Liturgical Life at St. Mary's
Here at St. Mary’s liturgy is the dynamic heart of the school. It reinforces the Catholic ethos of the school and its importance it obvious to the whole community. It is crucial to ensure that as many people as possible are involved in liturgies so that worshipping God is a truly communal activity.
As a Catholic school we have a duty to ensure that students have the opportunity to take part in Mass on Holy Days of Obligation, to celebrate important events in the life of the school and to give students the opportunity to take part in liturgies which help to promote the school’s Catholic identity, for instance through Form Masses, Form Prayer Time, attending retreats and in Year 9 going on Pilgrimage.
Students are enabled to engage actively in worship and sharing the Word of God. This reinforces the importance and relevance of these within their own lives and gives them the chance to serve and minister to their peers and to staff as well. Students are encouraged to use their gifts and talents to help the whole community of St. Mary’s to access liturgy through different media e.g. music, dance, art, drama, ICT and so on – we all learn in a variety of ways and so need to experience liturgy being presented to us in different ways.
Liturgy is an important part of our outreach. This year for the first time we had a Parents’ Retreat Day, which proved to be a great success, and which we hope to make a biennial event. Starting with Year 7 Form Masses for 2007, we have had great pleasure in welcoming family members to Mass in the Chapel, and this will be carrying on up the school. In addition to this, the annual Advent Service which the school holds in St. Joseph’s Parish Church helps to strengthen ties between Parish and school. Sixth Form students also attend the morning Parish Mass at St. Joseph’s and increasingly parishioners are attending the Holy Day Masses which the school conducts in the church and they are a most welcome part of the congregation.
Help from parents is always gratefully received and should you wish to volunteer to help with either the Year 7 and Year 8 retreats or the Year 9 Pilgrimage, do please contact either:
Mrs. TM Stickland – School Liturgist or Mr. AG Basey – Subject Leader for Religious Education and Assistant Headteacher at the school.
Parents who have helped with these events invariably enjoy them thoroughly and want to help with more. We now have a marvellous team of parents who help us whenever they can and perform an invaluable service for the school, whilst at the same time getting a lot out of the experience on a personal level.
To downlaod a copy of the School Faith Journal: click here
KS4 Gifted & Aided in Religous Studies: -Student's work - Celebration of The Holocaust at The Northwood Synagogue. Click here and here and here
