2010 News
- News Archive
Senior Lecturer Presents at International Conference
John Lydon, Senior Lecturer in Catholic School Leadership in the School of Theology, Philosophy, and History, presented a paper entitled Renewing the Social Conscience at an International Conference organised by the Las Casas Institute, at the University of Oxford last week.
Three hundred delegates took part in the conference, representing universities from the USA and Europe, including St Mary's Vice Principal Dr Michael Hayes and Dr Stephen Bullivant.
Papers were presented on a range of topics including justice and human rights across cultures, business ethics, marriage and the family, and education.
Lydon presented a paper exploring the nature of the Catholic Church's educational mission to the poor.
He was joined on the platform by Professor Gerald Grace of the Institute of Education who has been the External Examiner of the MA in Catholic School Leadership for the last four years.
John’s paper explored the biblical and theological foundations underpinning the Church’s educational mission, recognising that, since the Restoration of the Hierarchy in 1850, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have focused on providing education for those who are “poor in the goods of this world or who are deprived of the assistance and affection of a family or who are strangers to the gift of faith.” (‘The Catholic School’ 1977)
Fr Timothy Radcliffe, former Master of the Dominicans, gave the concluding address in which he highlighted the point that the Catholic Church maintains a discreet presence in every place of poverty in the world.
