Chaplaincy and Spiritual Values
Our Spiritual Heart
The Catholic Faith and the two chapels are central to the school’s life, ethos and identity. Newman’s vision of an education for the whole person through individual care has always involved mind, body, and soul.
The Oratorian approach, from the days of St Philip Neri, has offered a confident, attractive, and joyful invitation to engage with Christ that takes an individual’s personality into account. This is encapsulated by our founder’s motto, Heart speaks to heart. This works at many levels: the Heart of God communicates his love to our hearts; our hearts respond to God and, as a consequence, our hearts respond to each other. We grow in lives of prayer and service, the two elements going hand in hand.
Mass is offered daily very quietly early in the morning in the old chapel for those who wish to attend. Most days of the week we also hold a second, different act of worship from the Church’s wide traditions. On Sundays and Days of Obligation, Mass is celebrated in the main chapel with the whole school community present. The school choirs enrich our worship with music; sacristans, servers, and readers, drawn from the pupils, all take essential parts.
The chapels are there for the great moments in our lives of joy or sadness but also for the quiet day-to-day pulse. They can provide a tranquil space and a calm atmosphere for us to reflect amid a busy school day and light a candle or prayer request. The Chaplain and other priests are always on hand to provide pastoral care and a sacramental ministry, including Confession and Reconciliation.
Our pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds: Catholic families, families from other Christian denominations, families from other world faiths, and families with no religious background. All are welcome and are just as much a part of our community and participate together.
"Incredible community spirit – inclusive, diverse and above all happy"
An Oratory parent
