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Participants reflect on the ways in which factors such as secularisation and pluralisation have changed how individuals engage with institutional religions. Participants will then engage with research in Australia about religious identity, before examining the implications for Catholic institutions.

Participants consider the notion of Christian revelation as the possibility of coming to know God in person. They then examine the teaching on revelation from the Vatican II document, Dei verbum, and consider two types of thinking about revelation: propositional and relational. Finally, they look at the idea of symbols and how Christians believe that God communicates to human beings by way of symbolic mediation.

(Pre: 102 A Personal God)

Participants consider the way in which tradition is understood in the context of Catholic faith and its connection with scripture as witness to God’s revelation. They then examine the teaching on tradition from the Vatican II document, Dei verbum. Finally, they look at the contextual processes of detraditionalisation and individualisation to the extent that they affect the handing on of tradition and consider the ways in which these processes are reflected in their own contexts.

Participants reflect on the experience of encounter as surprise, and examine biblical passages demonstrating Judaeo-Christian sources of openness to encounter as characteristic of openness to God. They will then consider some of Pope Francis’ comments on dialogical encounter in Fratelli tutti.

(Pre: 104 Experiences of Encounter and Dialogue)

In this module, participants explore an understanding of dialogue. They will then be invited to engage a range of different perspectives on a current issue, consider where they stand in relation to this issue and articulate the basis upon which they have come to this perspective. They will be asked to think about the ways in which the consideration of different perspectives interrupted or shifted their initial understanding and to reflect on the role and place of a Christian approach as they develop their own perspective.

(Pre: 104 Experiences of Encounter and Dialogue)

In this module, participants explore an understanding of dialogue. They will then be invited to engage a range of different perspectives on a current issue, consider where they stand in relation to this issue and articulate the basis upon which they have come to this perspective. They will be asked to think about the ways in which the consideration of different perspectives interrupted or shifted their initial understanding and to reflect on the role and place of a Christian approach as they develop their own perspective.

Only available to approved cohorts

Participants practise face to face dialogue, either virtually (by Zoom, where there are 10 participants ready to meet) or physically (where a group has been set up to facilitate face to face interaction).

(Pre: 106 Talking about Faith: An Invitation 1)

Only available to approved cohorts

Participants again practise face to face dialogue, either virtually (by Zoom, where there are 10 participants ready to meet) or physically (where a group has been set up to facilitate face to face interaction).

Participants will be introduced to the Post-Critical Belief (PCB) Scale, a tool that measures the typical believing styles or attitudes towards belief that people hold. They will be invited to think about their own attitude towards belief (where they stand on the PCB Scale), what this means for how they engage with the contents of faith, and how they might approach dialogue with people who hold attitudes towards belief that are different from their own. Through a process of perspective-taking, participants will be invited to “step into the shoes” of people who hold the different believing styles and to bring to mind Catholic teaching on the dignity of the human person as they engage in open and respectful dialogue.

Participants explore the particularity of two principles of Catholic Social Teaching (namely, the principles of human dignity and the common good) as they engage with a variety of perspectives on the issue of the use of stem cells from aborted foetuses in the development of COVID- 19 vaccines. This issue has been given considerable coverage in the media and the responses from senior leaders in the Australian and New Zealand Churches have been varied. As participants explore the various perspectives, they will be invited to reflect critically on the basis upon which moral decisions are made, and the ways in which critical reflection and dialogue about different perspectives can help them to discern where they stand on moral issues.

Participants will be introduced to a 4-step approach to recontextualisation. They will then practise recontextualisation through application of the 4-step approach to the Gospel story of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5:25-34).

Participants are introduced to the 10 Characteristics of Prayer in a Catholic Dialogue school and invited to consider the ways in which these 10 characteristics might inform the development of prayers that reflect their own school contexts.

Participants are introduced to central themes related to sacramental theology, namely, revelation, the Paschal mystery and the sacramental principle, and consider how these themes support an understanding of the role of the Catholic sacraments for living Catholic faith. They are encouraged to reflect on their experience of sacraments in light of their learning in this module.

Participants examine the key documents of the Congregation for Catholic Education (now Dicastery for Culture and Education) since Vatican II, and reflect critically on the implications for Catholic schools today.

Participants examine key documents of Pope Francis and the Dicastery for Culture and Education to examine important themes pertaining to the mission of Catholic schools today.

Participants examine the two major environmental texts written by Pope Francis.

Participants practise a process for moving beyond a literal(ist) understanding, to critical and post-critical readings of a literary text. Then, engaging with Genesis 22:1-19, the story of Abraham and Isaac, they explore how using a similar process supports deeper engagement with, and reflection on, a biblical text.

Environmental Spirituality 1 will help participants explore spiritual growth as a phenomenon rooted in and developing out of the self’s relationship with the natural world. Explorations will emerge from a study of Saint Francis’s life in conversation with key Franciscan texts belonging to the genre of mystical itinerary: The Journey of the Mind to God and The Six Days of Creation (Bonaventure). Ideally this course will come after the proposed course on Laudato Si’.

(Available from February 2025)

In this module, participants to analyse the behaviours and attitudes that promote or prohibit flourishing in Catholic identity, and the ways in which a school’s hidden curriculum can sabotage efforts to create a Catholic Dialogue School.