Matthew Dell discusses the revised Religious Education Directory for Catholic schools.

On 25 January 2023, the feast of the Conversion of St Paul, the Catholic Education Service (CES) launched the new Religious Education Directory (referred to as simply the Directory hereafter) with a Mass in the crypt of Westminster Cathedral.1 An apt choice, as the Gospel reading of the day was strident in proclaiming the central mission of our faith, ‘Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16:15). This is the heart of the Directory, a comprehensive presentation of the faith for pupils in Catholic schools. In one sense nothing new. This has always been a central aim of Religious Education (RE) in Catholic schools. The Directory is a restatement of this expectation, but it is also innovative in many ways compared to previous directories.