May is the traditional month of Mary and St Charles Catholic Primary School Ryde has found a unique way to honour her.
They have joined with their local parish, St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Ryde, to pay homage to Mary by sharing a different cultural image of Mary – one for every day of May!
“As part of our 31 Faces of Mary campaign, we looked for images that represented and held significance for different cultural communities from around the world,” St Charles’ Family Educator, Philippa Manley, said.
Year 2 student, Charles, with his favourite Mary picture.
The final selection represents the cultural make-up of the school and parish communities and includes some more contemporary images designed to appeal to a younger audience.
“Ryde is a very multicultural area with large Chinese, Korean, Indian and Italian populations and we have ensured images from these cultures have been included,” Ms Manley said.
“The students’ favourite paintings so far have been the Indian ‘Madonna and Jesus’, and the South Korean ‘Virgin Mary of Peace’, as well as the painting of Mary from an Italian-American artist” – Philippa Manley
“People are commenting on particular images that resonate with them, and sharing their thoughts and the personal significance of these images for them,” Ms Manley said.
“I loved the painting of Mary with children from all different places around her” – Charles in Year 2
Other ways students are celebrating the Month of Mary
St Charles’ students have also been praying the Rosary as a class, and using the picture and scripture Rosary.
The parish church has held a Rosary walk each weekend in May, a Marian Devotion through the Novena of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, and has published different Marian prayers in the parish bulletin throughout the month.
