The Company of Mary Our Lady is a worldwide Order.
Although Notre Dame is the only school of the Order in the UK, we have sister schools in many parts of the world. Earlier this year Senior students learned in assemblies about the Order’s communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and about a community in rural Argentina. Last week the Prep pupils learned in assembly about our sister school in East Timor. Learning about the Order’s school in East Timor is particularly pertinent, as our pupils have seen some of their East Timor peers on screen in the form of that school’s contribution to our ‘Jubilee Year hymn’ last November, and also because the community in East Timor is supported by our Sisters’ ODNs Cobham Outreach charity, which is itself supported by Notre Dame.
In our assembly last week our pupils learned about just how much their peers in East Timor enjoy school and all the opportunities they have to learn. They learned that they have so much in common with their peers from so far away, in a Company of Mary Our Lady school, inspired by the charism of St Jeanne de Lestonnac. They also learned that their ‘sisters and brothers’ in East Timor and their families face challenges caused by poverty (often resulting in children being sent out to work and so missing out on school) and climate change. They learned about the work of the Company’s Sisters, including providing language classes in English, French and Spanish to better equip students for future employment opportunities, and in purchasing land and equipment so that the school has been able to form sports teams and provide opportunities for purposeful recreational activity.
Speaking with pupils and with staff after the assembly it was lovely to hear how inspired the pupils had been and how keen they are to learn more about the Company of Mary Our Lady around the world, and about how ODNs Cobham Outreach supports communities in different places. We are reminded of Jesus’ command to ‘Love your neighbour’ and that in our one world, each other person is our neighbour, however geographically far away they may be.
The PowerPoint Can be seen by clicking on THIS LINK
