Tuesdays with Morrie

During last half term 6th year class, St. Ignatius, read Mitch Albom's novel 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. This book tells the tale of an aging and charismatic college professor, Morrie, who is diagnosed with the terminal disease, ALS. Not one to give up on life, Morrie spends his final months teaching his friends, family and admirers about life and death. One of his old students (Mitch Albom himself) spends a series of Tuesdays with Morrie discussing many topics ranging from love to family to work to death. Those conversations are the basis for this interesting and inspiring book. 

Here are St. Ignatius student Anna's thoughts on Tuesdays with Morrie. 

Tuesdays with Morrie is a very interesting book. It is both happy and sad and will capture your attention, if you read it. The book is about Morrie, an old, retired college professor, who is suffering with ALS and his student Mitch, who once left his college professor to go into the world of work

They meet again, later in life, by coincidence. Morrie and Mich pick up a relationship, but it doesn’t last long as Morrie died from his condition.

Throughout the book, Morrie teaches Mitch about the important things in life. Even though Morrie was retired, he still had a lot to teach Mitch and he also learned from Mitch as well. He teaches Mitch about friendship, love culture, values and morals as well as the importance of getting meaning into his life.

                “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seen half asleep, even they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. They way you get meaning into your life is to devote your life to loving others.”

I came away from reading this book with a lot more than I expected. I learned the difference between life and death. I learned that love and family are the two main things in life, and that basing your life on material things gets you nowhere. Did I enjoy the book? Saying I enjoyed it would not give the full feedback because I did more than enjoying it. I would not do it any justice by saying that! What should you do to get that feeling? I think you should read it because it is a must read, an excellent book and definitely worth your time.

Watch a video of Morrie Schwartz on popular U.S. T.V show Nightline:

Gandhi's Life- Timeline

To conclude our Faith in Action unit 3rd year classes, St. Marks and St Thereses, learned about the life of Hindu pacifist Gandhi. Both classes made a timeline that showed the key events in the life of Gandhi. St. Thereses illustrated and wrote about Gandhi's early life and his time in London and South Africa. St. Marks took care of the later part of Gandhi's life, covering his return to India, his ashram, the All-India strikes and his assassination. Their work looks great displayed on our wall ! :)

Bar Mitzvah- Tallit and Tefillin

Continuing with our Judaism unit, second years have been learning about and discussing rites of passage. One of the most important rites of passage in a Jewish boy's life is his Bar Mitzvah, a special ceremony that takes place when he is 13. Iit marks his coming of age as an adult member of the Jewish community. At his Bar Mitzvah the boy will read from the Torah at the Synagogue in front of his family and friends. The ceremony is usually followed by a big party!


A boy reads from the torah at his Bar Mitzvah

On their Bar Mitzvah boys will wear a prayer shawl called a Tallit and 2 leather boxes containing small pieces of the Torah, these are called Tefillin.

Wearing the Tallit and Tefillin

St. Mels learned about these items and their significance. They completed a cut, paste and labelling task in class.

Find out more about the Tallit and Tefillin by watching the videos on the following link:

Tallit and tefillin video link