Be Like Guardian Angels in your Chaplaincy was the message to all chaplaincy team members from schools right across the Archdiocese of Birmingham, including twelve St Edmund’s students from both our lower and upper school Chaplaincy Teams. All those present – lay and ordained chaplains, along with student members of chaplaincy teams – were commissioned for their work by Bishop Timothy Menezes, one of the three assistant bishops of the archdiocese.

The Mass was celebrated on the Feast of the three Archangels – St Michael, St Gabriel and St Raphael, and Bishop Tim told our young people of the importance of devotion to the angels, whether these three named angels or our guardian angels (a feast we celebrate on the 2nd of October each year). He encouraged student chaplains to take angels as role models for chaplaincy, especially in those day-to-day moments of being alongside someone who might be struggling at school, or by offering to pray for and with them. Our student were, as always, exemplary in their behaviour and participation in the Mass, and were a credit to our academy, their families, and themselves!

It was a true joy to be driving back to Wolverhampton up the M6 to the sound of our students singing the hymns that they had sung in Mass. Thank you all for a lovely day, and a big thank you to Miss Shipley for accompanying us!