CHRISTIAN FORMATION

We take pride in our Christian formation where each of the four theology subjects is completed for the duration of two years.

Theology 1: In Love with God, Doing theology for Students

This course is the foundational subject of the theology program. It introduces the students to the fundamentals of the Christian faith and facilitates reception of the Christian message. In employing a systematic way of doing theology, it begins with a narrative retelling and interpretation of their experience of God’s revelation and proceeds to parallel studies of themes related to and validated in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The life of Benedict and the Benedictine spirituality would be reinforced as model of faith commitment in their own faith journey.  Through the process of theologizing, students display skills for listening, reflecting, critiquing and articulating their faith-life experiences. The challenge posed by their Christian faith leads them to re-appropriation of their faith response shown in their faith journey portfolios.

Theology II, Jesus: God’s Way of Friendship

This is a study of the Way of Jesus from a believer’s point of view. It utilizes two poles in doing Christology, the pole of human experience and the pole of our Faith tradition in order to arrive at a more meaningful and relevant understanding of Jesus Christ. The step-by-step Christological process would require a re-appropriation and re-articulation of titles that are properly re-gauged based on their fidelity to the Gospel. Students would engage in critical analysis of the New Testament writings and come up with an original title of Jesus based on their personal experience and the Judaeo-Christian Tradition. This will require critiquing, reading, analysis, and hermeneutics of the scriptures, research works, documented advocacies, portfolio of reflections and creative works. Through discussions, prayer, meditations and liturgical celebrations in and out of the classroom, the Benedictine spirituality is highlighted and sustained in their faith-life.

Theology III, Being Church, Becoming Sacraments

This course looks into the nature and mission of the church. Reflections on what it means to be a church in our time is given premium in order to lead students towards a critical analysis of the different ecclesiologies that the church has espoused throughout history. It hopes to explore how these paradigm shifts influenced the doctrines, ethical life, spirituality and liturgical/sacramental celebrations of the Christians. Likewise, a more in-depth theological reflection would be undertaken in response to the contemporary social issues and problems affecting the church. The Filipino culture would be utilized as a locus of a contextualized theology of the church while being faithful to the Judaeo-Christian Tradition. Students are led to do research, critiquing, analysis, reflections, meditations, prayers and creative works shown in their written papers, group reports, presentations and documented advocacies in and out of campus which are presented through their personal portfolios synthesizing their re-articulation of being church in our times.

Theology IV, When Beauty Beckons, Theological Ethics

This course is an attempt at doing theological ethics (moral theology) using a cultural theme and context as its locus theologicus (starting point of theological reflection). It helps students engage in careful discernment in order to respond appropriately to God’s offer of life and love in a truly human way. Accent is placed on becoming more sensitive to the divine invitation when faced with particular choices and relationships that affect quality life whenever discussions on controversial issues emerge.  Considered in moral theology as the center and norm of Christian living, Jesus’ person, words and deeds in the light of the categories explicit in the cultural theme, the “beautiful” would be discussed thoroughly and scrutinized critically where students would be guided by the tools in doing theological ethics. Students will engage in critical analysis and theological reflections on how to live humanly in Jesus’ Spirit through group dynamics and individual works such as creative presentations, projects, research papers, synthesis reports, and portfolio of their journal entries, critique and reflection papers, quiz, and advocacies that express their active commitment towards the realization the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus.

LEADERSHIP FORMATION

The Senior High School is a Leadership Academy. Training and development of leadership skills among students is one of the thrusts of this unit. These are imbedded in all the tracks, thus envisioning “women leaders” in the different fields and sectors of society. We believe as our former president, Sr. Mary Thomas Prado, OSB articulated, “There is a leader in every Scholastican!”

Leadership Modules

The four modules in this formation program include, Personal leadership, Organizational Leadership, Social Change Leadership and Service Learning done within the context of community development.

The Social Change Model (SCM) works on three assumptions about leadership – it is collaborative; it is the process that group experiences as it works collaboratively to attain a goal; it is based on values; all students can do leadership; it is about change as effective leadership involves being able to accomplish positive change for others and for the community (Wagner, 2006)