Catholic Life and Mission
Encounter:
Bishop Patrick McKinney invites us to find opportunities to encounter Christ in all that we do and to grow closer to Him through these connections.
From Advent 2023 until the end of the Advent term 2024, we journeyed through a whole year of Encounter to tie-in with the Year of Preparation for the Jubilee focusing on prayer in its many forms.
Discipleship:
A disciple of Christ is to become like Christ in all that we say and do. Being a disciple means we have to take the time to get to know Jesus through prayer, action, reaction and interaction. At Saint Mary’s, we spread and celebrate the word of God through our prayer and liturgies as well as through our actions and words.
During the Jubilee Year, which began on Christmas Eve 2024 and lasted until the Feast of the Epiphany (6th January) 2026, our bishop’s theme was Discipleship. During the Jubilee year, we concentrated on themes such as care for creation, food poverty, forgiveness, and rest and worship.
Missionary Discipleship:
With a greater recognition of, and openness to, the help, guidance, and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can all become Missionary Disciples; faith-filled, joyful and outward-looking Christians. At saint Mary’s, we are Missionary Disciples when we bear witness to His love through our service of our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need. Our pupils are always incredibly generous, and we are delighted to be able to support a range of charities throughout the year.
From 7th January 2026 until the end of Ordinary Time, our new bishop’s theme will be Missionary Discipleship which means we will be working hard on putting our faith into action this year. We hope to complete our CAFOD Live Simply journey during this year of Missionary Discipleship.
Here is our whole school display which we made to celebrate the Bishop’s theme of Encounter.
The Jubilee Year was a wonderful celebration within the global church. We held a special retreat day in school, joined in with CMAT and diocesan events and explored lots of themes linked to the Jubilee.
Here are some links which we used to help us journey through the Jubilee year.
Official website for the Jubilee Year.
Family prayer resources provided by CAFOD.
In the year preceding the Jubilee, we engaged with the Year of Prayer. Our pupils often make spontaneous use of the prayer areas around school and engage well with any prayerful opportunities provided.
Our pupils particularly enjoyed taking part in the Diocesan Our Father project, for which they were invited to share the Our Father in their home language in a creative way.
Helping Those in Need
Our pupils and their families always respond generously to any charity work we undertake in school. Often, our pupils suggest charities or projects which they want to support. For example, some of the children in our school wanted to help raise funds to help families from Ukraine. They organised a bake sale to raise as much money as possible. Parents brought in donations of cakes, biscuits, cookies etc and the children sold them to their peers at break time. As there were so many donations received, the children were also able to hold a further sale to parents after school!
We have also taken part in the Mission Kenya appeal and Big Lent Walk for CAFOD along with many more charitable projects.
Every year during Lent, our school takes part in a Living Stations of the Cross through which the school community can reflect on the arrest, trial, suffering and death of Jesus.
During May, we organise a Living Rosary in school. This is always a beautiful event and something which the whole school community enjoy. Each class helps the rest of the school to explore a mystery of the Rosary in a creative way. Sometimes this is held in our parish church and on other occasions it has been held either in our school hall or on the playground.
During Advent 2024, our pupils all designed and created a decoration which was used to decorate the Christmas Tree in church. We also changed our prayer stations to reflect the liturgical season and we enjoyed performing nativity plays to parents and visitors and we made Christmas cards for our families and for a local care home.
