Letter of Introduction From Sr. Joan Cronin, g.s.i.c.

Executive Director, Institute for Catholic Education

Dear Colleagues in Catholic Education:

In 1997-98 the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations were written by the Catholic education community for the Catholic education community in order to guide writers in designing curriculum for Catholic schools. Since that time, Catholic educators have continued to ask:

"What would the ideal Catholic school student look like?"

"What habits of thought and action would such a student have acquired by the time of graduation?"

Focusing on these questions has been a great way to develop a shared vision for integrating the Church's teaching into Catholic curriculum.

In an effort to clarify and deepen their Catholic identity, many Catholic educators have begun to give increased attention to the vision of faith of the Church. This powerful resource, Curriculum Support for Catholic Schools: Enhancing the Religious Dimension of Catholic Education, provides themes based in Scripture and Tradition that will bring many of the values of this Catholic vision, particularly those rooted in the Church's social teaching into every dimension of their work with the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations. This will assist teachers in deepening their own understanding of this vision and enlighten the questions they continue to ask. If undertaken successfully, such efforts have the potential to enrich Catholic educators personally, to improve their teaching and enhance the Catholic identity of Ontario Catholic schools.

Curriculum Support for Catholic Schools: Enhancing the Religious Dimension of Catholic Education is an excellent resource for Catholic educators. I strongly urge Catholic administrators, teachers, chaplains, trustees and parents to view this resource as an ideal tool in their efforts to work more explicitly with the Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations, to improve awareness of Catholic teaching, and to incorporate that teaching in the lives of students.

Put most simply, this resource exists to facilitate the authentic integration of fundamental Catholic values into all aspects of the curricula, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Yours sincerely,

Sr. Joan Cronin, g.s.i.c.

The project team has identified websites it considers to be of value to enhance the usefulness of this resource to Catholic educators. As well, content consistency with Church teaching also has been considered. It does not accept responsibility for the changing content of these sites. Please note that at the time this resource was created, all the sites were up and working correctly.

Direct questions or comments to: info@eoccc.org

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