St Mary’s College

At St Mary’s College, Crosby the Spring Term has seen our Sixth Form volunteer and offer community visits to Nazareth House Retirement Home, bringing much joy to the local residents. One of our girls was partnered with an elderly Spanish lady, who was feeling a little frustrated as she struggled to speak English and did not know how to talk in English. Since our student visitors have been volunteering, there has been a drastic turnaround, as our volunteer was able to speak fluently in Spanish to her and brought a new layer of community to this resident, as well as her engagement in Nazareth House activities like Bingo and community chats in the lounge area.

Other volunteering has seen our Sixth Form students engage in Hospital Chaplaincy at the weekends on alternate weekends, to engage with patients who wish for visitors and to receive communion. This has been a real eye-opener for our pupils, who really seem to have engaged in this opportunity.

Year 8 have been to ‘Animate’ this term and with Fr Simon and his team looking at various forms and styles of Prayer. The retreat was a success and saw the pupils enjoy the mediums of music, baking, Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Origami boats – all connected to Prayer and the Scriptures, leaving us with the Power of the Mustard Seed to bring back to school. A most enjoyable and beneficial retreat for all who attended.

A number of pupils in the lower school have been attending a Chaplaincy Club this term and helped create Lenten Wreaths that reflect key Holy Week events with scripture, and with these beautiful designs will be decorating our Friday Chapel services as we enter the last weeks of the term. For Lent one of our Year 10 forms have taken up a prayer challenge , instead of their usual Edmund Rice prayer in form times, for Lent  they are learning to say the Hail Mary in Latin, which is a lovely way to show that we don’t always have to “give things up” for Lent, but rather challenge ourselves and our prayer life to “ take something up” instead building new prayer habits and attitudes towards scripture.

Wishing the Edmund Rice Network a blessed Lent and Easter holiday.

Ann Marie Engelbrecht

St Mary’s College Chaplain.