Catholic Education

Catholic Education Week is May 5-10 2024

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Being Catholic is a gift of faith, hope and love; a life-time journey to experience and to live according to the identity that it signifies. Education in Catholic schools—which includes a parish community and faith practiced in the home— exists to implement a specific educational ideal: to foster a deepening of faith and knowledge to be used to give witness to Christ.

Following the teaching of Holy Mother Church, Catholic education, then, strengthens Catholic Christians to live and to do their proper roles in the life of the Church in the world. It provides a sound knowledge of the Catholic faith and a sure understanding of Catholic moral and social teaching in the lifelong journey of prayer and contemplation. It leads Catholics to a personal relationship with Jesus the Lord our God, develops love of his Church and inspires hope of salvation for all.

Expectations of the Ontario Catholic School Graduate

Distinctive expectations for graduates of Catholic schools are determined and shaped by the vision and destiny of the human person emerging from our faith tradition. This Christian anthropology or world view, reveals the dignity and value of the person. Our tradition tells us God creatively and lovingly calls each of us into the wonder of life, sustaining us by the power of the Holy Spirit, throughout the human journey, into life eternal. We acknowledge that the journey includes moments of brokenness and sin. We recognize in the person of Jesus, the risen Christ, the human face of God sharing our life in order to heal us of our brokenness and liberate us from sin. This Christian vision of the human journey is best understood within the context of relationship. It is accomplished in community, in solidarity with brothers and sisters in the Church and beyond. Catholic education views human life as an integration of body, mind, and spirit. Rooted in this vision, Catholic education fosters the search for knowledge as a lifelong spiritual and academic quest. The expectations of Catholic graduates, therefore, are described not only in terms of knowledge and skills, but in terms of values, attitudes and actions.

The graduate is expected to be: 

1. A discerning believer formed in the Catholic Faith community who celebrates the signs and sacred mystery of God's presence through word, sacrament, prayer, forgiveness, reflection and moral living.
2. An effective communicator who speaks, writes and listens honestly and sensitively, responding critically in light of gospel values.
3. A reflective, creative and holistic thinker who solves problems and makes responsible decisions with an informed moral conscience for the common good.
4. A self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner who develops and demonstrates their God-given potential.
5. A collaborative contributor who finds meaning, dignity and vocation in work which respects the rights of all and contributes to the common good.
6. A caring family member who attends to family, school, parish, and the wider community.
7. A responsible citizen who gives witness to Catholic social teaching by promoting peace, justice and the sacredness of human life.