Faith in Our Community
October 2023
A New Term at St Aloysius’ College
As a Jesuit school, we are part of a worldwide organisation that educates over two million students with a tradition over 450 years old. At its core, Jesuit education is about nurturing in students a secure sense of the love of God in all things.
St Aloysius’ College seeks to form happy, kind, and generous young ‘men and women for others’, who have developed excellence in their abilities and character and are ready to serve others and the world, following the example of Jesus.
We treasure every student in our school, and they are the focus of everything we do. We want each one to feel known and loved, and at St Aloysius’ College, we are lucky to have supportive parents and generous staff who help us achieve this.
We are incredibly proud of our young people, our school, and our traditions. We hope you enjoy reading about them in this edition of our newsletter.
- Mr. Patrick Doyle Head Teacher
1
Lots of smiling faces excited to be back! Our Junior School pupils are enjoying their new pitch and social area.
Faith Journeys
Ascensio Scholarum Mass
Junior School celebrated the beginning of the new school year with a special Ascensio Scholarum Masswhere we dedicated our work for the next year to God.
In this Mass, we looked at how we can be inspired to be the best we can be for the new school year - making new friends, learning new things, and being kind to others. We gave thanks to God for our families, teachers, and staff members who help us along the way.
We also had some beautiful accompaniment in the form of excellent singing from our Schola - whose hard work during practice in the run-up to the Mass was evident.
Christian Formation
We have returned to our regular timetable of assemblies - with two each week being had in St Aloysius’ Church for Senior School.
On Tuesdays, we have our Christian Formation assembly - an important part of our week when we get to reflect as a whole school and spend some quiet time with each other and with God.
Recently, we celebrated the Queenship of Mary on August 22nd - and heard from Captain of Christian Formation Katherine S. (S6) about her time as a Lourdes Pilgrimage volunteer. Read more on page 5.
Our New Captains
Our newest Captains of Christian Formation were commissioned to take on their new roles during a special service at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre, Glasgow. The captains will work closely with the Chaplaincy team, and help coordinate events and activities throughout the year that encourage our entire community to spend time together in our faith.
Fr Gerard Mitchell SJ. Senior School pupils gathering in church.Commissioning service.
2
Men and women for and with others
We are celebrating a successful year from our S3 Charities Committee - who have worked hard raising funds for two important charities: MacMillan and Teenage Cancer Trust. All of the fundraising was pupil-led, with Committee members developing ideas that were overseen by Head of S3 Mr. Daryl Meechan.
Multiple fundraising events took place for these charities including a World Cup sweepstake; a MacMillan Coffee Morning for Junior School staff; a Halloween film night for S1; two separate bake sales (one in September, one in March which was Easter-themed); and a bucket collection around the P7 classes.
Our biggest event was December’s Santa Dash, where around 100 pupils and staff, from S2/S3/ S5, ran around Glasgow Green on behalf of Teenage Cancer Trust. We joined 6,000 other Santas in Glasgow, and more than doubled our fundraising target! Altogether, over £5300 was raised for cancer charities - an amazing achievement. This year’s Santa Dash will take place on Sunday 10th December 2023.
A big thank you goes to everyone who donated at fundraising events, and a well done to the S3 charities committee who put in so much effort and made it all possible.
The Birthday of Our Lady
On August 22nd our Junior School gathered for the special day of the Birthday of Our Lady. Primary 7 led our Mass - speaking about how we can follow the example of Our Lady in our school life. We reflected on Mary’s life and how she faced difficulties and great sadness along the way, but her incredibly strong faith always kept her going - something we strive to attain ourselves.
Mass was accompanied by beautiful singing from our Schola who have been practicing often in preparationand will continue to do so in anticipation of future Masses. It was also lovely to have Kindergarten along with us, who did an amazing job learning all of the words to their hymns and singing along.
Primary 7 helped us to reflect and pray,
3
My Arrupe Experience by
Emma G.
Arrupe is one of those things about the College that everyone knows about, however no one quite knows the origin of the programme or what it involves. My Arrupe experience has certainly been one I will always remember and reflect on. My placement this past year was at a local nursery. It is the most amazing and heart-warming place where you can tell the staff truly care about the children in their care - I saw several similarities with the College. It’s fair to say that on my first week on placement I was very nervous. I doubted my skills and talents and I really didn’t think I would enjoy it- how I was wrong! Renfrew Street Nursery enrols all children however, the majority have limited English, behavioural issues or another unique characteristic. On my first week on placement I was met with some questions from staff such as: ‘Are you here to get out of PE?’ ‘Why does your school run this programme?’ ‘What is Arrupe?’ To be honest, when answering these questions- I really had to think about my answers.
“[Arrupe] was something I’ve always wanted to take part in.”
My older sister Lucy was really involved in Arrupe and absolutely loved it, so I’ve known since I was in primary it was something I’ve always wanted to take part in. St Aloysius’ College really is more than a school. Yes, we receive a top-class education however we are taught about the importance of service and giving back to our community which stands us in good stead for when we leave the College.
Arrupe is the perfect example of us being ‘men and women for others’ - I think that’s what makes our school so special. Arrupe has been a pivotal point in my time at the College, it’s given me so much confidence and joy knowing I helped those children even if it was only for a couple of hours a week. My placement has shown me so many things. It’s opened my eyes to the various different ways children learn, the difficulties children face and the unique and inspiring ways they overcome these challenges, however it has also shown me how God truly is present among us all constantly. I really took seeing the children develop in their skills each week as a sign from God that what I was doing was worthwhile, to keep going, seeing each child slowly start to recognise the Arrupe jumper and realise me and Tom were there to play with them gave me more joy than I can say. When I didn’t know what to do in a situation I felt His presence guiding me.
If I had one piece of advice for our new Arrupe pupils it would be to make time to write your weekly reflection - they are so important and come this time next year, you will be so proud when you look back on your year and see how much you have grown. I would like to thank the staff at Renfrew Street Nursery for having faith in me to help care for their children, their confidence in me helped me to stick in and come to love a Wednesday afternoon.
I would also like to thank Mr. McBride and Mrs. McWilliams for giving me this opportunity, their continued support and motivation has enabled me to grow as a person and achieve things I never thought I could.
“...that’s what makes our school so special.”
“...you will be so proud when you look back and see how much you have grown.”
4
Reflections on Lourdes
by Katherine S. (S6)Our Lourdes Pilgrimage takes place every year and is led by Mrs McWilliams, the College’s Outreach Coordinator, for pupils in S5 and S6. The definition of a pilgrimage is a journey with a purpose in which we move closer to God. It is also a time to grow in self-knowledge and awareness in others’ needs. I was given the opportunity to go to Lourdes earlier this year in June.
The Lourdes Pilgrimage group was made of twenty-seven other pupils from St Aloysius’, six members of staff, Fr Eric Studt SJ and Fr Simon Bishop SJ, and most importantly our twelve young guests from Abercorn Secondary School, which is one of our neighbouring schools that looks after young people with additional support needs.
I put my name forward for Lourdes because I wanted to help other young people who are less fortunate than myself and take the opportunity to give these young people an experience they will never forget, but also to develop my own skills such as patience for others and being more aware of other’s needs. While we were in Lourdes we got to visit so many places. We visited the Grotto which is the site of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette in 1858. Here Mary called on Bernadette to dig the ground nearby from which came a spring of healing properties, which is still active to this day as there are seventeen pools for pilgrims to bathe in.
These pools provide healing and comfort to all pilgrims. The grotto also has a statue of Our Lady where she appeared and is the focal point of the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes. The grotto is also very symbolic to our faith as Mary is an important motherly figure to us all. We enjoyed a day at the beach where we all came together and had a lot of fun swimming in the sea.
We had another day up in the mountains in a beautiful place called Gavarnie where we went on a walk to see the spectacular scenery, played some football in the park, danced and had lunch, then we all celebrated mass in the Church at Gavarnie. Another day consisted of us visiting a beautiful park that had a big pond in the middle of it and we had a lovely picnic all together and took in everything around us.
The group also enjoyed a sports day that consisted of lots of fun races with just the right amount of competitive spirit.
will never
“an experience they
forget...”
5
Was I nervous about going to Lourdes?
Definitely, because I was a bit wary of being around so many new faces and also even being around loads of people I wouldn’t normally speak to everyday, but these anxieties disappeared as soon as the whole group was together due to the special atmosphere that was present around us.
I was also nervous about having the big responsibility of caring for another person and making their Lourdes experience as special as it could possibly be. The thing I enjoyed most about Lourdes was the various activities we all participated in during the day but particularly at night as we would have quiz nights and movie nights.
These were very special memories for everyone as we would all have a great laugh together and being able to spend the nights in a big group was very comforting for all. My best memory has got to be the last night when we had a talent show, as there were so many hidden talents from lots of our guests and our own pupils and staff. Then it was time to say goodnight for the final time which ended in most, if not all, of us in tears because none of us wanted to go home.
What I have taken from my Lourdes experience is to be more thankful for all I have in my life and how fortunate I am to be able to get up and get on with the day as I am, but also to be more aware of other people’s feelings and emotions. I would definitely recommend Lourdes to anyone who is thinking about doing it later on in their St Aloysius’ journey as it is honestly the experience of a lifetime, and you would definitely be missing out on an amazing opportunity.
6
“These were very special memories...”
Archbishop Tartaglia Football Tournament
Well done to all of our pupils who took part in the Archbishop Tartaglia Football Tournament on Sunday 1st October.
The P7 Girls team and P7 Boys team both finished as runners-up (the Primary 7 boys narrowly lost on penalties!) and the P6 team finished in 4th place. Brilliant performances from all three teams and we were really proud of their efforts!
Junior School Playground Blessing
There was a momentary break in the recent spell of rainy weather as we formally opened and blessed our new pitch and social area in our Junior School playground
After a special Mass led by our pupils in our Manresa Oratory, Fr Gerard Mitchell SJ blessed our new and improved playground.
We would like to say a huge thank you to the Mulholland family, the McDermott family, and MKM Building Merchants who made this all possible, and to Fr Gerard for his lovely Mass and blessing.. We look forward to many happy times out in our new and improved playground!
7
Caritas Award Class of 2023
Almost 40 pupils from the College will be taking part in this year’s Caritas Award - for which they were commissioned during a beautiful service at St. Mary’s, Calton celebrated by Archbishop Nolan.
Each of our young people were commissioned to offer their time and talents to serve the wider community, whether that be through charitable or spiritual help. We are already seeing the good work of Caritas appear already in our school, with some pupils volunteering to be part of a weekly rosary prayer in our Sodality Chapel, celebrating the Month of the Holy Rosary.
Primary 7 - Sacrament Preparation
Primary 7 have been working hard in class preparing for their Sacrament of Confirmation. Everyone is very excited for the special day. Part of our preparation was our retreat to Schoenstatt- where we learned about what to expect at Confirmation and we spent some time in prayer, anticipating this special step in our faith life. We also spent lots of time outdoors in the peaceful surroundings, appreciating God’s gift of nature. Two of our Christian Formation captains, Kolina C. and Emma G. also participated in a reflection session.
8
Lots of fond memories were made on our retreat.
