STAFF from the three parish primary schools within Jubilee parish came together on January 21 to take a closer look at the prayer traditions of the Catholic Church.
Principals, priests and staffs from St Finbarr’s, Ashgrove, St Joseph’s, Bardon and St Ambrose, Newmarket took advantage of the day to look at the different ways in which they could incorporate such prayer into the life of the schools and the wider Jubilee Parish.
Jubilee parish priest Fr Peter Brannelly said the facilitators, Brisbane Catholic Education area supervisor Michael Kearney and St Finbarr’s Ashgrove principal Ann Hall led the 85 teachers and school officers on a journey of reflection by exploring some of the strong and significant prayer rituals of the Church.
“The schools were then challenged to consider how they might incorporate these prayer traditions and rituals into the everyday prayer life of the school,” Ann Hall said.
“We have a rich prayer tradition full of powerful symbols and rituals which sometimes we take for granted or don’t fully utilise.”
Fr Brannelly was keen to stress that the insights gained from the in-service were not just for the schools, but also for the entire parish.
He said he hoped the community would rediscover some of those universal prayers and rituals.
Fr Brannelly said he would now work with the schools as they took up the challenge of incorporating some of the prayer traditions into the prayer life of the school so that they became part of the lived faith experience of the children.
