At this time in the life of our country, and our Church, this Congress offers a space for you to come and be nourished.

This year’s congress will be held in Tralee and will offer the nourishment of the rich heritage of music, poetry and literature which is so integral to Kerry and to the people of Kerry. 

It will offer nourishment from the beautiful landscape of Kerry. It will offer the nourishment of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed through the liturgies.

At a professional level, through the Keynote addresses and the Workshops, the Congress will offer insights and strategies whereby the participants will be refreshed to engage, as adult Christians are called to do, in passing on that Good News to the next generation.

It will offer the nourishment of engaging with others who share the concerns of disciples of Jesus Christ at this time. The hope is that people will go forth enriched by the different kinds of engagement offered during the Congress and energised to continue to Share the Good News.

For more information please visit: www.recongress.ie.

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Theme: The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another.

Logo:  The Logo, entitled People in Communion, was designed on behalf of the Congress Committee by Martin Barlow of Portadown, Co. Armagh

Site:  The Congress website can be accessed at http://www.iec2012.ie/

Dates:  June 10th – 17th, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI has given his formal approval to the theme proposed by Archbishop Martin for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress: The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another.

The Congress theme has its roots in The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, (Lumen Gentium) of the Second Vatican Council, where we read:
Really partaking of the body of the Lord in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with Him and with one another. "Because the bread is one, we though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread". In this way all of us are made members of His Body, "but severally members one of another" (Lumen Gentium, 7).

The Congress Hymn and the Congress Prayer can be accessed by clicking on the following link:  http://www.iec2012.ie/index.jsp?p=100&n=109

If any sixth years who are 18 in January 2012 would like to be a volunteer for the Congress they can apply online by clicking on the following link: http://www.iec2012.ie/index.jsp?p=100&n=110

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The Spiritan faith friends programme will come to a close on Monday May 9th when the Transition Year faith friends from St Michael’s, St Mary’s and Blackrock College get together to celebrate their joint efforts and to receive their certificates of achievement. There will be team building activities, tag rugby, a liturgy and a festive lunch together.

We began each session with a prayer service led by Chaplains and teachers where boys from both from Transition Year and 6th form played active roles. We spent time together working through the programme ‘You Shall be my Witness’ and exchanged experiences and stories. The 6th form boys received their certificates from the TY students and now the TY students will bring the programme to a close by coming together and sharing their experience as members of Spiritan schools involved in the same programme and receiving their certificates from the DEA. There will also be a gold medal awarded for the Transition year student who really pushed out the boat and took an active ‘leadership in faith’ role. The recipients of the gold medals will be supplied at a later date.

Sincere thanks to all the Principals, Deputy Principals, Deans, Teachers and Chaplains who enabled this programme to be so successful and worthwhile in each school. To all of those who sourced rooms, organised music, coordinated and supervised groups and so on, we are so grateful. To all the TY’s who stepped up to the mark and did such an excellent job we applaud you! WELL DONE!

This Faith Friends Liturgy can be viewed by clicking on the following link:

• Faith Friends Liturgy

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A warm welcome to all attending our first ever Spiritan Youth Day on the 7th of April at the D4 Hotel, Ballsbridge. Our chosen theme echoes the Spiritan core values and invites us to believe, belong and become.

What we believe centers around our core values of Openness to the Spirit and our Sense of Community. A sense of belonging is developed from our Concern for the Poor, our Commitment to Service and our Global Vision. Our ability to become all that we have been called to be is nurtured by our High Educational Standards together with our Personal and Faith Development.

This is a day for all Transition Year students encouraging them to believe in themselves and each other as well as entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We believe in the precious Spiritan legacy that has been nurtured and handed on for the past 150 years in Ireland and wish to illuminate for students that belonging to this community and playing an active role in the handing on of its legacy is a very honourable position to be in.

The Spiritan Youth Day is about cherishing our belief, celebrating our belonging and inspiring each other to realise our full human potential, to become all that we are called to be. We invite everyone to participate and engage wholeheartedly with the programme of the day.

For further information please click on the brochure link below:

• Spiritan Youth Day Brochure

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Mass for Catholic Schools Week celebrated by Bishop Brendan Kelly with the Children's Choir from St. Clare's N.S., Harold’s Cross, Dublin was broadcast by RTÉ on Sunday 30th January 2011.

This mass can be viewed via the following links:

• Catholic Schools Week Mass via Diocese of Meath website
• Catholic Schools Week Mass via RTÉ Player

Please note the Catholic Schools Week mass can be viewed on the RTÉ Player until Sunday 20th of February.

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The resources for Catholic Schools Week 2011 (30th January – 5th February) are now ready to download.

Resource material includes suggestions for prayer, reflection on the Catholic traditions of the school, liturgical ideas for prayer and Eucharist, crosswords and quizzes. A special feature of this year’s resources will be a guided reflection on the Pastoral Letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland.

Resources:

Click on links to download

• Catholic Schools Week 2011 - Liturgy
• Catholic Schools Week 2011 - Rooted in Jesus Christ
  
• Catholic Schools Week Flyer

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November is a time when we remember the souls of our loved ones who have gone before us.   As we remember those who have died and pray for them, we do so with great hope in our hearts. 

Fr Paddy Byrne has a weekly column in the Carlow Nationalist.
This column appeared on 29th October 2008

The Celtic festival of Samhain marked a significant moment in the year. Samhain was the beginning of winter. Herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre.
The harvest of Lunasa, now gathered would nourish and sustain its people, providing sustenance and energy for this more difficult and vulnerable time of the year. As the darkness of winter began to cover the land, the Celtic people believed that the Gods of the next world were now close at hand. So too were the souls of all their loved ones who had gone before them. Folklore and customs such as fires, costume wearing etc… All come from this very rich tradition that we have inherited and adapted very much in our own Christian story.

Similarly as Christians, November is the time of the year when we too remember the souls of all our loved ones who have gone before us. The leaves have fallen and trees stand bare. The land now harvested rests and lies fallow, winter points us to mortality and death, one day with great certainty we too all of us will die.

Death is difficult and indeed painful. Death strips us of the familiar and leaves us often both naked and vulnerable, with our bereavement and painful losses, we all have experienced when a loved one dies. The Death of a loved one often leaves us asking many questions struggling in finding answers as we wrestle in the coping and continuing of our day to day without a husband or wife, Sibling or friend. The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis describing his experience of loss simply said, “The tears and loss that I now feel is the love we once shared,”

Perhaps the two most powerful lines in the entire Gospel describe the human emotion felt by Jesus when his friend Lazarus died, “Jesus wept”. Jesus knew the pain and hurt that comes to visit when someone we love dies. In fact in order for God to fully embrace the human condition, he also through his Son had to embrace death itself. The humiliating and brutal manner of Christ’s death united God with all experiences of suffering and persecution. The final words that came from our dying God was a prayer of welcome and wonderful invitation:“Today you will be with me in paradise”.

We know from our experience of the seasons that the leaves will blossom again, that spring will come. Christ’s death was an ultimate demonstration of love by his father. As he was awoken to new life and resurrection, so too are all of us, who believe in him. As we remember our loved ones who have died and pray for them, we do so with great hope in our hearts. St. Paul tells us that:
“Our true home is in heaven,”

May all our loved ones enjoy the eternal promise of life and peace in the happiness and joy of God’s presence. Jesus tells us:
“I am going ahead of you to prepare a place for you. So that where I am, you too shall be.”

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The energy was palpable and the enthusiasm abundant in all our first year retreats. The boys mixed very well with their classes and enjoyed learning about the Spiritan community as much as learning about each other.

Our Induction retreat took the themes of opportunity, values, hope, potential and centered them in a faith context. We explored the concept of living as a community with and for each other. The boys diligently wrote up their worksheets, shared their opinions and showed a great sense of companionship with us and each other. Many were learning about the DEA and the Spiritan community for the first time and the boys from the Junior schools supported and enabled this learning. 

At the end of each retreat we celebrated the sacrament of the Eucharist with our group. The boys took an active role in their liturgy by reading their prayers of the faithful and describing their offertory gifts. In some cases the first years sang and acted out the Liturgy of the Word which was wonderful to observe.

We are delighted to have met most of the Spiritan first years and hope the-y all enjoyed their time here. We extend a huge thank you to the wonderful teachers who worked with us on our retreat team and the school management who facilitated this effective teamwork.

Towards the end of last tern we invited schools to book their 1st, 5th & 6th years to come and avail of a half-day retreat at Kimmage Manor. There was a wonderful response to our invitation and below are the dates booked. The retreats will be facilitated by Caroline, Fr Marc and myself. Some of our teachers and chaplains have kindly offered to help out and so we hope to have a teacher from one Spiritan school facilitate a retreat group from a different Spiritan school. We aim to begin this sharing of resources on a small scale this year and are truly grateful for the offer of support. The themes for the retreats are as follows:

1st years: Induction Retreat; Beginning Again.
6th years: Push out into the deep; ‘duc in altum’
5th years: Global solidarity

As this is a new initiative we welcome any suggestions or ideas that you may wish to share. Please feel free to get in touch.

Many thanks
Orla

Each Retreat is from 9.1Sam - 1.30pm, please bring a packed lunch.

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1. FIFTH YEAR RETREATS THEME: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY
    Tuesday, 16 November
    Wednesday, 17 November
    Tuesday, 23 November
    Wednesday, 24 November
    Venue: Contact for further information

2. EARTH PRAYER
    FDO working with individual classes in Willow Senior supporting the
    Green School initiative.
    Date: Sunday, 7 November
    Venue: Contact for further information

3. SCHOOLS CHAPLAINCY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
    Date: Wednesday, 24 November - Friday, 26 November
    Venue: See website below for details:
    http://www.schoolchaplains.ie/schoolchaplains/Main/Home.htm

4. MISSION ALIVE NATIONAL POST –PRIMARY STUDENTS’ COMPETITION
    Closing date for competition entries.
    Date: Tuesday, 30 November

5. RAINBOWS TRAINING
    Date: Friday 26 & Saturday 27 November
    Venue: St Michael’s Junior School
    Teachers and Chaplains enrolled for Course: Approx 26

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