AHA - Science and Religion Seminar
January, 2015
Four teachers from the Academy of the Holy Angels in Demarest have been selected to attend the 2015 Science and Religion Seminar this June hosted by The Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in collaboration with the Catholic Education Institute in New York. The five day program, entitled “Science and Religion: Strangers, Rivals, or Partners in the Search for Truth?” is designed for Catholic school teachers of biology, physics, chemistry and religion who wish to explore the intersection between science and religion more deeply. A limited number of teachers were selected from nationwide pool after an extensive application process. Candidates were required to submit detailed essays describing the ways in which their school’s mission, curriculum and programs currently explore the connections between science and theology.
According to Principal Jennifer Moran, the timing could not be better as the seminar reflects the direction that the school has been taking in developing its curriculum for the past few years. AHA recently expanded its STEM program (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) to include Art and Religion (STREAM). One of the goals of this new program is to offer a value laden curriculum that will foster ethical judgment, moral decision making and the kind of integrity that weds knowledge to social justice. AHA Biology teacher Mrs. Maureen Ferrara expressed her strong conviction that STREAM more closely accomplishes this and that participating in this seminar will be of tremendous value to her and her fellow educators at AHA. “I feel that STEM neglects other critical skills that students learn from languages, the arts and religion that are key to their overall development and to our mission in educating the whole person. Participation in this program will advance that initiative tremendously.”
Pictured left to right are Mrs. Nancy Brizzolara (Chemistry Teacher and Science Chairperson), Ms. Carol Fay (Religious Studies Teacher and Department Chairperson, Dr. Martha Weinstein (Physics and Chemistry Teacher) and Mrs. Maureen Ferrara (Biology Teacher).
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