Lourdes Display

After learning about Lourdes and the miracle cures that are believed to happen there our classes made newspaper front pages that told the story of Bernadette's visions at Lourdes. They also recounted the story of Peadar Clarke's miracle cure of M.S.

Pilgrimages- Lourdes

A pilgrimage is a journey  to a  holy place. Catholics go on pilgrimages to places like Lourdes and Knock.

Lourdes is a town in France. In 1858 a young girl called Bernadette was walking in the woods and she saw a vision of the Virgin Mary. Mary told Bernadette to come back 18 more times. One day Mary pointed out a water spring. These days that spring produces 27,000 litres of water a week. On the 16th visit Mary told Bernadette that she was the mother of Jesus. Around 8 million pilgrims visit Lourdes each year. They go there to pray, to touch and kiss the wall of the grotto and  to collect holy water.

We watched a video about Lourdes. The video told of people who go to Lourdes looking for a cure from diseases. One man, called Peadar Clarke, suffered from M.S., he could not use his arms and legs and doctors told him he only had 4 years to live. He went to Lourdes and one night in his hotel room he saw the Virgin Mary, she was smiling at him. He stood up and put his arms out. He was cured of his disease. He really believes that he had a miracle cure at Lourdes.

Here is a link to the video that we watched in class.

Written By St. Coleman's RE class. 

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)

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