Religion

Overview:

Rooted in the Gospel virtues of Jesus Christ, religious education in Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools recognizes the parent as primary educator and the Church as spiritual leader. Our school division supports the commitment of both family and Church to lifelong religious formation of young people.

Inspired and strengthened by the Gospel, staff of Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools do their best to equip students with the necessary attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable them to live the faith in a complex and ever-changing world.

Goals:

Ultimate goals of religious education in Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools are that students will:

• recognize their dignity as persons made in the image and likeness of God, a dignity that belongs to everyone;
• accept God's unconditional love for them as most fully expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ;
• respond with gratitude, joy and generosity to God's extravagant care for them;
• know God's love as a transformational force in the world, and that as faithful members of the Body of Christ, we are called to act with justice on behalf of the poor and marginalized in society;
• become careful stewards of our natural world; and
• understand the importance of being lifelong, active members of a faith community.

Religious Education Instruction

For high school information, see Catholic Studies.

The primary resource for elementary religious education is Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, which is sponsored by the Catholic Bishops of Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories. Family life education is delivered through the Fully Alive program, which is sponsored by the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario. Parents and guardians in Grades 1-6 have full access to both resources online, and are encouraged to contact their child’s teacher for login information. (Grade 7 and 8 are currently in development, and will be available in 2021.)

Revealing Christ in all we teach:

Students need help to understand that faith must inform all we learn, and so Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools is fully involved in the Revealing Christ in All We Teach faith permeation project. Teachers are given concrete ways to bring the Catholic faith into their presentation of the English Language Arts, Health, Science and Social Studies provincial curricula. This project is supported by the Saskatchewan Catholic School Boards Association and all Catholic school divisions in the province.

Byzantine Rite:

The Byzantine Rite is referenced at each level of Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ (for elementary students), and there are references throughout the high school Catholic Studies curricula.

Bishop Filevich Ukrainian Bilingual School provides students with a special opportunity regarding their religious education. Staff members, with the support of the Byzantine Rite Religious Education Coordinator, provide study and celebrations of the Ukrainian Catholic tradition. Segments of the Byzantine Rite program, God With Us, along with other supplementary materials, are used.

The high school Ukrainian Bilingual program incorporates the essential learnings of the Christian Ethics curriculum with added components of the Byzantine Rite, including the history of the rite and the celebrations of its traditions within the Ukrainian Catholic Church.