We had an interesting discussion with members of the SRC yesterday when reviewing the results of the student data from our recent school improvement survey. The topic of the importance of prayer was raised, and how, at times, this can seem like a chore – especially in our daily Pastoral Care groups.
It’s quite natural for anything that we do regularly to feel mechanical and we may experience prayer in different ways. Even for the same person, prayer may have a different effect on different days depending on what we have going on in our lives. It is our role as a Catholic school to provide opportunities for our students to experience prayer and have Christ at the centre.
We are realistic in that for many of our students, our College may be the only formal link between families and the Church. As a school, we ask ourselves, what does it mean to be a Christ-centred Catholic school? What differentiates us from our secular counterparts?
One way of understanding our “Christ-centred” mission is seeing our schools as:
Bringing Christ to our students and staff … bringing our students and staff to Christ …and bringing Christ into the world. One of these opportunities in our everyday practice for ourselves and our students is through prayer.
It is an ongoing area of reflection for us as we go through our College Improvement Workshops. Thanks to our students for their input on this topic at our recent SRC meeting.
Mrs Emily Sass
Director of Faith & Ministry
esass@mrc.tas.edu.au