Foundations of Faith 

This course helps students begin exploring faith on a foundational level.  They examine what it means to be a part of the Gilmour and Holy Cross Communities and attend a two day class retreat at Hiram House in the fall. Students acquire a “general knowledge and appreciation of the Sacred Scriptures.  Through their study of the Bible they come to encounter the living Word of God, Jesus Christ.  In learning about who he is, the students also learn who he calls them to be.”* 

*Selections taken from Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age.

Sacraments and Catholic Social Teaching

Theology 11 is an exploration of God’s loving relationship with humanity. Students will examine the ways God encounters his people and our call to respond to his love through the creation of a more humane and just society. 

“Students will examine each of the sacraments in detail so as to learn how they may encounter Christ throughout life,”* and strive to live with competence and courage. “Christ’s concern for others, especially the poor and needy, is present today in the Church’s social teaching and mission.”* Students will participate in the Praxis project in which they will study a given social justice issue. Students will seek to uncover the causes and effects of the issue and Church teaching on it. They then will find the courage to act by engaging in an action response and creating an educational video to share with the wider community.

*Selections taken from Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age.

Catholic Morality and World Religions 
In Theology 12 students explore morality as an essential component of the Christian life. Students survey secular and Christian ethics to arrive at the question “What difference does Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular, make to the moral life?” Students learn that living a moral life is a “response to a loving God.”*  Human beings are endowed with “reason, intellect, and free-will”* and it is through Christ that we can fully live out God’s plans (replace with plan) for our lives which is holiness. Students learn “the moral concepts and precepts that govern the lives of Christ’s disciples,”* explore the reality of sin, conscience and natural law, and reflect upon what it means to embody the Gilmour Mission in our complex and challenging world. 

The purpose of Semester II is “to help the students understand the manner in which the Catholic Church relates to non-Catholic Christians as well as to other religions of the world.”* Students explore the meaning of faith and religion in their own lives and in other traditions, ultimately recognizing both the distinctiveness of the Christian revelation and the importance of unity in diversity among the world’s religions.  

*Selections taken from Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age