Challenge of Solidarity and Opportunities of Religious Education for Secondary School in Front of the Phenomenon of Migration Crisis in the European Union

Abstract

The paper is exploring the impact of religious education in promoting solidarity on the phenomenon of migration crisis in the European Union, according to the Curriculum of Catholic Religious Education for primary and secondary education (high school) in Croatia. According to the Curriculum, the values of Catholic education are compared with the values of the European Union and its basic documents such as the Treaty on European Union to understand and rationalize the challenges of the coexistence of the local population and migrants. The comparative approach is used to explore the values of the Catholic Church (found in Scripture and Church Traditions) and the values of the European Union (found in Treaty on European Union) which can be found in the subject of Catholic Religious Education for secondary education. Researching the issues and challenges of a multinational and pluricultural society in a sense of human relations, the author offers some ideas as possible solutions to the migration crisis within the European Union. It could be achieved within Catholic Religious Education, i.e. through the ”principle of solidarity” to accept and achieve coexistence in diversity, tolerance and peace, where everyone would have the right to exercise the right to a free worldview and national and religious identity.