Religious Studies

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 15: Christ and Culture (3 credits) 

This is a compulsory course. The principal aim of Christ and Culture is to assist students, with the help of the Gospel, to participate in the shaping of our culture as Christians. The program explores major cultural issues from a Christological perspective. Beginning with their own life experiences, students acquire a deeper and more systematic knowledge of themselves, Christ’s message, and the Church. Connections between the Church and contemporary culture are explored in terms of what it means to be a responsible adolescent developing as a member of a Catholic, Christian community while living within the context of a broader culture.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 25: Jesus Christ: God’s Gift of Salvation (3 credits) 

Grade 11 students must complete either Religious Studies 25 or Religions of the World 35. Students will be invited to deepen their relationship with Jesus through a prayerful study of scripture in this course. Students will explore the Jewish historical, religious, and cultural world into which Jesus was born. Using the Gospels as a primary resource, the course explores Jesus’ birth, early life and ministry, his preaching of the Kingdom of God, his special teachings of the parables, and his miracles. It then focuses on the scriptural accounts of his death, resurrection, and ascension and their significance for the Church’s understanding of Jesus.

RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD 35 (3credits) 

Grade 11 students must complete either Religious Studies 25 or Religions of the World 35. This religious studies course provides an opportunity to explore many cultural, historical, and contemporary issues from a religious point of view, and through the study of religion to develop a philosophy based upon values conducive to ethical and moral behaviour and reflected in an understanding of human worth. The topics in Religions of the World 35 include: World Religions and Religious Pluralism, Who are Catholics? Canadian Aboriginal Spirituality, Judaism, Islam, Modernity and Religion, and Living Faith Today as well as two of the following three topics: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 35 (3credits)  

This is a compulsory course. This course challenges students to understand themselves as moral persons called to discipleship by living the way of Christ. Through an examination of ethical theories, the revelation of scripture, the lived experience and teaching of the Catholic Church, this course invites students to be active participants in their faith. The human search for happiness as the completion of God’s abundant love is at the heart of catechesis. The tensions that exist between God’s love and the explorations of human reason are worked out in the areas of freedom, justice, human relations, ecology, reconciliation, life in community and political life.