The Charism Scale: Assessing the Characteristics of Marist Education in the Champagnat Tradition.

Educational Charismic traditions, like Marist Education in the Champagnat tradition, among many other charisms, are different ways of 'enfleshing' and 'flavouring' the Gospel of Christ. They are about the incarnation of the Christian message, a particular expression of what it means to be Christian within the context of one's own time, place and culture. What are the characteristics, and particular emphases, of such 'enfleshments'? The Charism Scale is a new empirical survey instrument designed to assist schools to explore the degree to which their foundational charisms exist and the way they take shape. The multi-variate attitude scale is based on five empirically confirmed dimensions to which various educational charismic traditions respond in different ways. It is 'in the mix' that the particularities of each charismic tradition emerge. This empirical data enables school communities to identify and strengthen the particular charismic flavour they bring to the Catholicity of the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]