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Around about this time of
year in our primary schools, the top classes look at the life of the
parish, the local church that they belong to. One of the aims of the
lessons is to get them to identify things in the Church, bringing
them to awareness and understanding of what it is about.
Surprisingly they notice quite a lot: organisations, things that go
on in church, people that got to church. On occasions such as these
I have taken the opportunity to speak to them about the history of
the Church: how old the church is, when the parish is founded, why
they chose the name St Bride’s. In case you didn’t know it the
church is 108 years old and the parish was founded 130 years ago and
the reason that they chose St Bride was because most of the people
were Irish, so they chose an Irish saint. One of the questions that
I also ask them is what was the one of the first things the people
did in those early days ? The answer was that they built a school.
The question then becomes why did they build a school? Could they
not have found other things to do with the small amounts of money
they had? The answer is that they believed in education, they
believed in Catholic schools.
They believed that education and schooling was important for a human
being. They believed that it is important to know things in order to
progress in life. They believed that it was important to get the
tools that were necessary to advance in life. Like a building which
lasts the test time because it has secure foundations, so education
provided that for an individual. No matter where they were good or
bad at school, intelligent or not intelligent the idea was to leave
with the things that were necessary. Behind it all was a belief that
education raised up a person; education enabled a person to achieve
things; education gave people potential.
At the heart of this education was Catholic education. A belief that
education and Catholic education ran alongside the normal things of
an educated life. That while being trained in ordinary things you
could be trained in religious education. That in the context of the
Catholic school you could have professional teaching of religious
education, preparation for the sacraments, prayers, a daily teaching
of religious education. That in the ordinary educational day, they
would be educated to know and love God. What an aspiration and what
an achievement over the years.
In choosing to build this building this is what the Catholic
community was saying and has continued to say over the years, itt
believes in education, it believes in Catholic education.
Its by no coincidence that on Catholic education Sunday we have as
the Gospel the calling of the first apostles of our Lord. There is
much that is interesting about this passage. The Lord calls and
chooses his friends. He is going to to give them a new task to be
fishers of men. They are going to be following him listening
learning watching, being taught by him.
Is this not the very heart of every school to learn, to watch, to
listen, to be taught? Does not every school thrive on the eagerness
of teachers to teach and the eagerness of pupils to teach and learn?
At the heart of the Catholic School is not a simple desire to
achieve or to be good. At the heart of our school is Christ who
calls us and teaches us. The school will be good and achieve if it
keeps its centre and heart. It wont be good, if the name is just a
handle on a jug.
There are challenges for a Catholic school: good leadership, good
management, good committed teachers, good interesting lessons, good
ethos, good committed parents, a supportive parish community.
On certain days you can see how that great vision of the Catholic
school works. On First Communion day, on days when the children
receive the sacrament, this is an extraordinary meeting. In a times
when we do our own things, when people are mainly interested in
individual things, people are brought together family, school,
parish community, wider community. God brings people together in a
wonderful unity of mind and purpose. The school has an important
part to play in all of this.
The Gospel presents us with this picture: God calls, God teaches and
we eagerly drop everything and learn. Is that not a great model of
what the Catholic school is all about – teaching and learning.
Prayers of Intercession: 3 Sunday in OT
Priest
By the sea of Galilee our Lord calls his first disciples, they leave
their nets and follow him. May we eagerly follow the Lord, listen,
watch and learn what he teaches us
Intercessor
God calls us to be the Church – may we learn how live and teach the
faith in these present times
We pray to Lord
For our Catholic school communities, that they may live up to the
challenges to be both places of education and places where God is
known, loved and served.
We pray to the Lord
For young people attending Catholic schools and institutions that
they may recognise that their welfare is at the heart of our school
communities.
We pray to the Lord
For all of us, that we may take responsibility for our Catholic
education and instruction which goes on throughout our lives – that
we may nourish our minds and hearts with things that make our faith
grow
We pray to the Lord
For all who lead, all who teach, and all who work in our Catholic
schools – that they may provide a place where pupils are supported
and learn.
We pray to the Lord
For all who have taught in Catholic schools, that God may reward
them for their efforts to teach the young.
We pray to the Lord
For all who have died recently and all whose anniversaries occur at
this time.
We pray to the Lord
Priest
Heavenly Father, you call us, as the apostles were called to know
your friendship. We have beun the journey, sustain us throughout the
journey that we may see things right through to the end.
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