Queer Thriving in Catholic Education: Going Beyond the Pastoral Paradigm for LGBTQ+ Inclusion

Sean Whittle is a Senior Lecturer in Catholic Education and member of the CERRL research centre at St Mary’s University, United Kingdom. For many years he has worked as a Research Associate with Professor Gerald Grace. Sean has published widely in Catholic education and completed a range of post-doctoral research projects, including a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Brunel University on a religious literacy project, ’Researching RSE in Catholic schools in Northern Ireland’, and a research project of a Catholic multi-academy trust in Birmingham. Since 2016 he has been collaborating with other academics working in the field of Catholic Education Studies, serving as the organising secretary for the Network for Researchers in Catholic Education (NfRCE). Sean serves as chair of the academic association AULRE. Alongside these academic roles he works part-time as a secondary school RE teacher in London. His book, ’A Theory of Catholic Education’ (Bloomsbury 2014), presents a robust philosophy of Catholic education that draws fruitfully on insights from Karl Rahner.

Dr. Seán Henry is Lecturer in Education at Edgehill University, UK. His teaching experience in higher education has spanned the disciplines of philosophy of education, sociology of education, inclusive pedagogy, religious education, and theology and religious studies. At Edge Hill, he teaches modules in: Eastern Dharma; Judaism; religion and the public sphere; challenges and controversies in religion; and gender, sexuality, and Christianity, among others. His research engages with philosophy of education to reflect on the capacity of education to affect critical social change in the context of pluralism and difference. His research interests are interdisciplinary, connecting the fields of philosophy of education, religious education, and sex education, among others. His 2019 doctoral dissertation (’Queering Religious Schooling: Teachings, Values, Rituals’) engaged with queer theologies to reimagine Jewish, Christian, and Muslim accounts of faith-based schooling.