The Catholic Church in Scotland has recorded a historic first this summer, having successfuly obtained the decree of ‘Recognitio’ from the Apostolic See for ‘This Is Our Faith’, its new Religious Education syllabus.

The letter of decree, signed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza , Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy on 4th August 2011, stated that the Apostlic See is assured that the new syllabus will provide “a valuable tool for orienting catechesis in Catholic schools in Scotland”.  The text of the decree states:

… with the assent of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, this Congregation for the Clergy, by the authority it enjoys according to the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus art.94, hereby grants the requested “recognitio” to the text of the National Syllabus for Religious Education in Catholic Schools in Scotland, entitled This is Our Faith, as submitted by the Conference of Bishops of Scotland on 10 June 2011 in accord with the provisions of can. 775 §2 of the Code of Canon Law and the General Directory for Catechesis n. 282.

Bishop Joseph Devine, President of the Catholic Education Commission, commented: “This is a great day for the Church, as it gives us the green light to proceed with the publishing of our new religious education syllabus.  I am most grateful to all those who have contributed their efforts to the development of ‘This Is Our Faith’ and, in particular, to securing the approval of the Holy See.”

Michael McGrath, Director of the Scottish Catholic Education Service, added: “Now we can proceed to make the final version of ‘This Is Our Faith’ available to primary and secondary teachers, to parents and parishes.  This involves the production of a document which will be used for many years to come to guide the teaching of children and young people.  I hope that we can announce details of its availablity in the near future.”