In the works for a couple of years, and delayed due to the pandemic, at long last, Sr. Marion Sheridan and Sr. Joanne O’Regan joined Mark Nixon, Martha Justice Ministry Core Group western representative, in Lethbridge for a few days in September.

We were invited to join the Grade 11 Religion class at Catholic Central High, Campus West, for two sessions around the theme Bearing Witness. Mark started off our time with a reflection on the Medicine Wheel and used it as a framework for our time together. Sr. Joanne offered a journey through the evolution of Catholic Social Teaching and Sr. Marion presented an overview of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the work that Youth at the UN have done and continue to do. We each found the students to be engaged, interested and willing to enter into the process with us.

That evening we gathered at Martha Retreat Centre and shared our presentations with folks who work in Education. It was a wonderful opportunity for conversation, sharing and learning together. It so happened that this was the day before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which provided us with the opportunity to honour those who are survivors of residential schools, and those who did not survive. We were blessed to be able to help share in a small way to educating ourselves, engaging in hard and essential conversations, and sharing our hopes for moving toward reconciliation.