Topicality, now a dark tunnel then a beautiful bridge ....

Current affairs can and must be offered in various courses. After all, education wants to open the book of life to learn. 'Present' is an important chapter next to the chapters 'past' and 'future'. With this book of life each person is a bit 'paf', with big eyes and big ears, full of wonder, full of indignation. The book of life is a 'paf'-book, p ast, a ctuality and f uture there are content and subject matter.

Important in a world of education and upbringing is that the whole appearance of the book plays a role and also the whole range of feelings between wonder and indignation. 'Present' squeezed between 'past' and 'future' embedded in a wide range of feelings between wonder and indignation. It can never be the intention to cut away a chapter or a sense of the ground. The past, present and future are also so rich in dynamics and data that one person, one profession, is too poor to understand all of this. It can never be full-human in the 'bon ton' of drowning one feeling.

The education, the mutual-wise, uses many courses and people / professionals to 'summarize' everything. It is precisely the richness and diversity of subjects (and specialist teachers) that is needed to be able to put together all the necessary pieces of the puzzle every time. Sometimes this course is on the move because it has more pieces of the puzzle, sometimes better another course. Sometimes all subjects or the whole school because current events can touch and shock everyone and everything.
Whether it is a leak-contaminating oil well deep under the sea surface or a lock-contaminating incest-colored cover-up pedophile issue deep below the church and society surface, or the discovery of a new species of life deeply hidden in the belly of mother universe ... the (trade) teachers are again and again confronted with the challenge of past-present-future-book, and this in wonder-indignation, without letting go of their own professionalism. A professionalism that is not only expertise, but also parenting responsibility and therefore challenges the teachers to consult and within the field and within the school team who is best on the move and how!

In my opinion, in the PAV field, for example. the pedophilia issue is the optic: to challenge the pupils to reflect on how, for example, a society creaks and exhorts people through the media. It is not about transferring the "process" to class ... but seeing what different glasses are being set up: there are journalists who look at the event, there are behavioral scientists, there are communication specialists, there are believers and non-believers, there are closely involved and indifferent outsiders, there is the power of word use ...

The teacher certainly does not have to say the last word about that topicality, but he has to challenge the pupils to a broader and deeper look. A teacher certainly does not have to think instead of his pupils. He can guide them in arriving at a well-balanced and well-argued position. The pitfall for every professional teacher is in the superficial discourse of facts and alleged facts steps and judgments ... The teacher who experiences himself as explosively involved in current events is better awaiting the first storm within itself.

Sometimes the 'bon ton' in the corridors is a populism that is striking and wise, sometimes a populism that is stupid and wrong. A teacher who, beyond the 'bon ton', knows how to touch the basic tone of being human, of being 'religious', deepens and broadens every human thinking and feeling.

Sometimes current events at school or in that specific class can also release so many emotions or is it so feverishly current that it is better to leave them alone. A teacher must - after consultation - be able to assess from his / her professionalism if this is the case.

Always there are a few let-ons, puzzle pieces (from different subjects?) For every problem. Regarding the pedophile issue, we think of:

1. giving all pupils the opportunity to vent their feelings as a result of the event, without having a disguising or condoning discourse against them. It is important to first check whether there is a need to have this subject covered in a thematic way. So not as the media assume that everyone needs this.

2. Provide very clear information about what pedophilia is and what type of (male) pedophile (rather the fixed than the regressive or anti-social type) especially has the chance to hide behind ecclesiastical structures. And at the same time point out the dangers of generalization, the first stage of discrimination, popular psychology.

3. to state very clearly how and where young people can turn to such experiences. Making it clear to them that such experiences are negotiable with the religious teacher or with teachers of trust (but also pointing to the relativity, ie the limits of the duty to report) at school or others. And at the same time trained as a teacher in absorbing signals about sexual abuse and knowing which is the best course of action and which is not. Have a good idea of referring, eg to www.kindermishandeling.be and even to call and chat for children and young people with www.kjt.org .

4. to make clear to them why opposition, righteousness and rebellion in this better approach the Christian norms than a discourse of forgiveness. This is clearly supported by scripture and curriculum. There must be a 'theologicalization' of this matter as a new liberation theology that radically chooses to promote the weakness and protection of the integrity of his person.

5. make it very clear that the church radically declares perpetrators to the court, without concealing that they have not done this for far too long and have wanted to solve criminal cases internally - whether or not in the knowledge of family members. As soon as a fact is known, this is a matter for justice and no one else. This does not, however, relieve the Church of her care and of the victim and of the perpetrator.

6. make it very clear that the church has a serious structural problem and do not inexpensively disconnect the questions about male church, celibacy and office from this problem. So do not get rid of the fact that the church faces the challenge to break with fixed ideas and customs and to look for an up-to-date approach in faithfulness to gospel in an open thinking culture.

7. not to see the recent events in the church as purely isolated facts, but also to situate them spatially:
   - it is often about long ago events
   - unfortunately, pedophilia is also a problem in the family and in the wider society.

8. see the church as one community around Christ and an institution with a government.

9. pupils and / or teachers are people, sexed beings who are confronted with this problem and who also question themselves about their own identity. Something like that can happen unsuspectingly or very restlessly. Perhaps there are those who have to face themselves as victims or potential pedophiles and do not see or know any way! Today - if that identity is already recognized - this can hardly be anything other than a painfully restless experience that can hardly be addressed in a teaching environment. This then calls for a more pedagogically supported framework that aims and guides the broader relational-sex education. There is not only work for the teacher, there is a lot of cross-curricular educational work for school, family, village and society.