Catholic Education Week 24 – 30 July 2022

Celebrated annually in Week 3 of Term 3, Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all 313 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

This prayer for Catholic Education Week comes to us from Franciscan Schools Australia:

Creator God, bless all educators and people who work in Catholic schools today.

May your love embrace them all as we give thanks for their faith, dedication, patience and resilience.

May they be inspired by Christ the teacher, to continue to accompany young people in their schools with gentleness and compassion.

Grant that all schools, through the example of Christ the servant leader, be places that foster community, faith, hope and love.

In the words of Pope Francis, may we all be inspired during this week and throughout the year to become ‘people of thought, people of action, people of faith, people of hope, people of love, people of the construction of a better world’ as we embrace ALL OF CREATION.

Amen

Mary MacKillop Feast Day

A great example for us in Catholic education is Mary MacKillop.  Mary MacKillop was declared by Pope Benedict XVI to be Australia’s first canonised Saint. Pope Francis once called for all people of goodwill to “live fully, to choose to leave a mark.” This is something that Mary MacKillop indelibly did, transforming the lives of the poor and those most in need, when she, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph, opened the schools that went on to create the foundation of education in this country today.

“We must teach more by example than by word.” Mary MacKillop 1867

God of all blessings, you revealed in Mary MacKillop a sensitivity to the rights and dignity of every person, regardless of race or creed. May we learn from her to overcome the obstacles of prejudice and fear. Help us to value the goodness of each person and all the blessings of unity in diversity.
We ask this through the depth and unity of you, our bountiful God, who hold all things in being. 

Amen