Called to serve
Last Week we celebrated Christian Unity week which is traditionally observed from the 18th to the 25th January – the octave of St. Peter and St. Paul. Clongowes marked the week with our neighbouring school The King’s Hospital, Dublin when we welcomed their students and staff to share in our Sunday morning Eucharist.
The Rector, Fr. Michael Sheil SJ, Mr. Cyril Murphy, Director of Liturgy and Ms Anne-Marie Dolan, Pastoral Assistant to the Headmaster, along with students made a return visit to The King’s Hospital on Sunday evening to share in their service. This is a long-valued and important relationship between the two schools and a great example of Christian unity.
This week we move to celebrating what it means for our school ‘to be Catholic’. The theme of Catholic Schools Week 2015 is Catholic Schools: called to serve. This call comes from Christ himself. All Christians are called to serve their brothers and sisters. This means helping them to stand up and walk on their own, exorcising their fear of the unknown and expanding their minds through education.
Pope Francis has declared 2015 a special year of reflection on consecrated life. He is the first Pope to come from a religious order in over one hundred and fifty years and he reminds us to reflect on the past, present and future contribution of religious sisters, brothers and priests to our various communities (in a special way we think of the contribution of the Jesuits to Education as we come to an end of our bicentenary celebrations).
Ms Anne-Marie Dolan, Pastoral Assistant to the Headmaster
