Catholic Schools Week at Oratory

On Monday, January 27th, all OP Religion classes were treated to a special assembly by Deacon Peter Barcellona. Deacon Barcellona comes from Catholic Relief Services to discuss all the good that they have been able to achieve in the past few years. Deacon Barcellona shared his experiences working in countries in the Middle East like Egypt and helping refugees from Sudan. He explained all the reasons people are forced to leave and how hard it is to find refuge in new countries. He talked about all the people he met and how he kept them in his prayers. One person who stood out to him was a 22-year victim of human trafficking. Her kidnappers destroyed all of her documents so she was unidentifiable. What caused her to stand out to the Deacon was the fact that this girl was the same age as his one daughter who by sheer luck, has a much better life than this poor girl.

After explaining the background of the life of a typical refugee, Deacon Barcellona gave us all a list of items that we could pack if we had to become refugees. Out of the list of twenty items we could only take six items with us. He then explained to us everything that would happen to us and our families as we left for a new home. He explained the tough choices that would have to be made when the trip gets harder than originally expected. The whole presentation gave us a better view into the lives of refugees who are put into so much hurt for just wanting to live a safe and normal life.

Following Deacon Barcellona’s presentation, there was a tag day going to CRS to help provide funding that would go towards refugees that needed it.

Following Catholic Schools Week, here is a look back on what the Oratory community has accomplished and a look back at what we’ve done in the past few years. 

Jack Mogen interviewed Fr. Scott during his religion class. From this, Mogen learned that this year we had a book drive that collected over a hundred books in honor of Fr. Scott’s late nephew, a sock collection, a mass last Friday for the middle school, and an assembly and mass from Fr. Jomon. We even had a relic brought before the OP community of St. Brother Andrew

In our previous year Fr. Scott informed Mogen he had done a lot more involving religion classes of the week but this year Fr. Scott scaled down the festivities just slightly but compared to years before he came to Oratory it was a grand occasion. Fr. Scott is in charge of organizing all of the events, but he said it wasn’t too difficult of a task to create a beneficial and vibrant celebration of Catholic Schools Week.