Making every class Catholic!
Making a class Catholic can involve several key elements, depending on the context and the goals of the class.
Integrating Catholic doctrines and teachings into the curriculum, consistent prayer and worship, celebrating sacraments and the liturgy, and other methods pave the way for discussion and dialogue within a classroom. When students are engaged in discussions about the Catholic faith, they become interested in Catholic social teaching, moral theology, and how these principles apply to current events and personal choices. As extension lessons, service projects encourage students participation in community service as a way to live out the Catholic faith. This can help students understand the importance of charity and service to others.
When we are able to connect lessons to faith by discussing how subjects like history, literature, and science intersect with Catholic beliefs and values, it creates an atmosphere of learning that is holistic and meaningful.
It's an intriguing question. We wrestled with the question this past year at The Cardinal Newman Society, while developing proposed Catholic curriculum standards for Catholic education. It's easy to understand that Jesus is the Master Teacher. "Rabbi," His disciples called Him. A Catholic teacher should emulate Christ and should lead young people to Him.
But saying there's a Catholic approach to mathematics evokes a vision of Jesus writing in the sand at the Sea of Galilee, attempting to teach pre-calculus to a school of fishermen. Oh, if only Catholics did have a divinely simple method of advanced mathematics! It's not, at least, in my translation of the Bible.
The truth is, there is indeed something very special in Catholic education about how and what a student learns. That's in every subject - not just religion. It doesn't mean rejecting knowledge that is truthful and worthy of a secular education. But Catholic education has priorities that are uniquely suited to human development and to the needs of the soul, and so our expectations for student learning are always and substantially different ... and better!
A Catholic education is evangelical; it is one of the Church's chief means of teaching the faith and bringing people to Christ. We find God in all things, inside and outside religion class.
A Catholic education is formational; it strives not only to teach useful knowledge and skills, but to prepare the whole person body, mind and soul - for service to man and God. We want our students to be saints.
A Catholic education is empowering; it teaches students the knowledge and ability to think critically about the world and about human culture, so that our graduates can go forth and help transform family, society, business, government and Church in accord with the Holy Spirit.
There's so much more to a Catholic education - indeed as much as completes the perfection of man, which of course is limitless. But unless Catholic families and educators seek answers to the question - What is unique and essential to Catholic education? - we will surely fail to prepare our young people according to the vision of the Church.
After considering all that should be present in Catholic education, the Catholic school or homeschool becomes more exciting and inviting than ever before. If the Church wants a renaissance in Catholic education, faithful Catholic standards are a great starting point.
For the full article, please visit
https://cardinalnewmansociety.org/thing-catholic-math/
Therefore, we expect students to come away from mathematics with something more than a means of engineering and astronomy. By studying math, we want our students to:
- "Demonstrate the mental habits of precise, determined, careful and accurate questioning, inquiry and reasoning."
- "Respond to the beauty, harmony, proportion, radiance and wholeness present in mathematics."
- "Recognize how mathematical arguments and processes can be extrapolated to other areas of study, including theology and philosophy."
- "Propose how mathematical objects or proofs (such as the golden mean, the Fibonacci numbers, the musical scale and geometric proofs) suggest divine origin."
Featured: The Augustinians
Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo.
The largest and most familiar is the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA), founded in 1244 and originally known as the Hermits of Saint Augustine (OESA). They are commonly known as the Austin Friars in England.
The Augustinians currently reside at their monastery in Ladner, BC within the Sacred Heart Parish compound. Fr, Francis Galvan, OSA is its pastor.
Saint Augustine is always portrayed in paintings holding a flaming heart, a book and an arrow. The open book is the symbol of St. Augustine's own conversion to Christianity and the Scriptures. It also represents the quest for wisdom.
The flaming heart symbolizes Augustine's love for God and his fellow human beings.
The arrow represents the Spirit of God piercing our hearts, calling us to continued growth, in faith, hope and love.
For more information. please visit:
https://www.augustinianorder.org/
RESOURCES!
THE CATHOLIC KID
https://www.thecatholickid.com/
Integrating Math and the Saints? Why not?
We never think of Math and Christian Education as something that go together - like oil and water, but why not look at possibilities instead of impossibilities? Putting a picture of a saint on a Math worksheet can open other learning possibilities:
- an opportunity to go into inquiry-based learning - to learn more about the saint on the page
- when the work is done, the student can learn about colour combinations by colouring the page
- shakes off boredom and engages creativity Here are some sample Math sheets from The Catholic Kid as examples.
MINISTRY TO CHILDREN
https://ministry-to-children.com/
Ministry-to-Children.com is a free online resource for children's ministry, founded by Tony Kummer in 2007. Download Bible-based materials specifically designed for pastors, churches, Sunday School teachers, homeschool parents, and Christian school teachers. Resources include children's church lessons, craft activities, and coloring pages that provide Christian education to children. Help kids grow in character and experience the love of God through structured learning and creative activities.
2 ONLINE PROGRAMS
We are inviting you to join us on two programs this year that will run on Tuesdays and Thursday from 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM for all teachers. The first is called Genesis to Jesus, and it is a program on Scripture with Dr. Scott Hahn and Matthew Leonard of the Saint Paul Biblical Institute. The second is TOB 101- Christian Anthropology by the Theology of the Body Institute with Dr. Christopher West and other speakers. Both programs will run for 12 weeks and will be a combination of video and discussion. Both sessions are timely and relevant to us as teachers of the faith, and is a good foundation of the teachings of the Church that have been constant for centuries - a stability we need in these times of confusion.
Registration is free and these programs are brought to you by the CISVA Evangelization and Catechesis.
Please register by September 30 as the program will begin in October.... See you then! :)
The Church in the Storms
"The history of the Church is, in every period, one of persecutions and rebirth, of apostasy and conversion, of defeat and triumph."
The tempests that threaten the barque of Peter today are in plain sight, and not much different than before.
Prolific historian Roberto de Mattei unfurls the sail to help you navigate in tumultuous times through the stormy waters of worldly events, intellectual movements, apostasies, moral decay, divisions, and persecutions.
In these reflections, de Mattei steers you on a voyage from the earliest centuries to the French Revolution, charting the course with fascinating historical details and true stories about key political figures and saints, masterfully relating them to our situation now.
Despite the changing tides and pounding waves, you will discover ways the Church weathered storms with Scripture and Tradition as her compass.
You will behold how, in moments of gloom, when all seemed lost, the valor of Catholic heroes restored calm and announced the morning dawn.
https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-church-in-the-storms
To those who do not know Mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty of nature.... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in.
Richard Feynman. 1918-1988.
American physicist.
The Character of Physical Law
Mathematics is the language in which God has written the Universe.
Citations:
[1] https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/36469817/a9e708ed-9552-495e-8c3c-cb953d4d3ca3/MMonday-4.pdf