Lasallian Education in Multi-Cultural and Inter-Cultural Contexts

Edmund Kee-Fook Chia, PhD

Abstract

Lasallian schools today are not only immersed in contexts of many cultures and religions but are also becoming increasingly multicultural and multireligious within their institutions as well. The challenges incumbent upon how they deal with this new phenomenon will be discussed in the context of the renewal of the Institute and thrust toward a dialogical Church that the Second Vatican Council inaugurated. Specifically, the article will explore what it means for the Institute to move from mono-culturalism to multi-culturalism and what it takes to progress toward inter-culturalism. This relates to not only the student body but to the staff as well, especially given that in many countries Lasallian schools not only have students who are not Catholic or Christian but also teachers and principals who are adherents of religions other than Christianity. In this new context of cultural and religious pluralism it is necessary that the Institute reviews the vision and mission of the Brothers of the Christian School, especially in schools where there are few or no Brothers as well as in schools where there are few of no Christians.

Full Text

Lasallian Education in Multi-Cultural and Inter-Cultural Contexts

Keywords

dialogue, identity, intercultural, interreligious, mission, multicultural, multireligious, pluralism, Vatican II