Walking in Love and Peace as Pilgrims of Hope in 2025

What a great week this has been! It has been full of excitement, wonder and new beginnings for everyone this week. As we begin our new school adventure, we do so in light of a very special year for the Catholic Church. Pope Francis proclaimed that 2025 would be a Jubilee Year with it officially beginning on Christmas Eve last year. The theme for the Jubilee Year is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ and Pope Francis explained that the year might be ‘an opportunity for us to be renewed in hope.’

To break open and take up the opportunity to be renewed in hope, our school theme this year is ‘Walk in Love and Peace as Pilgrims of Hope.’ The scripture passage in the bottom right corner ‘Hope does not disappoint.’ is from Romans 5:5 which Pope Francis used as the title of his letter to announce the Jubilee Year. It was taken from the Apostle Paul’s ‘words of encouragement to the Christians’ in his letter to the community of Rome. All staff participated in a Spirituality Day last week and explored the themes of pilgrimage and Christian hope. This was a day of deep connection and a beginning in our faith journey as a St Bede’s community. One of the biggest learnings for me was that the hope we are learning about is not the hope that is a wish - ‘I hope it doesn’t rain’ or ‘I hope I get the concert tickets i want’. Christian hope is a living hope. I have to nurture it with prayer and knowledge of Jesus’ teachings by listening and reading scriptures. As I enter my journey of renewal, these are my goals. What might your goals be?

I know that students across the school have been exploring what it means to walk in love and peace as pilgrims of hope, even creating images of hope and I can’t wait to see them showcased around the school. Some classes have been exploring what a pilgrim is or what going on a pilgrimage means.

Haley Stonham

Religious Education Coordinator