We are all one in over eight billion people on planet earth, meaning we often tend to forget the importance of ‘life’ as a whole, ignoring the wonderful people we meet, great opportunities we receive and our purpose. Most importantly, we tend to forget about those who we do not know, or will ever know, that never get their own chance to live out their own lives.
On the afternoon of September 9th, five students from the Encounter Youth Group attended a forum presented by Sydney Catholic Schools and The Culture Project regarding the importance of love and life, appropriately titled ‘Life Night’ for the forthcoming Life Week. During this forum, over one hundred students from fifteen different schools listened to engaging speakers talk about the importance and sanctity of human life.
The night centred around the approach of the Catholic Church in relation to discussion of euthanasia and abortion. Students from all the schools were encouraged to pose questions which were answered by a panel of speakers. By participating in this, we were introduced to new perspectives and opinions on the topics through a multitude of unique questions such as; ‘Is it acceptable to abort a child before a particular period of gestation?’, and ‘Is there any exceptions when aborting a child, if the woman is/was sexually abused?’
The students attending this evening inevitably walked away with a new perspective of these two controversial topics and gained an appreciation for the dignity of human life. Overall, it was a greatly transformative experience for each of those involved.
We would like to give a special thank you to Mr Bradbury, Mr Chircop and Ms Backhouse who helped to organise the event and stayed back to supervise, as well as provide their insightful perspectives on the topic.
Allison Vella, Erin Muller, Damon Gambuti, Alofaina Nickel and Tiana Hazrat
Year 11