Skip to main content
Theology » Theology

Theology
Theology
 
“Science can purify religion from error and superstition. Religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes.”
— Pope John Paul II
 
The mission of McGill-Toolen is to provide an education that enables individuals to grow in faith, to search for knowledge and truth, and to continue building the Kingdom of God on earth.


Theology Department Requirements
 
Emphasis on spiritual growth and moral response are factors that contribute to the uniqueness of McGill-Toolen. To this end the Religion Department provides a program of formal religious training based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
 
Encouraging understanding and respect for each individual, providing opportunities for prayer and worship, and promoting Christian service, the department aims to create a sense of community by which students come to realize that they are the Church.
 
Four credits in religion are required for graduation. All religion courses are noncontinuous. Students must pass each semester session.


Theology Department Goals
 
Respecting each McGill-Toolen student as God's unique creation, the Catechetical Team receives each one as God's special gift-in-trust. Consequently, the members of the Team see as their primary goal the development in each student of a personal relationship with the living God, present in God's world in Jesus Christ and in his members, individually and gathered as Church, through the action of the Holy Spirit.
 
To this end, the Team provides, as the basis for individual, spiritual growth and fuller religious commitment, a program of formal Christian instruction, founded on Divine Revelation within the context of the Roman Catholic tradition; provides opportunities for individual and communal prayer, for the celebration of the sacraments, particularly of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and for active participation in the liturgical feasts and seasons of the Church year; provides motivation and opportunities for loving Christian service within the home and in the local community, particularly on behalf of those in need; fosters a genuine community in which the needs of each member become the primary concern of all the rest, as all draw closer to the Lord, who is the Head of his Body, the Church on earth.
 
As a result of its ministry, the Catechetical Team strives:
  • To develop student awareness of God as Transcendent, yet present as Jesus in our world
  • To develop student understanding of the Scriptural basis for Christian beliefs and the Christian way of life
  • To develop student understanding of the human processes by which Christian doctrine, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, has unfolded to its present state, and continues to develop
  • To develop student understanding of the rational basis for their faith and with sound criteria for assessing the values and claims of the world
  • To provide students with controlled circumstances in which they may exercise their developing powers of judgment and choice
  • To develop student commitment to social justice through the protection of human dignity and the promotion of the common good, as a means of building the Kingdom of God on earth
  • To develop student understanding of the sacramental system of the Catholic Church and to provide opportunities for creative planning of and participation in, worship services and celebrations of the sacraments
  • To provide students with instruction in, and opportunities for, varieties of prayer in private and in common
  • To provide students with opportunities to exercise the Christian leadership of service and love both within the school community and in work and those in need.
Education in Virtue
 

Suppose for a moment that someone approaches you and asks you this question: ‘ Why do you send your child to McGill-Toolen?’  The first and most obvious answer you might give is that you want your child to receive an excellent education.  But now suppose that this imaginary interlocutor is a bit impertinent, and pushes you to answer a further question: Why do you want an education for him or her?

 

At this point, you might, with a little irritation, point out that the answer is obvious – you want your child to be prepared for college.  And why college? Because college will give a person a chance to acquire the training and contacts necessary to be successful in the pursuit of a career, in earning a living.

 

Does such a pragmatic goal for education adequately convey what you want for your children from McGill-Toolen?  I would suggest that you want more, something much greater and deeper. You rightly expect us to lead your child not just to college and a career, but to Jesus Christ, who is the ‘Way, the Truth, and the Life’.  We exist, not just to help young men and women in earning a living, but in finding a life, the only life that truly matters, the life of Beatitude as taught by Jesus.

 

This year, we are introducing a new pedagogical element to our daily activities – Education in Virtue.  It is a plan of formation first developed by the Dominican Sisters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and it gives teachers the resources they need to guide students to learn about the virtues which lead to lasting happiness.  A person can only be truly happy by learning to be truly good, and that means learning to be just, prudent, temperate, and brave, habits which are inspired and strengthened by faith in God’s Word, hope in His promises, and, most important, the fire of His love.