St Benedict's Day

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 7th of April 2014

The School celebrated Saint Benedict's Day on Friday 21st March. It was a wonderful day, with fun and fundraising for charity in the morning and a Whole School Mass in the Abbey Church in the afternoon.

Bishop John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster, concelebrated Mass with members of the Monastic Community and, in his homily, he reflected on the many lessons he had learnt from St Benedict and the Benedictines' way of life. One such lesson was the value of listening: ''Listen carefully, my child'� These well-known opening words of the Rule of St Benedict inspire our reflection. Listening is the path by which we can grow in wisdom and truth and so live humbly before God and discover His love�We live in a world which is often very noisy. I find myself bombarded by information all the time. Listening requires focus and application to the task or person in front of me.'

The morning activities included a chilli pepper sauce eating competition, a haunted house, beauty parlours, numerous cake and sweet stalls and a barbecue. Members of the school Combined Cadet Force organised an indoor shooting gallery in the Theatre and also supervised rock climbing outside on the climbing wall. Teachers nobly put their names forward for 'Spray the Teacher', which went down a storm with pupils. On the playground 'Beat the goalie' was doing great business, with Headmaster Chris Cleugh in goal for one of the sessions.

English teacher, Mrs Julie Greenhough, writes: 'For it is in the name of charity that all of this and much more took place. The total of £5,544 raised will go to support the school's chosen charities: Sisters of St. Scholastica in the Philippines, Whizz-Kids, Children in Crossfire and The Mulberry Bush School. At the end of the day we celebrate collectively during mass led by Bishop John Sherrington. We are reminded of our patron, St. Benedict, and how he reached out to others. We are reminded of Pope Francis and his message of addressing the scandal of poverty in our world. We are reminded to reach out to others, to serve their needs, turning our ear to wisdom and applying our hearts to the truth.'

St Benedict's Day Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toGxPZIB5-Y