THE need to “learn”, “engage” and “transform” were key messages from the seventh annual Australian Catholic University (ACU) Social Justice Youth Forum.
About 300 secondary school students from predominantly Catholic schools attended the day-long forum on May 28 at ACU’s Brisbane campus.
Event co-ordinator James O’Sullivan said the 2010 forum was the biggest yet, with students travelling from as far away as Gympie, Toowoomba and the Gold Coast.
He said it was a big day for students who listened to a keynote address from wife of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Therese Rein, and heard ACU student Zach Woodward talk about his dedication to social justice.
Mr O’Sullivan said workshop topics covered a range of issues that resonated with students and that people felt strongly about.
“We had workshops dealing with human trafficking, homelessness, the spirituality of the music of U2 and how to start your own Eddies van,” he said.
In her address, Ms Rein urged students to look around them at the acts of injustice that made them angry or upset.
“In fact, I encourage you to work out what really does offend you, to get in touch with what really disturbs you, to identify what you think is unacceptable or unjust,” she said.
She told the students it was then important to ask themselves why they were concerned.
“I encourage you to really, really listen to that because that just might be your vocation. It might be your calling.
“And having listened, I encourage you to turn that outrage, that care, that compassion into doing something about that (issue).”
Mr Woodward, a Marist College old boy, supported Ms Rein’s call by recounting his own passion for and current engagement in social justice issues.
He told students that little things could and did make differences.
Mr Woodward described his first encounters with social justice as a Year 8 student at a local level, and talked about a trip to a school in Cambodia, his mentoring work and his most recent trip to an Aboriginal community in central Australia.
“Every little thing that I’ve done I’ve realised it can make a difference to people’s lives,” he said.
He relayed a story of a working homeless man he’d met and the circumstances of his homelessness, and encouraged students to throw out a preconceived idea about people and get to know them instead.
Mr Woodward said it was great to be involved in the forum and he hoped he had proved to students that they could get involved in social justice activities in their everyday lives.
“I’ve realised that social justice in Brisbane will happen when people who are doing it easy associate with people who are doing it tough,” he said.
“That’s not to say that all of you are doing it easy. We all have our own struggles but we’re educated and we are under a roof at the moment so compared to a lot of other people that is doing it easy.”
ACU Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Gabrielle McMullen said the forum gave students the chance to actively participate in a range of lectures and workshops.
“We hope that by holding a social justice forum these young students have been inspired with a sense of social responsibility and concern for the dignity of all human beings,” she said.
