Pope Francis stated publicly that his prayer intention for January 2016 would be a greater collaboration between the Catholic Church and those from other faith traditions. He recognized that religious devotion remains a constitutive element of the private and public lives of most in our global community.
The Province of Manitoba recently acknowledged this same sentiment with an important educational announcement. Starting in the September 2016 academic term, students enrolled in the elementary and middle years stream in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba can use Religion as a teachable minor. This means that students who have completed the minor program at the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies can now put their 18-credit minor toward a Bachelor of Education degree.
This change in policy was the result of a collaborative process between Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ at the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies, Dr. Chris Adams at St. Paul’s College, Mr. Robert Praznik at the Archdioceses of Winnipeg and St. Boniface, and Minister James Allum with the Government of Manitoba. This development recognizes the important role that Catholic education has played within the Province of Manitoba and how an academic engagement of the Catholic tradition at St. Paul’s College can help all educators regardless of whether they desire employment within either an independent Catholic or public school in the province.
The approval of Religion as a teachable minor formally recognizes how beneficial an academic engagement of Catholic Studies can be for those working in other curricular fields such as Social Studies, Art, Music, and Literature. Furthermore, this new educational reality highlights the existing mandate of the Jesuit Centre in Winnipeg to engage both the historical relationships and ongoing encounters that the members of the Catholic Church have had with other disciplines.
These various and interconnected exchanges between the Catholic tradition and the contemporary world comprise the framework around which the Catholic Studies program at St Paul’s College was developed and continues to operate.
The annual enrolment of students in the Catholic Studies program at the University of Manitoba continues to grow. More than 320 students have enrolled in the introductory courses with many coming from Protestant traditions; religious backgrounds such as Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism; or even no faith tradition at all. The second year courses at the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies are filled to capacity and include a variety of topics such as the Jesuits, the changing landscape of national Catholicism, pilgrimage and the localization of Catholic devotion, literature and Catholic Culture, as well as Catholic social teaching.
Those at the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies continue to be pleased with the academic program and are excited by the increased collaboration with the Faculty of Education. Aside from the pivotal role that the Catholic Studies program has played at the University of Manitoba, the Jesuit Centre for Catholic Studies will now have an even greater influence on the lives of future educators and in the local institutions that they will find employment.