Welcome back again, to a great new school year in a great place like Mother Mary Ward.
As this year goes by we will work together and grow together. We will become an even greater school. WeÕll try to become a more virtuous school and ultimately a safer school.
A virtue is a habit or established capability to perform good actions according to a moral standard. In other words, a virtue is a habit that shows people and God that we are good people.
Each month we will look at developing one of these virtues:
FAITH RESPECT
EMPATHY KINDNESS
CONSCIENCE LOVE
HOPE ACCEPTANCE
SELF-CONTROL FAIRNESS
We'll pray about these virtues, we'll talk about them in the classroom and we'll practice them in the hallways. We will make the effort to treat other students and the adults in our school according to the demands of these virtues. And we will celebrate the progress we make to be a more virtuous Catholic school - a place of safety, caring and inclusivity for all.
SEPTEMBER
To begin the new school year, we will focus our attention on the first of our virtues - FAITH. Faith is the great virtue of believing in God and trusting that God is with us.
A faithful person believes that we are created, guided by and destined to be reunited with God.
A faithful person believes that God's plan for us includes the right to be safe, especially at school.
A Faithful person...
• Prays regularly and reverently
• Learns from Scripture stories
• Honours people's God-given names
• Assumes that there is good in everyone
• Accepts the God-given worth of themselves and others
OCTOBER
This month, we will focus on the virtue of EMPATHY. God has given us the ability to form connections with each other - to live together. EMPATHY helps us to connect and live together in safe, caring, inclusive communities.
We understand EMPATHY to mean the ability to identify with and feel other people's concerns. We believe that in a faith community we are nothing without relationships. Relationships that grow in a spirit of communion - an understanding that we share an indentity based on being created in the image and likeness of God and being imbued with one Spirit. We are many parts of one body.
An empathetic person believes that we all share one Spirit ; that we are many parts of one body because we are all created in the image and likeness of God.
An empathetic person...
• Listens attentively
• Watches people's body language
• Notices and responds when someone is upset
• Can name his/her feelings
• Can see a situation from another person's point of view
• Knows that different people may feel differently about the same thing
NOVEMBER
This month we will celebrate the virtue of CONSCIENCE.
God has given us the ability to know the right and decent way to act and then to act that way. We trust that the common Spirit we share inspires us and guides us to make good decisions if we allow our CONSCIENCE to be well-formed.
A person of CONSCIENCE allows prayer and scripture to influence him/her.
A person of CONSCIENCE...
• Chooses to do the "right thing" and feels good about it
• Can see how his//her actions may hurt others
• Admits his/her wrong-doing and feels badly
• Says "sorry" and tries to make up for mistakes
• Keeps promises
PRAYER
Gracious and merciful God of all creation,
You have loved us since before we were born.
From our mothers' wombs to our eternal place in heaven
You have given us the gifts to live and grow in safety.
We come to you know asking for the grace and strength
To follow your plan and to form a safe, caring, inclusive community
Here at Mother Mary Ward.
May our faith in you and your plan lead us to know and feel your presence among us.
We ask this in name of Jesus, your Son, who lived to show us your way.
AMEN