For historical reasons, the vast majority of primary schools in the Republic of Ireland are under the patronage of the Catholic church. Patronage involves a number of responsibilities, including the provision of a Patron’s Programme. Traditionally in the form of Religious Education (RE), such programmes should satisfy the curricular requirement for religious/ethical education and act as an expression of school ethos. In order to meet this responsibility, the Irish Episcopal conference in 2015 published its first curriculum in Religious Education, which forms the basis for the Grow in Love programme for pupils from Junior Infants to Sixth Class in all Catholic primary schools. However, effective teaching and learning of RE is dependent on the ‘buy in’ of those teaching it. The religious beliefs, understandings, and practices of those teaching RE are influential in this regard. Drawing from the data of a large-scale, multi-phase study, this paper describes the religious identity and beliefs of first-year students entering an Initial Teacher Education programme in Ireland—in this case, the Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree—to qualify as primary-level teachers. It situates the data in the wider context of religious identity and beliefs in Ireland and goes on to explore how the religious profiles of these students fit with the required understanding, knowledge and ability to teach Religious Education in Catholic schools. Findings indicate that the majority of these students identify as Catholic and believe in God. For most, God is important in their lives. However, there is a complexity to these beliefs, with a significant number who do not know what to think. This paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the teaching of Religious Education and for the patrons of Catholic schools.

A significant challenge facing leaders of Catholic schools in Ireland today is to ensure an appreciation for, and understanding of, the Catholic identity of the school among members of staff. A first aim of this research project was to create a ‘vital idea’ to re-present Christian faith to people working in Catholic schools, in a way that might resonate with the real world of teaching and learning and with their own lives. Drawing from Fratelli Tutti), we used the phrase ‘A Love that impels towards communion’ as the ‘vital idea’. A second aim was to present it to principals of second-level Catholic schools and garner their responses to it. We did this with twelve principals, using a focus group methodology. We first explained the thinking behind the ‘vital idea’, and then gathered their responses to it. The reaction of the principals was favourable. It made sense to them personally and chimed with much of what they are doing professionally. However, the word ‘communion’ was found not to be helpful. A further finding relates to values: while the values in the ‘vital idea’ were embraced and talked about easily, there was little explicit reference to God, the source of those values.

Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (G.R.A.C.E) is a unique Community of Practice (CoP). The CoP methodology was applied within G.R.A.C.E for its capacity to connect multi-disciplinary and international academics and practitioners within Catholic Education. This paper presents key insights gathered from the G.R.A.C.E steering committee regarding their perspectives on the journey of initiating this unique CoP. A small qualitative research project framed within a phenomenological interpretivist theoretical perspective was employed to ascertain the participants’ hopes, experiences, impact as well as challenges and opportunities. A Qualtrics questionnaire was the selected data collection method. Findings suggest that the experience of G.R.A.C.E has been a positive one, affirming the CoP methodology adopted was effective in ensuring the hopes that members held for the CoP were actualised. Challenges and opportunities identified in the findings provide insight into the future direction of this truly global initiative.

This chapter focuses on John Sullivan’s pivotal role in the story of the project known as ‘GRACE’, which is the Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education. This collaborative global project, bringing researchers and advocates of Catholic education together as a community of practice owes much to the scholarship of John Sullivan. This chapter narrates the origins and evolution of GRACE, and as it does so it hopes to be able to give due recognition to the expertise that John Sullivan brought to the project, and this has helped to ensure that it is focused on the dynamic relationship between life, Christian faith, theology and education. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->