Morality & Chastity Curriculum

Faith and Morals

  1. Students will learn we love God and share in His life by listening to the Gospel, living by the Commandments, praying, worshipping at Mass, receiving the Sacraments, and practicing Christian charity.
  2. Students will learn being a loving person is what will make us truly happy and is the best way to live out our life for God.
  3. Students will learn that one of the results of original sin is that our feelings can lead us to do things that are wrong.
  4. Students will learn we should always be aware of our feelings, but we must think before deciding if and how it is appropriate to act on them. Love means doing what is right and good regardless of how we feel.
  5. Students will learn we are called to love all people, to help them and care for them, even though we might not like a particular person or the way that person might be acting.
  6. Students will learn one of the ways we express our love for other people is that we decide to do something good for them even when we don't feel like doing it.
  7. Students will learn we are free to choose what is good or what is not, but we become truly free and loving only when we choose what is good.
  8. Students will learn sin is choosing what we know, or should know, is wrong. All sin is a failure to love in one form or another.
  9. Students will learn God always loves us and wants us to turn to Him and say we are sorry when we have sinned.
  10. Students will learn God forgives our sins when we are sorry and ask for forgiveness. God is always forgiving.
  11. Students will learn that in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God shows us His love and forgiveness in a special way and gives us the grace to become more loving people. (CCC 1422 ff)
  12. Students will learn God shows us how to love by always being willing to forgive us, and we should try to be loving as He is and always be willing to forgive those who hurt us.
  13. Students will learn God has told us what attitudes and actions are loving and unloving in the Scriptures, in particular through the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. (CCC Part 3, Section 2; 1716)
  14. Students will learn God wants children to love and obey their parents (4th Commandment).
  15. Students will learn God wants husbands and wives to be loyal and faithful to each other (6th Commandment) and to take good care of the children He gives them (5th Commandment).
  16. Students will learn God always keeps His promises to us. We need to practice keeping good promises.
  17. Students will learn medicine can restore our health when we are sick but drug and alcohol abuse damages our health and is always wrong (5th Commandment).
  18. Students will learn sin not only offends God and hurts other people, but it also hurts us. Sin lessens our ability to love, the very purpose for which God created us.
  19. Students will learn doing what is right--what God commands--brings us closer to God and makes us more loving persons, while doing what is wrong--what God forbids--separates us from God and makes us less loving persons.
  20. Students will learn God's grace, when accepted, gives us the strength always to do what is right and good.
  21. Students will learn God's grace is made available to us through prayer and frequent participation in the Sacraments, especially Reconciliation and Holy Communion. (CCC 1422 ff; 1322 ff)
  22. Students will learn about examples from the lives of Jesus, Mary and the saints related to family life.
  23. Students will increase their ability to examine their consciences daily in the light of their awareness of right and wrong and how to grow toward a correct conscience that is neither lax nor scrupulous.
  24. Students will continue to have opportunities to prepare themselves for a worthy and fruitful reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
  25. Personal, Health, and Safety
  26. Students will recognize all human beings grow and develop in a given sequence but that rates and patterns vary with each individual.
  27. Students will learn about the importance of hygiene and other practices to maintain a healthy body.
  28. Students will learn about communicable diseases, degrees of contagiousness, and risk for a variety of diseases (e.g., malaria, measles, flu, common cold)*.
  29. Students will recognize the moral and physical dangers of substance abuse, e.g., alcohol, drugs, inhalants, nicotine, food, etc.
  30. Students will be reinforced in the importance of avoiding bad situations and in ways of avoiding those situations.
  31. Students will be able to name significant adults with whom they can share important information.
  32. Students will learn to tell parents and/or teachers when anyone touches them and says it is a secret and not to tell anyone.**

*Note to Teacher: Sexually transmitted diseases/viruses (including AIDS) are discussed in a later grade.
**Note to Teacher: This topic is meant for safety instruction, not discussion regarding private body parts.

Character, Family, and Social

  1. Students will be reinforced in the idea that their goal in life is to do the best they can with the gifts God has given them.
  2. Students will identify family members and their responsibilities in contributing to the success of the family.
  3. Students will review that according to God’s plan children are to be raised in a loving family unit consisting of a father, a mother and the child/children (CCC 2202).* At the same time, students will recognize that it is sometimes necessary to be raised by grandparents, single parents, or others.
  4. Students will identify that their family cares for them: spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually.
  5. Students will be encouraged to investigate their own family's history and traditions.
  6. Students will learn the importance of following established family rules for activities with friends.
  7. Students will identify what makes a good friendship and the importance of including others in their group.
  8. Students will learn the benefits of positive peer pressure--helping one another do what is right and good.
  9. Students will learn elements of self-worth, fairness and justice, caring and compassion, social responsibility, personal integrity, pursuit of excellence, and appropriate expression of rights and responsibilities.
  10. Students will learn practical applications of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) and the theological virtues (faith, hope, charity). (CCC 1805, 1813)

* Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).