Today we celebrated Catholic Schools Day by being part of a ‘Prayer Circle’ throughout Christchurch. Today, the Catholic Schools in Christchurch each selected a time that they would dedicate to praying for Catholic Schools so that throughout the day there would be continuous prayer. At St Anne’s, the Faith Team ran a prayer service in each classroom. A huge thank you to them for their efforts!

In his communication to all Catholic schools in Aotearoa New Zealand , Archbishop Paul Martin, SM, Coadjutor Archbishop of Wellington & Apostolic Administrator of Christchurch, said this: 

“We are very blessed to have such committed teachers and staff working together with parents for the faith development of our children. Our schools are part of something much bigger than themselves, namely the Catholic Church.

This community of faith finds its local expression in the parish and the school. It is in this context that we reflect on our schools as Tūrangawaewae, a place to stand… This is the place where we have a right and desire to belong to, it is Tūrangawaewae for all…

Our challenge is to see that our schools are places where our young people have every opportunity to experience God both personally and in the community…

As we reflect on our Catholic Schools and our mission, may we take the time to look at how we are doing that in our own communities, to celebrate where it is happening well, and to strive to see where we can achieve this even more fully, in this great calling and gift of Catholic education.”