The ultimate aim of collective worship at St John’s is to provide our students with an important opportunity for their spiritual and moral development within the context of the Catholic faith and traditions: 

• to contemplate the mystery of God;
• to develop an understanding of Salvation History through meaningful engagement with the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation;
• to reflect on spiritual and moral issues;
• to foster and nurture relationships;
• to respond to and to celebrate life;
• to experience a sense of belonging and to develop community;
• to nurture a common ethos and shared set of values;
• to enrich religious experience;
• to grow in liturgical understanding and development;
• to reinforce prayers which are part of the Catholic tradition;
• to seek appropriate responses to the love of God;
• to take time out ‘to wonder at’, ‘to come to terms with’ and ‘to give worth to.’ 

The programme for Collective Worship is linked to themes outlined in the school calendar, which follow the cycle of the Liturgical Year of the Roman Catholic Church. See below for an explanation of the Liturgical Year.

Prayer, reflections and gospel readings, linking to the Liturgical Year and the themes of Catholic Social Teaching, are expected to be said in form time and/or assemblies. A weekly prayer and reflections resource is provided to all form tutors. These can be accessed by staff, students and parents for personal or family prayer time in the Prayer and Reflections section - under Catholic Life on the school web-site.

Mass is offered on a regular basis and all students and staff are invited to come forward for a blessing or to receive Holy Communion.  A range of assemblies in school are delivered by Year Leaders, Senior Leaders, the Lay Chaplain and by students. Assemblies include time for prayer and reflection; and may also include readings from Scripture. Whole school assemblies are used to mark formal events such as Remembrance, and Holocaust Memorial Day, and will include reflections which link to themes in Catholic Social Teaching.

Students have the opportunity to actively participate in mass and liturgy by undertaking ministries such as singing, playing music, readings, and saying prayers.

The sacrament of Reconciliation is offered twice a year in Advent and in Lent, and is supported by clergy from our local parish at St John’s in Gravesend.

The Liturgical Year of the Catholic Church

 

 

Just as the earth revolves around the sun according to a set pattern we call an orbit, so too the Church revolves around the Son of God, Jesus Christ, according to the pattern set by the liturgical calendar.

The liturgical calendar puts the universal Catholic Church—which has been established all over the world—on the same page so that we can celebrate and worship God in unison as the one Body of Christ. It also places heaven and earth on the same clock, so to speak; it unites heaven (our eternal home) with earth (our pilgrimage journey). As we celebrate a feast day here on earth, be assured that the angels and saints in heaven are doing the same in tandem with us, but in a far more excellent way.

The Liturgical Seasons

Generally speaking, we can imagine the natural order as a reflection of the spiritual order, because both are revelations of the same God. Just as there are four seasons of the year that guide the life of nature, there are four major seasons that guide the life of the Church: Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. The period outside these seasons is called “Ordinary Time”—that is, tempus per annum, or “time during the year.”

Advent is a period of penance and preparation before the celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas, while Lent is a period of penance and preparation before the celebration of Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection at Easter. (Technically, the three-day period encompassing Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday is its own liturgical season, distinct from Lent. It’s called the Triduum.)

The new liturgical year begins on the first Sunday of Advent and concludes on the feast of Christ the King (the final Sunday before Advent begins). This symbolizes the eternal truth that all things begin and end in Jesus Christ.

^{Parents are permitted by law to request that their child is withdrawn from receiving all or part of religious education and/or collective worship provided by a school.} 

^{Please contact office@stj.kent.sch.uk if you would like any further information.}