COMMUNITY-building and “Acts of Kindness” dominated events held during Queensland’s annual Catholic Education Week (CEW) celebration from July 22-28.
The 292 Catholic schools in Queensland embraced this year’s theme “Celebrating Community – Family, Parish, School” while also continuing a long tradition of carrying out acts of kindness to support those less fortunate in the community.
Gatherings ranged from the official CEW launch at The Little Flower Church, Kedron, to Grandparents Day at St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School, Camp Hill, where Paul and Kay Bertini had the added pleasure of all their grandchildren from surrounding schools also joining them for the celebration.
At St Patrick’s School, Allora, celebrations were held over most of the week beginning on July 24 with a special parish and school Mass that focused on the similarities between a community and an orchestra.
“Each instrument is beautiful when it plays alone, but when they all play together, each given its own weight in tune, the result is even more beautiful,” a school spokesperson said.
The school’s open morning the next day continued the theme with visitors treated to a small concert by the school choir.
St Patrick’s celebrations concluded on July 26 with a visit from Lorin Nicholson who, although declared legally blind at age four, is an accomplished guitarist, public speaker and passionate cyclist who shared both his story and a concert with the community.
The community also helped Fr Rod MacGinley celebrate his birthday the same day.
Students from St Mary’s Parish Primary School, Goondiwindi, learned a few skills from outside the normal school curriculum thanks to its wider community.
Some of those lessons included local veterinarian Mac Kneipp teaching students how to care for a pony, parish member John Toohey sharing his skills in a variety of card games, and parent Robyn Rumbold giving lessons in beading.
Prep students from St Agatha’s Catholic Primary School, Clayfield, had a visit from Archbishop Mark Coleridge for their story time on July 24.
Brisbane’s homeless were the beneficiaries when students at St Elizabeth’s Catholic Primary School, Tarragindi, donated and packaged several hundred clip-lock bags of basic toiletries.
The donations were presented to Micah Projects for distribution to the homeless.
Guardian Angels’ Primary School, Ash-more, chose to combine community with their Act of Kindness to support children from Hunete primary school, New Caledonia.
Year 5 students organised a sausage sizzle to raise money to send to their Pacific neighbours who live in extreme poverty.
Additional treats were added to the day’s total, which will be sent to the New Caledonian school to use as it wishes.
St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, Wishart; St Bernard’s Catholic School, and Clairvaux MacKillop College, Upper Mt Gravatt, embarked on a pilgrimage walk as their Act of Kindness.
The schools collected a range of goods throughout CEW and then embarked on their pilgrimage walk to deliver the good to the St Vincent de Paul Society.
