Diocesan News
Cork launch of ‘Praying Together’ – Prayers for Primary School Assemblies
On Thursday 6 February 2020, the President of Dublin City University (DCU) Prof. Brian MacCraith, launched Praying Together – a new collection of prayers for primary school assemblies.
The book contains a wide variety of prayers, each prayer written by a pupil, a class, a teacher or someone connected with a Church of Ireland primary school. The book was the result of a project initiated by Mrs Jacqui Wilkinson who invited all Church of Ireland primary schools to contribute prayers. Jacqui lectures in Religious Education in DCU, teaches the RE Cert (Follow Me programme) to initial teacher education students in DCU and offers CPD and in–service training in the Follow Me programme to existing teachers in Church of Ireland schools.
The prayers in the book include those which may only be read occasionally, for example when a teacher retires or when there is a school inspection. Others may become regular features of assemblies marking the seasonal events of the school year. There are also prayers for when an urgent response is required, for example, in times of sickness or sadness.
Many of the primary schools in the Diocese of Cork have prayers in the collection, and the diocesan school prayer written by the Bishop of Cork, Dr Paul Colton, is also included. On Friday 7th February Jacqui Wilkinson visited Templebreedy National School for their school assembly during which pupils read the Templebreedy National School prayers that had been contributed to the project and the principal, Mrs Doris Bryan, was presented with a copy of the book.
The Reverend Isobel Jackson, rector of Templebreedy, and Mrs Dorothy Verplancke, the retired principal of the school, were present at the school assembly and Mrs Verplancke was given a copy of the book which contains two prayers she wrote. All primary schools in the diocese will receive copies of the book in the coming weeks.
Diocesan Media & Information Technology Officer
087 7055 989
Ms Denise Stobart
media@corkchurchofireland.com