Posted Sep. 24, 2021
For 30 years our Kelowna Catholic schools have been covered in prayer by the Rooted in Faith group. We meet weekly during the school year. Every week is designated to a particular class from St. Joseph Catholic School and Immaculata Regional High School; we pray for every student and staff member by name. We also prepare a hand-written card for the class to let them know that we have we prayed for them.
This special prayer ministry started in October 1991 and was named Parents Who Care with Prayer. It was led by Sister Jean Carmel, who was the last Sister of Charity of Halifax to teach in our schools. Sister Edna Walsh then led group for one year. For many years, we met in the Sisters of Charity convent, which has since been renamed Charity Hall. When Immaculata High School moved to its current location in 1995, we met in the school chapel.
From 1993 to 2016, Parents Who Care with Prayer was led by Barb Shillington and Chris Schmidt, assisted by Terry Busch. These faithful women and others gathered to pray for the Kelowna Catholic schools long after their children and grandchildren had graduated. After 25 years, they put out a call for new people to carry on the prayerful tradition.
In 2016, Ingrid Uhrich and Renée Burzuk became involved. Inspired by the scripture, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (Col 2:6-7), they renamed the group Rooted in Faith, Praying for our Catholic Schools. Over the past five years, we have met at Immaculate Conception Parish Centre and the Chapel at Immaculata High School. Then, when covid circumstances required it, we met online to ensure that the prayer continued.
This year, marking our 30th anniversary, Nicole Horsman and Laura Smith have joined the leadership team of this important ministry.
Everyone is welcome to join us. Maybe you want to increase your prayer life. Maybe you have a heart for our Catholic schools. Or maybe you wish to fellowship with others. Any one of these reasons is an incentive to join. We meet on Thursdays at 1:30 at the ICC Parish Centre in the Bedford Room. We pray for 20-25 minutes and then socialize until we pick up our children. If you can’t join us in person, you are welcome to join us in spirit. We are starting a new initiative this year for those who want to pray from home at a time that is convenient for them; please sign up online: https:// volunteersignup.org/FF7EE.
We wish to extend a warm invitation to all those interested in joining us. Our Catholic schools, their students, teachers, and administrators are precious and need our prayer support. May God bless you for your consideration of this worthy cause.