Brother Gerard Rummery, fsc died on the 10th of February after a protracted illness. He spent 77 years in the religious order, the Brothers of the Christian Schools. We honour a scholar and a teacher who made significant contribution to Australian school religious education, especially in the Catholic sector. After publishing his seminal 1975 book Catechesis and Religious Education in a Pluralist Society, he taught at the Catholic College of Education Sydney and was editor of Our Apostolate and its successor Word in Life for many years (which later became the Journal of Religious Education ). He served on the international leadership team of the De La Salle Brothers in Rome; and he contributed professional development / academic programs in countries around the world in different languages. He brought much international experience to his perspective on Religious Education. Gerard Rummery, both as teacher and scholar, never lost touch with the mindset, interests, needs and behaviour of young people in schools. Realism was the strong characteristic of his views on what it meant to educate young people spiritually and religiously in contemporary culture; and on what he considered were appropriate, desired outcomes. Gerard was always a great advocate of Religious Education as a credible, important, academic subject in the school curriculum that could educate young people well spiritually, morally and religiously. And it could potentially resource their personal spirituality. He was also always interested in the value and importance of voluntary commitment groups in schools. And he understood well how teachers could be significant role models for young people at what might have been a crucial stage in their personal development. An outstanding feature of his work in Religious Education work was the distinctive, if not unique, wealth of international perspective that he brought to the field. When studying for masters and doctoral research in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, he familiarised himself with the large evolving field of Religious Education in the United Kingdom. He experienced firsthand the rise of the phenomenological movement in the light of Professor Ninian Smart's work at the university of Lancaster. He was familiar with the writings of scholars like Hull, Grimmitt, and others in the UK. This put him in a good position to evaluate the potential relevance of UK Religious Education to Catholic schools. There is no exaggeration in saying that his 1975 book (publishing his doctoral thesis) was ground-breaking for Australian religious education. As a journal editor, he sourced scholarly work from European academics – E.g. Flavio Pajer from Italy, Herman Lombaerts from Belgium, Damian Lundy from the UK, as well as from French and other continental academics and from some in North America. He affirmed many religion teachers and encouraged them to engage in writing and research. When Gerard moved to Rome in the 1980s to serve as a member of the De La Salle General Council, he gained first-hand experience of what was happening in Religious Education and education generally, in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Eastern Europe, as well as in the United States, Canada and the Pacific. His proficiency in French, German, Italian and Spanish made him a wonderful ambassador, adviser (and often as diplomat) in the order around the world. His international perspective also enlarged enormously his stocks of stories and anecdotes. He was always the entertaining and engaging conversationalist and storyteller – even when unwell during his final years. One incident was with his German confreres who had survived the communist period in East Germany and who were being re-united with the wider De La Salle community. He was quietly amused to find that for some of them, their favourite television program was Wehrmacht da papa (otherwise known as the British comedy Dad's army ). In his interactions with people, both professionally and personally, Gerard invariably showed a quality of presence that, sad to say, is not as widespread as has it should be. Whether you were the Vice Chancellor, the cleaner, or a humble, insignificant student, when you spoke with him you felt you were the only person on the planet he was interested in. He retained this quality even in the final two years of his life where he was, in the main, confined to his room and being fed through a tube because he was unable to eat. His capacity for meaningful and enjoyable conversation was only diminished when he periodically slumped because of tiredness and exhaustion. * * * * * * * * * Vale brother Gerard Rummery, extraordinary teacher and scholar who had an invaluable, formative influence on the historical development of Australian school Religious Education, especially in Catholic schools. For those who had the privilege of knowing him personally and of sharing his friendship, he will always be remembered as that wonderful gentleman who enhanced their lives.
|