School Charter
École Sainte-Marie Mère de Dieu is a private, non-profit school (organization № 1421835-3 established on July 18, 2022 according to the Canadian Not-for-profit Corporations Act, following the mandate of families wishing to continue the education of their children) of Roman Catholic confession which operates in Ottawa according to the grades established by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Its teaching seeks to obey the precepts of circular letters on education in connection with the Tradition of the Church.
“The identity of a Catholic school is a matter of conviction. Is faith 'tangible' in our schools?” — Benedict XVI, Address on Catholic Education, April 2008.
Code of Canon Law (1983), Canon 803, par. 2, where teaching and education in a Catholic school must be based on the principles of Catholic doctrine; teachers will stand out for the correctness of the doctrine and the integrity of their life.
Pius XI, Encyclicals Divini illius magistri and Rappresentati in terra of December 31, 1929, where the true Christian is this supernatural man who thinks, judges, acts consistently and with spirit, according to right reason enlightened by the supernatural light of the examples and doctrine of Christ. He develops his natural faculties and perfects them by coordinating them with the supernatural life in order to ennoble natural life. Education belongs to natural societies such as family and nation, and, supernaturally, to the Church regarding the law and rule of morals.
Catechism of the Council of Trent, 3rd par., ch. V, № 21, where religious and moral education is based on the teaching of the catechism and where parents are bound by duty to ensure that their children are instructed in the catechism. If parents are obliged to entrust the education of their children to others, they will remember their sacred duty in choosing establishments and teachers who are capable of fulfilling such functions.
Proverbs XXII, 6: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The Purpose of the School
École Sainte-Marie Mère de Dieu, an independent school, has as its mission the teaching of subjects required for the attainment of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma, "classical course" option, through the French of the Brothers of Christian Instruction, the Marist Brothers, and monks of monastic Tradition, advanced English, classical Latin, the catechism of Cardinal Gasparri, Catholic Culture, philosophy, history, Canadian and world studies, music, mathematics, and science, in accordance with the Church's law, Canon § 796, according to the pedagogical and academic freedom it enjoys. The school is not a diocesan school but rather an association of lay faithful of the Archdiocese of Ottawa. It has a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, Mediatrix of all graces and Mother of all the faithful, in whom it forms her Son. The purpose of the school is the formation of students through the discovery of their vocation and by the faithful observance of discipline and respect through love and patience. The formation of young people in the principles of Christian virtue must be founded on charity according to the eternal words of Saint Paul: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" — I Cor. XIII, 1.
Care will be taken to ensure that the academic and spiritual formation of students reaches its fullness in their ability to explain their faith and to identify the imperatives necessary for their future life, whether spiritual or temporal. To this end, the Church's right to Catholic education will be honored, among other things by fostering the culture of faith, knowledge, and action, and through a life of daily prayer. The school wishes to support Christian families in the education of their children and not to replace the role of parents who are the primary educators.
The School is placed under the protection of the Virgin Mary, Holy Mother of God, and its motto "Fides, Scientia, Actio" (Faith, Knowledge, Action) illustrates the ultimate end of its pedagogical intentions, that of an enlightened faith, knowledge inspired by faith, and a future life made up of actions exalted by faith and knowledge.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.