From our Mission Leader
Kildare Ministries Ecology Alliance Seminar
Over three days in early August, we connected with eight other schools across Kildare Ministries for the Ecology Alliance Net Zero Seminar at Saltbush, Balnarring Beach. We cultivated our gratitude towards the environment and the earth we live on. Through looking at and discussing current environmental issues with like-minded students, we created solutions to implement in our schools through sustainability initiatives.
Together, we worked through various learning activities which helped us understand creation's biodiversity, and how our interconnectivity to every other part of Earth means that the challenge of Climate Change impacts the most vulnerable people the most. From simulation activities, to sunrise beach walks and a Cosmic Walk around the "Big Bang" of our nighttime campfire, we were inspired to wonder at the complex beauty of the universe, and reflect on the current state of the Earth. Despite the confronting environmental issues of our modern world, we were encouraged to look towards the future and consider how to prioritise which actions are most important. We shared our current ecological school projects, giving us inspiration on how we can most effectively improve our own school's actions.
This insightful experience has offered us the chance to connect, collaborate, form long-lasting friendships, and discover how we can support each other in leading our school communities to take the most impactful, achievable and sustainable actions we can to create a brighter future for all!
Olivia Druce (Brigidine College St Ives), Alicia McKerral & Cadence Le (Marian College Sunshine West).
The staff who joined us on this program were exceptionally generous with their time and sharing their experience, skills and knowledge on the program. Clonard College graduate Lauren Dillon actually started the Kildare Ministries Ecology Alliance in 2022, and was able to share her passion and learnings as a young environmental activist. The Trustees of Kildare Ministries have a specific commitment to embedding the Integral Ecology teachings of Pope Francis' Laudato Si into our work, and this is showing through the strength of support for this specific program, as well as other initiatives across Kildare Ministries. One of our Legal Studies teachers from Kilbreda College, Tony Grosso, was inspired by environmental leader Natalie Kyriacou at a conference recently, and wrote this prayer in response to her challenge, "How will history judge us?"
Written by a Kilbreda College student in the Year 2526:
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
We stand here in 2526, grateful for the Earth that has survived because some people, centuries ago, chose to care. We remember the students of 2026—those who saw the warnings, who spoke up, who planted trees, who marched for the climate, who believed their actions mattered.
We also remember the damage their world carried: polluted skies, dying species, rising seas, and leaders who often chose convenience over responsibility. May we learn from both their courage and their mistakes.
Help us honour the generations before us by protecting the forests that remain, healing the oceans that still recover, and defending every living creature that shares this planet with us. Guide us to be wiser than those who ignored the signs, and as brave as those who fought for change.
May our choices today give hope to the students who will stand here 500 years from now. May they inherit a world better than the one we received.
Amen
Jane Collopy
Mission Leader