Catholic Schools’ Week | Clongowes Wood College

Posted: 5th February 2019

Catholic Schools’ Week is an all-Ireland annual event, which invites Catholic schools to give expression in a special way to the ethos of Catholic Education. It is a celebration of Catholic schools throughout Ireland, North and South, which acknowledges the tremendous contribution that our Catholic primary and post-primary schools make, not just to Irish society, but also to the mission of the Church.

This year Catholic Schools’ Week 2019 ran from Sunday 27th January to Saturday 2nd February. This chosen theme, ‘Celebrating the Work of Our Local Catholic Schools’ reflects on the unique contribution of Catholic schools to our collective goal of education as Irish society continues to change. Each Catholic school shares an ethos that is inclusive, welcoming and vibrant and works towards a vision of each student as made in the image and likeness of God.

As Clongowes is a Catholic school set in the Jesuit tradition, the core of our Ethos is having a Faith that does Justice and educating Men for Others and so the Catholic Schools’ Week theme for this year was very close to our hearts.We look forward to celebrating our Catholic identity throughout the week, during which the Religion Department, in association with the Ethos Department, will look at what it is that makes our school a Jesuit and Catholic school.

The themes for the individual days were very much a call to action:

Monday Living Tradition
Tuesday Welcoming Diversity
Wednesday Grandparents’ Day
Thursday In Service of our Community
Friday Supporting Faith

Morning Prayers throughout the week addressed the theme for the day and included Fr. Paul O’Boyle, the local parish priest in Clane and Rathcoffey, on Thursday morning in keeping with the concept of ‘Service of our Community’. (Fr Boyle is pictured above with Fr Barney McGuckian SJ, the Rector, Fr Michael Sheil SJ and Fr Michael McGuckian SJ)

Other activities during the week included

  • ‘Contemplative Meditation’ for students and staffin our Manresa Prayer Room
  • LifeWorks’ presentation on the value of life and the dignity of every person (pictured above)
  • John Paul II Awards Activities for the next group of candidates from Clongowes

Throughout the week there was also an Interactive Prayer Space beside the Chaplaincy Board in the Concourse (pictured above) to celebrate our Catholic Jesuit Identity. All students were encouraged to get involved and to take a moment at this space.

Towards the end of the week a special painting from the cave at Manresa in Spain was blessed and presented to our own Manresa Prayer Room to mark our special Jesuit Identity during this celebratory time of Catholic Schools’ Week.

The full text of Ms Anne-Marie Dolan’s Morning Prayer at the start of Catholic Schools’ Week may be read here

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