12 august, 2015
| National contest on the apparitions and message of Fatima in the academic year 2015-2016 pelaarteatemaria.fatima.pt A new school year is coming in Portugal, for next September. In another initiative proposed by the Sanctuary of Fatima, and carried out within the context of the official program of the Apparitions Centenary, the Portuguese Catholic schools are invited to take part in a multidisciplinary competition, that will reach the highest point with a cultural session at the III National Pilgrimage to Fatima of the Catholic schools, on October 21, 2016. The growing activation of this initiative, free and open to all Catholic schools, is committed to an Organizing Committee made up of elements from the Sanctuary of Fatima, the National Secretariat of Christian Education (SNEC) and the Portuguese Association of Catholic Schools (APEC). At the cultural session, entitled "Through Art to Mary," scheduled for October 21, 2016, at 14.00, in the Paul VI Pastoral Center [Shrine of Fatima], will be made known publicly the winning school works of the national contest. Such competition will unfold and be expanded during the school year 2015-2016. Each Catholic school is invited to submit a maximum of three works in one or more artistic expressions related to music, to dance, to theatre and literature. The proposed thematic frame will be that of the seventh cycle of the Thematic itinerary for the Apparitions Centenary; it has as reference event the October 1917 apparition, as inspiring motto Our Lady’s phrase "I am the Lady of the Rosary", and as pastoral theme the biblical verse "The Lord has done great things for me. " The celebration of the Fatima Apparitions Centenary is, primarily, "a pastoral project, which favours the spiritual dimension and the reflection on faith"; consequently, the Organizing Committee has a clear idea that Catholic schools "are natural and privileged places" where it is possible to achieve several goals related to the Centenary celebration, namely "the incentive to reflect on the Fatima message and its implications for Christian life", and simultaneously "the suggestion to live the Fatima spirituality." It is also intended to "promote the festive dimension of the centenary with pastoral and cultural proposals", "to make known the spirituality of Fatima seers" and "to show the relevance of the Fatima apparitions for both the Church and the world." Each school is solicited to put into effect these goals and to plan its teaching and pastoral activities "in view of the Christian life within the context of the Fatima message." The works carried out should be "developed and interpreted mostly by students; however, the whole school community can be involved," according to the Regulation available at the official website pelaarteatemaria.fatima.pt. LeopolDina Simões |
