Chaplaincy

Pastoral and spiritual care in the school is highly valued and pupils have access to many different services. There is always someone to help and support, especially at times of crisis. Besides the care they receive from teachers and learning managers, the Chaplain’s office is always open to all pupils for an informal chat or a quiet word whenever it is needed.

We celebrate Mass together regularly, from our whole school celebrations for the school feast day on All Saints Day, to our weekly voluntary lunchtime Mass. We celebrate a Mass of Welcome for the Year Seven pupils and a Year Eleven Leavers Mass. Staff regularly come together to celebrate Mass too.

Throughout the year there are various liturgies, services of Reconciliation and assemblies. Staff prayer takes place weekly, and every other week we come together to enjoy Breakfast with God. Pupils and staff come for tea, toast and prayer.

We encourage all to take a full and active role in the preparation of the prayer life of the school, particularly with animating the Liturgy as musicians, readers, and Eucharistic Ministers. A well-prepared liturgy helps others to pray and come closer to God. Those who help prepare the liturgy offer a unique service to the rest of the school community and can develop a deeper awareness of what it means to pray as the Church.

The school runs a very successful retreat programme. Every pupil has the opportunity to spend time away at Lowe House, Castlerigg Manor, or Savio House. It is a most valuable and enjoyable time for pupils and staff who accompany them. They spend time getting to know each other and themselves a little better, as well as exploring their relationship with God. They do this through team building, reflection, prayer, and having fun.

We value our parish links and very much appreciate the support and encouragement of the local clergy. Fr Ian McParland and Fr Michael Barrett are our local parish priests and are regular visitors to the school. They celebrate a weekly Mass for us, provide an opportunity for the sacrament of reconciliation, as well as being members of our chaplaincy team and governing body.

Our Parish link extends to our parish-based youth club which is run by the chaplaincy team monthly on a Sunday evening. The chaplaincy team also coordinated the sacrament of confirmation for Year 8 pupils including parish-based preparation. The parishes are also supported by our Performing Arts department who provide liturgical music at Sunday Masses. As a chaplaincy team we also regularly organise events with the parish and feeder primary schools such as our CAFOD Community Big Lent Walk.

The parish website can be found here: https://www.catholic-penwortham-longton.co.uk/

Our FIAT (Faith in Action Team) works hard throughout school to support the work of chaplaincy. They meet every Monday to pray together and go deeper in their exploration of faith. They advise the chaplaincy team providing feedback on chaplaincy events, times of prayer and liturgies as well as new ideas. They embed themselves into the life of the school as chaplaincy advocates. They also work towards their Faith in Action Awards serving their local parishes as altar servers, readers, and welcomers and much more.

This really is faith in action; a faith-based group where pupils come together to pray, discern and act together to make a real difference to the lives of people in our local community. Pupils and staff work closely with the parish SVP groups and regularly visit care homes and assisted living facilities with parish volunteers. The group runs our school foodbank which provides food parcels for families and individuals and raises money so they can offer support to our own school families in need. They organise events throughout the year from the senior citizens' Christmas party to celebration concerts. The SVP’s regular Chapel Café selling hot chocolate is a very popular fundraising event. Our youth SVP are always ready to respond to the needs of the local community.

As a faith community, justice and peace and supporting our global family is an important element of Chaplaincy. We support and engage with several charities which as Pax Christi, Columban Missions, Aid to the Church in Need and CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development).

We fundraise throughout the year for CAFOD, particularly on the Harvest and Lent Fast days as well as throughout Lent. Our CAFOD club help to coordinate CAFOD fundraising and activities and is currently working on the CAFOD Live Simple Award.

Throughout the year we raise awareness and money for those in our global family in greater need.