teaching of Jesus. Notice that this is a strong
statement. Far stronger, for instance, than one on, say, respecting Jesus teaching. Compared to the results
recorded in the first three tables which look at more abstract beliefs, the responses for the tables below
show much lower levels of religious salience. In addition, there is no consistent difference across the
three measures between Catholic and non-Catholic students. Table 7 shows a similar pattern with the
majority of students in Catholics schools by Year 11 being neutral or strongly disagreeing with the
proposition that religion influences their lives.
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
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Richard Rymarz
Strongly 70.7 (71.1) 56.3 (58.7) 43.2 (45.5) 46.4 (49.2)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 28.5 (22.3) 29.5 (29.7) 36.2 (37.4) 32.5 (33.2)
Strongly 6.3 (6.0) 13.4 (10.7) 19.6 (16.2) 20.6 (16.6)
disagree/disagree
Table 6: I try to base my life on the teaching and example of Jesus
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Strongly 68.9 (70.1) 55.9 (57.9) 44.9 (47.1) 47.2 (48.8)
agree/agree (%)
Neutral 21.6 (21.2) 26.0 (26.3) 29.1 (29.6) 28.3 (29.5)
Strongly 8.6 (7.9) 16.5 (14.3) 24.5 (21.9) 23.3 (20.5)
disagree/disagree
Table 7: Religion influences the way I live my life
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Most important 72.9 (72.9) 62.4 (63.9) 46.3 (46.1) 40.2 (40.2)
(1), or 2nd most
important
Least important 6.7 (6.3) 14.1 (12) 24 (21.7) 30.1 (26.8)
(6) or 5th most
important
Table 8: Consider how each of the following influences your life: God
If we compare the results shown in Tables 1-3 with those in Tables 6-8 we see the incongruence that often
emerges when we examine beliefs against religious salience. For instance, a much higher number of all
students agree with the statement that Jesus died and rose from the dead when compared to those who
base their lives on the teachings of Jesus. It does seem reasonable to conclude that if you believed that
Jesus rose from the dead it would have some impact on how you regarded his teachings and how you
lived your life in this light. For this reason measures of religious praxis often give a clearer picture on the
impact of religion on the lives of young people than measures of agreement with dogmatic propositions
on their own.
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Further evidence for a more nuanced view of secularization is seen if we look at measures of religious
practise. These, again, can be seen as markers of salience. If religion is having an impact on how young
people live and how they think then this should be reflected in how they behave. A good but by no means
the only measure of this is a practise such as prayer. Table 9 shows responses to frequency of prayer by
students in Sydney Catholic schools. We can see here again the decline across age levels with frequency
of prayer decreasing as students get older. There is a close alignment of practise between Catholic and
non-Catholic students with the notable exception that by Year 11 there is a significant difference in the
number of students who never prayer. Non Catholic students report a much higher figure for never
praying when compared to Catholic students. Given that only approximately 5% of students in Catholic
schools in this sample report no religious affiliation the reasons for this difference are worth exploring
further.
Year 5 Year 7 Year 9 Year 11
Each day (%) 53.5 (54) 39.4 (40.6) 33.8 (35.2) 28.2 (30.4)
Regularly 23.4 (24.1) 26.3 (26.7) 21.4 (22.8) 19.8 (21.1)
A Few Times a 4.2 (4.1) 7.3 (6.6) 10 (8.9) 13 (12.4)
Year
Never 1.7 (1.4) 4.2 (2.6) 13 (12.4) 12.1 (7.0)
Table 9: Frequency of prayer
Conclusion
It seems, like all good research, the data reported here raise a range of issues for further consideration.
There is evidence here for a more nuanced view of secularization. In this view secularisation is seen as a
loss of religious salience seen most clearly in a decline in praxis, how people live their lives and the views
that they hold that influence this praxis. It seems that most students in Catholic schools agree with many
classical statements of dogmatic Christian belief. The trend is away from acceptance of these views as
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students get older so the longevity of this agreement once students leave school can be questioned. It
would seem though that Catholic schools do play a role in maintaining these views, at least while students
are attending them. To be sure, significant numbers do not support these positions but these findings
challenge the view that students in Catholic schools are heavily in discord over traditional teachings.
This, however, does not necessarily lead us to question the impact of secularization on students in
Catholic schools. More in accord with the view of secularization taken here, its influence can be seen if
we look at other measures.
When we examine more praxis based responses the situation becomes more complex. It seems that for
many students in Catholics schools, the impact of religious beliefs on how they live and in what they
think is relatively weak and not in accord with assent to theological positions. This supports the view that
religious salience even amongst this sub population of students in Catholic schools is diminishing. A
question for further examination is whether or not this decline is in step with wider cultural attitudes.
How would students in Catholic schools compare with students in public or independent schools is a
question for further study. These results could then be contrasted with control samples which extrapolate
to national representation. It may be the religious salience is decreasing amongst students in Catholic
schools but this decline may be less significant than for the population of young people as a whole. For
the religious educator the question that is posed here is how best to make the connection between
theological propositions and how these are translated into everyday life?
The difference between Catholic and non-Catholic students across all measures is less marked than some
may have expected. This is in keeping with the vast majority of students being from a Christian
background and only a small percentage having no religious affiliation. Many of the assumptions that are
made about non Catholic students in Catholic schools could, on the basis of these findings, be revaluated.
Non Catholic students share many of the views and practises of Catholics and both groups reflect an
increasingly secular trend. The secularizing forces on Catholic and non-Catholic students alike tend to
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homogenize responses and draw out more similarities than differences. This is in keeping with a view of
secularization that sees it as a strong general cultural influence. In this view Catholic students will be just
as influenced by the tendency to align their moral views with the normative societal expectations as non-
Catholic students. For religious educators one implication of these findings is that the differences in
outlook of young people in Catholic schools are more likely to be reflective of the wider culture
irrespective of religious background. The mechanism of this realignment is a topic that warrants further
examination. One key question is how can religious communities have a more formative influence on
young people within their communities and what role can Catholic schools play in this process?
The results presented here strongly support the general decline in engagement predicted by the
plateau theory of religious engagement. viii The data from this study suggests that students in
Catholic primary schools may be more receptive to religious education as at these ages they
seem more connected to the worldview of the religious tradition. Whether this is a because of a
greater natural sensitivity and interest in religion at younger years or to some external factor such
as the influence of the primary school is a question for further study. To take just one finding,
consider the number of children who see God as being an important factor in their lives. At Year
5 level close to three quarters of students in Catholic schools nominate God as either the first or
second most important influence on their life. This should have some impact on how religious
education teachers approach their subject. To take a practical example, if students see God as
being active then they are likely to feel comfortable learning about prayer and also praying more
than if they had a more distant sense of God. This type of sensibility could be reflected in the RE
curriculum at primary level with more time given over to prayer.
Rymarz argues that what is needed is a more intentional approach to religious education. ix It is
intentional in the sense that it responds to the background of students in schools today and also
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Richard Rymarz
the cultural reality of the world in which they live. In contemporary culture religious groups can
only rely on persuasion, rather than coercion or socialization, to get their messages across. In
Catholic schools most students will not be persuaded by arguments that are grounded in
references to Church authority and which do not respect students’ perspectives. Religious
education in this context is a difficult and countercultural task. The worldview of students today
tends to be shaped by wider cultural forces and religious communities must recognize that their
position does not have any intrinsic merit or perceived higher status. In a culture where a range
of options are open but what is often lacking is support for real freedom of choice, religious
education must be able to offer a coherent alternative. This will help offer an alternative to the
hegemony of a ubiquitous consumerism that Bauman has identified as a position that does not
bring with it stability, joy or human flourishing x.
One of the most significant goals of a religious education program that is both propositional and
content driven is to create a classroom culture where the questions of students are given a very
high priority. One conclusion that can be drawn about participants in this study is that they are
not strongly disposed to any worldview. In light of this they may be open to dialogue about new
positions and insights as long as these are well proposed. In this study this openness is reflected
in the large number of students who expressed neutrality in their response. At Year 11, for
example, many students were neutral on questions about the Eucharist and the resurrection of
Jesus. This would suggest that topics such as these should be more explicitly addressed but in a
fashion that recognizes the complexity of the topic and the predisposition of students. In this
framework active questioning by students can be seen as a vindication of the approach.
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Richard Rymarz
This leads to considerations of classroom practise as this will determine how content is
presented. A content focus fits well with an emphasis on pedagogy, that is, how religious
education is taught in the most meaningful and effective way. A more content driven religious
education is dependent on how well teachers can deliver this in the classroom. The two aspects
of religious education – content and pedagogy – need to be seen as both necessary and
complimentary. The key determinate of how well religious education will meet the needs of
students is the quality of classroom teaching. This teaching aspect has been the neglected piece
in the recent history of religious education in Catholic schools. So often the teaching piece is
regarded as if it is a relatively straightforward and uncomplicated area which can be completed
without much serious effort. It is, in fact, often the most difficult aspect of religious education
because it involves an engagement with the learner and a translation of what can be highly
abstract concepts into a more intelligible form.
i Michael Mason, Andrew Singleton and Ruth Webber, The Spirit of Generation Y: Young
People's Spirituality in a Changing Australia (Melbourne: John Garrett Publishing, 2007),
ii William D’Antonio, Michelle Dillon and Mary Gautier, American Catholics in Transition.
(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).
iii Australian Catholic Schools 2012 (Sydney: National Catholic Education Commission, 2013).
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Richard Rymarz
iv The figures from the 2016 census for religious afflation so a marked decline in the total
number of Christans in the Australian population. This was measured at 52.1%, with Catholic
making up the largest group with 22% of the population nominating this affilation. The figure
for other (non Christan religions) was 8.2%. The rise in thise wioth “ secualrbeliefs and other
spiritual beleifs and no religious afflaltion was 30.15. this repsrents a stageering 45.1% increase
for the last census conficted in 2011. Australian Bureau of Statistics Census Data
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyReleaseDate/7E65A144540551D
7CA258148000E2B85?OpenDocument
v William D’Antonio, Michelle Dillon and Mary Gautier, American Catholics in Transition.
(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).
vi Michael Mason, Andrew Singleton and Ruth Webber, The Spirit of Generation Y: Young
People's Spirituality in a Changing Australia (Melbourne: John Garrett Publishing, 2007),
vii Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual
Lives of American Teenagers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
viii Richard Rymarz, Reaching the plateau: A follow up study on active adolescent Catholics.
Journal of Youth and Theology, 2007, 6(2), 9-23.
ix Richard Rymarz, Authentic Catholic Schools. (Toronto: Novalis, 2016).
x Zygmunt Bauman, Wasted lives: Modernity and its outcasts. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004).
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