Catholic Special Character

The Education and Training Act 2020 defines education with a special character as “education within the framework of a particular or general religious or philosophical belief and associated with observances of traditions appropriate to that belief1”.

The more particular definition of special character is defined in each school’s Integration Agreement as:

“The school is a Roman Catholic school in which the whole school community, through the general school programme and in its religious instructions and observances, exercises the right to live and teach the values of Jesus Christ. These values are as expressed in the Scriptures and in the practices, worship and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, as determined from time to time by the Roman Catholic Bishop of the diocese.2”

At the core of the school is its Catholic special character, which provides the encounter with God, who in Jesus Christ reveals the transforming love and truth of God3. This evangelisation is ineffective if it does not consider and include the identity, culture, language, and signs of all those it is focusing on4. Thus, bringing faith, culture and life into harmony which is a goal of the Catholic school, in Aotearoa New Zealand5.

Many factors contribute to the Catholic special character, including:

• the beliefs, values, traditions, and practices of the Catholic Church, and how they are expressed by both Katorika Māori and Katorika tauiwi,

• the religious content of its curriculum,

• the witness of people living their faith as disciples of Jesus.

• It is the interaction of these that creates the Catholic identity of the school6.

1 Education and Training Act 2020, Section 10.

2 New Zealand Catholic Education Office (NZCEO), Handbook for Boards of Trustees of New Zealand Catholic State Integrated Schools. Wellington: NZCEO, 2020.

3 Benedict XVI. Address to Catholic Educators of the United States. https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2008/april/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080417_cath-univ-washington.html

4 Pope Paul VI (1975). Evangelisation in the Modern World (1975). https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_p-vi_exh_19751208_evangelii-nuntiandi.html

5 NZCBC, Catholic Education of School Age Children.

6 Ibid.