YOUTH MINISTRY
There will be an opportunity for young people of 11years and older to come together on an evening and enjoy time with their friends. The evenings begin on Thursday 25th September 7-00pm and continue every second week. Dates of the meetings 25th September 9th October 23rd October 6th November 20th November 4th December 18th December 8th January. Future dates will be arranged with the members of the group. So do come along and lets get this exciting ministry up and running.
JUSTICE AND PEACE Rotherham Deanery J&P group has recently circulated the following letter to the Catholic primary Schools serving the Rotherham area. Please express your support to your Head Teacher. Dear Head Teacher You will already be aware of current debates within educational circles suggesting that faith schools promote discrimination and division within the wider community. At present a campaign group called Accord want to persuade the government to change the way faith schools operate which would greatly weaken the ethos and integrity of the school. . We are sure that you would not agree with the opinions of Accord and other groups with similar views and we would like to share with you a proposal that is practical and would enable our local Catholic schools to actively promote harmony and understanding within the wider community. During the academic year every school allocates part of its timetable towards studies of different faiths. We suggest that when another faith is being studied by the school it contacts representatives of that faith. The person or peoples invited can be asked to not only work with the staff and pupils but also with parents and governors after school hours. We can offer to you help in contacting other faith communities that are part of the Interfaith Forum operating within Rotherham. We also have other connections with some faith groups outside of Rotherham who may be interested in working with our local Catholic schools on such a project. Of course, in order to prepare well we would need advance notice of your timetable and subject matter so that we can help make the required arrangements with yourselves and other interested parties. We would also like to suggest that our local Catholic schools establish close working relationships and partnerships with schools in the Rotherham area that have a high percentage of pupils of other faiths. This also would help to promote harmony and co-operation across the wider community. Again we would be willing to help in making contact with other schools and establishing relationships with them. We have already made contact with sources that may be able to provide funding towards the proposals we have shared with you. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you towards the common good of the community and witnessing the values of the Gospel. Yours sincerely, Jan Royan – Chair of Rotherham Deanery J&P Group. Nuala McCormack, Fr. Desmond Sexton.