Our Mary Values Explained
"And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them." Luke 6:31
In order to enrich and develop the charism of our school it is really important that all people associated with our school; teachers, children, families and support staff, know and understand the school values. Our values are those values we believe our children of the 21st Century should endeavor to live by in order to become students who are educated, successful and active citizens with Catholic faith in their hearts. Our values are those we believe our teachers, staff and families should role model for our children.
Full of GraceThis value encompasses the spirit of Mary. We hope our children and other people in our school community will be full of grace by being patient, calm, respectful, gentle and prayerful. In order to explain the meaning of full of grace to our children we can liken it to being full of God's presence or full of God's goodness. Acting outwardly upon the goodness within and having an active and positive acceptance of God's plan, captures the essence of being full of grace. Mary was Full of Grace throughout her relationship with Jesus and this is shown through her acceptance of God's plan, despite the many trials and challenges she faced.
Obedient This value is something we believe in as being critical to the functioning of society as a whole. We feel that to use words like obedient and discipline in today's climate has become something to be frowned upon. However, in order for children to learn and communities to function well together being obedient is very important. We do not see this as a passive value but as something positive and empowering to the individual. It is important to have self discipline and be respectful and obedient to the culture of the community for the benefit of the community. Mary was obedient to the word of God from the moment she accepted the Lord's Son, Christ Jesus into her life.
Faithful In our Catholic school it is extremely important to know, believe, act upon and model the Catholic faith. It is important for our children to learn about what it is to be a Catholic in our community, in the wider community and in New Zealand and across the world. It is important for us to know the traditions and protocol of Catholic tradition and pass these onto our children. Mary was always faithful to God and Christ Jesus, supporting and encouraging throughout her life.
Compassionate This value is important as we want our children to be able to recognise kindness in others and in return develop a sense of empathy to those close to and distant to them. We want them to be able to understand what it is that others are feeling and experiencing and to offer relevant support. We hope that as they grow they will look further afield and individually and as part of their Catholic community offer service and mission to those in need. A woman of faith and kindness, Mary was compassionate and recognized and acted upon the needs of others around her. An example of this was when she travelled many miles to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
Thoughtful This links very closely to all of our values. Our wish is for our children to be reflective and stop and think before they act. We would like them to have moments of quiet and still and enjoy this time to think about their actions, the actions of others, their faith and the faith of others. We hope they will learn to think of others and how to be a person for others. Mary's first response was to think of others.
Hopeful It is important that we have hopes and dreams and aspirations and that we work towards these. We are aware that the pressures of life can sometimes be challenging to cope with. Through hope and with hope we can all make progress no matter how difficult our challenges are. Hope is having a desire to achieve our goals and live our life with a positive, happy and optimistic disposition. Mary had hope from the moment she became united in spirit with our Lord.
Contented This fits in with the values of Thoughtfulness and Full of Grace. We will encourage our community to see the wonderful gifts they have been given and appreciate all aspects of life. We hope our children will develop the beautiful virtues of Mary and look beyond some the negative values of the 21st Century. We would like our children to recognize the value of self, others and community and be grateful for their relationship with God. We will encourage Contentedness in order to avoid greed and jealousy. Mary, despite a hard –working and challenging existence was always positive and contented to accept the word of our Lord.
Determined We recognize that our children will need to develop a sense of determination and perseverance to succeed to reach their personal potential. As Mary proved to us, with hope and determination anything is possible.