Values and Virtues – The Catholic life of our school

What is Catholic life?

A Catholic school is a community of love and hope. It provides young people with a Catholic education, which perceives life as a faith journey. The ultimate aim of a Catholic school is to develop the full potential of all young people, leading to their life-long activities being guided by the Spirit and presence of Christ, in the service of God and of others.

Catholic education is distinctive in placing all learning and teaching in a Catholic moral context and in both challenging and supporting young people to develop in mind, body and spirit. The role of a Catholic school is to help everyone in the school community to discover the true value and dignity of each and every human being who, loved by God, has a mission on earth and a destiny which is eternal.  The Catholic school is an open community, concerned with the education of the whole person. It presents a unique, clear vision of God, people and life, centered on Gospel values and reflective of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Hence, the formation of each person is regarded as being as important as the information which is transmitted through the teaching offered.

The Catholic school is supported in its mission by the active partnership of the home, the school and the parish. Together, they provide support for the faith community, helping to form and develop in all a mature Christian conscience, and in addressing the increasingly secular influences of popular culture.

Values and virtues

The values are displayed in every class. Children are encouraged to ‘Live out’ these values in school and at home. Two virtues are given particular emphasis each half term. These are explored within class liturgies and made reference to during RE teaching.

We hope that, in turn, learning and appreciating these Gospel values will help some of the older children in their RE, as well as their Catholic Life, to incorporate into their writing, helping them to make links and show an understanding of their beliefs.

A Catholic school is a community of love and hope. It provides young people with a Catholic education, which perceives life as a faith journey. The ultimate aim of a Catholic school is to develop the full potential of all young people, leading to their life-long activities being guided by the Spirit and presence of Christ, in the service of God and of others.
Catholic education is distinctive in placing all learning and teaching in a Catholic moral context and in both challenging and supporting young people to develop in mind, body and spirit. The role of a Catholic school is to help everyone in the school community to discover the true value and dignity of each and every human being who, loved by God, has a mission on earth and a destiny which is eternal.

The Catholic school is an open community, concerned with the education of the whole person. It presents a unique, clear vision of God, people and life, centered on Gospel values and reflective of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Hence, the formation of each person is regarded as being as important as the information which is transmitted through the teaching offered.

The Catholic school is supported in its mission by the active partnership of the home, the school and the parish. Together, they provide support for the faith community, helping to form and develop in all a mature Christian conscience, and in addressing the increasingly secular influences of popular culture.

Liturgical Year

As an integral part of our Catholic ethos, all pupils are made aware, throughout the school year, of the changes and celebrations relating to the Church’s Liturgical Year. These events are highlighted in our sacred space in our assembly hall and in every classroom’s personal sacred space. The children are aware of the liturgical changes with the changing colours of our cloths and displays.

Advent

From evening prayer 1 of the Sunday falling on or closest to the 30 November (The First Sunday of Advent) and ends before evening prayer 1 of Christmas, on 24 December, There are 4 Sundays of Advent.
Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ’s first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time.  Advent is thus a period for devout and joyful expectation.

Christmas

From evening prayer 1 of Christmas, ( celebrated on the evening of 24 December, the beginning of the liturgical day of 25 December – Birth of the Lord) to Baptism of the Lord (Sunday after the Solemnity of the Epiphany).  Next to the yearly celebration of the paschal mystery, the Church holds most sacred the memorial of Christ’s birth and early manifestations. This is the purpose of the Christmas season.

Ordinary Time

From the Monday following the Baptism of the Lord to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The Sundays in Ordinary Time are numbered consecutively from the Baptism of the Lord.  The Sundays of this season do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Instead they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. continues after the season of Easter.

​Lent

From Ash Wednesday until the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on the evening of Holy Thursday. There are 6 Sundays of Lent.

Lent is a preparation for the celebration of Easter. For the Lenten liturgy disposes both catechumens and the faithful to celebrate the paschal mystery: catechumens, through the several stages of Christian initiation; the faithful, through reminders of their own baptism and through penitential practices.
Holy Week, which begins on the 6th Sunday of Lent, Passion [Palm] Sunday, has as its purpose the remembrance of Christ’s passion, beginning with his Messianic entrance into Jerusalem.

​Easter Triduum

Begins with the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil and concludes with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday.  Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life. Therefore the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year. The solemnity of Easter has the kind of pre-eminence in the year that Sunday has in the week.

​Easter Season

The Easter season begins with a celebration of the Easter Vigil on Easter Sunday and concludes 50 days later with Pentecost Sunday. The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation as one feast day,or better as one ‘great Sunday’ These are above all others the days for the singing of the Alleluia.

Ordinary Time

From the Monday following Pentecost Sunday until the Saturday before the 1st Sunday of Advent. The last Sunday is the Solemnity of Christ the King which is Sunday 34 in Ordinary Time. The preceding Sundays are calculated to end with Sunday 34. The Sundays of this season do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Instead they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects.

Liturgical cycles

The Lectionary follows a Sunday and Weekday Cycle. The Sunday Cycle is 3-yearly and denoted by the letters A, B and C. Each year follows through one of the Gospels: A-Matthew, B-Mark, C-Luke. The Gospel of John is proclaimed on particular Sundays in each of the years. Weekdays in Ordinary Time follow a 2 year cycle numbered I and II. Year I is read in odd number years: year II in even ones.

Liturgical colours

There are 4 principal liturgical colours:

  • White is used in the the seasons of Easter and of Christmas; also on celebrations of the Lord (other than of his Passion), of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Holy Angels, and of Saints who were not Martyrs; on the solemnities of Trinity Sunday, All Saints (1 November) and of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist (24 June); and on the feasts of Saint John the Evangelist (27 December), of the Chair of Saint Peter (22 February), and of the Conversion of Saint Paul (25 January). It may in England & Wales be used for Funerals.

  • Red is used on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion and Good Friday, on Pentecost Sunday, on celebrations of the Lord’s Passion, on “birthday” feasts of the Apostles and Evangelists, and on celebrations of martyred Saints.

  • Green is used in Ordinary Time.

  • Violet is used in the seasons of Advent and of Lent. It may also be worn for Funerals.

  • Black may be used, where it is the practice, for Funerals.

  • Rose may be used, where it is the practice, on Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday of Advent) and on Laetare Sunday (Fourth Sunday of Lent).

  • On more solemn days, festive, that is, more precious, sacred vestments may be used, even if not of the colour of the day.