Voices of Hope

0ctober 21, 2009

This year marks the third annual Voices of Hope Social Justice Conference hosted by Corpus Christi and Saint Mark’s Colleges. As with the practice of all Christian virtues, our hope grows stronger with our cumulative experience. The voices that will speak for hope on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, we are sure, will deliver the Gospel message with clarity, insight and relevance.

Voices of Hope is designed to engage high school students in matters of local and international importance. The vast treasure of our Catholic social thought often suffers the unhappy fate of the lighted lamp hid away beneath the bushel basket. Once, however, revealed, our social tradition becomes the pearl of great price, for the attainment of which we devote our energies and passions. Voices of Hope seeks to lift the basket and ignite a passion for the justice that is a constituent part of Catholic faith. Our hope is to plant and cultivate the seeds of the Good News that grow into a life of faithful service to the Kingdom of God.

Guided by the imperative: “Think Fair”, our speakers will help participants discover the clearings of justice within the dense and confusing thickets of our globalized reality. The Catholic faith’s response to consumerism, ecology, environmental justice, economic relations and modern evangelization will be addressed by a quartet of inspiring speakers. Lori Ryan, former director of Canadian Catholic Office of Development and Peace and now director of Canadian Catholic Campus Ministry, will offer keynote reflections, to then join Fr. John McCarthy SJ, a forest ecologist, Professor Mary Ann King, who fasted one year from shopping, and Laura Track, whose legal work focuses mainly on housing issues, in interactive discussions with students.

Our celebration around the Eucharistic table will carry over to the lunch table, where we shall share a hundred-mile meal. Participants are asked to bring their own bowl and cutlery so that nothing of our day will end up wasted.

Thank you for adding more voices to our chorus of hope. We will sing together God’s justice and glory on October 21st.


Voices of Hope 2009 Steering Committee

Greg Kennedy SJ

Daniel Levangie

Maureen Wicken

Michel Gloanec

Eileen Cervi

Natasha Halpin