Curriculum Guide
Religion
Religion is taught two times a week and is mandatory for Catholic students. The main textbooks are part of the Faith and Life series published by Ignatius Press. Classes are supplemented with selected and interesting narratives from the Old and New Testaments, weekly attendance at Mass, as well as monthly chapel services and occasional devotional practices such as the recital of the rosary, which includes an imaginative and meditative exploration of the various mysteries. Themes that pervade the religion curriculum include the recognition and effort to live as a loved child of God, a more personal knowledge of Jesus, as well as the understanding of religion and worship as just and proper responses to the Creator.
Grade 3
Texts: Our Life with Jesus, Book 3; Sacred Scripture selections.
Grade 4 Texts: Jesus Our Guide, Book 4; Sacred Scripture selections.
Grade 5 Texts: Credo: I Believe, Book 5; Sacred Scripture selections.
Grade 6 Texts: Following Christ, Book 6; Sacred Scripture selections.
Grade 7 Texts: The Life of Grace, Book 7; Sacred Scripture selections.
Grade 8 Texts: Our Life in the Church, Book 8; Sacred Scripture selections.
Religious Education Note:Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church founded by St. Josemaria Escriva, provides a chaplain who in turn administers the sacraments on a daily basis and oversees the religious education program.
We are very grateful to have been granted permission by Cardinal DiNardo to offer religious education to our Catholic students, to offer daily Mass and Confession, and to be able to have the Blessed Sacrament with us throughout the week.
One of our goals is to help our students to freely and truly become souls of prayer—young men who can experience "silent listening" deep within their heart and conscience. As the great thinker, Josef Pieper, reminds us: "…the world reveals itself to the silent listener and only to him; the more silently he listens, the more purely is he able to perceive reality."
We are deeply aware of and in debt to the great traditions and benefits of Catholic education. We are a school started, owned, and operated by laymen. For this reason, we are and wish to be a private independent school accepting the full responsibility of our endeavor. While together the appointed chaplain and lay educators feel the responsibility of living and reflecting a Catholic Spirit throughout our school, professional laymen are responsible for the education and administration of the school, and the chaplain is particularly responsible for the religious education program.
Western Academy is a private independent school. It will be accredited by a private independent schools association and independently funded.
Western Academy is not a Catholic School, and is not under the supervision of the Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Office of Galveston-Houston.
Opus Dei, a Personal Prelature of the Catholic Church, will provide a chaplain to administer the sacraments and oversee the Religious Education program offered to Catholic students as monitored and supervised by the Archdiocesan Office of Continuing Christian Education.