Despite being in lockdown, Sancta Maria College still found a creative way to celebrate Catholic Schools day. The Special Character team organised a live liturgy on MicrosoftTeams on Wednesday 29th September for students, staff and the parent community. This included a few musical items and a liturgical movement.
Catholic Schools Day is celebrated every 3 years and it also marks 180 years since the first Catholic school opened in New Zealand. There are now 235 Catholic schools in New Zealand. This year’s theme is Tūrangawaewae: Catholic Schools – A Place to Stand.
The liturgy commenced with Fr Chris Skinner’s song called Celebrate (Whakanuia), composed especially for this event, followed by Ms Moore’s message and the Gospel reading by Nathan. Father Kevin, our school chaplain, broke open the word with a very interesting story for his homily. Zoe, Annaleise and Cyprus performed a pre-recorded liturgical movement, choreographed by Cyprus. Following this, Aloise, Marina and Miriama, sung Mo Maria in beautiful harmony. Some students said prayers of the faithful in their cultural language and we heard from students, staff and parents about why they like about being part of a Catholic school community. There was also a presentation on Sancta Maria College’s outreach programmes/charity activities such as the Young Vinnies and what we do to help the less fortunate. Ms Moore concluded the live event with our school prayer.
This was a very lovely virtual liturgy that captured the essence of Catholic Schools Day and we would like to thank everyone involved with making this possible especially the Special Character team: Sydney, Nathan, Mrs Oliver, Mr Piggin, Mr Bidwell and Mrs Maddison.
