Our Catholic schools provide a faith based education rooted in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. We challenge each student to meet Ontario's Catholic Graduate Expectationsby promoting their spiritual development with an emphasis on social justice and Catholic Social Teachings. We believe that this formation will not only serve our students today, but also in the future as they contribute positively to our society in the service of others.
Each year we identify an essential element of evangelization, through a spiritual theme, to focus our faith formation initiatives.
We would like to welcome all students, families, and staff to the 2021-2022 school year. This year, the spiritual theme, calls us to reflect on what it means to be A Community of Faith.
The Pastoral Planning Team would like to thank all the incredible student artists who entered the Spiritual Theme Poster Design Contest. Congratulations to Dimiana Saeed and Emma Fischer from All Saints Catholic Secondary School for their winning designs which have been combined for this year’s poster.
Dimiana used a tree to represent the foundation of our community’s faith. The three large main branches of the tree represent the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Dimiana explained, “The roots of the tree represent the foundation of our faith just like how a tree’s roots hold it in place and keep it up.” The fruits on the tree represent the fruits of the Holy Spirit which include, charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity. For Dimiana, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “represents Jesus Christ’s everlasting love for everyone.”
“As a faith community, we all come from different places and have different genders, sizes, and backgrounds,” said Emma, student at All Saint Catholic Secondary School. “We each have been given different gifts from God and it is these gifts that bring us together as a community to serve God.”
As St. Paul states, “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.” Emma added, “the symbols on the people used in the image represent people at different stages in their life. There are happy and sad emotions, celebrations of awards and song, love and heartbreak, etc. While we are individuals with different strengths, needs and wants, we are brought together in the body of Christ: ‘Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.’”
The DCDSB Community of Faith is a community of inclusion, respect and love for each individual because we are the body of Christ.
Durham Catholic students, staff and community and partners represented a Community of Faith in various ways. Whether they ran food drives, helped younger students, or were kind to their colleagues and friends, our Durham Catholic community proudly embodied this theme.
Dimiana and Emma had the opportunity to share their ideas behind their artwork and express what a Community of Faith means to them. Click play to watch their video:
Click play to see the incredible talent of the other student artists who submitted designs for the poster contest in June.
We partner with our local parishes to strengthen the relationship between school, home and church.
"Our Catholic schools offer an extraordinary contribution to the social and environmental fabric of our society and world. In partnership with parents, who bear the primary responsibility for the education of their children, all those who work in Catholic education are called upon to reflect, in a faithful and discerning fashion, God's presence in this world."
(Source: Renewing the Promise a Pastoral Letter for Catholic Education, May 2018)
Find the Pastoral Letter for Catholic Education "Renewing the Promise" here.
To learn more, call us at 905-576-6150 ext. 22238.