Catholicism is the language through which countless Maltese generations have expressed their spirituality, have been sustained and have constructed meaning and identity, Adrian Gellel told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

TMIS caught up with Dr Gellel to discuss religious studies and the biannual conference on religious and spiritual education to be held in August in Malta, organised by the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.

After graduating in education, Adrian Gellel pursued his studies in Catechetics and Youth Ministry at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. In May 2005 he was awarded a doctorate Summa cum Laude after successfully defending the thesis, Adapting Religious Education to Individual Students’ requirements: A means of being faithful to the Pedagogy of God in the classroom. The Salesian University honoured him with the university’s Medal.

In the past few years he has researched and published on a wide range of subjects, especially in the fields of children’s spirituality and religious education. His academic interests have led him to organise the International Conference on Children’s Spirituality, to be nominated as a Theological Advisor to The Centre of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescents, Minnesota, USA, and to be accepted as an associate member of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values (ISREV).

Dr Gellel is also actively involved with the Maltese archdiocese. He has been a member of various diocesan bodies and contributed to the local synod. At present he is the national coordinator for religious education in school for the Catholic Church in Malta and a board member of the Pastoral Formation Institute.

“There are various models of religious education. Every state deals with the subject according to the social, cultural and historical milieu of the community. Not all European countries have a multi-faith approach to religious education. Indeed, most states still hold a denominational approach,” he explained.

“As I have already stated elsewhere, Catholicism is the language through which countless Maltese generations have expressed their spirituality, have been sustained and have constructed meaning and identity. Besides any legalistic consideration, it is mainly for this reason that Malta continues to adopt a denominational model of religious education,” he said.

“Through education in the grammar and literature of Catholicism, students have access to the language of their community. The cultural and historical uniqueness of the Maltese experience continues to reaffirm the validity of a denominational approach to religious education,” he added.

On the other hand, Dr Gellel said that students must be open to understand and appreciate other world views, including non-religious ones. “We live in a global society, where accepting, and not just respecting the other, is imperative. Unfortunately, denominational (confessional) religious education and inter-religious (multi-faith) education have often been seen as two competing and irreconcilable models. Exclusivist perspectives tend to minimise, and at times ignore, the complexity of reality, including various tensions such as the rights of parents and children versus the rights and duties of the wider community, and contextual realties versus global realities,” he added.

Dr Gellel does not believe that Maltese students would benefit from a comparative religions approach. He believes that if the study of other religions was integrated in the current confessional model of religious education, students would gain more. While deepening the understanding of the faith of their parents, students would be introduced and exposed to the paradigm of diversity. He reiterated that moving from what is familiar to what is unfamiliar should help reduce attitudes of non-acceptance of other worldviews that are not Catholic. Such an educational method should help to reduce stereotyping and help students to be critical of any attempt to be minimalist.

Turning to the subject of the theological conference, Dr Gellel explained that this is not the first one to be organised in Malta.

“As a faculty, we are totally committed to promote and sustain research in the areas of religious and spiritual education. Presently there are three members of staff (two full-timers and a part-timer) whose main duties are to teach and research areas related to religious education. In previous years we have been involved in various international research projects. Living on a small island in the southernmost part of Europe may very easily lead to isolation and therefore we are continuously on the lookout for opportunities to collaborate with our foreign colleagues,” he said.

Such contacts stimulate the scholars to reflect upon and keep abreast of developments in their area of interest. However, experience also taught them that their international colleagues are also very eager to listen to the Maltese experiences and to the academic positions that stem from our traditions. “It is positive to note that, through these conferences, we have been able to initiate contacts among catholic academics. These interactions have helped clarify positions and to put our position on the international academic agenda,” he said.

The conference is being organised in conjunction with the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI). The conference offers academics the opportunity to share and discuss their research on religious and spiritual education. This is the second time that EARLI is organising a conference specifically on this area.

”We are not expecting large numbers,” said Dr Gellel. “This gives participants the chance to delve into various issues. I’m envisaging some 35 participants for the Malta conference. Most of the academics that will attend work in the fields of education and theology, or are interested in religious education and are experimenting in the field of spiritual education”.

In recent years there has been a surge in interest on matters regarding religious and spiritual education. Spirituality, inter-religious dialogue and the multi-cultural dimension of society have come to the forefront of the academic agenda. The conference aims to strengthen the scientific community of researchers in the field and to enhance theory formation.

The conference will deal with three major issues: the interdisciplinary approach, the balance between explanation and interpretation and the relationship between religious and spiritual education.

“We believe that students would benefit more from school if different subjects work in tandem,” Dr Gellel concluded.

More information about the

conference is available on website http://www.um.edu.mt/theology/earli