BELIEF STATEMENT

FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The purpose of the Catholic school finds its source in the mission of the parish, and therefore the church: to enable people to know God; to live in communion with God and others and to understand the world in which they live in the light of the Gospel, Catholic teaching and the experiences of our tradition.

It is within this context, as an extension of the work of our local Catholic community, that the religious education programme of St Brigid's takes place.

RE is for all. It is a collaborative activity which respects and promotes the religious and spiritual dimension of life - the child's innate capacity for wonder, awe, reverence and imagination.

Our RE programme-

• acknowledges many levels of faith commitment. It will be received in different ways and lead to different outcomes for different children.
• will provide experiences of celebration, prayer, community life, learning and reflection in implicit and explicit ways.
• provides children with opportunities to develop the language of religious experience- a literacy in religious activities, places, stories, symbols and rituals, people and objects.
• must be as academically respectable as other curricullar areas-utilising strategies appropriate to sound educational practice.
• dopts a co-ordinated presentation of the beliefs, feelings, attitudes, values, practices and worship of the Catholic Tradition appropriate to the age and stage of development of the child.
• recognises the dignity of the human person.

Accordingly, the concepts of justice and peace are essential elements of the programme.

• respects the beliefs, traditions and practices of other faith traditions; acknowledging differences but emphasising what we share in common.
• actively seeks to challenge those attitudes and practices in our society that are at variance with Catholic values, teaching and tradition.