Education Sunday
Education Sunday took place in all parishes yesterday, on Sunday 10 September 2017.
Education Sunday is a day of celebration for all those involved in education. For over a century it has been part of an ecumenical celebration in which the Catholic Church participates. The Catholic Education Service’s theme for Education Sunday 2017 is ‘gathered in my name’.
Education Sunday is an opportunity for schools and parishes to come together to celebrate and give thanks for all the students, staff and parents who work so hard in and for Catholic schools. It is also a chance for us to reflect upon the contribution that Catholic education makes to our communities.
The staff of St Edmund’s Catholic Academy ’ gathered’ together to marked this day during their Staff Briefing with the intersessions;-
INTERCESSIONS
Lord, we pray that we may be a community where all are welcome. Welcome to pray, to worship,
to explore. May these communities provide comfort to the lonely, hope for the broken and rest
to the weary. Help us to create spaces where people can come together with love and respect for
difference.
Be present in those spaces, to heal divisions and to forge friendships.
Lord, hear us
O Lord hear my
We pray that our schools may be places where all are welcome, Welcome to learn, to study,
to work. Help us to support the excluded and to stand alongside those who need us. We pray
particularly for students and staff who come to us as refugees. May we greet them with the love
they deserve, and provide the safety they seek. May our campuses be places of tolerance, inclusion
and diversity.
Lord, hear us
O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord hear my prayer
We pray that governments may see the value of difference and enact policies that welcome and
do not turn away. Where injustice reigns, may hearts be changed and may walls that have been
built be torn down. Make us instruments of change and give us the courage not to stand on
the sidelines but to fight injustice in our communities and be witnesses to the Gospel message
of inclusion. Mould us into prophetic voices for change, that we may in turn mould our
communities into your kingdom.
Lord, hear us
O Lord hear my prayer.