Autumn 1 - Family and Community

Family and Community

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone."

Genesis 2:18

If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.

Jeremiah 7:5-7

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:12-17

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2:14-17

“A happy community naturally develops the desire to generate and integrate ... while an unhappy society is reduced to a sum of individuals trying to defend what they have at all costs”.

Pope Francis, May 2023

In the first half term we focus on Family and Community. All people have the right to participate in society and to seek the common good, which means the good for all. Family is at the centre of our school, so central social institutions that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined. We believe people have a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Chosen Saints - The Holy Family

What better family is there to represent the struggles of family and community?

From before Jesus' birth, Mary and Joseph had more than their fair share of struggles. Mary had said yes to God, Joseph chose to trust Mary's story - until he himself was visited by an angel in a dream.

After Jesus' birth, the three had to escape to Egypt to avoid persecution. There they lived as refugees until it was safe to return home.

Family is not always easy, but we also know that Jesus loved his family very much - after all, his first miracle was to help his mother out when they were at a funeral.

The Holy Family is a great example of what we should be - part of a loving, supportive community, following God's commandments.

The Feast Day is the Sunday after Christmas.