St John’s College Vision for Religious Education
As a Catholic community, established by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict tradition, St John’s College vision for religious education is holistically developed through an understanding of Jesus’ mission and strives to educate all students in their faith journey. We challenge both our staff and students to live the gospel of Jesus Christ as successful, creative, active and informed learners who are empowered and equipped to enrich and serve our world while listening with the ear of the heart. We strive to have respect for the sacred and honour our liturgical traditions that sanctify our time and place. We are committed to a purposeful and challenging curriculum that enables a transforming, reflective, inclusive, challenging and engaging learning community.
Year 7 to Year 10
The Religion Curriculum P-12 enables students in Year 7 to Year 10 to learn about various ways in which humans understand and express the mystery of God or ‘the Other’, including insights from the major world religions. Students develop their understanding of the experience of sin throughout human history, some ways in which the Church has responded to the presence of good and evil, and the various sources that guide the Church’s action in the world. They learn about various sources of inspiration, strength and guidance for believers today and ways in which believers live their Christian vocation.
Senior Secondary Years
The Religion Curriculum P-12 enables students in the senior secondary years to develop a deeper understanding of the Catholic Christian tradition and an empathetic understanding of the major world religions, as well as a grasp of the impact of religious teachings on the lives of believers. The approach taken respects learners and promotes critical thinking, opening up the possibility for a richer appreciation of self and others.
The Teaching of Scripture in the Classroom
The Catholic approach to interpreting scripture is summed up in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to the person in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words (n.109)
In order to discover the sacred author’s intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current.
“For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression (Dei Verbum, 12)
A complete explanation is located at:
http://www.rec.bne.catholic.edu.au/The%20Shape%20of%20Religious%20Education/Pages/Teaching-Scripture-in-the-Classroom.aspx
SJC Religious Education Program
Year 12 2019 Outline of Religious Education Curriculum.pdf
2019 on Comprehensive Outline of Religious Education at St John's College - Copy.pdf
© Brisbane Catholic Education, St John's College (2023)
Year 7
The Religion Curriculum P-12 involves four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. These strands are interrelated and should be taught in an integrated way; and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts.
In Year 7, students learn about the beliefs, values and practices of Christian communities, past and present, including early Church communities (c.6 BCE – c. 650CE), communities of religious men and women and Australian Catholic Church communities. They explore cultural and historical influences on these communities and change and continuity over time. They learn about the common beginnings of faith shared by the monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) through the stories of patriarchs, Moses and the prophets. They explore ways in which communities of believers, past and present, express their understanding of God and God's relationship with human persons. In particular, they develop their understanding of the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed and the Decalogue.
Students explore contextual information about sacred texts, using a range of Biblical tools, to gain a deeper awareness of these texts and how they influence communities of believers. They examine Church teaching and basic principles of Christian morality that influence the way Christians live out their faith, individually and communally.
Students examine ways in which believers nurture their spiritual life through prayer, ritual, the sacraments and sacred texts. They develop their understanding of prayer in the Christian tradition through an exploration of Lectio Divina and Ignatian Meditation. They investigate the relationship between the Sacraments of the Church, the life and ministry of Jesus, and the faith journey and life experiences of believers.
Year 8
The Religion Curriculum involves four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. These strands are interrelated and should be taught in an integrated way; and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts.
In Year 8, students engage with a variety of images and words that express the mystery of the Trinity, the fundamental Christian belief that God is relational in nature. They are introduced to the theme of covenant, as unique relationship between God and God's people, through an exploration of the actions and messages of some Old Testament prophets. They explore the Christian belief in God's saving plan for all creation and ways in which believers, past and present, are part of God's saving plan through their faith and action in the world. They learn about the preaching, achievements and challenges of the earliest followers of Jesus, as described in The Acts of the Apostles. They are introduced to the significant challenges and changes in the Church from c.650 CE – c.1750 CE and the influence of significant people, groups and ideas at that time. They develop their understanding of the many ways in which the Church is present and active in the world today, including participation in liturgy and other personal and communal prayer experiences; informed response to emerging moral questions; practice of cardinal virtues, and witness to the ecumenical spirit through praying and working for Christian unity.
Students continue to develop their understanding of prayer in the Christian tradition through an exploration of The Liturgy of the Hours and meditative prayer practices including praying with Scripture and Lectio of Nature. They learn about the significance of initiation rituals in the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) for the faith journey of believers.
Year 9
The Religion Curriculum P-12 involves four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. These strands are interrelated and are taught in an integrated way, and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts.
In Year 9, students develop their understanding of the experience of sin throughout human history and some ways in which the Church responded to the presence of good and evil in the past (c.1750 CE - 1918 CE). They learn about the priestly, prophetic and kingly work of Jesus Christ and ways in which believers live their Christian vocation by participation in this work. They consider sources of inspiration, strength and guidance for believers today, including Catholic social teaching, the three forms of penance (prayer, fasting and almsgiving), Scripture, celebration of the Sacraments of Healing (Penance and Anointing of the Sick), and personal and communal prayer experiences. They are introduced to two forms of Biblical criticism, namely form criticism and narrative criticism, and develop the ability to apply these to help their understanding, interpretation and use of a range of Biblical texts. They continue to develop their understanding of prayer in the Christian tradition through an exploration of the writings of Christian spiritual fathers and mothers, prayers for forgiveness and healing, Christian Meditation and meditative prayer practices, including praying with labyrinths.
Students learn about the divergent understandings of God (Allah, God, G*d) in the monotheistic religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism). They develop their understanding of three foundational beliefs of Christianity (the Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus) and consider their significance for believers.
Year 10
The Religion Curriculum P-12 involves four strands: Sacred Texts, Beliefs, Church and Christian Life. These strands are interrelated and are taught in an integrated way, and in ways that are appropriate to specific local contexts.
In Year 10, students learn about various ways in which humans have understanding of the mystery of God or the 'Other', which is ultimately beyond human language, concepts and stories. These include the human experience of the created world; the valuable insights of the major world religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism) as reflected in their core beliefs and practices; the different representations of God in Old Testament and New Testament texts by various human authors in different historical, social and cultural contexts; Christian spiritual writings that search for the mystery of God in the midst of world events and the course of human history; and participation in personal and communal prayer that can lead believers to contemplation (the simple awareness of the presence of God).
Students explore how the Church has responded to the range of unprecedented threats to both human ecology and environmental ecology facing Australian and the Modern World (c. 1918 to the present) from science, technology, materialism, consumerism and political ideologies. They develop critical understanding of the various sources that guide the Church's action in the world today, including the teaching of Jesus and the early Church, the principles of Catholic social teaching and the reasoned judgements of conscience, carefully formed and examined. They examine the Eucharist as the primary and indispensable source of nourishment for the spiritual life of believers, who carry on Jesus' mission in the world. They continue to develop their understanding of prayer in the Christian tradition through an exploration of Centering Prayer; prayers for justice, peace and the environment, including the Prayer of St Francis, the Magnificat and the Canticle of Creation; and meditative prayer practices, including praying with the help of nature.
Year 11 & Year 12