SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Catholic Education Week 2017: Walking Forward Together
Introduction
Each year, the Catholic community of Ontario engages in a week-long celebration of the unique identity and distinctive contributions of Catholic education during Catholic Education Week. This year’s celebration is entitled, “Catholic Education: Walking Forward Together” and will be held during the week of April 30 – May 5, 2017. The overall scriptural theme is “Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God” –Micah 6:8.
The five sub-themes for Catholic Education: Walking Forward Togetherare:
Monday:Walking Forward Together with God
Aller de l’avant avec Dieu
Tuesday:Walking Forward Together with Our Families
Aller de l’avant avec nosfamilles
Wednesday:Walking Forward Together with Others
Aller de l’avant les autres
Thursday:Walking Forward Together with Creation
Aller de l’avant avec la création
Friday:Walking Forward Together in Hope
Aller de l’avantdansl’espérance
The purpose of the Secondary School Resource Kit is to provide opportunities for students to engage in meaningful activities and reflections to deepen their awareness and understanding of both the gift and the responsibility of Catholic education. The Secondary Resource Kit contains:
Morning prayers
Reflections on the daily gospel readings for each of the five sub-themes of CEW 2017
An outline for a secondary school retreat
Movie resources related to the five sub-themes of CEW 2017
Scripture readings and quotes
Feel free to adapt any of the materials in this package to suit your school’s specific needs. Materials may be found on the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association (OCSTA) website at: We encourage all our partners in Catholic education to reference the Elementary and Secondary Resource Kits and past years’ kits for prayers and activities that can enrich the current Secondary Resource Kit.
Sincerely,
Catholic Education Week Resource Committee
Paul Beaudette
Janet Bentham
Sr. Pat Carter
Nancy Davie
Paul De Vuono
Amy LaFroy
Stephanie Maher
Cindy Morgan
Sebastien Lacroix
Catholic Education Week Partners Group
Neil MacCarthy, Archdiocese of Toronto, Director, Public Relations & Communications
Dan Smith, Archdiocese of Toronto, Liaison for Catholic Education
Kris Dmytrenko, Archdiocese of Toronto, Communications Coordinator
Carole Allen, Friends & Advocates for Catholic Education, Project Manager
Roger Lawler, Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, General Secretary
Luke Stocking, Catholic Development & Peace
Nicolas Bottger, Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, President
Manuela Zapata, Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, Vice-President
Michael Caccamo, Toronto CDSB, Superintendent of Education
Nick Milanetti, OCSTA, Executive Director
Sharon McMillan, OCSTA, Director of Communications
Brian O’Sullivan, OCSTA, Director of Catholic Education
CEW Song – Words and Music
Nancy Bodsworth, Dufferin-Peel CDSB
“Do justice, love, kindness and
walk humbly with your God.”
-Micah 6:8
CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK
APRIL 30 – MAY 5, 2017
CATHOLIC EDUCATION: WALKING FORWARD TOGETHER
SECONDARY SCHOOL RESOURCE KIT
Table of Contents
- Morning prayers
- Further reflection on the daily gospel readings for each of the five sub-themes of Catholic Education Week 2017
- An outline for a secondary school retreat
- Movie resources related to the five sub-themes of Catholic Education Week 2017
- Scripture readings and quotes for student use related to the five sub-themes of Catholic Education Week 2017
Morning Prayers, Scripture Analysis and
Reflection Questions
Students
You are a most significant educational influence on each other.
We invite you to become active participants in the process of Catholic education. We urge you to bring your energy, enthusiasm and generosity to the task of building a Catholic community within your school and to shaping the vision of Catholic education. Your strengths and your weaknesses, your joys and your fears, your struggles and your longings, will be welcomed in this community. Whatever your age, you are not too young to assume responsibility with and for your fellow students. You are a most significant educational influence on each other. You can help each other become disciples of Jesus Christ, or you can hinder each other from becoming everything you are called to be. How you are with one another now will significantly influence how you will be with others as adults. The future of the church and its mission of service in the world will be yours. For this, you will need courage, self-discipline and all the love you are able to give. Take up the challenge of growing into a sense of who you are as Christians, so that you can develop the talents you have been given and bring the best of yourself to the society in which you will be living.
~Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario, This Moment of Promise
Depending on your school’s practice, these prayers can be used in a variety of ways. Some schools have daily prayer over the school intercom, while others invite prayer within the community of the classroom. Each day, schools are invited to offer their own prayers and special intentions, specific to the particular needs of their community of faith.
Each prayer emphasizes a sub-theme of Catholic Education Week. Following the daily prayers, the gospel reading is broken open in a more fulsome way. Individual classes may choose to expand upon the prayer by delving deeper into the gospel that was proclaimed. Reflection questions have been provided for personal student reflection and/or to facilitate further classroom discussion.
You may wish to select one or two individuals per homeroom class, prior to Catholic Education Week, to serve as prayer leaders each day. These students could be trained by the school’s Chaplaincy Leader to facilitate a prayer experience within the classroom. The prayer leaders could serve to deepen an understanding of some, or all, of the sub-themes by continuing the prayer begun in the morning and leading a deeper reflection, as suggested in the questions provided.
However you choose to use the prayers, scripture analyses and reflection questions, there is plenty of room to experience the gift of Catholic education. In each corner of this province, there are young people being shaped by their Catholic educational experience and walking forward together.
A Note About the Structure of the Daily Prayers
The theme for Catholic Education Week 2017: Walking Forward Together, comes from the response of the Canadian Bishops to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools and the prayers reflect the call of the Catholic Bishops “to work with others towards a healthier society where just relations flourish in families and communities and where the most vulnerable are protected and valued.”
~Walking Forward Together, 6
The sub-theme each day is introduced with a quotation from Scripture or one of the church documents on which the sub-themes are based.
Each day, the Call to Prayer makes the connection between the sub-theme and a significant church document or initiative from the last few years. Here are the links that are highlighted for each day:
Monday:Walking Forward Together with God
Looks back to the Year of Mercy and ahead to the call of the Canadian Bishops to Walking Forward Together.
Tuesday:Walking Forward Together with Our Families
Highlights the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family.”
Wednesday:Walking Forward Together with Others
Draws from the CCCB document, “The Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius: A Catholic Response.”
Thursday:Walking Forward Together with Creation
Connects with the papal encyclical, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home.”
Friday:Walking Forward Together in Hope
Reflects the liturgical season of Easter in which Catholic Education Week is celebrated by recalling the Resurrection.
The Contemporary Musical Suggestions offer an artisitc way to engage the broad themes each day. Teachers may wish to look up the lyrics of each song and make connections to the Scripture passages. Songs and lyrics are easily accessed on the internet.
The Opening Prayer, addressed to Jesus, speaks with the voice of the individual student, asking for a particular grace or growth. These prayers lead into the Scripture Passage.
The Scripture Passagesfrom Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospel provide illustrative examples through the teaching or actions of Jesus, of the various aspects of “Walking Forward Together” resresented in the sub-themes.
The Closing Prayer for each day, addressed to God, the Father of Jesus and Our Father, reflects the overall theme of the week in its source from the spiritual tradition of the First Nation, Metis and Inuit people, or from the Canadian Bishops’ annual National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.
These prayer liturgies are offered in the hope that they might strengthen our own faith during this special week as we celebrate Catholic Education: Walking Forward Together.
MONDAY – WALKING FORWARD TOGETHER WITH GOD
“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.’” ~John 14:6-7
CALL TO PRAYER
At the beginning of Catholic Education Week, we gather as a Pilgrim Church, walking forward together with our God on the journey of faith. The words “Walking Forward Together” come from the response of the Catholic Bishops to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools, which calls us to solidarity with First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples. On this journey, we are mindful of our need, both individually and communally, for forgiveness, and this serves as a good reminder to us of the Year of Mercy, which ended in late November. God’s promise of mercy is an assurance that we will never be alone on our life’s pilgrimage.
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SUGGESTION
Rather Be by Pentatonix
Pilgrim by Enya
Let us begin with the Sign of the Cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +
OPENING PRAYER
Jesus, Son of God, you want me to be like you in your relationship to your heavenly Father. You are the model of what it means to walk with God. We hear in the Gospel how you encountered two travelers, who had left Jerusalem, and were sharing with each other their sorrow over the events of the past few days. You met them where they were: on the road, and in their deep disappointment, and listened to them in a way that allowed them to share their story with you. You opened their hearts to see God’s work even in the sad events they had witnessed. Help me to see God’s hand at work, and his presence with me in the hard and hurtful parts of my journey, as well as the joyful ones. I ask this grace of you through the help of your Holy Spirit. Amen. +
SCRIPTURE: Luke 24:13-27
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord.
Now on that same day, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not seem him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayers of the Faithful Reflecting the Needs of Your School
CLOSING PRAYER
O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me.
I come before you as one of your children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise, so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength, not to be superior to my brothers, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself.
Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so that when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
Amen. +
~Chief Yellow Hawk of the Sioux Nation
TUESDAY – WALKING FORWARD TOGETHER WITH OUR FAMILIES
“No family drops down from heaven perfectly formed; families need constantly to grow and mature in the ability to love… Let us make this journey as families, let us keep walking together.” ~Amoris Laetitia, #325
CALL TO PRAYER
The subtheme, “Walking Forward Together with Our Families” makes a clear and immediate connection with Pope Francis’ letter, Amoris Laetitia, which is subtitled, “On Love in the Family.” This Apostolic Exhortation recognizes the concerns from the Synods of Bishops which “allowed for an examination of the situation of families in today’s world, and thus for a broader vision and a renewed awareness of the importance of marriage and the family.” Written during the Year of Mercy, “it seeks to encourage everyone to be a sign of mercy and closeness wherever family life remains imperfect or lacks peace and joy.”
CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SUGGESTION
Home by Daughtry
Remember When by Alan Jackson
Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle
Let us begin with the Sign of the Cross: In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. +
OPENING PRAYER
Jesus, student of the Jewish tradition, as you grew into adulthood, even within your own holy family, there was at times misunderstanding, anxiety and conflict. Yet you grew by walking forward together with Mary and Joseph, not only to the Temple in Jerusalem, but also on your journey as a family. Help me to weather the storms of change in my own family, to be faithful to the members of my first and most basic community of faith. I make this prayer through the intercession of Mary and Joseph, who nurtured you and brought you into fullness of life.
Amen. +
SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:41-52
A reading from the Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord.
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in devine and human favour.