ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the continuing and reimagined provision of engaging, coherent, and inspiring religious education in Catholic second-level schools in the Republic of Ireland and why this matters. It highlights the choices to be made, the reasons for making them, and what might be considered good practice in religious education at the second level. The Irish Catholic Bishops are committed to the idea that religious education at second-level matters a great deal. The Framework for Junior Cycle, providing for 12-15 year olds, seeks to reset the agenda for the education of young people in second-level schools and for the assessment and certifying of their learning. As well as sports and physical exercise, the Catholic school should arrange initiatives that support good mental health and well-being and encourage outreach in society for the common good. Religious education in the Catholic second-level school is an invitation to love, understanding, commitment, hospitality, and dialogue.
