The Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies (CCRS) is a certificate awarded by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
It is designed:
- for teachers who will be in Catholic schools, so that they may have a basic understanding of the church, its teaching and way of life, to enable them to contribute to the maintenance of the ethos of the Catholic school;
- for catechists, to give them a basic understanding of the faith of the Catholic Church, as a foundation for their ministry; and
- for adult members of the church, to enable them to continue to grow in understanding and living their catholic faith.
It does not automatically carry academic credits, but some Universities offer it as a component of another academic award.
The Course is offered in all five Catholic Colleges of Higher Education and at centres in every diocese in England and Wales.
It is traditionally thought of as a pre-requisite for a job as a teacher in a Catholic School. However, schools will often employ non-CCRS teachers, or ask newly employed teachers to work towards the award.
Famous quotes containing the words catholic, certificate, religious and/or studies:
“The Catholic Church has never really come to terms with women. What I object to is being treated either as Madonnas or Mary Magdalenes.”
—Shirley Williams (b. 1930)
“God gave the righteous man a certificate entitling him to food and raiment, but the unrighteous man found a facsimile of the same in God’s coffers, and appropriated it, and obtained food and raiment like the former. It is one of the most extensive systems of counterfeiting that the world has seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... these great improvements of modern times are blessings or curses on us, just in the same ratio as the mental, moral, and religious rule over the animal; or the animal propensities of our nature predominate over the intellectual and moral. The spider elaborates poison from the same flower, in which the bee finds materials out of which she manufactures honey.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“What happiness did poor Mother’s studies bring her? It is the melancholy tendency of such studies to separate people from their friends and neighbors and fellow creatures in whom alone lies one’s happiness.”
—Mary Potter Playne (c. 1850–?)