David at the Vatican for the Jubilee of Education.
By David Harris, Adviser for Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Birmingham.
In October, David Harris travelled to Rome with CAFOD and four young people to take part in the Jubilee for Education.
I had the opportunity to represent schools in England and Wales at the Jubilee for Education which culminated in St John Henry Newman being declared the 38th Doctor of the Church.
Travelling and representing CAFOD, I joined the delegation invited by the Vatican to share how schools had responded to the call to be ‘Pilgrims of Hope’.
David, far right, with the the CAFOD delegation at the Jubilee for Education exhibition at the Vatican.
On Thursday 30th November, Pope Leo met with students from across the world. Speaking from the audience Hall, he said of education:
Education is like a telescope that allows you to look beyond and discover what you would not see on your own. So do not remain fixated on your smartphones and their fleeting bursts of images; instead, look to the sky, to the heights.
The response to the Jubilee Year has been phenomenal, with schools around England and Wales undertaking activities such as making bags of hope with items for people experiencing homelessness, fundraising for our global family, making prayer boxes for family reflections, joining the Jubilee campaign to speak out about unfair debt and of course making the Jubilee Pledge.
The Jubilee Pledge has given schools the opportunity to ensure that the themes of the Jubilee continue beyond the Jubilee Year. Schools undertaking this commitment pledge to work for justice, love, and peace, and to be agents of change for the common good.
Over 1,000 schools in England and Wales made a Jubilee Pledge.
A highlight of the Jubilee for Education was witnessing St. John Henry Newman being made a Doctor of the Church. His motto ‘heart speaks unto heart’ is core to our mission within Catholic Education to ensure that Catholic Social Teaching, which is underpinned by the foundational principle of Dignity of the Human person.
David Harris (middle) and CAFOD's David Brinn (left) with Cardinal Turkson in St Peter's Square.
Whether it’s through fundraising, climate action, or solidarity with global communities, young people today are living out Newman’s legacy by asking deep questions, acting with integrity and serving with love.
Although the Year of Jubilee may be coming to an end, it offers all Catholic schools the opportunity to continue to build a better world by giving and inspiring hope in everyone we meet for years to come.
Did your school make a Jubilee Pledge? Don't forget to add it to the Pledge map!
