The very first Pilgrims of Hope Conference took place at Richard Challoner School on Thursday 23rd October hosting staff and students from Catholic schools throughout the Diocese. The day consisted of 3 workshops ending with Mass.
The workshop led by Georgia Clarke from Catholic Voices on Faith and the Media talked about faith and the media and Georgia set out guiding principles on how we can shed light and not heat when speaking about our faith in the media. Georgia added that our Catholic role in media engagement is not to inflame arguments or create division, but to illuminate truth with clarity. Georgia ended the workshop with a video of her being interviewed by the BBC on the canonisation of St Carlo Acutis and what it means to have a millennial saint.
The workshop led by Dr Sebastian Morello from St Mary’s University was on Faith and Science. Sebastian delivered a dynamic workshop on faith and science not being enemies but complementing each other. He emphasised that modern culture often sets them in opposition, but in the classical Catholic intellectual tradition, faith and reason including the sciences work together to form a coherent worldview.
The workshop led by Neil D’Aguair from Richard Challoner explored AI and the environmental and ethical effects of our use of this tool. He shared informative statistics showing the vast amount of natural resources required for large amounts of computational power. Mr D’Aguiar articulated how AI servers generate heat and
need cooling in this process, and can use millions of litres of water annually to keep systems at safe temperatures.
The day ended with a Spirit-filled Mass celebrated by Fr Sean O.Conner focusing on the message of making disciples of all the nations and spreading the Good News to all. The day was a wonderful celebration of our Catholic Faith and community.
‘It was a good experience and I learnt about things I never knew like the amount of water usage and learnt more about Plato and Aristotle which helped me grasp a deeper understanding with philosophy even more’. Louis Year 12
The Pilgrims of Hope conference that I attended was a very well-organised event which, as an RE student, was deeply engaging. I found all three talks to be quite informative, as there was a broad spectrum of topics that seemed engaging for the whole age range that attended. The speakers were also very capable of giving us a good understanding of what was being said, granted we spoke a bit about quantum physics and how it links to the philosophical side of the world. This was the talk that I found most engaging, as I quite enjoy science and observing the world in a more empirical manner. I look forward to the next conference, as my experience was lovely. It felt like a proper conference set up by a multi-million dollar company. Alex Year 12
