The conference held on 28 & 29 August 2019 brought together 500 Post Primary School and 400 Primary School Educators from across the diocese.
Keynote speakers
The two keynote speakers were Professor Frances Campbell, a former Ambassador to the Holy See and current Vice-Chancellor of the Catholic University, Saint Mary’s Twickenham, London and Fr Adrian Porter, Director of the Jesuit Institute of Education, London.
Professor Francis Campbell
Professor Francis Campbell was born in Rathfriland, Co Down and was educated at Saint Colman’s College, Newry. After Saint Colman’s he attended Queen’s University Belfast and was a student at Saint Joseph’s Seminary in Belfast. He undertook postgraduate studies at Trinity College Dublin, the Catholic University of Leuven, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and the University of Pennsylvania where he was a Thouron Scholar. He holds a number of honorary doctorates and is a Hon Visiting Fellow at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1997, was Private Secretary to Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister (1999-2003). From 2005 to 2011, he was the British Ambassador to the Holy See. Since 2014, he has been on leave from the Foreign Office serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Saint Mary’s University, Twickenham, London. He will join the University of Notre Dame Australia as Vice-Chancellor commencing January 2020.
Rev Adrian Porter
Rev Adrian Porter SJ was born and grew up in Bristol. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1978 and completed studies in Theology at Heythrop College, London, and Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, and the postgraduate certificate of teacher training at Liverpool Hope University. He was ordained a priest in 1988. He has taught at Marquette University High School, Milwaukee and Saint Ignatius College, London and was headmaster of Saint Aloysius College, Glasgow and Wimbledon College. He is currently the Provincial Delegate for Education, responsible for supporting the eleven Jesuit schools in the UK and working to develop the identity and mission of Jesuit schools in Europe. He also works with state and independent schools of other religious congregations and in dioceses.
