Knock Retreat
On the 14th September we travelled to the holy grounds of knock in Co. Mayo. This was for a St. Vincent de Paul Youth conference about struggles which are happening in Ireland that we could help in.
We left at 8:30 that morning and travelled by bus to Knock. When we arrived we saw the shrine and were directed to our conference hall. When we got to the hall we had to take out seats, we wer mixed with other schools as we had time for decusion after every speech made. Guest speakers were Fr. Peter McFerry, who is a social justice activist; he is a strong advocate for those who have no voice in society, Joanne O’Riordan who was born with a rare condition known as Total Amelia, who talked about her life as an activist, Dr. Cara Augustonburg who talked about climate change and John Lonergan who talked about pride in our country and his experience in working in a prison.
In my opinion I did not like the day that was in it. I do not have anything against SVP but I feel like it was set up very poorly. We were put at tables with people from another schools but we did not socialise witht them at all because we had to listen to unrealistic speeches which were very long. When we had 'discussion time' about the speeches we then had to listen to the facilitators talk about themselves. The games were very childish for a teen conference. In my opinion I dont think teenagers are going to want to play in a sand box and build a beech. If we could of talked among ourselves without facillitators it would of been easier to socialise with the schools but we didn't.
What I liked about the conference was Johanne O'Riordan and her speech. She was very realistic and because she was alot younger than the other guests she caught our attention and knew how to actually talk to us and not make us dose off like some of the other guest speakers had. Even how she told us about her daily life was interesting. She talked about how she's learing how to make a cup of tea by herself "Because tea is life" and we were more intersted about that than anything else. Why? Because she knew how to approach us with this topic and not go on and on about things we have no rel interest in. She was very funny and her story was very interesting. She is a very admirable person and I would like to hear about more of her amazing work as an activist in the future.
We left at 8:30 that morning and travelled by bus to Knock. When we arrived we saw the shrine and were directed to our conference hall. When we got to the hall we had to take out seats, we wer mixed with other schools as we had time for decusion after every speech made. Guest speakers were Fr. Peter McFerry, who is a social justice activist; he is a strong advocate for those who have no voice in society, Joanne O’Riordan who was born with a rare condition known as Total Amelia, who talked about her life as an activist, Dr. Cara Augustonburg who talked about climate change and John Lonergan who talked about pride in our country and his experience in working in a prison.
In my opinion I did not like the day that was in it. I do not have anything against SVP but I feel like it was set up very poorly. We were put at tables with people from another schools but we did not socialise witht them at all because we had to listen to unrealistic speeches which were very long. When we had 'discussion time' about the speeches we then had to listen to the facilitators talk about themselves. The games were very childish for a teen conference. In my opinion I dont think teenagers are going to want to play in a sand box and build a beech. If we could of talked among ourselves without facillitators it would of been easier to socialise with the schools but we didn't.
What I liked about the conference was Johanne O'Riordan and her speech. She was very realistic and because she was alot younger than the other guests she caught our attention and knew how to actually talk to us and not make us dose off like some of the other guest speakers had. Even how she told us about her daily life was interesting. She talked about how she's learing how to make a cup of tea by herself "Because tea is life" and we were more intersted about that than anything else. Why? Because she knew how to approach us with this topic and not go on and on about things we have no rel interest in. She was very funny and her story was very interesting. She is a very admirable person and I would like to hear about more of her amazing work as an activist in the future.