Introduction
The GPPM, founded at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ in 1983, has throughout its history focused primarily on the theological and pastoral training of lay ministers in Catholic parishes, with emphases in catechetics, liturgy, liturgical music and spirituality. Historically, it has also trained many teachers and campus ministers in local Catholic high schools. For the past six years, we have begun to work closely with the Dioceses of Monterey, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and now Los Angeles, to train deacons and lay ministers there as well.
As we expand in the state, and as we seek new ways to serve, we believe that we can more intentionally put the university, through our program, at the service of Catholic high school religion teachers and campus ministers. We have begun to build out some resources that we anticipate might be helpful, such as a Google map of Catholic high schools in California, a chart comparing curricula and service requirements at the schools of the northern eight dioceses (of 12), and a very initial bibliography of resources on high school teaching (see below). We are currently holding focus groups with teachers and campus ministers in the San Francisco Bay Area to learn how they would identify the concerns, strengths, needs and areas of potential support.
- Catholic California (map)
- High School Curricula
- Bibliography
- Content Resources
- Pedagogical Resources
- Focus Group Notes
Catholic California
We've mapped Catholic dioceses, parishes, high schools, colleges and Newman centers, graduate theology programs and seminaries, and retreat centers across the state. You can filter the map using the key to the left, then click on any icon to pull up the address, link, and demographic information.
High School Curricula
We've gathered information about the religious studies curricula and service requirements at the fifty Catholic high schools in the northern eight (of 12) California Catholic dioceses.
Bibliography
Buchanan, Michael T. and Adrian-Mario Gellel. Global Perspectives on Catholic Religious Education in Schools. Basel: Springer, 2015.
Congregation for Catholic Education. "." Vatican (16 April 2017).
Schroeder, Carrie J. "." Journal of Catholic Education 19:1 (2015) 5-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.15365/joce.1901022015.
The author graduated from the Jesuit School of Theology at 91¶ÌÊÓƵ, taught at St. Joseph Notre Dame High School and Mercy San Francisco, and now works for St. Mary's Press.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. . Washington, D.C.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2012.
Western Catholic Educational Association. "WCEA-EnsuringEducationExcellence" September 2013.
Western Catholic Educational Association. "Standards for The Catholic Identity of the School."
Content Resources
High school religion/theology teachers at our focus groups mentioned the following resources to help them with class prep and class activities.
| Resources | Description |
|---|---|
| podcasts teaching the Bible from the standpoint that it’s "a unified story that leads to Jesus." Animations and videos are useful for prep and teaching. Their videos are available on | |
| an Interactive Introduction to the Catholic Faith (St. Mary’s Press, $25.95/student) – an eLearning platform that can be customized for your school, with pictures of your students and modules about your school’s charism or tradition, all added for free | |
| great case studies to use in class, such as , with a Bay Area office in | |
| short videos on a whole lot of subjects, including the Ancient Egypt, Floods in the Ancient Near East, Rome, Christianity, The Apocalypse, the Crusades, Reformation, Israel and Palestine, Peace, Capitalism, etc. | |
| Resources on Judaism |
|
Pedagogical Resources
High school religion/theology teachers at our focus groups mentioned the following resources to help them engaging students in the classroom.