The Faith group at the John Fisher School continues to thrive under the guidance of the indomitable "Sir Dan of the Blogosphere". Dan acts as a kind of human version of Google Reader, phoning me up regularly with carefully chosen snippets from Rorate Caeli, LifeSite News, Fr Z, NLM, St John's Valdosta and others. He is a great example of a "Silver Surfer" - he was a teacher when I was a boy, and has carried on in a pastoral role at the school since his retirement.Last evening, I went over to talk to the Faith Group at the school on the subject of "What makes man unique?": the principal thesis being "We have a spiritual and immortal soul [De Fide]". Sadly, Takapuna, the house where priests used to live when there were many teaching at the school, is now boarded up and surrounded by mesh fencing. Nevertheless, the new venue in the Sixth Form Centre is good. One advantage of the new venue is the projector and interactive whiteboard with a live internet connection that actually works. So we could have a look at some blogs and YouTube channels before and after the talk.
The mix of boys was a bit daunting; there were some "Year 7s" (11-12 years old) and a couple of sixth formers (16-18 years old) but one of the healthy characteristics of the school is that the older boys have a good pastoral relationship with the younger ones and so the mix of quick-fire questions from elementary ones about what the soul is to advanced ones involving the relationship to God, free will and Pelagianism, could all be dealt with in due course with nobody getting impatient.
One good indicator of how this school continues to produce vocations (4 currently in seminary) is that the Headmaster, Mark Scully, on a Friday evening, after a week of bureaucracy and day-to-day problems, took the opportunity to come in and then to stay for tea and toast and an informal chat with the sixth formers with the occasional admonition to the younger ones to be careful with the snooker cue.
Recently, in the school newsletter, Mr Scully posted this photograph of one of the boards in the School Hall. Many schools have rugby, football and cricket honours. John Fisher has a board listing those who have been ordained priest or deacon or who have entered religious life. (Click to enlarge - I'm proud to have my name on there!) On the sports front, I should mention the recent glorious victory of the First XV over Whitgift in a match which attracted over 1000 spectators; the local people come along for this as well as parents and friends.With a live internet connection, a couple of the boys were determined to show me the YouTube video of Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise". I resisted for a bit but then gave in out of curiosity; it has had over 70 million views which is impressive. I found it quite funny.
6 comments:
Methinks you have a little too much time on your hands...
What's interesting to me is to compare the numbers ordained throughout the decades. The 60s-90s, had trailed off from the 50s but there was still a steady stream of them -- and then all of a sudden it abruptly drops off to almost nil in this last decade. Is there a 2nd board that the names were continued on from the last half of this decade?
[I hope you didn't bully Fr. Sean!]
GOTO - there are four old boys currently in formation at seminary so I hope that the numbers will pick up again.
No I didn't bully Fr Sean!
I'm utterly astounded to see this, Fr Tim. As you will be well aware, in our time, our school never honoured anybody for anything but for sporting prowess. I never, ever, expected to see my name on a Fisher board! But I find myself moved.
Still, though my year of ordination is correct, I'm pretty sure I was ordained before Patrick Burke, and Simon Blakesley was surely ordained before me.
I *love* the idea of a priestly honour board! Almost makes me want to send my sons to school...
That is one BOARD to be proud of! Hats off to John Fisher School. How many Catholic Schools in this country can boast such an important and impressive school achievement. Surely this should be the aim of ALL Catholic Schools? The ultimate measure of just how Catholic is a School is surely the number of Religious Vocations and dare I say successful Sacramental Marriages they produce. A measure of turning out well adjusted and formed Catholic young men and women.
Where are we going to get our future Priests from if not from our own Catholic Families, Parishes and Schools.
I've had a gut full of the Catholic School that pays 'lip service' to the Faith. They prattle on about 'Oh yes, our catholicity is so sincere kum-ba-ya and the catholic ethos permeates the air to such a degree that you can smell the angels and saints around every corner la-la-la-la-la', whereas the reality is that the catholic faith is relegated to two 40 minute lessons per week, government secular curriculum to be 'religiously' followed, promiscuous sex-ed, alternative relationships, dissent from Church Teaching, Islam, Judaism, and every-other-ism to be taught by non-Catholic head of department, cross curricular blah blah blah to further weaken whatever is left of the children's faith etc...
Everything it seems EXCEPT teaching the children the Catholic Faith in line with the Magisterium and Catholic Catechism. Oh, and mention anything about Bishop O'Donoghue's document 'Catholic Schools - Fit for Mission' and you get that blank look, that stare that asks 'what planet are you from?'
What's gone wrong with Catholic Education in this Country???
Well done Headmaster Mark Scully - you are a beacon of light in the darkness. What's the secret? How do you get Heads to see the light?
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