Wednesday 29 April saw P5 classes from five primary schools gather in the beautiful St Anthony’s Church, Craigavon for a special liturgy, based on the theme of faith. Children from Presentation PS, St John the Baptist PS, Ballyoran PS, St Brendan’s PS and St Anthony’s PS raised the rafters of the chapel to proclaim their faith in song. This was a memorable and unique liturgy led by Archbishop Eamon Martin whose passion for music and in particular singing, never wavers. The Archbishop has been instrumental in devising a singing programme to strengthen whole class singing in both sacred and secular genres. The Schools Singing Programme is now in its third year and has gone from strength to strength under his leadership.

Children in the church sang a variety of sacred pieces from older traditional repertoire remembering our forefather in faith, St Patrick, to more modern compositions like ‘By Faith’ by Keith and Kristyn Getty. Each school also had nominated readers who explained the history or context of the chosen hymns and the liturgy concluded with a very rousing version of ‘You Are Holy’ by Michael W Smith. This popular event is fast becoming a firm favourite with staff who deliver the Schools Singing Programme, namely Sara-Jane Kelly and Orla Nugent. Together, they look forward to developing the strong foundation in communal singing which has been established in these schools and to a deepening of meaningful collective worship in song.

Photo credit: Emer Agnew Photograph