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

The Torah- Sacred Jewish Text

The Torah is the most important of the Jewish scriptures. It contains the stories of creation, Abraham's covenant with God, Moses' exodus from Egypt and the 613 mitzvah or commandments that Jewish people try and follow. The most famous of these is the Ten Commandments- Given to Moses by God at Mount Sinai.

In class St. Colemans thought about what rules it was important for people to live by today. Here are the Ten Colemans Commandments!

1. Do not slag off or insult others.
2. Do not tell lies.
3. Do not discriminate against others.
4. Do not steal other people's stuff.
5. Do not cheat on a loved one.
6. Do not bully anybody.
7. Treat other people the way you would like to be treated.
8. Do not use  violence against other people.
9. Treat other people kindly and with respect.
10. Don't be jealous of other people.

Some acrostic Torah factsheets by Chelsea, Paula, Conor and Josie

Martin Luther King- I Have a Dream

As part of their continuing 'Faith in Action' unit, third years have been learning about Martin Luther King. King fought tirelessly for basic civil rights for the black community in Deep South USA in the 1960's. On August 28th, 1963, Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to a crowd of 250,000 people in Washington.

In class, we thought about Martin Luther King's dreams for the people of America. We wrote our own speeches focusing on our dreams for our families, our friends and for humanity.

I have a dream that some day my family will have a good, healthy life with enough money to live comfortably and to be treated equally no matter what culture they belong to. I dream they can live a peaceful and happy life together. I have a dream that all my brothers and sisters will do well in school and get a good job later. 

I have a dream that my friends won't get involved in drugs, that they will be healthy and happy, will grow and become mature. I dream that they will have a nice wife or husband and a healthy family of children. 

I have a dream for the world and environment that many of  the rain-forest animals don't become extinct, that a tree is planted for for every tree that's chopped down. I dream that there will be no more war, bombs or violence and people live together in peace.

- Andy Cash (St. Thereses)

The Jewish Patriarchs

Second years (St. Mels and St.Colemans) have been learning about the Jewish patriarchs.  Today we heard about Moses and how God sent 10 terrible plagues to Egypt. We looked at this short YouTube clip to see what a plague of locusts might have looked like devouring crops in Egypt!

We also watched the movie 'The Prince of Egypt', which is based on the story of Moses and the Exodus. It was a really enjoyable film! Watch the trailer by clicking the link below.

Mother Teresa- Putting her Faith into Action

Third year classes (St. Thereses and St. Marks) are currently doing a unit called 'Faith in Action'. Over the last week we have been learning about Mother Teresa and how her Catholic faith called her to work with the "poorest of the poor" in Calcutta. 

Play the video below to see the PowerPoint presentation we used to learn about a great woman's work.

Students retold the story of Mother Teresa's amazing life through words and pictures.

Rinalds hard at work! 

Why do we study RE?

First and second years started the year by discussing why we study RE in school. All classes came up with some great answers. 

For example: 

• We learn about God. 
• We learn about other cultures and traditions. 
• It helps us not to be prejudiced.
• We learn about other places and people in the world. 
• It helps us to understand others. 

Classes then explained to our confused alien, using comic strips or a short story, why it is that we have RE classes in school. Their work looks great up on the wall of D1. 

Classroom display of work by first and second years