Catholic Identity Paper

The article, “Give Us this Day Our Daily Lesson”, is about the issues between two different schools, the Catholic schools and public schools, involving their distinctive ways of teachings and the privileges received from the government in term of funding. The article states the conflicts between both schools and provides solutions for minimizing these issues. Today’s society largely revolves around Catholic faith which explains the vast number of Catholic churches, and the enhanced support received from the government to Catholic schools. Catholic schools are programmed to be able to accommodate to non-Catholic students and compensate for their religious beliefs as well. For instance, students have the choice to take a religion course where

Wilhoit, James C.. Spiritual Formation as it the Church Matters. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2008.

A passionate educator, who is driven by the desire to share the splendor of truth with others, striving to help students develop and mature in their faith, as members in society, and in their academics. Inspired by Christ to partake in his mission by engaging in the teaching ministry of the Church, I work to build a Catholic community that nurtures the hearts, minds, and souls of the students. Possessing knowledge of history, literature, religions, languages, philosophies, and cultures, I am able to relate various fields of study in order to build up the vision of the school. As a servant leader, I dedicate myself to supporting and working with the teachers, the parents, and the students. The possession of strong leadership skills, as well

At my parish school, I am surrounded by people that share the same faith as me and help me grow in my faith. A benefit found at my school is that I am allowed to pray whenever I want and I have group prayer before class to be with God and receive the right direction for the day. At my school we pray together before school, before each class, and at the end of the school day. I have a class each day just for learning about my Catholic faith. Therefore my Catholic school is important to me because in my religion class I can ask my teacher any question about my faith. We attend Mass at least once a month at my school, we pray the rosary in school once a month, and we go to reconciliation every other month. I can participate in leading Catholic events in my school such as the rosary, morning prayer, readings at Mass, and stations of the cross. My parish school teaches us to act in the manner of true Christians such as believing Jesus died for us to go to heaven, being active in my church, praying every day, receiving religious training, and treating my neighbor as myself. Learning at school to help others, we raise money for great causes by having out of uniform days if we bring a dollar. Our fundraising has gone to local shelters and to a family that lost their home to a fire. Out of uniform day reminds me that wearing uniforms at my school, we look nice and no one judges

God calls us to serve and to do everything with love (1 Peter 4:10, 1 Corinthians 16:14). As a Student Affairs (SA) professional, my main goal is to help students discover their calling and equip them to better serve the world while integrating their faith. Smith (2004), states why it is important to serve as a mentor during a critical adult faith development stage. In The Council for the Advancement of Standards and Higher Education (CAS), CAS has incorporated faith, spirituality and religion into the standards and competencies that they advocate for individuals working as educators in the student affairs field ( Smith, 2004). In the CAS masters-level graduate program for student affairs standards (2004) the authors spoke to the essential need to incorporate spirituality.

| supporting the moral and spiritual dimension in learning environments; sensitivity; inclusive behaviour; setting clear boundaries; understanding that spirituality does not need to be consistent with a structured belief system

Wright (2000) explores two complementary approaches to learning, both of which are essential for the establishment of spiritual literacy. An effective spiritual education, he suggests it must be equally committed to education as nurture and education as critique. The book focuses on the process of spiritual nurture, defending the thesis that spiritual education ought to consciously and intentionally ground students in a specific spiritual tradition, as identified, articulated and owned by the school

I believe that the religious atmosphere, or culture, of a learning environment is crucial for the success of the learners. “The atmosphere and relationships in the school are as much the focus of the Catholic school as is the formal religious education.” (Church Document Quotes) The importance of my root belief, Make God known, loved and served, encompasses so many aspects of the culture for learning. If we, as school leaders, along with our teachers and students are always making God known, loved and served, it means that we are being respectful of one another. By having the foundation set for loving and respecting self, others and the world, we ensure that

As I interpret the elements of congregational identity identified in Chapter 7 as it applies to my congregation, as mentioned earlier I believe it is a hybrid of many parts. Spirituality as mentioned earlier is comprised of three parts “cognitive”, “affective” and “servant,” which in turn makes it “stance” three part “University, Shepherd, and outreach which makes the “style” very emotional like a pregnant woman.

God is an important part of my life everyday from the moment I wake up to when I go to bed. Since I was a little kid my mom has always taught me the values of being a catholic. Being catholic doesn't mean going to church every Sunday and confessing your sins to later do them again. Being catholic means engaging with god and finding a deeper meaning during church. Being catholic means knowing and loving god as a human being. Being catholic means talking to god about your sins and finding ways to being a better person in life. God is a part of our life day to day he influences us in becoming a better catholic. Being catholic means finding ways to serve god through our life's vocation and trying to live out the core values of a catholic. God challenges

Roman Catholicism is headed by the pope. For the first 1,500 years of Christianity, there wasn’t any type of Catholicism. Common traditions, beliefs, and worship were the body of Christian believers around the world which is how they were all united; if you were a Christian, you belonged to a catholic church. Any other type of beliefs was considered treachery to the Christianity belief. In our time, there are multiple forms of Christianity besides Roman Catholicism. Being a catholic in this time means that one has certain beliefs, practices, and traditions compared to those of Protestantism, Anglicanism, Greek Orthodox, and all the other various types of Christianity. Roman Catholicism is considered to be the largest group out of them all.

There are many messages the Catholic Church wishes to teach us, as well as lead us to follow. Many of them are interrelated as well, as many of them center upon similar ideas, like love, giving, or life. A few themes include that everyone is a part of God's creation, God lives within all of us, God is love, human life is valuable, and nothing is impossible for God. We, as Catholics, believe that God is love- an important idea in the Church. Since God is within us all, we also all must have love within us. And since we're all a part of his creation, everyone is equally special and should be treated like they are.

Overall, the theological approaches described in this artefact support the children in understanding justice, liberation and equality in the world (Reddie,1998). This supports children in thinking more critically about how the world works. Since Catholic Schools are becoming more diverse, this approach advocates for the various cultures, nationalities, and religious beliefs in school’s today. The Black Theology and Liberation approach allows students to embrace Christianity using their differences to empower their faith. Thus, providing an inclusive education for those outside or within those experiences, gaining learning experiences (Cone,1969).

Fowler’s theory of spiritual development has a broad perspective and focuses on the impact of faith and beliefs in general rather than identifying a specific faith. To my opinion, Park’s theory completes Fowler’s theory because it focuses on “young adult”, which is a stage that most people spend it in the college (Komives & Woodard, 2003, p. 192). Spiritual development at this stage of life can help the students to have a better perception of life and themselves. Also, getting education from a faith focused institution provides the opportunity for students to be the member of the community that appreciates and respects spiritual growth. Based on my personal experience, spiritual development can happen beyond educational institutions, but providing academic education along with new ideas to reflect on, can impact spiritual growth and faith development in a positive way. Also, it helps young adults to achieve spiritual growth earlier in

Religion and prayer can benefit students in educational settings by positively contributing to better grades and behavior. Personal faith and prayer are important to people in many walks of life. Some individuals believe that this need for religious stimulation includes the youth in our school systems. There are different reasons why knowledge of religion and prayer can be important to students. For example, if students do not know about diverse faiths, it can be difficult for them to have a well-rounded knowledge and understanding of other cultures. There are oppositional sides to this issue as well. Some people believe that prayer in educational settings could be used as a way to persuade students into believing certain things that they