St Charles Catholic Primary School Ryde

31 Faces of Mary strike a cultural chord

May is the traditional month of Mary and St Charles Catholic Primary School Ryde has found a unique way to honour her.

They have joined with their local parish, St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Ryde, to pay homage to Mary by sharing a different cultural image of Mary – one for every day of May!

“As part of our 31 Faces of Mary campaign, we looked for images that represented and held significance for different cultural communities from around the world,” St Charles’ Family Educator, Philippa Manley, said.

Year 2 student, Charles, with his favourite Mary picture.

The final selection represents the cultural make-up of the school and parish communities and includes some more contemporary images designed to appeal to a younger audience.

“Ryde is a very multicultural area with large Chinese, Korean, Indian and Italian populations and we have ensured images from these cultures have been included,” Ms Manley said.

“The students’ favourite paintings so far have been the Indian ‘Madonna and Jesus’, and the South Korean ‘Virgin Mary of Peace’, as well as the painting of Mary from an Italian-American artist” – Philippa Manley

“People are commenting on particular images that resonate with them, and sharing their thoughts and the personal significance of these images for them,” Ms Manley said.

“I loved the painting of Mary with children from all different places around her” – Charles in Year 2

Other ways students are celebrating the Month of Mary

St Charles’ students have also been praying the Rosary as a class, and using the picture and scripture Rosary.

The parish church has held a Rosary walk each weekend …

Letters to a nameless friend

St Charles students wrote over 500 letters to Calvary residents.

A student at St Charles Primary School Ryde has struck up a beautiful friendship with a retired priest after writing to him as part of a school outreach project during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Year 3 student Francis’ letter was one of nearly 500 letters and cards St Charles students wrote to residents of Calvary Ryde Retirement Community during the last weeks of Term 3.

Many residents had had little to no contact with anyone during isolation, so they were touched to receive these messages of support which were all addressed “Dear Friend.”

Lorraine Blacklock, Team Leader for Leisure and Lifestyle at the retirement community, said the residents were delighted to read the stories and do the puzzles provided by the children.

They spoke of the joy of parenting and the ways children enrich people’s lives.

Emma and Francis hold up letters from Fr Bernie.

Francis – along with Year 1 student Emma – were thrilled to get a warm and appreciative reply from Father Bernie Maxwell, a retired priest now living at Calvary.

Fr Bernie told Ms Blacklock he appreciated the thoughtful connection the letter created with “a young person who cared for an elderly person.”

Principal of St Charles, Peter Watkins, said hearing what Fr Bernie said brought huge smiles to Francis and Emma’s faces.

Encouraged by Fr Bernie’s feedback Francis immediately said he would write to Fr Bernie again.

But he then later decided writing wasn’t enough and insisted that his mum, Kaye, take him to visit Fr Bernie instead.

The pen pals have since met and, we’re happy …

31 Faces of Mary strike a cultural chord

Letters to a nameless friend

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which our schools and offices now stand. We pay our respects to Elders past and present.

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