Latinos, Education, and the Church: Toward a Culturally Democratic Future

Loyola Marymount University. School of Education 1 LMU Drive, University Hall Suite 1760, Los Angles, CA 90045. e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ce

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Correlation; Catholics; Catholic Schools; Churches; Hispanic Americans; Educational Needs; Democracy; Educational Change; Educational Philosophy; Leadership; Social Values; Teaching Methods; Institutional Mission; Social Justice; Equal Education; Poverty; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning

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The article provides a comprehensive critical analysis of key issues that are deeply salient to an examination of the relationship of Latinos, education, and the Church. The status of Latinos and their educational participation in the US is systematically presented through a critical theoretical lens that brings questions of historical, political, and economic inequalities and their consequences to the center of this interpretive interrogation. With this foundational piece in place, the article moves to the concept of cultural democracy as an important philosophical principle in our work to transform the education of Latino children within Catholic schools and beyond. The role and responsibility of the Church is linked here to proclamations offered by Pope Francis toward revolutionizing the labor of the Catholic Church and Catholic education in an effort to more effectively engage with the pedagogical needs of Latino communities. Moreover, the discussion employs a much needed critical philosophical lens that defies the presentation of recipes or prescriptions for how emancipatory education will look when achieved, but rather invites Catholic educators, scholars, and the leadership of the Church into deeper reflection and consideration of the culturally democratic dimension that must be integrated into Catholic social teaching, if we are to genuinely achieve the necessary structural changes required to ensure educational justice for all Latino students.

As Provided

76

2016

EJ1089759