The Power Connection

This unit is all about power - use and misuse, especially in young people’s lives. Think about relationships, respect and resilience. Think about violence - emotional, social and economic implications of gender-based violence. Think about the role a person’s conscience plays in all of this and about how power and the way it is used affects the dignity of a human person.

The Church through Time

Why does the modern Catholic Church have such a social and ecological justice focus? Where and how did it all start? What is the Early Church all about? How did Christianity become the biggest religion in the world? This unit is an exploration into significant historical events and how they shaped and changed our Faith and Church today.

Death, Loss and New Life

In the unit of work ‘ Death. Loss and New Life,’ students explore the individual person’s response to the loss of a loved one. Students further explore the rituals and traditions the Catholic Church adopts in celebrating the loss of loved ones. Students also learn about the process of grief and the associated emotions.

Community Service

During the year, students have the opportunity to extend their learning by ‘giving action’ through Community Service. They spend time in giving service to others and learning the benefits of helping people within their local community.

Youth Ministry

Develop real life leadership skills and live out your faith! Youth Ministry is an opportunity for students to explore their faith deeply through prayer, games, discussions, drama, liturgies and music. Youth Ministry is an opportunity for student leaders to develop and express their faith as a lived experience and to share with the wider community. This subject is a unique opportunity to put your Catholic faith into action. Students who select this unit will have Leadership opportunities within the school as well as our wider Parish and Echuca community.

For further information please refer to page 45 of the St. Joseph's College Senior School Subject Information Handbook.

I love this course! We get to look at the world religions and explore the lives of some really interesting people. For example, in our first unit, we examine Aboriginal Spirituality and we research the life of Archie Roach and Sir Doug Nicholls. We then look at Catholic Identity and watch “In Bob We Trust”, a documentary about the life of Fr Bob. In Term 2, we dive into the teachings and beliefs of Buddhism and Hinduism and this is a chance for you to get really creative because we look at many artworks and create a piece of art for one of your Assessment Tasks. To finish our course, we examine Judaism and Islam and look at how Australia has changed over time. We also complete a self directed task where we research the significance of Stonehenge. In R&S, we team teach, so you’ll have two Houses of students and two teachers in the room - It’s a lot of fun!

The Year 12 Ethics course is based on the VCE Religion and Society Unit 2 Religion and Ethics Study Design. The course runs across Terms 1 - 3. The course focuses on what the concepts of “right” and “wrong” and “good” and “bad” mean when applied to human decisions and actions? Our study focuses on ideas and principles that are associated with ethics and moral decision making in a pluralist society (referring to the teachings of the Catholic Church and other major religions of the world) through current social issues such as ‘just’ war, abortion, racism and euthanasia. Students are assisted to explore their own values and belief systems in regard to current ethical issues and when discerning the key arguments used for and against in the various contemporary debate.