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Our Schools RE Project
Passing on the Faith
How can we help pass on the Catholic Faith to the next generation?
As Catholic women, we recognise that this is a task which is very much something that is our concern and responsibility. Most people first learn about God from a woman—it is mothers and grandmothers who are usually the first to tell children about Jesus Christ, about Christmas and Easter and what they signify, about praying and about the great events of Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Most teachers in Catholic primary schools are women.
Since 2000 the Association of Catholic Women has sponsored a Schools RE project, aimed at primary-age children (5-11). For the best essay on a specific topic relating to the Faith we offer an annual award—in the form of an engraved trophy the child keeps for a year plus a personal prize and a prize for the school. Small prizes for runners up and Certificates of Merit are also awarded.
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RE Project 2010 results
5 July 2010
To mark the visit of the Holy Father to Britain, the Association of Catholic Women and the Catholic Truth Society made the Papacy the theme of this year's School RE Project. We invited the children to find out about the Holy Father – who he is and what he does. Who was the first Pope and who chose him ? Where does the Pope live? We also invited children to write a prayer for the Holy Father.
The result was magnificent. We have been overwhelmed with entries -2400 from 80 schools. Most were splendidly illustrated, with pictures of the Holy Father, of St Peter's, of Rome, of the Popemobile. There was evidence of great pride-especially, we noted, in Scotland-in the Papal visit. Many children expressed the hope that the Holy Father would come to their schools or their town.
Choosing the winners was extremely difficult: a team of judges was involved and every entry was read carefully
The final six winners were-
Older children
1. Amie Donnelly, St Fidelis School. Erith, Kent
2. Matthew Tansey. Our Lady of Victories School, London SW15
3. Jointly Leah French and Caitlin Hickey, St Charles School, Richton, Lancs
Younger children
1. Wenzel Kinsky, London Oratory School, Junior House
2. Natalie Boner, St Kenneth's School, East Kilbride
3. Stephanie Belton, St Joseph's School, Darwen, Lincs
Prizes awarded in each category were
1st Prize- ￡300 cash and ￡50 worth of books for the school, plus a personal prize for the winner and a trophy to be kept for one year. 2nd Prize- ￡200 cash for the school plus a personal prize for the winner. 3rd Prize -￡100 cash for the school plus a personal prize for the winner.
A number of other entries received copies of the Compendium of the Catholic Church and The Simple prayer book and others were awarded certificates of merit. Every child who sent in an entry received a holy picture.
The prayers that the children wrote were often touching and in many cases very specific.
Here are a few examples.
“Dear God,
Please guide Pope Benedict on a safe route to England. We will make sure that Pope Benedict has a lovely time in England and make sure that he teaches us a lot about you.”
“Dear God,
I pray that you will always look after the Pope. Please teach him right not wrong things. And let him look after all of us. Please make his days happy and his mornings full of joy.”
“Dear God our Father,
Thank you for making the Pope have such lovely and nice manners.”
“ Dear God in Heaven,
We pray that you may guide our Pope Benedict to lead us and teach us how to have a good life. And help us as we struggle with modern temptations such as Nintendos, chocolate and other tempting things that can distract us from following his teachings.”
Dear God,
I would like to look after the Pope and keep him healthy and safe and give him food and give him water and make shure[sic] he keeps safe and make shure he gets fresh air and he gets to go outside and have a visit and a journey to Scotland and go home.”
Some children wrote letters to the Holy Father. Some made polite enquiries : “I hope you are Okay. Do you enjoy your job?” Others offered encouragement: “Dear Pope, Please keep on doing your hard job. Keep on doing all your responsibilitys[sic]. You are keeping us safe and faithful. You are loving and kind which sets a good example.” Others asked the Holy Father to pray for the sick, the poor, earthquake victims in Haiti, and family members: “Dear Holy Father, please pray for my family. Look after my class when they prepare for their first Holy Communion.”. One child was brief and to the point : “Dear Holy Father, Look after the world please.”
Some entries looked into the life of the Holy Father and wrote about his love of music, he is a competent pianist, and his love of cats. “His Dad was a policeman and his Mum, before she got married, was a cook in a number of hotels”. One child wrote “There have been 265 Popes. Sometimes people try to kill Popes which is very sad so now Popes have to have bullet-proof windows in their cars.”
The children showed a good knowledge and understanding of St Peter as the first Pope. A few had simply downloaded material from the internet and got it wrong telling us that the first Pope was Gelasius, or St Gregory the Great. But the vast majority wrote competently about St Peter. “The word Pope means 'father' because he is the father of the church family. Jesus told his disciples to lead the Church after the crucifixion, so Peter was the first Pope and all the Popes get their power from Jesus through him.”
The children loved describing the details of how a Pope is elected – lots of information about black smoke and white smoke and cardinals being locked in until a decision was made.
They also liked finding out about the traditions associated with the Pope's mitre, ring and crozier. “It's called a fisherman's ring. When the Pope dies, they melt down the ring and make a new one and give it to the new Pope. It is a special ring and people kneel and kiss the ring.”
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