Religious Education in the Schools:
Historical Background

Did you know that …

• From 1608 to 1760, the Catholic Church provided education for the children of the colonists and native people in Québec.
  
  
• The Fabrique schools, which began in 1824, operated without financial support from the state.
  
  
• School commissions were established in 1829 and from then on, schools were subsidized by the state. This was the beginning of a partnership between Church and State.
  
  
• The first School Law was passed in 1841 and the right to dissent was granted to religious minorities.
  
  
• In 1867, the British North America Act recognized the confessional status of the existing school commissions.
  
  
• In 1869, the first Catholic and Protestant Committees were established. Beginning in 1875, education was regulated by these two committees.
  
  
• 1964 saw the creation of the Ministry of Education. It democratized education and brought in major reforms for the scholastic world. Religious and government authorities agreed on the rights of Catholics and Protestants. A catechetic renewal took place within the Church which marked the change from catechism to catechesis.
  
  
• In 1969, within the context of a rapidly changing world, the Catholic Committee defined scholastic pastoral activities with the publication of Perspectives de pastorale scolaire.
  
  
• By 1974, questions arose concerning the place and nature of religious education in schools. The Catholic Committee published a document to clarify the situation.
  
  
• Pastoral animation in the schools was influenced by these changes and a new approach was adopted. The Catholic Committee published document #5 in the series Voies et impasses, which discussed pastoral animation.
  
  
• In 1983, parents could choose either moral instruction or Catholic religious and moral instruction. At this point, the responsibility for sacramental initiation was taken from schools and placed with the parishes. The Assembly of Bishops of Québec published its orientations on the sacramental initiation of children.
  
  
• In 1984, the Assembly of Bishops of Québec published in French its orientation on Catholic religious instruction in the elementary and secondary schools of Québec. (The english version was published in 1989.)
  
  
• In 1987, the Assembly of Bishops of Québec published its orientations on pastoral animation in the elementary schools of Québec.
  
  
• The last Estates General on Education completed its report in 1995-1996 with the following results:
  
  
  • Linguistic school boards were established in 1998.
  • The Proulx Report on the place of religion in schools Religion in Secular Schools was published in March 1999.
  • There was a parliamentary commission on the place of religion in schools in the Fall of 1999.
  • Bill 118, which established a non-confessional school system, became law in June 2000.