The Kindergarten religion program, “In God’s Image,” consists of 8 modules containing 33 themes. The “Me” module celebrates the child through such topics as feelings, senses, capabilities, needs and family. The “Earth Times” module celebrates the wonder of the earth through activities related to the seasons. The “Community” module celebrates caring through discussion, by making friends and by helping. The “Changes” module invites children to experience support and comfort at such times as the birth of a sibling or moving to a new house. The “Plants” and “Animals” modules celebrate creation through activities with trees, flowers, bugs, pets and other animals. The “Special Days” module suggests activities for celebrating such events as birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The “Church Times” module is a sequential set of lessons that invites children to celebrate the Christian story as it unfolds through Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.

• We are created in the “image of God”

• We are able to think about how our actions affect our relationship with God, others and ourselves

• We are social by nature and are called, as individuals and as a community, to offer friendship and charity

• The characteristics of a family can be compared with the characteristics of the Church

• Human beings are created equal yet different

• God calls us by name

• Prayer is essential to our relationship with God

• We learn to recite common prayers

• There are many ways to pray

• Children can be examples of holiness

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 1

• Shared experiences shape families and communities

• The ways we encounter the presence of God and how we experience God’s love through them

• Ways to show God that we respect our gift of “human dignity” and show respect toward others

• Certain rhythms to prayer and prayer can take many forms to be used in personal and communal prayer as well as the celebration of the liturgy

• Celebrate God’s presence through the sacraments - Reconciliation/ forgiveness and God’s grace as a gift that changes lives

• The Beatitudes

• God has established Laws to guide us in deciding how to act – Ten Commandments, Commandment of Love

• Identify the specific graces that come from God and that we receive in our lives

• Celebrating the Sacrament of Penance

• Retell stories of Jesus caring for those in need

• Examine biblical passages in which God reveals Jesus as the Son of God and the second person of the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Blessed Trinity

• Scripture reveals the Holy Trinity and the profession of our faith as a belief in The Blessed Trinity

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 2

• Focus: Human dignity and solidarity

• Holy Spirit assists us to develop and strengthen our relationship with Jesus and one another

• Understand the gift of freedom and the responsibility we have in the choices we make in trying to live a moral life 

• Understanding of how God teaches us to be good and to reflect this goodness in our actions 

• Link special moments in human life to the sacraments

• Scripture reveals the universal call to prayer from God

• The church teaches and provides us with guidance as we learn how to pray 

• Learn to pray and understand the meaning of traditional and liturgical prayers

• Examine gospel passages to see what Jesus taught us about how to pray

• Nature of sin and our capacity to choose

• Describe the origin of Advent and Christmas – connecting the images related to each season to Scriptural roots 

• The church has established special days to celebrate the life of Christ

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 3

• The Church as One / Unity

• The Communion of Saints 

• Our gifts and the common good

• Stewardship of creation

• Forms of prayer in the Catholic Tradition

• Jesus and prayer 

• Prayer and personal conversion 

• Form and structure of the Bible 

• Formation of conscience 

• The Sacrament of Reconciliation

• God’s mercy and the sacraments

• Examine Scripture passages specific to various Liturgical seasons

• God’s plan for salvation

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 4

• The Church and Christian witness

• Unity within diversity

• The Communion of Saints

• Personal and communal prayer

• Expressions of prayer; vocal, meditative and contemplative

• The liturgy of the Mass

• Conscience

• The divinity of Jesus

• The New Law: the Law of the Gospels

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 5

• Roles within the Church community

• Personal responsibility and the Christian vocation

• Parts and order of the Mass

• Personal prayer and Christian living

• Conscience formation and moral decision making

• Moral living and personal holiness

• Jesus’ Hidden Life and public life

• The Incarnation

• Role of Mary 

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 6

• The Church is Apostolic: Jesus’ ministry handed on to the apostles and their successors

• The Role of the Magisterium: interpretation of God’s Word (Sacred Scripture) and Tradition; providing faith and moral teachings

• The Christian Community is inspired to hope by stories of faith in Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition

• The Church: building the reign of God on earth

• The Church: the precepts and being faithful to be obedient to God

• God calls us to relationship: our desire is for God

• Prayer is central to the spiritual life Christians

• Decalogue and Beatitudes = moral code

• Imitating Christ: becoming Beatitude people

• Celebrating the faith lives of Mary and the saints to live lives of holiness and justice

• Marian devotions

• Developing our conscience: Moral guide for Christian living

• Virtuous Living: Free and responsible Christian moral life

• The Theological and Cardinal Virtues

• Jesus: Incarnation of God’s Word; true God and true human

• The four gospels the life and teaching of Christ Jesus.

• Jesus taught his disciples how to pray 

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 7

• God is revealed through Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, which is authoritatively interpreted by the Magisterium

• The Church is One: Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

• The Holy Spirit, Jesus and the Father are one.

• The mission of the Church involves all Christ’s Faithful

• The Church is the People of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit

• Called to service: life and mission of the Church community (evangelization and witness) guided by the Holy Spirit

• God-given gifts/talents: building God’s reign on earth

• Through our conscience we can judge the morality of our actions

• Conscience formation: Scripture and the Magisterium

• Christian Life: The Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, particularly the Beatitudes, and the Tradition

• The Communion of Saints includes all those who inspired by the Holy Spirit and have lived lives of virtue and holiness

• The Holy Spirit inspires the saints

• Sin forgiveness, God’s grace and living in the Holy Spirit and a life of prayer requires the development of habits

• The Church, through the example of the saints, provides models of a life of prayer

• In the New Testament, Jesus the Messiah fulfills the Covenant

• Jesus’ mission

• Jesus modelled and taught his disciples how to pray

• The Our Father is a prayer of faith, hope and charity 

Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, Grade 8

The Grade 9 program assists young people in understanding both the joy and the demands of following in the way of Christ and living out the faith that our community professes in the Creed. Using the Beatitudes as a touchstone, young people are invited to examine the attitudes and actions that characterize the Christian life. They are encouraged to understand and nurture within themselves the virtues, which will enable them to deepen their relationship with God in and through Christ in the context of a spirit-filled community.

This Religious Studies program was written by the Catholic Religious Studies teachers in response to the needs of students in Alberta Catholic high schools today. The program “Alberta Youth Search for Meaning” is approved by the Bishops of Alberta and is in compliance with the teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The curriculum strives to engage students in the search for meaning through three major themes: belonging, believing and relating. The program further addresses the study of specific topics through four “windows of authenticity”: truth, goodness, the spiritual, and religious community.

The overall aim of the program is to assist young persons with the help of the gospel, to participate as Catholics in the shaping of our culture. Christ and Culture brings Canadian culture into conversation with Christ for young people. It explains the terms and concepts of such a conversation. How can such a conversation between the person of Christ and culture take place? What are the partners in the conversation? What are the ways that we converse? Why is such a conversation helpful? To explore this dialogue, Christ and Culture focuses on three key elements:

• the human being—the student who enters into the dialogue

• culture and the things that shape culture in Canada

• the person of Christ as he is present and active among us and in us today in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Note:  The Religious Education Locally Developed Courses (Religious Education 15, 25 and 35 and World Religions 35) are Adapted/Acquired from Edmonton Catholic Separate School District No. 7.

(Locally Developed Course 1724)

The principal aim of Christ and Culture is to assist students, with the help of the Gospel, to participate as Christians in the shaping of our culture. The program explores major cultural issues from a Christological perspective. Beginning with their own life experiences, students acquire a deeper and more systematic knowledge of themselves, Christ’s message, and the Church. Connections between the Church and contemporary culture are explored in terms of what it means to be a responsible adolescent developing as a member of a Catholic, Christian community while living within the context of a broader culture.

(Locally Developed Course 2724)

Jesus Christ: God’s Gift of Salvation invites students to deepen their relationship with Jesus through a study of Scripture. Students will explore the Jewish historical, religious, and cultural world into which the Messiah was born and the Old Testament covenant fulfilled. Using the Gospels as primary sources, the course explores Jesus' birth, early life, and ministry; his preaching of the Kingdom of God; his special teachings, particularly the parables; and his miracles. It then focuses on the scriptural accounts of his death and Resurrection, and the Ascension, and their central significance for the church's understanding of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. 

(Locally Developed Course 3450)

A study of the major religions of the world helps the student grasp the meaning of the words attributed to Edith Stein, “When you seek truth, you seek God, whether you know it or not.”Christ’s disciples are called to live out the Great Commandment to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself. In this course they will explore the Catholic faith in comparison with other faiths. Through their study they will learn the importance the Church assigns to ecumenism and inter-faith relations and develop an understanding of the tenets and practices that are core to many of the world’s faith practices.

As an academic discipline this course seeks to inform students about the other religion: as a religious endeavor, it seeks to bring students into an ever-deepening relationship with God and God’s creation. Religions of the World 35 provides students with new information, new understanding, and an opportunity to question their present systems of meaning with research, discussion, reflection and other activities as core for this course.