Catholic Social Teaching
‘Dear young people… The Lord wants to turn your hands, my hands, our hands, into signs of reconciliation, of communion, of creation. He wants your hands to continue building the world of today.’ Pope Francis
The underlying insight of Catholic Social Teaching is that everyone has the right and responsibility to live in our world constructively, not destructively, and to ensure that we leave it in a better state than when we entered it.
Catholic Social Teaching (CST) is based on Scripture, Tradition and Church teaching, as given by popes, bishops and theologians. It offers a set of principles to help us think about how we should interact with others. It forms the foundation of the choices we make, and how we view creation.
Our faith calls us to love God and to love our neighbours in every situation, especially our sisters and brothers living in poverty. Following in the footsteps of Christ, we hope to make present in our unjust and broken world, the justice, love and peace of God.
Rooted in Love
Rooted in Love is a new project created by Westminster Diocese in partnership with Caritas Westminster to support schools in their journey with Catholic Social Teaching. We started our Rooted in Love journey in the summer term of 2023 and we are looking forward to continuing our jouney this year, starting with thinking about how we can answer the call to be stewards of creation. We were delighted to share more about Rooted in Love with parents and carers at our Welcome to Year group meetings in September 2023 and in our newsletters.
Community and Participation: Spring B
As humans, we are made to live in community with one another. This means being active members of the world we live in.
We are meant to look out for each other and build each other up.
This is how God wants us to live.
Living in community with others is more than simply living near people. We need to recognise the dignity in other people and treat them as such. We are also called to recognise our own gifts and talents and use them to make our communities better!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39
‘Don’t be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did.’
Pope Francis, World Youth Day, 2013
Our Mission for this half term was:
Find out more about St Vincent de Paul or other charities in our local community.
Think about what we do at St. Mary of the Angels to support those in need in our community during Lent.
‘Don’t be observers, but immerse yourself in the reality of life, as Jesus did.’Pope Francis, World Youth Day, 2013
(Reflect on this statement and what it means to you)
Caritas Ambassador
On behalf of the Caritas Ambassadors, we would like to say a huge thank you to the pupils of St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School for all their fundraising efforts last term and for their very kind donations towards our chosen Lenten Appeals for 2024: Catholic Children’s Society (CCS), Marie Curie- The Great Daffodil Appeal and the Children’s Book Project. Please see the messages of thanks that the school has received due to your kindness and generosity.
We thank you so much for your fantastic fundraising efforts. Just a quick note to say that your donation of £183 has been received and processed. I have posted a letter of acknowledgement for your records and a thank you certificate to your school. Thank you again for your kind support of Marie Curie during the Great Daffodil Appeal! Thanks to the efforts of St. Mary of the Angels, more people will have access to our health care and support service.
Community Fundraiser, Marie Curie
Thank you so much to you and your lovely school for your amazing fundraising efforts. My colleague Marie collected another donation from your school today taking your lent donation to a total of £635.35! Thanks again to you, all the staff and all pupils for all your kind efforts in raising this money. We are grateful for your support, and we will ensure it reaches the children and families that need it the most. We will of course follow up with a proper letter of thanks and a certificate for your school.
Catholic Children's Society (Westminster)
Lent is a movable feast, occurring between February and April. The 40 days of Lent, echo Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Ash Wednesday is often seen as a time to clean the soul and mind ready for Lent. Purple is used throughout Lent as a sign of sorrow and also of royalty for the death of Christ the King.
During Lent, Christians devote more time to prayer, charity, and sacrifice as they prepare for the greatest feast in the Church year, Easter – when Jesus rose from the dead.
As Lent is a time of giving, we ask that you donate what you can to this great cause. Each family will receive one box per family and we ask that all boxes are returned to the school office after the Easter Holidays on Monday 15th April. This wonderful charity helps vulnerable children and their families all over the Westminster Diocese. If you would like to know more about our chose Lenten Appeal for 2024, then please click here.
The second charity that the children have chosen to support is, The Great Daffodil Appeal.
On Friday 22nd March pupils and staff may wear something yellow along with their school uniform in return for a small donation to show their support for the Great Daffodil Appeal 2024. More information to follow
Solidarity and Peace: Spring A
God has created us to live peacefully with one another. Sadly, this is often not the case and many people live lives that are not peaceful, due to the actions of others.
God calls us to be peacemakers in the world – to stand in solidarity with those in need.
‘The paths of peace are paths of solidarity, for no one can be saved alone. We live in a world so interconnected that, in the end, the actions of each person affect everyone.’
Pope Francis
‘Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but associate with those in need.’
Romans 12:16
In St. Mary of the Angels we have been thinking about what we could do to promote peace in our school?
Our Mission for this half term was:
To find out more about St John Paul II and his calls for World Peace.
World Day of Peace (1st January).
Learn hymns that reference peace (Make Me a Channel of Your Peace etc.)
Learn the The prayer of St. Francis Click here
Looks at the words to Peace, Perfect Peace hymn
Research how our Class Saints were instruments of solidarity and peace.
Preferential Option for the Poor-Autumn B
As Christians, we believe that those in need deserve the best.
This is because of everyone’s inherent dignity.
It is important that we advocate for those in need by listening to what they have to say and speaking up for them.
The ‘preferential option’ means allowing someone to have the first choice.
It means giving someone the best that is available; not just the scraps or leftovers.
In the Gospels, Jesus shows a preferential option for the poor by putting them first. He gives them special importance by thinking of their needs and helping them have their rightful place in the world.
‘If anyone is well off in worldly possessions and sees their sister or brother in need but closes their heart to them, how can the love of God be remaining in them?’
1 John 3.17-18
‘Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa
This has truly been demonstrated at St Mary of the Angels this Advent as we remember those people in our local communities who are less fortunate than ourselves.
Thank you for your endless generosity in supporting all our charities this Advent-Caritas Advent Giving Calendar, Winter Coat Campaign and cash donations to St John’s Hospice on Christmas Jumper day.
Winter Coat Campaign
Thank you again, to everyone who donated a winter coat, fleece or jacket to the Calling London Coat Campaign. Your kindness and generosity is greatly appreciated.
Caritas Advent Giving Calendar
Inspired by Pope Francis, we asked our families to take part in our ‘Caritas Advent Giving Calendar’ project this Advent. Each class was assigned an item that the foodbank required from our ‘Caritas Advent Giving Calendar.’ We invited the children to bring in their donations on the date assigned to their class.
Thank you also to our wonderful, Caritas Ambassadors who gave up their time to deliver some of the goods donated to Westbourne Park Pantry. Whilst at the pantry the children got a tour of how the pantry operates and were able to asks the organisers and volunteers questions about the day-to-day running’s of the pantry.
Christmas Jumper Day: St. John's Hospice
Special message from St.John's Hospice:
I wanted to send a message to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you from St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School for your support of St John’s Hospice. Your recent Christmas jumper fundraiser raised a fantastic £214.50! This brings your grand total to £618.84 since 2021. We are so grateful for your continued care and kindness.
Your donation will help us to expand our community outreach, in turn helping to combat loneliness and isolation experienced by people living with life-limiting illnesses and their carers.
Thank you once again for supporting St John's Hospice!
Sophie Gray
Senior Fundraising & Volunteer Manager
Goldfinches Prayer Service: 17th November 2023
Thank you to the pupils and staff in Goldfinches who invited their parent/carers to gather and join them in prayer at their prayer service on Friday 17th October which was based on World Day of the Poor. We were reminded of the scripture, ‘Be generous and willing to share.’ 1Timothy 6:18. The children sang beautifully and reminded us all of how they will let their little light shine, inspiring us all to do the same as we prepare our heart as we grow closer to the season of Advent.
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Prayer Service 17 11 23 | [pdf 2MB] |
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Care of Creation-Autumn A
As Christians, we are called to be good stewards of creation.
That means we are meant to look after the world that God created for us.
We must all work to leave our world in a better condition for the people who come after us.
‘Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all.’
Pope Francis
Laudato Si’
‘In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth… God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.’
Genesis 1:1-4
Forest School: Care of Creation
For the past 8 years, people around the world have been listening and responding to Pope Francis' message about caring for our world.
At Forest School, we encourage our pupils to think about this message from Pope Francis about caring for our common home. This links beautifully to Laudato Si' because being kind to our planet is very important to us.
Laudato Si': Care for our common home
A letter from Pope Francis
Click the link below to watch the animation.
It is a clip that you have seen before during collective worship in school. However, it is a message that we need to be reminded of regularly because we are all responsible for looking after our common home.
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Care of Creation: KS1 Habitat Exhibition
Thank you to all who came along to our Key Stage 1 Habitat Exhibition on Thursday 19th October. It was wonderful to welcome so many parents/carers and staff into the hall to look and appreciate all the hard work of our Year 1 and Year 2 pupils. The models and art work were amazing and the children were rightly proud to share what they had created. It was also a pleasure to hear how much parents had enjoyed spending time with their child planning, resourcing and creating the habitats which ranged from deep under the sea to the tree tops in jungles.
A wonderful reminder too if the glory and wonder of God’s creation.
