Catholic Schools Week 2010

Catholic Schools Week (Jan 31st to Feb 6th) is an opportunity to celebrate the ethos and identity of our Schools and their contribution to the mission of the Church.

Podcast

In this podcast, Cardinal Sean Brady discusses the Catholic Church’s involvement in education.

Catholic Schools Week Resources

Click on links below to download the following resources (hard copies have been posted to schools).

Primary

• Resources for the Primary School Community: Home, School & Parish
• Acmhainn do Phobal na Bunscoile: Sa Bhaile, Ar Scoil, agus sa Phariste
• MateriaÅ‚y dla spoÅ‚ecznoÅ›ci szkÅ‚ ponadpodstawowych: domu, szkoÅ‚y i parafii

Post-Primary

• Resources for the Post-Primary School Community: Home, School & Parish
• Acmhainn do Phobal na hIarbhunscoile: Sa Bhaile, Ar Scoil, agus sa Phariste

Catholic Schools – A Light for Every Generation

Catholic Schools Week 2010 is celebrated from January 31st to February 6th. This week gives us the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the tremendous contribution that our Catholic Primary and Post Primary Schools make not just to Irish society but to the mission of the Church.

Last year marked a very successful beginning of an all-Ireland celebration of Catholic Schools Week and we hope this year to build on that foundation and continue to create a space where we can proudly articulate and celebrate our ethos and identity.

Theme for 2010

This year the theme for the week is Catholic Schools – A Light for Every Generation

Catholic schools are committed to the education and formation of the young person in every aspect of their lives. Thus Catholic Schools are light for parents, pupils, staff and society in every generation. In selecting this theme we are clearly connecting the vision of Catholic Education with the mission of the Gospel, to bring the light of Christ to the world and to allow that light to shine through and in all that we do in Catholic Schools.

This theme reminds us that we are constantly challenged to let that light shine for the present generation and this will remain part of our task for future generations. It also allows us to remember with great gratitude all those who through their work in establishing schools and places of education brought the light of Christ to many generations of Irish people in the past.

Pope Benedict in a letter to the faithful of the diocese and city of Rome on the urgent task of educating young people in January 2008 said:

The soul of education, as of the whole of life, can only be a dependable hope. Today, our hope is threatened on many sides and we even risk becoming, like the ancient pagans, people ‘having no hope and without God in the world’, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians of Ephesus (Eph 2:12). What may be the deepest difficulty for a true educational endeavour consists precisely in this: the fact that at the root of the crisis in education lies a crisis of trust in life.

Draft Charter for our Primary Schools

Discussion Meetings Postponed

Please note the planned series of meetings around the diocese during Catholic Schools Week 2010 to discuss the Draft Charter for our Primary Schools have been postponed. These meetings will be rescheduled later in the year.

In the meantime we hope that all the stakeholders in Catholic Education will take the opportunity to discuss the draft document in preparation for future meetings. Written responses will also be most welcome.

Click on link for more information – Draft Charter for our Primary Schools