Bishop comes to BNI to discuss pastoral letter

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Sophomores line up to speak in front of the crowd of students. They present what they’ve discussed during their work sessions.

Kevin Guerrero

On April 26, 2023, Bishop McClory came to Bishop Noll and talked to over 130 sophomores.

The Bishop’s talk was mainly focused on his pastoral letter “We Proclaim Jesus as Lord!”, which corresponded with the current sophomore Theology curriculum on evangelization. The event was split into two rotating sections: the auditorium sessions and the breakout work sessions.

“In the auditorium, Bishop McClory gave students guidance, advice, and prayer, and heard feedback from students,” says sophomore theology teacher and event organizer, Mr. Driscoll. “In the work sessions, groups of 12-14 sophomores together answered questions about a segment of the pastoral letter, reporting back to Bishop McClory.”

During the event, the Bishop took the time to talk to the students and listen to feedback that they gave.

Driscoll was especially impressed with the Bishop saying, “I was struck by how engaged he was when our student speakers spoke to him and shared with them their genuine feedback about the challenges we face as Christian evangelists. He seemed very interested in the unique points of view of teenagers, and at the end of the day he provided a formal response with advice that showed he was clearly listening.”

The event also acted as a social opportunity for many who attended.

Anna De La Torre, a sophomore who was at the event, said, “I enjoyed being able to hangout with my friends and their friends. I never get a chance to talk with them at once due to our schedules. I also liked interacting with students that I don’t normally interact with. I normally don’t talk to many of my peers if I have no reason to because I had negative opinions on many of them, but it was eye-opening to see how fun and kind and inclusive my peers are. I had a lot of fun talking with them and playing games with them.”

Unfortunately, Driscoll has stated that there are currently no plans of making this an annual event. However, he did say that there was talk of engaging multiple Catholic schools, including BNI, Andrean, and Marquette, to the pastoral center next year which would not be exclusive to his class.