Bishop Ray Browne has launched Catholic Schools Week in Faha Primary School with a prayer service reflecting this year’s theme – Care for our Common Home. Students with the help of their teachers prepared art work, songs and prayers. The school demonstrated it warm welcoming atmosphere and its central Catholic ethos through a beautifully presented and illustrated prayer service. Excerpts from the service will be aired on Horizons Sunday 29th at 9 on Radio Kerry and can also be listened to on the Diocesan website: dioceseofkerry.ie. Faha School is situated in the parish of Milltown/Listry and the school is four miles from the village of Milltown. Bishop Ray Browne addressed second class to sixth class students of the school saying:
We are concerned about climate change, pollution, and creatures becoming extinct. We have one big home and we must look after the home and every family member. We want every person to have a good life to be happy and fulfilled. This is Catholic Schools Week and our schools are very good and do good work. This is acknowledged by the array of flags outside the schools, demonstrating your commitment to Green Schools, recycling, conservation and your care for creation….
The schooling of the person involves the school the parents and the local community. Parents are the primary educators….
Catholic Schools week is an opportunity to appreciate our schools. Thank God for our schools, the children, the staff, The Board of Management, the families and the whole local community. Let us give of our best in the service of all our children in education.
The Theme
The full heading is: Learning with Pope Francis to care for our common home. This theme has been informed by Laudato Si’, the 2015 encyclical by Pope Francis on care for our common home.
Catholic Schools Week is an annual all-Ireland celebration which invites schools to give expression in an exceptional way to the ethos of Catholic education. It acknowledges the tremendous contribution that our Catholic primary and post-primary schools make, not just to Irish society, but to the mission of the Church.
Catholic Schools Week takes place from 29 January to 4 February and special educational resources have been prepared to support students and teachers at primary and at post-primary level. A dedicated Face book page called ‘Catholic Schools Week’ shares resources and information about local events around the country and it offers useful analysis on Catholic education.
Laudato Si’ was the number one bestseller for Veritas in 2015 selling over 15,000 copies. The papal encyclical sold over 1,500 copies in 2016. Veritas, owned by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, is Ireland’s leading religious publisher and retailer. On Sunday 29 January Bishop Denis Nulty, Bishop of Kildare & Leighlin, will be the chief celebrant and preacher at Mass to mark the opening of Catholic Schools Week 2017. This Mass will be broadcast by RTÉ on radio and television from the Church of Saints Peter & Paul, Portlaoise, which has a capacity for 1,800 people.
CatholicSchoolsWeek: http://www.catholicbishops.ie/event/catholic-schools-week-2017/