Environmental education and eco-theology: insights from Franciscan schools in Indonesia

Abstract

This paper examines how the eco-theology of St Francis of Assisi is translated into practice in Franciscan schools in Jakarta, Indonesia. We also investigate if the environmental conclusions of the Pope's Encyclical, Laudato Si' , are understood by students. An ethnographic approach, using participant observation, interviews and focus group discussions with the friars and nuns, teachers and students, was used. We found that Franciscan religious practise Francis's teachings, but it is difficult to bridge the gap between his teachings and the contemporary context. Students generally identify as environmentalists and respect the environment, but their environmental practice is highly dependent on home life. Both schools and students have to contend with a broader socio-economic context which is pro-Development, with scant regard for the environment. Student understanding of complex global environmental problems, and their causes, is minimal. Nevertheless, we argue the relevance of St Francis's eco-theology in a world searching for environmental sustainability. Religious environmental educationThe lack of attention to religious EE is symptomatic of the basically a-religious nature of social science research on EE. As Gough pointed out, the academic literature on EE in schools is

An organizational sustainability framework for Latin American Catholic schools in the La Salle network. A cross-national study using structural equations modeling

“…Nevertheless, the first official document from the Church that exerts pressure for the greening of the Church and its organizations is "Laudato Si" (Wilkins, 2020), which has two concerns: the environmental crisis and the suffering of the excluded. The previous documents of the Church mentioned the greening of these organizations, mainly since Pope Jean Paul VI sent a message to the Conference about the Environment in Stockholm in 1972, about a hospitable Earth for all generations, as a way of solidarity with future generations (Cholil and Parker, 2021) and on this type of organizations from an environmental concern and social commitment (Montoya Dur a, 2012). Besides all the efforts, the recent concern about integral ecology is mainly centered on climate change, pollution, water and the difficult situation of people experiencing poverty (Barrett and Duns, 2022).…”

The Paris Conference on Education 2023: Official Conference Proceedings

“…EE implementation in secondary school has various obstacles. For instance, In (Cholil & Parker, 2021;Dagamac & Darmawan, 2021) study shows that teachers delivered the three main challenges in implementing EE, whether in the school or society, and these three challenges are (1) Regulation; (2) Indonesians' traits; and (3) Students' attitude. These studies mentioned that the Indonesian government have a tendency to act when the situation of the environmental problem gets worse, so prevention or preservation is rarely offered by the government.…”