Reclaiming the Piazza

Leonardo Franchi is lecturer in Religious Education in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. He is a graduate of the University (MA Hons and PhD) and the Maryvale Institute (MEd). He has an ongoing interest in a range of cultural and religious issues, especially the link between education and culture and the role of the liberal arts in education. Leonardo has worked on many successful publications in the field of religion and education. His recent monograph, Shared Mission: Religious Education in the Catholic Tradition, is an innovative reflection on how the Church should develop its approach to Religious Education in schools. As well as jointly authoring Reclaiming the Piazza: Catholic Education as a Cultural Project (Gracewing), he has also edited A Companion to Catholic Education (Gracewing) and An Anthology of Catholic Teaching on Education (Scepter UK). His journal articles have considered the intercultural aspect of Catholic education today as well as the nature of a 'Catholic curriculum'. He has recently agreed to be co-writer of a new monograph on the history of Catholic teacher education, due for publication in 2019. Leonardo sits on the Executive of the Association of Catholic Institutes of Education (ACISE) and on the Executive of the Scottish Catholic Education Service (SCES). He retains a strong interest in teaching and teaches on both undergraduate and Masters courses in Religious Education and wider theological themes.

Ronnie Convery is Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Glasgow and Italian Consul in Glasgow. He graduated with an Honours Degree in Italian and French language and literature from the University of Glasgow, after having also pursued studies at La Sapienza University in Rome and the Institut de Touraine in Tours, France. His career began as a newspaper journalist, working for Mirror Group titles in Scotland, before moving into television journalism where he worked as a news reporter and presenter on the national news programme Scotland Today. He currently serves as editor of the Catholic monthly Flourish, and is a columnist for the Italian magazine Scarp de' Tenis. He has translated the books of Costanza Miriano into English and is a regular broadcaster on BBC and Italian radio. A pioneer of using social media in an ecclesiastical setting he has lectured at the University of the Holy Cross in Rome on the subject. He is a regular blogger and presence on Twitter using the hashtag @ronaldopatrizio and continues to contribute to newspapers and journals on subjects as diverse as European politics and religion in films. In 2005 he founded the Italian-Scots website, ItalianScotland, and thereafter the charity of the same name which aims to promote cultural links between Scotland and Italy. In 2008 he was named a Knight of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Stella d'Italia) for his work with the Italian community in Scotland and in 2017 named Hon Consul of the Italian Republic. He has authored several books - The Cardinal (2001) - the official tribute to Cardinal Thomas Winning, and the earlier companion volume to this book Reclaiming the Piazza: Catholic Education as a Cultural Project. He has acted as press adviser to Cardinal Winning, Archbishop Mario Conti and Archbishop Philip Tartaglia (successive Archbishops of Glasgow), and served as Chairman of the Communications Commission of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland.

Raymond McCluskey is Lecturer in Social Studies (History) in the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. He is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow and Oxford (MA Hons and DPhil respectively). After temporary lectureships in Medieval History at the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, he was awarded a PGCE in Secondary History Education at St Andrew's College in Glasgow. There followed over a decade of teaching in the Jesuit school in Glasgow until his appointment to his current post at the University of Glasgow in 2004. Raymond has published across a wide range of areas, with principal interests currently in the fields of history of education, Catholic culture and Catholic education. He is the editor of The Scots College Rome 1600-2000 (John Donald) and (with Stephen McKinney) How "The Teacher" is Presented in Literature, History, Religion and the Arts (Edwin Mellen). More recently, he has published (with Linden Bicket) on "Two Neglected Poets of Late Victorian Scotland: John Luby and James Lynch" (in Scottish Literary Review, 2017) and "Catholic Intellectual Life and Catholic Teacher Education: Challenges and Responses in an Age of Change" (in Éduquer aujourd'hui: mutations et permanences, Les Acteurs du Savoir, 2017). Raymond was a member (and past Chair) of Council of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association from 1990 until 2017. He is currently Secretary of the History of Education Society in the United Kingdom. As well as his professional historical studies, he is an organist and choir director in a local parish community and maintains a keen interest in music and its contribution to the liturgical life of the Church.