New to Jesuit seniors in the fall of the 2017 school year are the three new Catholic Social Teaching courses: Environmental Justice, Peace and Conflict, and Economic Justice. Each class offers different topics on current issues.

Mr. Parker, who teaches Catholic Social Teaching: Peace and Conflict explains why Jesuit started these new theology courses; “Environment, Economics and Conflict are at the core needs that we a society and a Church need to address.” These courses are an interesting spin on a theology class, talking about hard hitting things in society, not just the history of the church.

Mrs. Elchlepp, a teacher of Catholic Social Teaching: Environmental Justice talks about how these courses are unique from any other theology course at Jesuit by saying, “The Catholic Social Teaching courses are unique from other theology courses because their focus is to look at issues of social injustice through the Catholic themes of injustice.” These courses look into real issues of our society giving students “new ways of perceiving social justice issues that align with both Catholic Social Teaching and Jesuit’s mission statement and Profile of the Grad.”

Senior Michael Miramontes says that “What makes Social Justice-Peace and Conflict unique is that it blends a few different topics of discussion-namely history, wars, and injustice into one course where we reference them interchangeably.” The students enjoy the classes because “the course isn’t as structured as some other courses, so it allows for more discussion, which I really enjoy.”

This course is a great course to take for seniors because it gives them the chance to take a break from the normal class by having discussions and studying fascinating topics that are sure to keep you interested.