Dialogical Theology and Catholic Education: Towards a Shared Future in Northern Ireland.

Catholic education in Northern Ireland currently faces enormous challenges. On the one hand, there is the post-secular, post-Christian socio-cultural context that is evident throughout the island of Ireland, which has had a severely negative impact on religious belief and practice, not helped by scandals from within the Church. On the other hand, political and social pressure is growing for an end to faith-based education in Northern Ireland so as to alleviate ongoing societal sectarianism between Protestants and Catholics, and fully realise the vision of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement peace accords of 1998. The central thesis of this dissertation argues that by understanding dialogue as a core and essential concept of theology, it can help recontextualise Catholic education in Northern Ireland in a way that confidently faces the challenges of a post-secular, post-Christian context, and actively contribute to the aspirations of the peace process. Theology, understood as essential dialogical, can offer a legitimate and sound foundation for the Catholic Dialogue School, which is also culturally and politically plausible in the post-Troubles context of Northern Ireland.