Peace Education Rooted in the Identity
and Mission of Catholic Education
Professor Dr Angelina Gutiérrez
St. Scholastica’s College - Manila
CEAP National Convention "Building a Culture of Peace:
Shaping the Vision, Living the Dream”
Session: Integrating Peace Education in the Curriculum
Davao City, Sept. 22, 2011
Context of the Paper
Related studies and advocacy on
peace education
 UN International Decade for a
Culture of Peace (2000-2010)
 Executive Order 570 -
‘Institutionalization of Peace
Education in Basic & Teacher
Education’
 Local literature:
a) Peace Education: A Pathway to a
Culture of Peace (Castro & Galace, 2010)
for formal & non-formal settings
b) Panagtagbo sa Kalinaw (1998), manual
on education for conflict resolution of tricommunities in Mindanao
c) Islamic Model for Peace Education
(2010)
 Advocacy:
a) Silsilah
Dialogue
Movement
(1984),
interfaith
education
b) Peace Education as a core course in
college
Purpose of the Study
 Catholic paradigm for peace education
 Research Problems:
1) Meanings/semantics of peace education?
2) How to teach peace education in relation
to the identity and mission of Catholic
education?
3) The connection of peace education to our
vocation to the educational apostolate?
4) Pedagogic applications of peace education
in the Catholic institute curriculum?
Methods of Inquiry
 Academic paper
 Qualitative research design:
 studies on peace education
Vatican documents
 Auto-ethnography:
 educator
 researcher
Conceptual framework of the research
Peace Education
in the
curriculum
Vocation
to the
Identity & Mission of
Church Social
Educational
Catholic Education
Teachings(CST)
Apostolate
Catholic education
contributions to the
good of society
RQ1:Semantics of Peace Studies
 Elise Boulding
(1920 – 2010),
matriarch of
peace studies
movement
 Johann Galtung
(1930 – present),
father of peace &
conflict studies
 Education for peace subjects
 Empowers learners to end
violence/injustice & promote a culture of
peace
 Four key principles of peace education :
(Teachers without Borders, 2011)
equitable dialogue
 study with application towards
societal transformation
 holistic analysis of issues
 promotion of values

RQ2: How to teach peace education
in relation to the identity & mission
of Catholic education?
 the Catholic
academe as
‘born in the
heart of the
church’
(Ex corde
ecclesiae, JPII,
1990)
Four essential characteristics of
the Catholic academe (JPII, 1990):
a) moral, spiritual, religious dimension in
research, science & technology in the
totality of the human person
b) continuing reflection in the light of
Catholic faith
c) fidelity to the Church message
d) commitment to service towards the
transcendent goal
 Locus of peace education in the mission
and identity of Catholic education
 Christ is our Peace
‘A Catholic institute must
have the courage to speak
uncomfortable truths which
do not please public opinion,
but which are necessary to
safeguard the authentic good
of society.’ (JPII, 1990, Ex corde
ecclesiae, n.32)
 Church Social Teachings (CST) as content for peace
education
 Evangelization & integral human development
through works of justice and peace
‘The Gospel, interpreted in the
social teachings of the Church is
an urgent call to promote the
development of those peoples who
are striving to escape hunger,
misery, endemic diseases and
ignorance and of those looking for
a wider share in the benefits of
civilization’.
(Pope Paul VI, 1967, Populorum
Progressio)
RQ3: What is the connection of peace
education to our calling or vocation to the
educational apostolate?
‘ intellectual charity’ - to lead students
to truth as an act of love
‘When teachers and
administrators deviate from
the vision of its institutional
Catholic identity and mission,
it will lead to moral,
intellectual and spiritual
confusion’. (Pope Benedict XVI)
RQ4: What are some pedagogic
applications of peace education in the
Catholic institute’s curriculum?
Online resources: Teachers Without
Borders Peace Education Program
(TWBPEP), Peace Education Foundation
(PEF), Global Campaign for Peace
Education (GCPE)
 Vatican documents on the identity and
mission of Catholic education
Church Social Teaching (CST)sources:
Catholic Social
Teaching: A Key to
Catholic Identity
(Office for Social Justice
Archdiocese of Saint Paul,
Minneapolis, USA)
http://www.osjspm.org
Caritas in veritate Compendium of the
(Pope Benedict XVI,
Social Doctrine of
2009)
the Church
(Pontifical Council
for Justice & Peace ,
2004)
Academic research sources:
International
International Studies on
Handbook on
Catholic Education
Catholic Education
journal (Routledge,
(Springer Pub.
Taylor & Francis, UK)
Netherlands 2007)
Journal of Peace
Education
(Routledge, Taylor &
Francis, UK)
International Peace Research Association
(IPRA) & its Peace Education Council (PEC)
biennial conferences (Canada, Belgium,
Australia):
 peace education through Benedictine
peace values in the Music Appreciation
& Theology college classrooms
 inter-religious peace education
 peace education & integral human
development through the Church Social
Teaching (CST) on ‘preferential option for
the poor’
School/college settings: peace garden,
peace center, peace camp, pax awardee,
peace forums, students’ thesis project
Linkage with peace education networks
& foundations such as Catholic
Peacebuilding Network (CPN) & Peace
Education Network in the Phils. (PenPhil)
Institutional support for faculty
development on peace education &
Catholic education identity through
seminar-workshops
Peace education & the Church’s
contribution to the public forum
regarding morality & ethics
 Form students conscience to
discover the truth that leads to the
good
 education that is ‘informative’ &
‘performative’ or life-changing
(Pope Benedict XVI, 2008, Spe Salvi)
Summary & Conclusions
 Foundation and pedagogy for
peace education rooted in the
mission & identity of Catholic
education
 Knowledge-skills-application (k-s-a)
when integrating peace education in
the curriculum
 We are all peace educators
Recommendations for further studies




extent of Catholicity
in the institute
academic vis a vis
spiritual formation
charism of religious
congregation
Catholic intellectual
tradition
in relation
to peace
education
“God has created
me to do him
some definite
service. He has
committed some
work to me which
he has not
committed to
another”
(Blessed Cardinal
John Henry Newman,
Meditations on
Christian Doctrine,
1852)
Peace Education Rooted in the Identity
and Mission of Catholic Education
Professor Dr Angelina Gutiérrez
St. Scholastica’s College - Manila
CEAP National Convention "Building a Culture of Peace:
Shaping the Vision, Living the Dream”
Session: Integrating Peace Education in the Curriculum
Davao City, Sept. 22, 2011