Conclusion

We enjoyed a really super start of the year liturgy celebration with two Masses. They were celebrated by Canon Bernard Massey, who was saying his last Masses for us prior to him leaving St Peter’s in Gloucester and taking up parish priest responsibilities in Bristol. Canon Bernard obviously spoke about the Pope’s forthcoming visit at that time, and it was so lovely that a number of our young people and staff went to different venues to see the Pope. What really pleased me about the Pope’s visit was his emphasis on how important young people are to our society and to our Church. It was also incredibly impressive that the young people interviewed by the media came across as being thoughtful, considerate and above all, thoroughly decent young men and women. It was a great advert for our faith-based schools and for our mission of ensuring that our young people are fully aware of their responsibilities to others as well as to themselves.

The month of November is the month in the Roman Catholic Church when we remember our dead relatives and friends. It is our belief that if we pray for dead relatives and friends it will help them pass into God’s presence for eternity, if they are not already with him. The reason they need our prayers is our belief that there can be a period of time after death when they are in a state called purgatory where we are not in God’s presence and atoning for any misdemeanours we may have committed during our lives. Our religion states that if souls are in that state, it is the prayers of people who are still on earth that can assist them to enter God’s presence. During November, therefore, we will have our Holy Souls box in Reception. You and/or your children can put in the box the name of loved ones you would like the school to pray for at the daily Angelus. In praying for those who have departed their earthly life and are already in God’s presence, we are giving thanksgiving for their life and what they offered us during their time on earth. In many ways November, in our Church, can appear quite morbid, as none of us like to consider our own mortality. It is particularly the case with young people and why shouldn’t it be! However, we must try to avoid the morbid side and emphasise the positive of what we are actually praying for. Namely, for our loved ones to enjoy the utter pleasure and delight of being in God’s presence for eternity. At the end of our lives that is what we hope for all of us, as despite how much we love our earthly existence and how much we cling on to our precious time on earth, we must not forget it is a preparation for the joy and happiness of eternal life in God’s presence. Hopefully, in the presence of the loved ones who have gone before us. It is, therefore, a time of great hope and not of despair, and this must be a message which we offer to our young people so that they see the real value of remembering those people they loved when they were enjoying their earthly existence.

I hope you and your family enjoy a good break at half term and that once again you are able to spend some time as a family to cement very special relationships which exist in families and are so important to our society in general.

Yours sincerely

Lawrence Montagu
Headteacher