Educating Toward Communion: The Traditional Italian Festa As A Means Of Christian Religious Education

摘要

This article examines popular religion and its potential as a means of Christian religious education. In particular, it studies the traditional Italian Festa and the manner in which communities may use this and similar traditions as a means of fashioning a people and as a context in which to educate toward communion. The article argues that the Festa tradition can be a fruitful expression of the educational vision of various noted educators. In demonstrating this potential, the article reports research conducted at the 118th Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Brooklyn, New York. The experiences and observations of the author are evaluated in light of the work of contemporary religious educators and church documents. Visitors from outside the festa of Our Lady of Mount Carmel over the years have not always recognized what they saw and see there … as religious. What was taking place at the festa [was] the integration of young people into the traditional values, the communal reaffirmation of these values, the establishment of the nexus between individual and family, family and community and so on … —Robert Orsi