De La Mennais Brothers: Making Jesus Christ better known and loved by young people

Despite, or perhaps even because of the current environment in which teachers are having to work, the presence of religious orders in the education system in England seems to be potentially more important now than when I first joined our congregation 28 years ago.  The Catholic hierarchy in this country has overseen a return to a more formal, catechetical approach to R.E., especially in the public exam syllabuses for G.C.S.E. and A-Level, and rightly so, in my opinion. Long gone are the wishy-washy platitudes of the "Weaving The Web" Key Stage 3 syllabus and its like that were all the rage in the 1990s. However, a new G.C.S.E. syllabus that involves delivering content relating to the topics of Creation, Incarnation, Trinity, Redemption, Kingdom of God and Eschatology to pupils of all ability (we still teach R.E. as a compulsory G.C.S.E. subject in most Catholic schools), as well as a detailed study of beliefs and practices in Judaism, could be daunting...

It’s been a while… put it down to an incredibly busy and stressful last 6 months since our General Chapter, partly because of having to catch up with nearly 4 weeks of school work once I'd come back from the Chapter whilst waiting for an overdue Ofsted inspection (I’d prepared nearly 60 hours of cover work for supply teachers to deliver in my absence, none of which got marked by the supply).  The Ofsted inspection (followed a few days later, as is usual, by an Archdiocesan inspection, a double whammy for R.E. staff and school Chaplain - I’m both!) eventually came in May. By that stage - after having been on "red alert" since February - many of the staff were suffering from nervous exhaustion. The summer holidays couldn’t come soon enough. In Sept. a new Head Teacher took over, our previous one having retired in July. Though the new incumbent has come in and changed many of our routines and structures, he has done so with a “glass half full” type attitude, seeming...

Here’s a clip that I’ve been a bit slow to publicise… It was commissioned by the lovely folk at the National Catholic Office of Vocation for England and Wales (Fr. Christopher Jamison osb and Sr. Cathy Jones) to be released online in time for Vocations Sunday in April as part of a set of different resources celebrating Consecrated Life, as this is the Year of Consecrated Life. Click here for the page where all these resources can be found. It shows different aspects of my life in community and work with young people.

The real teachers inspired by the film "Dead Poets' Society". Click on the above link to go to a BBC article about teachers who have shared their experiences of being inspired to become teachers by this film starring that wonderful actor/comedian Robin Williams whose loss is being so keenly felt by people thought the world. Here's my own response in the light of his death.  This film inspired me too.  I'll never forget watching it in a crowded Birmingham cinema in 1989, aged 20 (studying Music at Liverpool Uni.), the cinema filled with people about my age, during a weekend Catholic Student Council team meeting. Looking back, I don't think it is a "great" film artistically. It's shamelessly manipulative. And yet... very few films have ever fired me up or inspired me to the extent that this film did back in '89, and as a Film Studies teacher I've seen many films!  Neither have I ever had such a communal experience as I did watchin...