In this book, Lieven Boeve masterfully bridges theory and practice, offering an innovative framework for Catholic education in our post-Christian, pluralistic society. Drawing from his unique journey as both theologian and educational leader, Boeve presents a compelling vision where Catholic identity and respect for diversity don't merely coexist but mutually enrich and challenge one another. His innovative vision on the Catholic School provides a culturally plausible and theologically legitimate response to contemporary challenges, offering Catholic schools a renewed sense of purpose and direction.

What makes this book exceptional is how the author integrates cutting-edge theological insights with practical implementation strategies, making this work invaluable for school leaders, teachers, and policymakers alike. The book convincingly demonstrates how Catholic education remains relevant by engaging meaningfully with plurality rather than retreating from it. Through this dynamic approach, Lieven Boeve legitimizes Catholic education in a forward-thinking way to church authorities, government officials, and society at large.

This groundbreaking work represents not just theoretical reflections but tested approaches from its author's decade leading Catholic education in Flanders. Now returning fully to academia, he offers profound reflections that will inspire anyone committed to the future of Catholic education in our diverse world.

Didier Pollefeyt, Full Professor, KU Leuven, Belgium

The publication of Boeve's 'The Catholic Dialogue School' will be warmly welcomed by advocates of Catholic education around the globe. Catholic schools are a global phenomenon, with the Catholic Church continuing to be the biggest single provider of schools around the world. This book by Boeve is in effect a gift to them, because it offers a way framing and justifying Catholic education and the presence of so many Catholic schools in highly positive terms. Boeve draws fruitfully from the theology of dialogue as championed by Edward Schillebeeckx and encapsulated by Vatican II's Gaudium et Spes, to demonstrate something unique and valuable about Catholic schools. They are, when at their best, hubs not for social division or an autonomy hindering education, but instead places of genuine dialogue. As such they foster social cohesion and enhance the sort of education parents might want for their children, as they grow up in a multi-cultural and multifaith world which is characterised by multiple world-views.

This volume sees Lieven Boeve adopt a biographical narrative as he casts an expert eye over his decade long work as the Director of Catholic Education in parts of Belgium (Flanders and Brussels). He is widely recognised as the first academic theologian to hold this sort of post in any part of the world. Since taking up this role, Boeve has gained wide international recognition because he embodied the challenge of bringing the practical reality of Catholic education into a creative relationship with systematic theology. He made the theology of dialogue central and demonstrated how it provides a theologically rich way of drawing out the relationship between Catholic education and its theological underpinnings. Boeve reflects on where he was successful in establishing the Catholic dialogue school, and in this provides pattern or model that others could emulate. He also reveals where the potential weaknesses might lie.

This volume will help the reader journey with Boeve over the last decade and gain a fuller grasp of the potential of the Catholic Dialogue School, and this way of underpinning the theology of Catholic education with contemporary systematic theology. It is a volume which deserves to be careful read and analysised because it brings both Catholic education and Catholic theology into positive and much needed alignment.

Sean Whittle, Senior Lecturer in Catholic Education at St Mary's University, Twickenham, United Kingdom

Because of Lieven Boeve's guiding involvement with the “Catholic dialogue school” in Flanders, he is in the perfect position to describe a unique, constructive, and empirically-tested approach to religiously-based primary and secondary schools in era of wide-ranging approaches to religious belief and its role in education. Boeve expertly lays out the social and religious context, its rationale, and on-the-ground results. Even when examining the complex theological, philosophical, and sociological backgrounds for this important project, he is clear and succinct. This book is a major contribution on a crucial contemporary issue.

Anthony J. Godzieba, Emeritus Professor of Fundamental and Systematic Theology, Villanova University, USA

But does it work? This book provides the hitherto missing element in research into the proposal of the Catholic Dialogue School. Lieven Boeve brings together the work of more than 30 years in his evaluation of a system-wide implementation of the Catholic Dialogue School project in Belgium. Reflecting theologically on the signs of the times, drawing from international, empirical data and analysis provided by colleagues Didier Pollefeyt and Jan Bouwens, and in light of his experience of complex organisational leadership as Director-General of Catholic Education in Flanders, Boeve makes a case for the future of Catholic education. In short, Boeve makes the case for hope. Boeve masterfully demonstrates that the key to a continued Catholic identity for Catholic schools lies in the shared and authentic responsibility of all personnel for mission-based decision-making in every aspect of organisational life.

Professor Robyn Horner, Australian Catholic University, Australia

The era of a 'project of Christian values education' is over. A theologically anchored project, rooted in the dialogical dynamic of God's revelation, must replace it. This thought-provoking read carefully and convincingly argues for the 'Catholic dialogue school' wherein a strong Catholic identity, both individual and collective, may be formed. Catholic educators will be challenged on reading this text; better equipped after reading, to lead their schools into truer expression of the vocation of Catholic education, an education open to all. The message of the book has wide societal application. In a world where 'a society can democratically choose for a dictatorship' the necessity for identity formed in the dialogical dynamic of God's revelation becomes ever clearer. For democracy to truly exists it needs a people formed in their identities and traditions to carry and support democracies foundational values. The Catholic dialogue school, as Boeve makes clear, is one such place. This is an important read for our time.

Fáinche Ryan, Associate Professor in Systematic Theology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland