Virtues

Here at St. Mary’s we live by 9 virtues which link to the Catholic Social Teaching (CST).

Catholic social teaching tells us that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and with love. To be valued. 

‘There are lots of ways to show that we value a person but mostly importantly is that we show all people that they are loved and that they deserve to be loved. When you love somebody, you treat them like a person. You build them up. You make them feel special. In some way — big or small — you help them grow into a stronger, better, happier, healthier or holier version of themselves. That’s what love does.’ (St John Paul II, Theology of the Body)

In the name of Jesus the Christ – we give the same value (worth, respect, importance) to everyone that we give to Jesus. Everyone is made by God and in God’s image so we should give the same value to everyone that we would give if it was Jesus.

The 9 virtues and their linked CST are;

  • Joy –> Human Dignity
  • Respect –> Stewardship
  • Kindness –> Common Good
  • Forgiveness –> Promoting Peace
  • Patience –> Subsidiarity
  • Honesty –> Distributive justice
  • Courage –> Solidarity
  • Faith –> Participation
  • Service –> Preferential option for the poor

Joy

The joy of knowing God loves everyone no matter what.

God loves everyone no matter what they look like, sound like, dress like etc. we are all made in God’s image. That doesn’t mean we all look like God, but that it’s our job to look like God to other people, by showing love to others no matter what. But even more importantly, when we show love to others we should do it with joy, because we want to be kind and helpful to others, not just because we have to. What can we do to show love to other people and how can we do it with joy (smiling at people, saying nice things, helping our grown ups without complaining etc).

Respect

Respecting our world, our God-given home.

Being respectful helps people feel valued and appreciated. Rules in our schools and faith help to guide us to respect each other in what we do and say, and so does our mission statement. We show respect to everyone because we value everyone in the name of Jesus the Christ. We know that we are all made by God, in his image, and we are all loved and respected by God. Our mission statement challenges us to show that same love and respect to everyone, because God made them. This also means we have to respect ourselves, because God made us too.

A good way to show respect is to think about how you would like to be treated and then treat others that way. You treat others’ space and their belongings with respect. You listen to what they are saying without interrupting. You speak with kind, quiet, polite words to others.

Kindness

When we think about the common good, we think about what is best for everyone, not just ourselves.

Being kind to others is so important because we are all made by God, and we are all loved equally by God. That means nobody is loved more and nobody is loved less, God treats everyone with the same kindness. We want to keep ourselves as close to God as we can, so that he can help guide us in our choices and keep us safe in his loving arms. When we are kind to people, we are showing that we value them and we recognise that they, like us, are also made in God’s image. When we are unkind to people, we are also showing that same unkindness to God, the creator of us all. We are saying that God didn’t do a good job at creating someone even though we know that that isn’t true. The more we are unkind to others, the easier it is for us to keep being unkind, and to move further away from God. But the more we practise being kind to others, the easier it will be to keep being kind, even when we don’t really want to be. Every time we complete an act of kindness, we bring ourselves closer to God. Jesus tells us that we should have love for others (John 13:34-35). Our school mission statement challenges us to show kindness to all people in the name of Jesus the Christ, to show everyone we meet the same love and kindness that we would show to Jesus and that Jesus shows to us.

Forgiveness

Saying sorry and forgiving people when they have hurt us are good ways to promote peace.

When we say ‘we value all in the name of Jesus the Christ’, forgiveness is a big part of it. We can’t be following our mission statement if we are still holding grudges against people who hurt us. But also, we can’t say we are valuing all in the name of Jesus the Christ if we are refusing to ask for forgiveness, to say sorry when we have done something wrong. Sometimes we can get so caught up in who was wrong and who needs to ask for forgiveness, that we forget what we were even upset about in the first place. We all get things wrong sometimes and when we do, we hope that we are valued enough by the person(s) we have hurt, that they will forgive us. We can’t be forced to forgive someone, and forgiveness is often a way of showing mercy. Mercy is love underserved, showing someone you love them even though they haven’t done anything to earn it, it is the same love God shows to us. To Value all in the name of Jesus the Christ is to show the love of God to people even when they haven’t done anything to earn it, even when they hurt us, and to hopefully be shown that same mercy when it is us that need forgiveness.

“We should pray that God forgives us when we are bad. God wants to give us a new beginning. And we should do exactly the same: forgive people who did us evil. And make a new start …” (YouCat for Kids, p. 213)

Promoting peace – Saying sorry and forgiving people when they have hurt us are good ways to promote peace. Its not enough to say sorry if we don’t mean it, when we recognise that we have made the wrong choice and we do something to make it better we are promoting peace. It can be hard to say we have done something wrong but it’s the first step into making peace with the people we have hurt. Also, when someone has hurt us, we can promote peace by forgiving them. Forgiveness doesn’t always mean we fix the relationship, but it does mean that we are still kind to people even when we don’t want to be.

Patience

It takes patience to listen to people and make sure that we are acting in a way which helps people who need it, not just doing what is quick and easy.

When we wait for something without complaining or getting angry, we are showing how much we value what we are waiting for. If we wait for a gift we show that we really care about getting the gift, if we wait for a person, we show we value that person’s time. Sometimes it can be really hard to wait for something especially when we really want it, we can forget that just because we want something doesn’t mean that it will be ready for us. It can be frustrating when we ask someone to do some thing or us, or we want to speak to someone and they can do it, or listen to us straight away. Having patience shows that we value that person enough to wait. It can also be a sign that the other person values us, as they might be waiting until they can give you their full attention, and listen to you properly or do the job better.

It takes patience to listen to people and make sure that we are acting in a way which helps people who need it, not just doing what is quick and easy. It is important that we don’t take the easy way out and choose to do what we think, but that we spend time talking to people and make our decisions based on what we know is best for others.

Honesty

If everyone was honest about what we have and what we truly need we could make sure everything is shared fairly.

Sometimes we lie because we don’t want people to get hurt. But usually, people find out the truth eventually. Drop a pebble in water, watch the ripples. When we tell a lie, like the pebble dropped in water, the lies ‘ripple’ out and effect lots of people. We may not realise how much of an impact this can have. A lie may mean someone else gets in trouble, that someone gets hurt, that they don’t get help, or that next time people may not believe you. When Jesus went to speak to Zacchaeus, many people didn’t want him to. They knew Zacchaeus wasn’t an honest person. Taxes are when people earn money from their job, they give some of the money to the people in charge of the country. This money usually goes to pay for things to benefit everyone, in this country our taxes go to pay for the NHS so we don’t have to pay if we are poorly, to build roads, and lots of other things which help everyone.

Courage

It takes courage to stand in solidarity with someone and to stand up for what we believe is right.

What different types of courage are there?

  • To do something that frightens us
  • To be honest about something
  • To stand up for ourselves
  • To stand up for others
  • To do what is right when others don’t agree
  • Courage to stand up for others to always value people even when our friends or family tell us we shouldn’t.

Catholic social teaching reminds us that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and with love. To be valued. When people are left out, or made to feel like they don’t belong, we aren’t treating them with dignity. When we let others treat people badly, we are just as bad as them. It can be really hard to stand up for what we believe in, especially against our friends, but that’s what our mission statement challenges us to do. We are all made in the image of God, so when we leave someone out because we don’t like the way they look, or make fun of the way someone speaks, or refuse to include people because we think they are a bit weird, we are saying all of these things about God, the creator of all things. We are saying that we don’t think God did a good job, it’s like walking into an art gallery and telling the artist that their work is rubbish.

Faith

How do we actively participate in our faith.

Faith…. It’s defined as “complete trust or confidence in something or someone”. When the Bible talks about faith in God it means that we have put all our confidence and hope in Him.

Faith is believing that what God says He will do. In Acts 27:25 we read about Paul, the missionary who was promised by God in a dream he would not die in a shipwreck. Paul believed this promise and it came true. That is faith-believing God always keeps His promises and waiting to see it happen in your life.

God wants us to have faith in Him to help us live each day- trusting Him with every situation. So how do you get more faith? As you read the Bible, the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart (the real you) and helps you believe what the Bible says. The more you read and believe the Bible, the more faith you’ll have in God

Service

Serving others by putting their needs before our own.

Serving others means making space for their existence and seeing them as valuable and worthy to serve and be served, simply because God views them that way.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus explained that His followers would be known by their service toward others – they would feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, show hospitality to strangers, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned.

Since we know of God largely through faith, when we serve others and Him we are acting on and building that faith.

The faith that saves also is based in the Savior, Jesus Christ. We cannot have faith in Him without following Him. What was the life of the Savior if it wasn’t a life of service?

We are here to live by faith and to learn to become like our Heavenly Father. Our faith increases and we grow by doing the things He does – by serving