The Grades 2 to 8 students took part in an outdoor pilgrimage of the Stations of the Cross at the Mount Mary Immaculate Retreat Centre in Ancaster.
Principal Lillian Scibetta has run the pilgrimage at Corpus Christi for the four years she has been principal, but initiated the pilgrimage 11 years ago when she ran Regina Mundi Catholic Elementary School.
Students set out in the morning for the approximately hour-long trek through the convent grounds.
鈥淲e are a Catholic (school) system... This is how we live our faith, through Jesus. And going on a pilgrimage is like going on a walk with Jesus and feeling and being a part of His life,鈥� said Scibetta.
鈥淚 have a shuttle system that goes on. There are two buses. They pick up two sets of classes, so four classes head out to Mount Mary.鈥�
Then there are leaders who Scibetta picked from the community who she believes 鈥渞eflect religious or faith traditions.鈥� In other words, faith leaders in the community. From school board members to a bishop, every year the leaders take groups of children through the stations. 鱿鱼视频app 400 students were to participate this year.
鈥淭his is what our faith is about, this is who we are. It鱿鱼视频app a distinctive way of showing our Catholic faith and our traditions,鈥� said Scibetta. 鈥淲hat we like is for the students to be a part of our traditions.鈥�
Jerry Creedon, who is the faith animator at the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, and Dr. Paul Beaudette, the board鱿鱼视频app program leader for religion and family life, took the first two groups of Grades 2 to 4 children at 9:15 a.m. Then parents and teachers follow along. Mount Mary has 14 stations with some close together and others far apart.
鈥淭he leader will lead the group in prayer. Then I have a response for the students to make after the leader leads them in every station. And the children respond, then they reflect, then they go on to the next station,鈥� said Scibetta. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app very similar to a real pilgrimage.鈥�
Each physical station includes a visual depiction of the part of Jesus鈥� passion it represents.
鈥淗ere you鈥檙e going outdoors, you鈥檙e feeling it, it鱿鱼视频app more meaningful, a lot more reflective of the times and it鱿鱼视频app a different way of presenting stations to the children,鈥� said Scibetta.
鈥淚 want the students to feel, to go back in time and history. Basically, I want them to... be a part of what it was like for Jesus as He went through the stations of His life, until He died and then (was) resurrected.鈥�