October 27, 2019
Our featured speaker for October 27 will be Mrs. Jeanne Bishop. Mrs. Bishop is a lawyer, public speaker and an author. Jeanne has been a speaker at Saint Anne three times in the past several years. I first heard Mrs. Bishop speak at Loyola Academy to our students about her efforts to forgive the person who killed her pregnant sister and brother in law in an act of premeditated murder in her sister’s home. The young man was a 16 year old New Trier High School student who wanted to know what it was like to kill someone—a purely gratuitous act of violence.
Mrs. Bishop will bring to life her own journey as a Christian woman of trying to incorporate the admonition of Jesus to forgive with the heinous murder of her beloved sister. This same Jesus she has been in dialogue all these years around forgiving her sister’s murderer is the same Jesus you are called to follow upon your confirmation. You in your own life may be asked to be forgiven by another person, or you may have to forgive another. In either case, forgiveness of sin is at the core of our Catholic faith. One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to “forgive sinners”. It is an essential element of our faith. Mrs. Bishop will challenge you and your understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
We invite any parents or sponsors to the presentation who want to come. It always leads to some good discussion afterward. As you have heard, we also would like you to attend the 5:15 Sunday evening Mass ahead of the presentation. It is not required but strongly encouraged. All first and second year students will sit together on the west side of the church, as you have done in the past.
The presentation by Jeanne Bishop will begin at 6:30 PM in the Parish Center Gym and conclude at 7:45. We look forward to seeing you there.