"If Catholic schools and colleges are to preserve their true mission and their religious integrity in the face of secularism and the colonising power of 'national economic requirements', then they must possess a distinctive cultural heart which is an authentic Catholic Curriculum. Drawing upon the wisdom of theology, missiology, sociology, history, philosophy and anthropology, the authors of this impressive text have produced a major educational resource to show Catholic educators how this could be achieved.

This is a landmark publication, of great value, not only to educators in Australia, but also internationally."

Professor Gerald Grace
Director Centre for Research and Development in Catholic Education (CRDCE),
University of London.

"A learned and thoroughly researched study, this book should fruitfully enlighten and encourage discussion of curriculum in Catholic schools."

Professor Gerald O'Collins S.J.
Emeritus Dean of Theology
Pontifical Gregorian University Rome

"An excellent book that combines intricate knowledge and understanding of updated curriculum thinking with piercing insight into the challenges implied by such thinking for Catholic schools. The book challenges a range of facile approaches to being a Catholic school in a public setting, including that the Catholic school can ignore its wider public context or that being Catholic means simply adding a layer of RE to an essentially public enterprise.

The book goes to the heart of the justification of Catholic schooling by illustrating a range of differences that might be notable in a distinctively Catholic Curriculum. In a day and age of much talk about Catholicity and Catholic Identity, the D'Orsas make it plain that there is no simple formula, nor can it ever be viable that there is only one way of being Catholic. 'Catholic Curriculum' is a complex term that can only be meaningfully applied in the real context of a multitude of societal influences and educational stakeholders.

The book's stated task is to reframe the conversation around Catholic Curriculum, a goal well achieved in my view."

Professor Terence Lovat
Professor Emeritus
The University of Newcastle