Religion I

Instructor: Amanda Murillo

Credit: Year-long course – 1 credit

Religion I will introduce students to the life and work of St. John Baptist de la Salle.  As the founder of the Christian Brothers, the order that began Cathedral High School, St. John Baptist tried to instill in his students a sense of Christian morality and commitment to service.  In this portion of the class, students will explore what it means to be studying at a LaSallian school and about the global LaSallian community.

Students will then study the Old Testament and its meaning for their lives today.  This portion of the class will begin by exploring how the Catholic Church interprets Sacred Scripture, as well as the early history and geography of the Israelite people.  During this time, students will acquire the skills and information they need to better understand the Old Testament, and Sacred Scripture as a whole.  As the semester continues, students will begin to read and study the Old Testament itself, as they connect the events found in the Old Testament with those found in the New Testament, as well as to their everyday lives.

During the second semester, students will begin to study foundational Church teachings as presented in the Apostle’s Creed.  As students gain a better understanding of what the teachings of the Church mean, they will also gain a better understanding of the implications that these teachings have on their daily lives. 

Religion II

Instructor: Michael Woznicki, Amanda Murillo, Gabe Saucedo

Credit: Year-long course – 1 credit

This course will cover the New Testament and Catholic Church history.  The aim of the course is for students to encounter Christ in the New Testament and His presence in Church History.  The course will cover the person and teachings of Christ as it is shown in the Gospels, Pauline letters, History, and Apostolic Tradition.  The Course will also cover the Luminous Mysteries of the public life of Christ and cover the fundamental Doctrines and Dogmas about Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.  

The second semester will cover Catholic Church history.  The course will cover a historical survey of the Church from its primitive beginnings with St. Peter the first Pope in Jerusalem (c. 33 A.D.) to the current Pontificate of Pope Benedict the XVI. The course will trace the providence of God in the major events, ideas, and Saints that went into the shaping of Christ’s Church.

Religion III

Instructor: Michael Woznicki

Credit: Year-long course: 1 Credit

This course will teach Catholic Morality and Catholic Social Teaching.  The main goal of the course is help students to live as moral Disciples of Christ and to live the Gospel in their modern world by improving their moral judgment.  The first Semester of the course is focused on the fundamentals of Catholic Morality with Sacred Tradition and Scripture.  The course will go into a wide range of internal and external moral issues that are presented by the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the General teachings of Christ and His Holy Catholic Church. 

The second semester will focus on the universal laws of morality and how they find their completion in Christ.  The second semester covers Catholic Social Justice.  This section of the course will address major social justice issues from a Catholic perspective that includes: abortion, capital punishment, racism, poverty, euthanasia, genocide, sex, workers rights, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning, immigration, and human rights in general.       

Religion IV

Instructor:  Gabe Saucedo

Credit: Year-long course – 1 credit

In light of today’s ever changing society it is important to understand the differences of people in the world. The increased immigration of people from throughout the world into the United States has change the dynamic of today’s society, especially when it comes to the religious beliefs of those people. This directly affects the Catholic man’s traditional thoughts and actions.

The Senior Religion course will have two components. The First will involve the exploration of the religions of the world. Students will dig into the major religions of the world such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as some religions that may not be as popular such as Hinduism, Buddhism and if we have time we will look at some Chinese and Japanese religions as well. This will give students a great understanding of what other people believe and through experience will enhance and strengthen their own Catholic beliefs.

The second component will deal with giving the tools young men need to become active members of the Catholic community (Church). Here students will take their new found knowledge of other faiths and help the students understand what this new knowledge means to them as Catholic men and how to continue to grow towards Christ in every aspect of their lives through active participation in the Church today.

Community Service

Community service is strongly encouraged, but does not increase a student’s grade for Religion.

Biographies

Michael Woznicki Religion - Department Chair

Mr. Woznicki was proudly raised in San Jose, California.  Mr. Woznicki was studying to be a graphic artist, but was lead by God to see the true desire of his heart which was to help young people to know God.   He went to study with the Franciscans of Franciscan University of Steubenville Ohio where he received his two degrees in Theology and Catechetics.  Mr. Woznicki is also currently working on his Master of Education Administration at The University of Texas El Paso.  Mr. Woznicki has been working with young people for 12 years.  Serving in everything from parish youth ministry to inner city youth ministry.  Mr. Woznicki started teaching at Cathedral in 2007-2008, and this will be his fifth year teaching at Cathedral.  He is extremely proud that he was mentored by Bro. Mel, Bro. Al, and Bro. Fred.  Aside from teaching Religion, he started and currently coaches the Cathedral Irish Rugby team since 2008.  The rugby team is open to all students, and competes against local and nationally recognized teams.  The team exists to encourage student’s fidelity to their faith and their brothers on team.  This year, he is also excited to be serving as the Religion Department Chair. 

Amanda Murillo - Campus Minister

Mrs. Murillo was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, graduating from Coronado High School.  She was given the blessing of studying at the University of Notre Dame, where she was sure she was going to major in math and become a high school math teacher.  Then she took her first theology class and well, the rest is history.  Mrs. Murillo received a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, with a supplementary major in Theology from Notre Dame, was then given the opportunity to continue her studies, and received a Master of Arts in Theology from the same university.  Through her Masters program, she was asked to work at a parish right outside of Houston, Texas called Holy Family Church.  While at this church, she assisted in Middle School CCE Classes (bilingual), the RCIA program, Sacramental Preparation for second graders, Confirmation classes and preparation, as well as in the church's high school and middle school youth groups.   It was here that her desire to help young people grow in their faith truly began to grow.  Mrs. Murillo started working at Cathedral in the 2007-2008 school year, and this will be her fifth year working here.  Aside from teaching religion, Mrs. Murillo is the moderator for Irish for Mary, which was established in 2007 by a former student.  Irish for Mary focuses on faith, service and brotherhood.  Students in Irish for Mary participate in opportunities for prayer, in different service projects which help the local community and the school, and in fun activities outside of the school.  All students are encouraged and welcome to join.  This year, I am also excited to be working as Campus Minister, where I will coordinate retreats, school Masses and service projects for our students, with the assistance of two LaSallian volunteers, Mr. Buckley and Mr. Napier. 

Gabriel Saucedo

Mr. Saucedo is a 1990 graduate of Cathedral High School.  After graduating from Cathedral he went on to Benedictine College (BC) and played baseball in Atchison, KS (about 45 minutes northwest of Kansas City, MO.). He graduated from BC in 1995 with a double major in Psychology and Spanish.  Mr. Saucedo began a coaching career at Benedictine and coached baseball from 1995-1997.   He came back to El Paso in 1997 and worked in finance as well as part time coaching at EPCC from 1997-1999.

In 1999, He got married to Claudia Guzman and almost one year to the day they had their first child. They both have been blessed with a total of four beautiful children and one on the way in September 2011(Anaiz Esperanza 11, Mia Amorette 9, Gabriel II 6, Bianaca Faith 3, & Olivia Grace in the womb). The Saucedo family has grown to Love their Catholic faith together as a family and are proud to call El Paso their home. The Saucedo’s are active members of their Church community at Santo Nino Catholic Church.  This past July Mr. and Mrs. Saucedo celebrated their 12^th year of marriage and Mr. Saucedo can with excitement say that he cannot wait to get old together.

During this time Mr. Saucedo has had several positions within the business world and even managed to become a GM for a fortune 500 company.  When the “economic turmoil” hit in 2008 he lost his job.  Late in 2008 he began working at Our Lady of Assumption in north central El Paso where he became their P.E. Coach/Athletic Director and middle school religion teacher. Mr. Saucedo worked their up until May of 2011.  He is also currently enrolled in a Masters program for Religious Education through the diocese of El Paso in conjunction with Loyola University in New Orleans and scheduled to graduate with in the winter of 2013.  While he continues on with his education he hopes to give back to his Alma Mater as much as it has given to him. Mr. Saucedo says, “My prayer is that God gives me the wisdom to teach well and the will to persevere for years to come at Cathedral High School.”