Pope John Paul II Catholic School is committed to forming the hearts and minds of children according to the teachings of our Catholic Faith. While children from different religious backgrounds are welcomed and respected at Pope John Paul II, each child will receive an education in our Catholic heritage which is faithful to Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Teaching Magisterium of the Bishops in communion with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

The center of the Catholic faith and spiritual life is the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. Students attend Holy Mass every Friday and shorter chapel services Monday through Thursday.

The curriculum we use is the Faith and Life series published by Ignatius Press. Please see the information below on the content covered in each grade level.

Ad majorem dei gloriam!
For the greater glory of God!

The Icon of the Hospitality of Abraham by Saint Andrei Rublev, 15th Century 

Grade One:  Our Heavenly Father

THEME: Introduction to the Trinity, with emphasis on the life of Jesus, the plan of salvation, and the child's part in the plan. Acquaints child with Mary, angels and saints. Child learns basic prayers.

AIM: To give the first grade student a basic introduction to God, the life of our Savior, and to prayer, with a special emphasis on growing to know, love, and trust God.

Grade Two: Jesus Our Life

THEME: Preparation for the first reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion, with the law of God and salvation history as background. The lesson emphasizes God's mercy and love. Covers Commandments, Creation and Redemption.

AIM: To prepare second grade students for Confession and Holy Communion, and to help them appreciate God's love for them shown in these two sacraments. There is an added emphasis on the order of the Mass and on prayer.

Grade Three: Our Life With Jesus

THEME: God's plan of salvation, from creation to the Incarnation and Redemption to the birth of the Church at Pentecost and our life in the Church. Special emphasis on the importance of Confession, Communion and the Mass.

AIM: To show the third grade students that they belong to God's chosen people and the child's family is an important part of God's family, the Church. Also, to encourage prayer and love for God's law.

Grade Four:  Jesus Our Guide

THEME: God's plan to save his people from sin (Salvation History), how we participate in that plan, and the many ways God helps us in our pilgrimage on earth to Heaven through his word, his law, and his Church.

AIM: To help fourth grade students understand their purpose and goal in life, and to see God's plan in history and society to lead us all to Heaven, our true, eternal home.

Grade Five:  Credo: I Believe

THEME: A thorough study of the articles of the Creed as the basic belief of our Catholic faith, with a special emphasis on careful understanding of definitions through the words of the Gospels, and the prophets, and the prayers of the Church.

AIM: To help fifth grade students acquire a solid and specific knowledge of God and his Church through the understanding of the Creed we profess, and the distinguished truths of our faith from error that leads away from love of God.

Grade Six: Following Christ

THEME: The blueprint for a life of love: the law of God, especially in the Ten Commandments, and the presence of Jesus in the Holy Mass. The interaction of the challenges of God's law and his gifts of grace that help us fulfill his law.

AIM: To help the sixth grade student learn to love the law as Christ did and to cherish and love the Mass as our best prayer to God, and especially to revere and adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Grade 7:  The Life of Grace

THEME: Grace as our link with God, his gift to us to bring us to Himself and his eternal life, with an emphasis on transmission of grace through the seven sacraments and on God's loving gifts of revelation, of himself through the prophets, the Incarnation, and the Church. The role of grace in developing the virtues.

AIM: To help seventh-grade students treasure the sacraments as indispensable to a full Christian life of love and truth. To understand how grace works and its relation to practicing the virtues, and to appreciate our gifts of reason and faith.

Grade 8: Our Life in the Church

THEME: The history of the Church--its founding by Christ, its birth in the Holy Spirit, the marks of the one, true Church, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the saints and the role of the religious and laity up to the present. The structure of the Church Jesus planned, the role of the Magisterium, the clergy, the religious and the laity and our own vocations.

AIM: To help eighth-grade students know and love the Church as Christ's Body, and respond to the teaching of the Magisterium as the sure voice of Jesus, so that young people may be strengthened through their lives in the Church to face the confusion and secularism of modern-day society.