When Armani Barakat, the Religious Education Coordinator (REC) for St Monica’s Primary School, North Parramatta, would recite the school’s 30+-year-old prayer every morning, she could see the kids weren’t connecting to the words.
“I thought, well I can’t connect with this, because I don’t see the flow. It was kind of repetitive, but more than that, it wasn’t meaningful,” she said.
However, she didn’t want to disrespect the history of the prayer, which “served us well,” but thought it needed a refresh as “it didn’t speak to our school community today.”
Changing a long-standing school prayer is challenging – there are lots of stakeholders, voices, and history to take into consideration. Let alone the competing school priorities.
“We have such a big lens on prayer as part of our School Improvement Plan… but in a school, there are so many different priorities that you naturally get carried away,” she said.
“But I felt it was one of our goals. We [pray] it every single day. It’s the first thing we do. We pray as a homeroom, as a class… we had to prioritise it. [I thought] if this isn’t a priority in a Catholic school, what is?”
Armani Barakat, Religious Education Coordinator at St Monica’s Primary School North Parramatta, during the 2023 Diocesan Synod. Image: Alphonsus Fok/Diocese of Parramatta
The invitation of the Spirit
Armani did some research on other local school prayers and received inspiration and encouragement from an REC who had refreshed their school prayer. She also spoke with Fr Ephraim Lam, Parish Priest of St Monica’s Parish, who was happy to change the prayer and be part of the editing process. She then took it to the Leadership Team and the Principal and Assistant Principal. They were all on board.
As a member of the Diocesan Synod in 2023, Armani thought a synodal process of listening, writing and reflection would be the best path to go down. And it paid off.
The whole process took two weeks, which was very “intense,” according to Armani. The school has many religious influences – the Mercy Tradition from the Sisters of Mercy who started the school in 1892; the school’s patron saint, St Monica; and the words of St Augustine, “In te Deus corda nostra” or “May our hearts, O God, reside in You” are on the school crest.
Selecting the voices
Armani selected the four student leaders to lead the project and showed them what a synodal process was and how to listen to many different voices.
With fervour, the students created a list, thinking about all the people they wanted to hear from. The list included Anna from the Sisters of Mercy, previous RECs, parents, students and school staff. The student leaders had very specific instructions, hearing from “the two ladies at the door” – not the teachers or the principals, but the women who welcome people into the school and help run the administration. They were joined by a new teacher, a long-standing teacher and a coordinator.
When it came to student voices, they wanted to hear from those that were quieter, not involved in any leadership positions, or “who were always in trouble.”
Children pray the new school prayer at St Monica’s Primary School, North Parramatta. Image: Supplied
Armani was blown away with the maturity and care for others.
“I thought, wow. In that moment, I thought, I’ve made the right decision selecting these children to lead this project, as I didn’t even think of those voices. They selected one child from every class who they thought weren’t seen.”
As Olive, one of the student leaders, said, “I think you need to pick the right people, because it’s not that everybody shouldn’t have a voice or we shouldn’t listen to what they think, but it’s about the people that don’t usually have a voice, in my opinion.
“We picked the students that haven’t gotten SRC and stuff like that, because we know they don’t usually have a say, and we just thought they should have a say,” she said.
Student, Caesar agreed, “Because in our school, we don’t like everyone to be so shy.”
Olive continued, “Everybody should get a say, and it’s reflected in the [new] prayer. It’s a place of belonging: that all feel seen, safe and celebrated. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, but it’s about what you have to say,” she said.
St Monica’s student leaders Olive and Ceasar, who lead the synodal process, with the new school prayer. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
Listening and learning
The students also included the Principal, Assistant Principal, two families, parents and children on the list. They included one long-standing family at St Monica’s for over 13 years, and one new family to the school community.
The student leaders coordinated questions for the listening sessions, arranged Zoom meetings or small group sessions, sent the invitations and managed each session, providing Armani with their notes and three key takeaways afterwards.
The writing group commenced and handed their work to an editing committee of Fr Ephraim, previous REC Mr Baker and current FIAT coordinator Mrs Eisenhuth.
Distilling all these influences, voices and ideas down to one simple prayer was a challenge.
“The difficult part was bringing it all together and making it concise but still meaningful. In the end, we thought about the Mercy tradition, the saints, and words from other schools. We pondered – what does everything that we’re hearing have in common? And we concluded that everything revolved around Jesus, the faith and the Scripture,” said Armani.
The launch
Doing a “soft launch” of the new school prayer was another edifying moment. This year, the school changed their St Monica Feast Day celebration to a week-long event. The prayer was launched at the conclusion of the week, on Friday 29 August, as a handwritten note by Lexi, one of the student writers, that was photocopied and distributed to the whole school.
After the launch, the children went into a reflection session to go through the elements of the prayer: Starting with God, Thanksgiving, Petition, Praise and Commitment, and closing with Amen and the Saints.
The St Monica’s school leaders with the new school prayer during the feast day celebrations. Image: Supplied
The feedback was very positive. Many were thankful for the intentionality, the flow and the length. And most agreed that including the line from St Augustine was an important way to end the prayer.
“My favourite part of this prayer is ‘May our hearts, O God, reside in You,’ because it’s, it’s our school mantra, ‘In te Deus corda nostra‘, and we thought it was really cool to add it in the prayer,” said Caesar.
The new school prayer will be officially launched in 2026 across various channels. But Armani and the team are keen to ensure that everyone feels they have responsibility and ownership of the prayer for the future.
“I think that in order to bring about change or to make a positive difference, you can’t do it on your own. You need to consider everyone around you, consider the community and bring it back to the main purpose,” said Armani.
“We were creating a prayer for the whole school. It’s not just what one person thinks or feels… you’re not always in control as a leader. It’s not about control. It’s about making a difference and taking a relational approach. Carry it together.”
St Monica’s Primary School’s New Prayer
Loving God,
Thank you for the gift of our community; a place of belonging where all feel seen, safe and celebrated.
We give thanks for our school that is guided by love and joy.
Teach us to persevere as we grow in faith and wisdom.
Guide our work to be a living prayer that reflects the mercy of Jesus as we walk humbly in His footsteps.
May our hearts, O God, reside in you.
Amen.
St. Monica, pray for us.
St. Mary of the Cross, pray for us.
The evolution of the new school prayer for St Monica’s, North Parramatta, aligns with the Diocesan Pastoral Plan priorities of Prayer, Community, Mission, and Listening, Dialogue and Discernment and our objective to be an Inclusive and Welcoming Church, A Listening Church and a Church Renewed in Spirit and Prayer.
