Greg presents Papal Medal to St Richard's Catholic College
26 June 2012
Greg visited St Richard’s Catholic College last Friday to present the school with a Papal Medal he received from Pope Benedict XVI during a Ministerial visit earlier this year.
Although Greg was honoured to receive this rare gift from the Pope, he decided that the local Catholic secondary school would be an appropriate long-term home for the medal where it would be treasured and enjoyed by the young local Catholics for generations.
Speaking at the school, Greg said, “I was very honoured to join the official Government visit to the Holy See in February and very lucky to receive a commemorative medal from the His Holiness the Pope. I’m very pleased it will now find a permanent home at St Richards Catholic College and I was touched by the interest of the pupils.”
Following the presentation of the Medal, pupils then took the opportunity to present Greg with hundreds of Go for Gold Medals as part of the Send My Friend to School campaign which helps highlight the fact that over 67 million children around the world are still missing out on an education. Pupils from St Richard’s added their voices to the campaign by covering the medals in messages which Greg agreed to pass on to the Prime Minister.
The pupils then had the opportunity to discuss a number of wide-ranging issues with Greg including the Papal visit, education in developing countries, arranged marriages, GCSEs, university tuition fees, gay marriage and the future for world peace.
Peter Byrne, Assistant Principal at St Richard’s said “It is an honour for our school to receive Mr Barker’s Papal Medal. It reminded the pupils that we are part of a worldwide Church, in which the Pope is leader. It was also wonderful for our pupils to present their ‘Send my Friend to School’ medals and have the opportunity to talk to their local MP about the issues that are important to them.”
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