Learning about justice

Students at St. Anthony Daniel put their faith into action

By Sarah Leyland
March/April 2008

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Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12). That is just what the students at St. Anthony Daniel Catholic School in Pickering, Ontario, did. They took Paul’s words to Timothy to heart and proceeded to put their faith into action.

To begin, the students were encouraged to research areas of the world that needed attention: war-torn countries; exploited communities; environmental injustices; economic injustices and poverty. Their research exposed them to situations seldom addressed on the evening news. Using information received through their research, they were asked the following question: How does your faith ask you to respond to these situations?

Then at a more practical level, they were asked to come up with possible ways to make their research available to others.

An important outcome of this experience was the formation of a student social justice group. Emma Ghane and Ashley Harricharan, two Grade Eight students, wanted to bring the idea of social justice to the school community at large. They formed a student-based social justice group, Holding Hands, with a focus on education and solidarity.

Grade Eight students Emma and Ashley present Holding Hands, the school’s newly formed social justice group, to an eager class

Emma and Ashley gave presentations to all the classes, explaining the purpose of Holding Hands. It was decided that the first initiatives of the group would be directed to two groups of people: school children in Guyana and a woman’s co-operative in Peru. The Grade Eight students decorated large gift boxes to collect the donated supplies and delivered these boxes to each classroom.

As a result of their efforts, two very large boxes were filled and shipped to Guyana.

In organizing this initiative, the students of St. Anthony Daniel demonstrated their understanding of faith in action. They looked critically at some of today’s issues, saw a need and addressed that need. They are hope for the future.

Thank you from Guyana

I am grateful to the students of St. Anthony Daniel Catholic School for their generous gift of school supplies.

When the supplies arrive here, they will be shipped to two indigenous communities in the Interior—to Aishalton in the southwest and Kurukabaru in the Pakaraimas Mountains. Both are Amerindian communities without easy access to educational materials.

I applaud Grade Eight teacher Sarah Leyland, who is also my niece, for introducing her students to the topic of social justice. Their research and the learning that has taken place have increased their awareness and will stay with them into adulthood. They will be better equipped to evaluate the world's economic and political climate and continue to be instruments of change.

Thanks to all of you at St. Anthony Daniel for touching the lives of many here in Guyana.
Scarboro Lay Missioner Miriam Wheeler

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