To all those involved in providing religion class options for next year’s juniors and seniors, thank you for your flexibility and for your willingness to do what’s best for students. 

A staple of Cathedral excellence has been the importance of Holy Cross values and the Christian and Catholic environment the school provides. Part of the mission of Cathedral to its students is to help cultivate spirituality, and this can be done no better than the religion classes that students take freshman through senior years. 

In past years, students have been required to take the same religion class as everyone else, aside from some people with involvements such as peer mentor classes, which take the place of religion. But in the upcoming school year, it will be an option for rising juniors and seniors to be able to choose from a large list of offered classes thanks to the work of the counselors, religion teachers and the school’s academic team.

Religion classes in the past, or theology classes as they were previously called, haven’t given students much wiggle room as to a choice of what they were learning about. While students definitely benefit from the teachings of the Catholic Church, morality, and other topics that freshmen and sophomores learn about, the new plan allows for an even better experience. 

The goal of the new curriculum is to provide juniors and seniors the ability to come to class every day excited about learning about religion from their chosen point of view, as the options for classes are numerous and provide a variety of different perspectives for learning.

From spiritual warfare, which dissects the spiritual battles of daily life and that of demons and angels, to world religions, which teaches students about religions around the globe, juniors and seniors now have seven options as to where they want to devote their religion learning during the first semester of next year.

Different religion teachers will teach different courses, providing students with insight into religion whether through Christian films, politics or science. 

It has long been known that each and every person learns differently, and one of the best things schools can do is to provide an environment of courses and teachers who are willing to meet individual as well as group needs. By broadening the scope for religious learning, the hope is that students will also be able to not only be more excited about their class, but be able to get more out of it spiritually.

The Megaphone staff recognizes and applauds all those involved in the decision to provide options for upperclassmen. We also understand that these religion class options also put more pressure on the school’s master schedule (thanks, Vice Principal Mr. Mark Matthews and all of the counselors), as these options will create more work for you but also will provide more and better options for students.