Mercy Core

Courses

CORE 101: Leading with Mercy

This course introduces students to the College of Saint Mary (CSM) community; helps students discover what it means to be a CSM student in light of the CSM mission, the Sisters of Mercy’s Critical Concerns, and women’s leadership; and assists students in applying these values to their personal and professional lives.

Transfer Students: Students transferring with 30 or more earned credits, or who already hold a degree, are exempt from Core 101 but must complete a designated Core 200-level course within their first year of enrollment.

CORE 205: Bodies in Christian Theology

This course explores the varied ways that Christians have responded to the reality of human embodiment, especially the human experiences of sexuality and illness or disability. This course draws upon the mystery of the Incarnation to explore the questions, "How do Christians demonstrate care or concern for the body as well as the soul? What happens when Christians devalue or overvalue particular bodies?"

CORE 220: Church and Social Justice

The social teachings of the Church have often been depicted as its best kept secret. Church and Social Justice explores the social teachings of the Church and their application to the concrete economic, social, and political problems of the contemporary world. The course focuses on social issues such as poverty, hunger, racism, immigration, war, the environment, and workers' and human rights.

CORE 227: Christian Ritual and Sacrament

This course will focus on the study of the nature of religious symbols and ritual, in particular Christian rituals and sacraments, in terms of their foundations in human experience and in their history within the Church. This course will also include a comparative study of Christian rituals with other multi-cultural rituals or those of other religions.

CORE 265: Theology and the Environment

This course takes as its starting point an acknowledgment that the planet, a gift from God, is in a state of grave peril because of climate change and other threats. The course draws upon interpretation of central biblical texts on creation, as well as historical and contemporary theology, to construct a contemporary theology and ethics of the environment.