All schools in the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board will be participating in The Development & Peace Schools Program. We are the first school board in all of Canada to make this commitment. The D & P School program focuses on helping Catholic schools engage in Social and Global Justice issues through the lens of their faith and is rooted in Catholic Social Teachings.

The D & P Program aligns with our spiritual plan, as outlined in the Strategic Plan. This program will help develop leadership skills rooted in our Catholic Social Teachings and provide opportunities for faith formation amongst the student population, and the school staff, by learning about ways we are called to serve others for the glory of God. Staff and students will make explicit connections between what they are doing and Catholic Church teaching.

Last year, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada developed a pilot program called Laudato Si’ which received great feedback from the schools who participated. They have revamped the program and it is now called Development & Peace Schools. The program consists of a series of world-changing challenges for which schools earn badges. Each badge corresponds to a particular theme of global/social justice. Pope Francis says that when we nurture these relationships, we promote an integral ecology that “takes us to the heart of what it is to be human.” Inspired by Laudato Si’, the D&P Schools Program provides concrete challenges to help students develop a global and social relationship and responsibility.

“Development and Peace is proud to be partnering with HPCDSB students and teachers to act for Global Justice through our new school programs. We hope the challenges will inspire [students] and help deepen [the] school’s relationships to God, to the poor and to the Earth!” – Luke Stocking, Director of Public Engagement Development and Peace