• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
The government of Quebec is about to scratch its ethics and religious culture curriculum that replaced catechesis in schools in 2008. (CNS photo/Philippe Vaillancourt, Presence)

Quebec to take ethics, religious culture out of school curriculum

January 14, 2020
By Catholic News Service
Filed Under: News, World News

Quebec Premier Francois Legault is pictured in a January 2019 photo. (CNS photo/Philippe Vaillancourt, Presence)

QUEBEC CITY (CNS) — The government of Quebec is about to eliminate its Ethics and Religious Culture curriculum, which replaced catechesis in schools in 2008.

In announcing a public consultation about what should replace the program, Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge said there’s still “too much” religion in schools.

This revision process “is part of the government’s desire to offer students a modern citizenship education course based on respect for oneself and others,” he said Jan. 10.

Citizens have until Feb. 21 to participate in an online consultation in order to “establish new themes that will enrich the curriculum and replace, in whole or in part, the notions of religious culture.” The suggested themes are: citizen participation, legal education, eco-citizenship, sexual education, self-knowledge, ethics, digital citizenship and the culture of societies. It’s only in the eighth and last theme, the one about the culture of societies, that the word “religion” is discreetly mentioned.

The new curriculum that will result from these consultations will be tested in some schools during the 2021-2022 school year, then will be implemented in all Quebec schools beginning in September 2022.

However, many experts are calling this move a “bad idea.” For instance, sociologist Martin Geoffroy, director of the Centre for Expertise and Training on Religious Fundamentalism, Political Ideologies and Radicalization, stressed that “scientific understanding of religion promotes tolerance.”

In a statement, the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Quebec said it questioned “that even before proceeding with consultations,” Roberge announced “his willingness to replace, in whole or in part, the notions of religious culture in the ethics and religious culture curriculum.”

The bishops said they welcomed the minister’s willingness to revise and enrich the content of the program, on the condition that “this will not be done to the detriment of the notions of religious culture.”

Jean-Pierre Proulx, a former journalist with the newspaper Le Devoir and former professor of education at the University of Montreal, is among those who devised the current curriculum.

“There’s a strong anti-religious movement that has developed in Quebec that has targeted the ERC course. Why is this happening? Because this course recognizes the relevance of religions in society,” he said.

Jean-Philippe Perreault, a professor at Laval University’s Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, said the teaching community has advocated for a revision of the Ethics and Religious Culture program.

“But to reduce the place of religious culture within the program, as Minister Roberge seems to want, is simply worrisome,” he added. “It’s not because religious practice is low that it’s not a challenge to live together in societies like ours. There has to be a place for it in schools,” said Perreault, who prepares future teachers to teach the existing curriculum.

David Bowles, president of the Federation of Private Educational Institutions, called the revision “relevant in order to enrich the content and make it more interesting and enriching for the students.” The federation pointed out that private schools have an obligation to teach the Quebec education program, including the ethics and religious culture curriculum. Parents who wish to do so may opt for a private school that offers religion classes in addition.

But Marc Chevarie, president of an association that represents some 200 teachers who teach the Ethics and Religious Culture curriculum, said he was “shocked, perplexed and disappointed” by the government’s decision. He criticized the fact that the association was not consulted before the revision was announced.

“Religious culture is an inescapable reality — unavoidable because, in the world, 80% of humanity claims to have a religious tradition. Unavoidable also because if today’s society is not capable of entering into dialogue, including in the field of religion, what future does this society have?”

Philosopher Louis-Andre Richard, who was among the experts consulted when the curriculum was introduced last decade, said the way it was taught made it inefficient. But he said he thinks society must still find ways to pass its religious culture to future generations.

“Abolishing the ERC course? Yes, perhaps. But to replace it with another course that advocates a watered-down multiculturalism? Anything that transmits this kind of culture is first and foremost a family affair. The school is given far too broad a mandate for its shoulders, and that’s why I think it’s becoming ideological.”

In 2019, the government of Quebec, led by Premier Francois Legault, adopted Bill 21 on state secularism. Among other things, this law stipulates that teachers may not wear any religious sign, whether it be an Islamic veil or a small cross. It also introduced its draft to reform the Public Education Act, a change that should remove any mention of spirituality from the law.

Contributing to this story were Philippe Vaillancourt and Francois Gloutnay.

 

 

 

Copyright ©2020 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Catholic News Service

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Bishop Lewandowski installed as bishop of Providence

  • Pope names new chancellor of institute for marriage, family sciences

  • Trump, Vance meet Pope Leo XIV’s brother in Oval Office

  • ‘Bishop Bruce’ forged strong bonds with Baltimore in challenging times, had heart of a pastor

  • A smiling Pope Leo waves to a crowd in St. Peter's Square A Ticket to Pope Leo’s First Papal Audience

| Latest Local News |

Pope Leo’s Creole roots raise hopes for Black American sainthood causes 

Bishop Lewandowski installed as bishop of Providence

Bishop Lewandowski adopts new coat of arms

‘Bishop Bruce’ forged strong bonds with Baltimore in challenging times, had heart of a pastor

Deacon Thomas O’Donnell of Catonsville experiences power of papal transition in Rome

| Latest World News |

Utah diocese’s Catholic refugee program gets helping hand from greater community

U.S. bishops urge young people to ‘lead the way’ on climate crisis

Popular priest podcaster takes ‘Parables’ tour cross-country to sold-out crowds

With Laudato Si’, Pope Francis firmly planted ecology into Catholic social teaching

House OKs Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’; Catholic leaders urge lawmakers to promote common good

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • 10 real quotes that Pope Leo has actually said
  • Utah diocese’s Catholic refugee program gets helping hand from greater community
  • Scrambled eggs in the car, Confirmation joy, and Wordle losses (7 Quick Takes)
  • Pope Leo’s Creole roots raise hopes for Black American sainthood causes 
  • U.S. bishops urge young people to ‘lead the way’ on climate crisis
  • Popular priest podcaster takes ‘Parables’ tour cross-country to sold-out crowds
  • With Laudato Si’, Pope Francis firmly planted ecology into Catholic social teaching
  • House OKs Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’; Catholic leaders urge lawmakers to promote common good
  • Story behind beatification of Poland’s Father Stanislaw Streich is one of quiet courage

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED