Cancellation of Fr. Peter Kenney Day
22 April 2020
Dear Supporters of the Clongowes Foundation
I hope that this email finds you and your loved ones well and coping with these unprecedented times. Our thoughts and prayers are with those caught at the front line of the crisis, both patients and carers.
It is some five weeks since the College closed; and the Foundation’s year has all but closed. The final Trustees meeting will be a virtual one. In normal circumstances Father Peter Kenney S.J. Day would mark the end of our year. Under the guidance of Father Rector, Michael Sheil S.J.; with the enthusiasm of Margaret Doyle and the historical oversight of Harman Murtagh, this day has become a landmark of the calendar. It is a day to recognise our founder; a day to mark the anniversary of a past pupil, or event, that have left a positive mark on society; and it is a day to celebrate the company of each other. This year’s event was planned to celebrate the centenary of the death of the Rt. Hon. Christopher Palles, who left Clongowes in 1847. In a long life of great achievement – he retired from the bench at the age of eighty-five – he was the last chief baron of the Irish exchequer court. He was the first President of The Clongowes Union and was a benefactor of the College, donating the High Altar for then newly opened Boy’s Chapel, or The New Chapel as it was called.
While this academic year will always be remembered for the extraordinary events that we are currently living through it was also a year of other landmarks and more happy events. The end of 2019 marked the fifteen-year anniversary of the creation of the Clongowes Wood College Foundation. These past fifteen years have been an extraordinarily active period for the Foundation and the School; and the Foundation will publish a document to mark these accomplishments in the coming academic year. The Foundation and College are deeply grateful to the many donors, volunteers and staff who have supported us throughout this period.
Recently we heard the great news that Georgetown University have offered scholarships to three current AHP students in Rhetoric, two of whom have accepted. The genesis of this wonderful development was an offer by an OC to fund a scholarship for an AHP student through Georgetown University. That started an application process some eighteen months ago that, amongst other things, involved a person from GU admissions coming to the College to meet with the boys. Subsequently three of the boys visited the University with our new deputy Headmaster, Paul McCormack. Recently the University came back and offered all three boys’ scholarships. Aside from our benefactor we would like to recognise the support given to the boys by Maria Shaw, the career guidance counsellor, Paul and his predecessor, Martin Wallace. It is a wonderful development which among other things will strengthen Clongowes’s position within the worldwide network of Jesuit educational establishments. An initial link between these two educational establishments was Father Peter Kenney SJ himself. In between his two terms as rector of Clongowes, Father Peter Kenney S.J, had been sent by the General of the Society as a Visitor to the College of Georgetown and to the Mission of North America, that had in the words of the General “ been brought to such a pass that it could be called a wretched parish”.
In late January we formally launched the Alberto Hurtado Endowment Fund (AHEF), a permanent investment fund. At the launch the Province generously matched the initial capital raised for the Fund. However, the actual commitment of this capital to the markets did not start until early April, thereby avoiding the significant downturn in European equity prices that took place through March. The long-term objective for the AHEF is generate sufficient income to fully fund the AHP. Clearly it will take time to achieve this objective, but the fund, which launched with € 4m in cash, has had a fortuitous start.
A month or so ahead of the College shuttering down, the Foundation received news of a generous legacy left by an elderly past pupil. We did not know about this legacy, so receiving the news on a dark, cold February afternoon, was one of the most uplifting moments of my time in the Foundation.
On behalf of Emma and I, we truly hope that you and your families are staying well and managing these difficult times. We will be working from home so feel free to contact us at your leisure.
Yours Sincerely
Joe Rooney
Chair of Fundraising OC’79
jrooney@clongowes.net
erobinson@clongowes.net