Catholic Schools Week has been celebrated in Ireland for the last five years. This annual event calls on Catholic schools to give expression in a special way to a particular aspect of Catholic education. This theme of Catholic Schools Week 2015 is ‘Catholic Schools: Called to Serve’ and this complements 2015 being the Year of Consecrated Life.
All Christians are called to serve their brothers and sisters. This means helping them to stand up and walk on their own, exorcising their fear of the unknown and expanding their minds through education. It entails feeding them when they are too weak to feed themselves, opening their eyes to the reality of life, challenging them to let go of hurts and prejudice, and liberating those who are unjustly oppressed. It involves introducing them to ever-greater horizons of transcendence and beauty. This is how we continue the healing ministry of Jesus so that ‘the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the good news is proclaimed to the poor’ (Lk 7:22).
Catholic schools are called to serve also. This year’s theme ‘Catholic Schools: Called to Serve’ lends itself to examine what we understand by service and who it is our schools serve. To this end, Catholic education is called to self-reflect and refresh its mission.
Serve, as a word, is a call to action. As a concept, to serve is an integral element of Jesus’ mission in the Gospels. Education is a platform from which all are called to serve – parents, teachers, students, community and the wider world. In particular, Catholic schools place at the centre of their ethos an identity with the mission of Jesus Christ, who continually calls all who hear his voice to serve.
To open Catholic Schools Week 2015 Bishop Donal McKeown, Bishop of Derry, will celebrate 10.15am Mass on 25 January in Saint Mary’s Church, Creggan, which will be broadcast by BBC Radio Ulster. Also on Sunday 25 January, Mass will be broadcast at 11.15am by RTÉ One Television with pupils from Saint Ultan’s, Cherry Orchard in Dublin.
Resources for Catholic Schools Week 2015
Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Schools
- Primary School Resource in English and Irish
- Catholic Schools Week Post Primary Resources – English
- Catholic Schools Week Post Primary Resources IRISH
- Poster for Catholic Schools Week 2015. Click here to download
- Evangelisation: Student Task – Social Media and Kindness. Click here to download
- Evangelisation: Student Task – ‘Go make disciples of all nations’. Click here to download
- Board of Management/Governors and Staff Time Out. Click here to download
Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Dioceses and Parishes:
- Suggestions for Diocesan Celebrations for Catholic Schools Week. Click here to download
- Celebrating Catholic Schools Week in Parishes. Click here to download
Liturgical materials for the Celebration of Catholic Schools Week
- Opening Prayer Service. Click here to download
- Closing Celebration. Click here to download
- Prayer Service to celebrate the Ministry of Teachers. Click here to download
- Grandparents Celebration (including prayer service). Click here to download
Live Stream for primary schools
There will be a live stream programme for all primary schools during Catholic Schools Week on Tuesday 27 January at 11:55 am on www.icatholic.ie.