"Wherever there is life, fervour and a desire to bring Christ to others, genuine vocations will arise." - Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium
At St. Joseph’s we believe that students should have regular opportunities to meet people of faith from a wide-range of fascinating and incredible vocations, as well as the opportunity to engage in inter-faith dialogue with those of other faiths around the world. Below are some of the exciting vocation and guest speaker talks students have the opportunity to experience:
- Local diocesan clergy: We believe that students should have regular opportunities to meet with priests and deacons from across the diocese to explore their fascinating lives and vocation stories including: Fr. Simon, Fr. Saji, Fr. Luke, Deacon Tony and Seminarian David.
- Military Chaplains: At St. Joseph’s we have fantastic connections with both the Royal Army Chaplaincy department and Royal Navy Chaplaincy department. Students have the opportunity to meet with serving Padres and explore how they live out their ‘incarnational ministry’ on the frontlines.
- Newcastle Street Pastors: We have excellent connections with the Newcastle Street Pastors and they come in several times per year to work with our Sixth Formers to explore their interdenominational ministry on the streets of Newcastle, living out Jesus’ call ‘not to be served, but to serve’.
- An ex-WWE wrestler – We have a former WWE wrestler called ‘the Primate’ come in every year to deliver his vocation talk linked directly to the GCSE module on ‘Good and Evil’ to explore faith in his life.
- American Evangelical Christians – Every year we receive a delegation of American Evangelical High-School and College Students who come in to explore their faith in Jesus with us. Students have the opportunity to take part in an intra-faith dialogue workshop where we explore our Catholic faith with them and they explore their Christian faith with us. We celebrate our Christian faith, beliefs and share how we live our faith lives with each other.
- Experiencing miracles vocation talk – Our Philosophy and Ethics students experience an annual religious experience talk from Rev. Gavin Rushton from Hope Family Church. Rev. Gav comes to explore with our students his testimony of how we actually encountered the healing love of Jesus and recovered from an accident that was meant to leave him paralysed.
- Prison Chaplaincy – We have excellent contacts with Catholic prison chaplains who come in and explore their vocations to this amazing ministry. They tell us about faith, reconciliation and atonement in a prison setting.
- Speakers from World Religions – We are blessed to have excellent connections with speakers from other faith traditions who come in and explore their beliefs and practices first-hand. We have speakers from the Sikh, Buddhist and Islamic faith come in every year to share their amazing customs and beliefs with our students across the key stage spectrum.
- Durham Oriental Museum – every year the Durham Oriental Museum come in to run a Hinduism Workshop with our students exploring Hindu beliefs and practices with our students exploring key artefacts and Hindu festivals