Sister Susan Richert and Father John Daley have been the two latest guest speakers for students in the Sixth Form.
Sister Susan is Vicar for Religious in the diocese and spoke beautifully about her own vocation and vocation in general to the religious life. Sister shared with us the many blessings and opportunities that have been afforded to her and would not have been possible, especially as a woman, if it had not been for her vocation. She went on to tell us that she was recently offered an appointment working at the United Nations in New York which would last for several years – she turned this down as she felt that her gifts lie elsewhere.
Father John Daley, parish priest of St Joseph’s, has an enviable reputation for the quality of his public speaking. He did not disappoint. Father spoke powerfully, giving thought provoking advice to every young man and woman sat in the audience that day. He spoke about friendship, the power of words and actions, integrity and never to dismiss something or see it as irrelevant simply because you don’t understand it. Using the example of the Bible, Father spoke about Ham’s descendants condemned to slavery because of the mocking of his father, Noah. We discovered that this story has been used by some as a justification for slavery and racial prejudice down the ages by those who interpret the Bible literally.
This series of talks continues over the next few weeks with Dr Heather Ward from the charity ‘Aid to the Church in Need’ and Maggie Mairura from CAFOD.