Catholic Identity
Catholic education serves to support the healthy development of children and youth in a caring, Christ-centred learning environment. The London District Catholic School Board is rooted in Catholic education to embrace equity of outcomes for all students and grow to understand God’s loving embrace in the spirit of Jesus Christ. The mission of the London District Catholic School Board is:
To serve the Catholic student
in a community that nurtures a living faith
and provides a quality Catholic education
that enables the individual
to become a contributing member
of the Church and Society.
At the heart of Catholic Education is the understanding of the importance of a curriculum that emphasizes both faith and reason. We see how faith and reason are at the heart of all we do and how they are articulated in the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations. Pope John Paul II points to this importance when he says,
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves
(Fides et Ratio, 1998).
Catholic schools are concerned with all student learning, about connecting faith and life, and ensuring that faith “… permeates all the school, all of life, and all that is undertaken and lived in Catholic Education”
(Build Bethlehem Everywhere, p. 16).
In doing so, the London District Catholic School Board proudly celebrates:
- A commitment to embracing a Christ-centred, inclusive and caring community that is focused on the Gospels and teachings of Jesus Christ.
- The sacredness of human life as a core belief in which all students understand and witness to the creative action of God.
- Prayer and a vibrant sacramental life as central to the life of our schools.
- The Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations as an integral focus of student learning and achievement.
- Corporal and spiritual works of mercy and the social teachings of the Catholic Church (i.e. dignity of the human person, preferential option for the poor and vulnerable)