"It is important to enter into the mystery of pain,
The pain of our brothers and sisters in countries that are at war,
The pain of our brothers and sisters who are sick, who are hungry, who are in prison;
Brothers and sisters who do not know where they will sleep this night;
It is important to enter into the pain of all those for whom no one cares and who are alone; all those who are living grief and loss."
Befriending the Stranger
Welcome to the 2020 Brebeuf Social Justice Symposium!
The students of Brebeuf College School organize the Symposium annually for Catholic high school students in Toronto. It aims to highlight social injustices in our city and our world -- an "Awareness of Unfairness" -- and to give students concrete ways of putting their faith into action by fighting these injustices -- a "Faith that Does Justice". In so doing, students become "men and women for others".
Proceeds from the Symposium are donated to the charities and social justice groups which speak at the conference. Over the years, thousands of dollars have gone to many good causes.
We hope you will join us virtually on Friday, December 4 for the 2020 Symposium, which will deal with the theme of Racism in Canada.
The 2020 speakers are: Lavinia Latham, TCDSB Equity Advisor; Diane Montreuil; and Derek Chen (TCDSB Superintendent).
We hope that students will leave the day in agreement with Pope John XXIII, who wrote in Pacem in Terris:
Once again we exhort our people to take an active part in public life, and to contribute towards the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own country. They should endeavour, therefore, in the light of the Faith and with the strength of love, to ensure that the various institutions--whether economic, social, cultural or political in purpose -- should be such as not to create obstacles, but rather to facilitate or render less arduous people's perfectioning of themselves both in the natural order as well as in the supernatural.
