Rejoice! Rejoice!

Joy was in the air this afternoon as the All-Age presented their annual Christmas Concert. After weeks of practice, the students delighted their parents and friends with melodious songs, well rehersed poems and colourful dances.

Da Virgin Mary Had A Baby Boy...

Our Festival Dancers dance to "Behold The Lamb Of God."

Little April enjoys the concert with her Mom and Dad

Opening The Doors

In an effort to open our doors to the wider Above Rocks Community, the Mission hosted a wedding reception in the St. Louis Educational and Social Center this afternoon. There are not many places for people to gather in our area, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to reach out to our brothers and sisters from other Faith Communities. Many people have a misunderstanding about Roman Catholics and tend to be anti-Catholic. This new initiative helps to break down what divides us and help to build God's Kingdom where all will be one! Sunday night we will be hosting a play produced by a local young man portraying in a comical way life in Jamaica. This too is open to the entire Above Rocks area.

Our school children always find their way to Sister Marcia - even at a wedding reception.

Miss April (center in blue) Principal at St. Mary's Basic prepares for a night of celebration.

BEEP BEEP

...No, not the roadrunner but a new and exciting program at St. Mary's All-Age. "Yes we can" - "Yes we will" was the chant heard around the Mission this afternoon as the school community officially launched Boys Empowerment Enrichment Program. Boys and young men in general are a group on the fringe here in Jamaica. Most crimes on the Island are committed by youths between the ages of 16-25. BEEP was started to help our boys make good healthy choices as well as to help build their self-esteem. Many of these boys (grades 7-9) cannot read so literacy efforts will be made to enable these boys to read and thus open a whole new world for them. We do not want our boys to be just another statistic - BEEP will help guide and nourish them to be the next leaders of Jamaica, Land We Love!

Mr. Alrick McKenzie, past student of St. Mary's Basic, All-Age and College addresses the boys and challenges them to be successful. Mr. McKenzie is a Jamaican Television personality (and grandson of our cook)

BEEP choir sings "Ain't No Giving Up"

SMC - Guidance Dept Award

Yesterday St. Mary's College's - Guidance and Coun- seling Department were among six finalist for Region 6. Sr Naomi and Br Michael represented the Board of Management at the ceremony held at the Holiday Inn in Montego Bay. St. Mary's College came in 4th for their Guidance and Counseling Plan for the 2008 - 2009 Academic Year. The program sponsored by the Jamaican Association of Guidance Counsellors [sic] in Education included a pointed speech by the president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association and an ambitious address by the new CEO of the Ministry of Education, Ms. Grace McLean. Both speakers were supportive of the guidance and counseling programs across the island and thanked the counselors for the impact they are having on the young people in Jamaica.

Below you will see Mrs Davidson, principal (left), the Guidance Dept in the centre, and Br Michael, Chairman of the Board (right).

Do You Hear What I Hear?

On the evening of the Second Sunday of Advent, Church Members from St. Mary's Above Rocks, St. Helen's Linstead and Apostolic Mission Hall joined Holy Family Cassava River for their annual Christmas Concert. Joining voices with the Heavenly Hosts, songs filled the "cool" night air (70 degrees) as they "prepared the way of the Lord" on their Advent journey.

Pastoral Visit - First Sunday of Advent

On Sunday, 29 November 2009, Archbishop Donald Reece, joined the faith communities of St Mary's, O L of Lourdes, Sacred Hearts and Holy Family for Super Sunday (5th Sunday of the month) in Above Rocks. while the Ordinary might be expected to celebrate at the Cathedral Church on the beginning of a New Liturgical Year, His Grace said it was important for him to make a pastoral visit to St Mary's and Missions. All four faith communities were well represented and the presidents of each local church assisted with the Advent Wreath Service. After Communion the St Mary's Dancers provided us with a song and movement for our meditation, and 10-A-C Lewis had the chicken foot soup ready when we hit the back steps. Below you can find a 3 minute slide show of the day's events. Thanks for visiting the BLOG.

Please note: we are aware of the missing "h" in Bishop below. It appears spelled correctly in the text box but when the frame is formatted for the slide show it drops the "h" - we have tried to fix the spelling without success. Thank you for your understanding.

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