Our Jesuit Identity

By graduation the Jesuit high school student will have a basic knowledge of the major doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. The graduate will also have examined his or her own religious feelings and beliefs with a view to choosing a fundamental orientation toward God and establishing a relationship with a religious tradition and/or community. What is said here, respectful of the conscience and religious background of the individual, also applies to the non-Catholic graduate of a Jesuit high school. The level of theological understanding of the Jesuit high school graduate will naturally be limited by the student's level of religious and human development.

More specifically, the Loyola student at graduation:

• has read the Gospels and encountered the person of Jesus Christ as He is presented in the New Testament.
• has a basic understanding of the Church's teaching about Jesus Christ and His redeeming mission, as well as the embodiment of that mission in and through the Church.
• has had some exposure to non-Christian and non-Catholic religious traditions.
• is beginning to take more responsibility for exploring and validating one's own faith.
• has had some personal experience of God, either in private prayer, while on a retreat, in liturgical prayer, or in some other moving experience; is learning how to express self in various methods of prayer.
• is beginning to form a Christian conscience and evaluate moral choices, and can reason through moral issues with increasing clarity.
• has begun to appreciate the centrality of the Eucharist to a vibrant Christian community.
• is learning through his or her own failure of the need for healing by and reconciliation with friends, family, Church, and the Lord.
• is at the beginning stages of understanding the relationship between faith in Jesus and being a “person for others."
• is familiar with Church teaching on social justice.