The Meitheal youth peer ministry leadership programme will start on Sunday May 21st.
Over the Month of June 23 schools from the Kildare and Leighlin Diocese will participate on the programme.
There will 70 volunteer adult leaders working with the students.
The students will be trained as Meitheal teams . They will work with their incoming 1st years from August to March.
Meitheal groups work on the basis that everyone is treated with respect and dignity.
The schools participating on the Meitheal 2015/ 2016 programme are:
Portlaoise College
St. Paul’s, Monasterevin
Kildare Town Community School
Tullow Community School, Tullow
Ard Scoil Rath Iomagain
St Leo’s College, Carlow
Mountrath Community School, Mountrath
Colaiste Iosagain Portarlington
St Mary’s Naas
Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown
Borris V.S, Borris
St. Mary’s Knockbeg College, Carlow
Scoil Chonglais Baltinglass
Mountmellick Community School, Mountmellick
Heywood Community School, Ballinakill
St. Mary’s Academy, C.B.S., Carlow
Presentation College, Askea
Scoil Dara, Kilcock
Méanscoil Iognáid Rís, Naas
Presentation/De La Salle College, Muinebheag
Scoil Chríost Rí, Presentation Secondary School, Portlaoise
Gaelcholaiste Carlow
St. Mary’s, C.B.S., Portlaoise
MORE ABOUT MEITHEAL
Click on link to download Meitheal Information Booklet
Meitheal is a leadership programme which operates in 19 secondary schools in the Kildare and Leighlin diocese.
The name Meitheal was taken from an old tradition in the west. Farmers living in the same area would have a Meitheal every year, the whole idea being that they would work together to bring in their crops. This built up strong friendships and respect among the people involved in the Meitheal.
Our Meitheal programme is designed to educate and empower young people in their schools. The students, leaders and others educate each other through leadership, taking action, liturgy, reflection and evaluation.
All students who participate on the programme have to attend a week’s training course.
This course will give the students all the skills they will need to work as a Meitheal team in their school.
We challenge people to look at themselves, to believe that they are worthwhile and that they have a special contribution to make. We focus on the gold within and encourage people to discover some of that gold. The young people who participate on Meitheal come from all walks of life and different situations. On the training week the young people are treated as equals and discover that they have got something to offer and that (others) their own peers can see good things about them and its okay to be ME.
Meitheal is also about the people in my group knowing who I am, knowing that I care. People experience the warmth, friendship and encouragement I have to offer and know that I am honest with them.
We ask people to step beyond their own needs and to act on the needs of others. On the training week we give the students the skills to identify needs in their school and how to act upon those needs. Meitheal is also about looking out for the people in your group and maintaining the spirit of Meitheal. We also encourage Meitheal students to use their learning in everyday life with their friends, family and parish.
There are many people involved with the programme in different ways, parents, teachers, students and volunteers who work as leaders each year.
The Meitheal programme is the start of a process, the development of young people, it is envisaged that students involved in the programme would later become leaders in their own parish and community.
Meitheal is very much about transformation, it’s about trying to make a difference, to make your school a better place for all.
We don’t look for standards, numbers or results from our groups; we look for groups of young people doing their best, caring for each other and the students with whom they work. Growing as individuals and believing in their own true potential.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Robert Norton
Faith Development Services
Cathedral parish Centre
College St
Carlow
0868247709
robert.norton@kandle.ie
