TeachingRE Issue 4.pdf - the Second Level Support Service

This year for open night, we turned the RE room into a celebration of the liturgical year. Each station representeda month from the academic year, beginning with September, and each station had a liturgical display appropriate tothat month. There was also a corner for people to offer prayers, and lots of candles!Emmanuel 2009ClaudineFor the second year running, the School Choir participated in the Emmanuel Project, organised by the DublinDiocese. This is another example of how we embrace the cross-curricular nature of Religious Education. This year30 students participated in the celebration in the Helix in March. Approximately 600 students from around theDiocese of Dublin took part in this event. Three of our students were soloists on the night. Because of ourparticipation in this event, we have recently been asked to partake in an event for Culture Night 2009 in thePro-Cathedral. One of the priests that comes to the school occasionally was at the event in the Helix and said ‘Yourwonderful performance of faith music and song with such enthusiasm brought great joy to my heart…Ultimately, itwas all a prayer of praise and thanks to God.’MaynoothEucharistThe School Choir also visited Maynooth in early May and led a liturgy for the National Centre for Liturgy. Thestudents sang to a selection of appropriate music learned though Emmanuel 2009 and also proclaimed the readings,the prayers of the faithful and brought forward the gifts in the procession at the preparation of the gifts.No other subject on the curriculum, it could be argued, has the same degree of visibility in the school. ReligiousEducation permeates and pervades our entire school community. Therefore, the management of Our Lady’s Grovesupports teachers of Religious Education through attendance at in-service, allocating sufficient funds for resourcesand also through support of Religious events both within and outside the school. Attendance at in-service isencouraged and facilitated as far as possible.Outside Support Services include:• An annual visit from the Diocesan Advisor• Religious Education Support, SLSS• RTAI• Interschool contact with teachers met at in-service• Contact with the National Centre for Liturgy, Maynooth• Contact with St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth• Contact with Milltown Institute• Emmanuel Project (Dublin Diocese)• Cluster Meetings organised by the Diocesan Advisor• Dundrum ParishDundrum Parish produce the ‘Celebration Magazine’ to which we regularly contribute, to let parishioners knowwhat is happening in Our Lady’s Grove.And so, that is Religious Education in Our Lady’s Grove, Goatstown. We are still a ‘work in progress’ and we willcontinue to strive for our vision through these dark times. I hope that having read this article, you will have a senseof the good work that is happening in your own school. May all Religious Educators stay the course and find hopein the daily expressions of faith in our schools. ‘With all humility and gentleness, and with patience, support each otherin love. Take every care to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, oneSpirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Fatherof all, over all, through all and within all. On each one of us God’s favour has been bestowed in whatever way Christ allottedit.’ (Ephesians 4: 2-6)TEACHING RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ISSUE FOUR SEPTEMBER 2009 45