Source of Life - Introduction
“I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly” John 10:10 (include in a frame)
Catholic education unites the mission of the Church with service to the total development of the human person. It is centred on Christ who reveals both the face of God and the truth of the human condition in all cultures and faiths, including First Nations people of Australia. The inexhaustible message that permeates every aspect of the Source of Life Religious Education curriculum is that love is greater than any alienation, every human frailty or sin because ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8).
Understanding and defining the role of religious education within the context of the Catholic School is to understand that the whole of education is a work of holiness. It is all sacred and it is rooted in what we believe about the doctrine of the Incarnation, as taught by the Council of Chalcedon in 451 C.E. Chalcedon articulated the central truth of our Catholic faith that Christ is both fully human and fully divine. Flowing from this is a realisation that whatever humanises divinises - so from this flows the Church’s entire mission of Catholic Education. Whatever makes us more genuinely human also makes us more like God.
Religious Education in its fullest sense belongs not only to the catechetical or Religious Education program but encompasses everything in the curriculum. It is about human flourishing in a deeply Christian understanding - whatever makes a student more wise, more loving, more fully human is making the student reflect more fully the image of God.
This Source of Life Core Document flows from the conviction that our history is filled with God’s presence and redemptive promise that finds its roots in the beginning of creation. It is hoped, through our teachers planning with and implementing the Source of Life Curriculum, that this Divine presence and promise will be discovered further, embraced and lived, in service of our Catholic school communities and the wider Church in the world.
In 2018, the Religious Education curriculum was reviewed and it was decided to continue with the title “Source of Life” because current diocesan clergy, school leaders, teaching and Catholic Education Sandhurst staff felt it continued to describe the aim of the curriculum in bringing students to fullness of life through relationship with Christ.
While the title has been retained, the content of Source of Life has undergone significant revision and the pedagogy has been enhanced to reflect the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) approach.
“These things are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ,the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name”John 20:31 |
Nihil Obstat: Rev. Dr Michael A Kelly CSsR
Imprimatur: Most Rev. Shane Mackinlay (Bishop of Sandhurst)
© 2020 Catholic Education Sandhurst
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