Education Meeting Warrington

EDUCATION MEETING WARRINGTON
Sunday 26 April 2020, 12:30pm-3:30pm
St Mary’s Church, Buttermarket Street, Warrington WA1 2NS
FREE church car parks accessed via Smith Street and Buttermarket Street

WHAT:
A number of families meet weekly at St Mary’s Shrine in Warrington for half a day of educational activities (about 25 children). In addition to this, we have been observing with interest the formation of the Regina Caeli Academy (RCA) in Bedfordshire over the past 18 months and have invited them to present their educational model in Warrington. With a spacious building just acquired next to our church, we now actively welcome educational initiatives and we pray God that we may answer them very soon.

WHO:
Anyone with interest in education is welcome to attend. This includes not only parents wishing to support such an academy in Warrington, but also home educators eager to compare their methods with the RCA ones, parents whose children are in full time school education and are curious to hear what RCA can bring, as well as benefactors open to funding reliable Catholic education.

AHEAD:
The innocence of our children is in danger. Next autumn, even Catholic schools will have young children subjected to lessons on sexuality delivered in a way which is very likely to harm their innocent souls and twist their understanding of natural law, while depriving their parents of their inalienable rights as their primary educators.
Even if this concern did not exist, the fact that most teenagers educated in Catholic schools lapse demonstrates enough that more must be done to teach and form the next generations of Catholics.

BUT:
Many parents agree with this assessment, but feel they can’t home educate, though. They don’t have the training, the time, the resources. They fear that home education might hinder socialising their children. They doubt whether home education would enable their children to enter the universities and get good jobs.

ASK:
Regina Caeli [https://www.rcahybrid.org.uk/] is a private, independent tutoring centre operating in the Catholic tradition. It offers two full days of taught lessons in school (Mondays and Thursdays) and lesson plans for three days of lessons taught at home, for boys and girls aged 4-18. The two taught days comprise the majority of academic work and there is significant support for the homeschooling element. The organisation has grown rapidly since its launch in 2003, now operating in 16 locations in the United States (with 8 more in planning) and, of course, now also in Bedfordshire in the UK.

Regina Caeli is a response to the need for affordable, authentic, classical education taught in light of the Catholic tradition. Its primary goal is to aid the students in knowing, loving, and serving God by providing them with a “classical style” of education so they learn how to think critically and become life-long learners. The mission is both educational and apostolic combining high educational standards with faithful adherence to the Magisterium of the Church.

Leaders of Regina Caeli UK will give a presentation about the hybrid academy and answer any questions families may have.

TIMETABLE:
12:30pm Teas and coffees / lunch (please bring your own packed lunches)
1:30pm Brief introduction, followed by a talk by Regina Caeli Academy UK representative
2:30pm Coffee and cake
2:45pm Talk by the Trustees of the Bedfordshire RCA on how it works in practice
3:00pm Q&A’s, and next steps for interested parents

If you can, arrive earlier and attend our 11:00am Solemn High Mass (confessions from 10:30am). There is an other 6:00pm Sunday Mass.

There is a separate room to occupy the children. We’re aiming to get some help to entertain the children (tbc).

Free for all parents and children

Video on Regina Caeli: https://www.facebook.com/reginacaeliuk/videos/203633894156383/

INTERCESSORESS: The Servant of God Elizabeth Prout, Foundress of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion (the female branch of Bl. Dominic Barberi’s Passionists in England), chose and founded St Mary’s school in Warrington. Our current building stands on the very footprint of the one she knew and where her order taught children from 1899 until 1967. Her order asks us to inform them of any favour received through her intercession. Let us ardently ask her for success for this initiative as we prepare for the bicentenary of her birth on 2nd September 2020.

CONCLUSION: The great step of the re-dedication of England to Our Lady of Walshingham on 29th March calls for renewed creativeness in Catholic education. Now is the time; 26 April is the date and St Mary’s the place. Please come, tell your friends, and pray. We look forward to meeting you soon.

CONTACT Shrine Rector: malleray@fssp.org

by Fr AM