Choosing a Catholic Primary School: Tracing lived Catholicism

In Catholic education, three partners collaborate in the education of the next generation: parents, school and church. Since Vatican ii, this cooperation is focused on an integral education that comprises the whole human being, that takes shape in an evangelically inspired school climate which partakes in the mission of the church. Post-conciliar documents of the Congregation of Catholic Education recognise the fading of parental participation, relating this decline to secularisation within multiple worldwide societal developments. In the congregational texts however, the parental voice is barely heard. This article provides insight into that space. Based on qualitive research among parents with children attending Catholic primary schools in the strongly secularised Netherlands, it clarifies the challenges that young parents meet, how these affect the perspectives of Catholic and non-Catholic parents on Catholic education and how the parental religious and secularised backgrounds influence their vision on Catholic-educational partnership.