Category: Chaplaincy

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Red Wednesday 2020

In keeping with our longstanding partnership with Aid to the Church in Need, Turnbull High School celebrated Red Wednesday- a day to raise funds and awareness for Christians who are persecuted for their faith.

Our usual events were not possible this year but pupils made donations and wore red, the colour of martyrs, with their uniform to show solidarity with those who are oppressed, tortured and killed for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Following what has become a Red Wednesday custom across the UK, we lit up our oratory Red.

Our Aid to the Church in Need group led the event and did a great job with advertising. Joined by Fr Monaghan and Mr Pearce, the group also joined to pray the sorrowful mysteries of the Rosary, meditating on the suffering of Jesus and the suffering His Church.

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Patronal Feast Day 2020

Our Patronal Feast in 2020 was unusual for two reasons: the COVID restrictions prevented our customary celebrations and it was the first time that our feast day has fallen on a weekend!

As I am sure you know by now, no challenge holds us back at Turnbull and so we celebrated the Vigil of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and joined together through the miracle (!) of Microsoft Teams.

The day began with a service that was prepared by the S6 Caritas Class, following the theme of Catholic Education Week; Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Staff and students prayed together from their classrooms as the service was delivered through the smart board. The Caritas pupils challenged us to reflect on this unique claim of Jesus and our fidelity to following him as the only way to the Father and Truth incarnate.

To conclude, we renewed our Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary that was first made by Archbishop Tartaglia during our 40th anniversary and the centenary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima. His Grace kindly sent a video greeting and reflection and imparted his blessing on our School community. We were also thrilled to receive a lovely video message from the young people of St Matthew’s Primary school who were so articulate and kind. One day, they will be celebrating our Patronal Feast Day!

Period three, the Caritas class led the recitation of the Holy Rosary from different locations around the school where we have images and statues of Our Lady.

Last period all pupils engaged in a fun, inter-house quiz that was prepared by the Caritas pupils and as I type, Mr Cuthbertson is tallying the scores to determine this year’s winner.

As we raise our hearts to God, we reach out our hands to our neighbour and this year was the first year that we have collected baby clothes for the Cardinal Winning Pro-Life Initiative who help young families who are struggling.

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Confirmation Retreats 2020

This year, the RE & Chaplaincy department has had the unusual pleaser of preparing young people to receive the sacrament of confirmation. In anticipation of the delayed sacrament. we facilitated preparation in three ways

  • Class learning- providentially, S1 always learn in more depth about the sacraments of initiation at this time of year and so we augmented the class learning that would have been taking place.
  • Family learning- we made the resources for home learning available to S1 families through Show My Homework
  • S1 Retreats- S1 enjoyed a half day retreat which comprised of games, group tasks, drama and time for prayer and reflection. Despite the challenges of making a retreat fit the Covid restrictions, within their class bubbles, pupils had a great time, learned lots and spent time with God in prayer.

Highlights of the Confirmation Retreats can be seen in the following video:

 

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RE & Chaplaincy News October 2020

 

Things continue to run at a pace in the Religious Education department and in the wider faith life of our school. In order to maintain our spiritual growth under the current restrictions, our chaplaincy programme looks a little different this year. Weekly ‘Pray as you go’ meditations are posted on Show My Homework each week, Thursday Mass is running each week for BGE pupils and ‘Monday Meditation’ sessions aim to give senior phase pupils an opportunity to unwind while finding peace and reflection through praying with the scriptures.

It has been a delight to reinstate our Aid to the Church in Need group on Tuesday lunchtimes- the only group of its kind in Scotland. This group, currently aimed at S1 and 2, raises money and awareness for the plight of persecuted Christians around the world while having lots of fun! I have been very impressed by those who have joined or returned and warmly invite any interested S1/2 pupils to come along.

Our chaplaincy programme is integrated with our RE curriculum which follows the Liturgical Year. A highlight for all of us is the S1 Welcome Mass which is unable to take place this year. S1 study the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass each September and join together for a Class Mass with our chaplains so we decided to combine the two and have Class-Welcome-Masses! Under the guiding hand of Fr Monaghan and I, our new pupils put into practice all of the signs of reverence that they had learned about in class and participated very well in the liturgy. They received a prayer card bearing the school prayer which they can keep as a reminder that once you become part of the Turnbull family, you are always a part of the community. S3 have been studying the sacraments of healing and we are grateful to Canon Hill for making the sacrament of penance available to them.

As we continue to follow the liturgical and devotional year, pupils will have the opportunity to take time in RE to revisit the great gift of the Holy Rosary and participate in October devotions. It would be wonderful if this were a point of unity between school and home and as part of our Family Learning initiative, I invite you to pray the rosary together at home- a devotion which carries plenary indulgence!

Our Caritas class for 2020-21 have made an excellent start with their faith learning and have been exploring Pope Benedict’s encyclical ‘Deus Caritas Est’ or ‘God is Love.’ As their understanding matures through studying the sacred scriptures and the writings of the Fathers of the Church, pupils are finding ways of sharing their learning and putting the virtue of Charity into practise. A significant project that is underway for them is the organisation of Catholic Education Week celebrations, which culminate in our Patronal Feast Day.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to Mr Hughes who retired as Principal Teacher of Religious Education after 16 years of faithful service. Mr Hughes brought a great passion for the faith to the classroom and the wider life of the school that has influenced countless souls. We will miss Mr Hughes greatly and thank him for his fidelity to Christ and the teaching of the Gospel in a culture that is increasingly hostile to The Faith. Mr Hughes’ last day concluded with a class Mass at which he presented the school with two stunning antique holy water stoups before he received a solemn blessing from Fr Monaghan.

For my part, I am delighted to be leading the Religious Education department and whole school chaplaincy at Turnbull and look forward to sharing the joy of the Gospel with you and your families. Please know that all the past, present and future pupils, families and staff of Turnbull High School are in my daily prayer intentions.

Yours in the Lord

 

Mr Pearce

PT RE

 

A beautiful drawing by Christopher in S1

 

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Vocations Awareness Week

This year we began with an assembly on the theme of Vocation and young people learned and prayed about this in class.

Our Caritas pupils produced the following video on which our staff talk about their vocations and how God speaks to them in their lives.

 

 

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RE & Chaplaincy Update

Term is off to a great start and despite the challenges that we face, it is great to have our young people back in RE and participating in the faith life of the school!

We are seeing excellent things from our new S1 who have been learning about various forms of prayer and praying in class. Their maturity during Lectio Divina (Christian Meditation) was impressive and now they turn to studying the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in greater depth. S2 have been learning about the sacraments of vocation and having studied Holy Orders and completed a family learning task, they have begun to learn about the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

S3 have studied philosophical arguments for the exitance of God and are now looking at what it means to be a disciple by learning from scripture and the lives of the saints.

Drawing by Christopher in S1

Chaplaincy

It is tricky to maintain a ‘normal’ chaplaincy programme but the following arrangements are being made to allow for covid regulations.

Monday Medidtation- an opportunity for peace and reflection for seniors. S4, 5 and 6 will rotate each week.

Aid to the Church in Need group will recommence on Tuesday Lunchtimes for S1 and 2. S1 in RE room 2 and S2 in RE room 1.

Thursday Mass starts at 8.45 and is open to BGE pupils.

Pray and you go- Each week on Show My Homework, all pupils, staff and parents will have access to a guided meditation with music and prayer that can be accessed at any time.

There will be short inserts at assembly each Monday via Microsoft Teams.

Staff chaplaincy continues to be provided in our Teams group.

Please keep our school community in your prayers and encourage your young people to be involved in our Unique Catholic Identity.

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