In 1916, Dr. Montessori set up a Model Montessori School and Children’s Chapel in Barcelona. In 1929, Maria Montessori’s book “The Child in the Church” was published. Dr. Montessori addressed teachers of the Catholic faith, on the eve of her death, about the importance of the child’s religious formation.
One extension of the efforts and exhortations of Maria Montessori, represented by the work of Gianna Gobbi and Sophia Cavaletti, is an explicit Catholic approach to religious education that nurtures the young child’s personal relationship with God. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd came about though the work of these two Roman Catholic laywomen in Rome. Since 1954, materials prepared for children were based on the Bible, the Roman Catholic Liturgy and Sacraments, Catholic Tradition, and Catholic Church teachings. In 1985, it was adopted by several other Christian churches who adapted materials to their own church traditions.
“We must take into consideration that from birth the child has a power in him. We must not just see the child, but God in him. We must respect the laws of creation in him.”