Spiritual Journeys of Faith Shared with Year 10

Year 10 welcomed two guest speakers on 17 May in the SFX theatre.

As part of their unit on Church: Past, Present and Future, we invited Andrea Dean and Monsignor John Woods to address our students.

This was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn from and hear personal testimonies from those who have grown up in the Church and continue to love the Church, even with its issues.

Andrea is the Director of the Office for the Participation of Women for the Catholic Bishops Conference, and in this role is able to influence how women are seen in the Church. She shared about growing up in a country town and her experience of being  Sister of St Joseph for 25 years, and then working in Catholic Education. She shared about feeling “on the fringe” of the Church, but encouraged the Year 10s to ask questions and keep the faith.

Fr John shared about growing up in New Zealand and Australia and focussed particularly on some of the joy he receives as chaplain to the raiders.

Andrea and Fr John were joined on a panel discussion by Year 10 Coordinator Anthony Telford, Beth Doherty and Donella Johnston who all variously shared their own faith journeys.

All agreed that while our Church needs to change in some areas, that the community keeps us united, and that our faith can help us to make positive changes.