Post Primary Diocesan Adviser
September/October 2021
Dear RE Teacher / Chaplain,
Welcome back! Even though at this stage I am sure you feel well settled in and ready for the mid-term. It has been such a busy two months for everyone and we certainly hit the ground running this year. The following are just a few updates:
Our New Bishop:
We welcome Bishop Ger Nash to our Diocese!!
Gerard Nash was born on 27 February 1959 at Glandree in the parish of Tulla, Co Clare. After the Leaving Certificate he studied business and then worked in the manufacturing industry for a number of years. After choosing to study for the Diocese of Killaloe in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, he was ordained on 15 June 1991 in Drumcharley Church, Tulla, by Bishop Michael Harty.
After ordination, he was appointed as chaplain/teacher in Roscrea Vocational School and as priest responsible for Roscrea Youth Centre. In 1996 he was appointed as General Manager of Clarecare, which provides a range of social services to the people of County Clare. From 1996 he was also assistant priest in Corofin. In 2003, he was appointed as resident priest in Corofin and part of the first grouping of parishes in the Diocese of Killaloe. The newly created area was called Imeall Boirne. In 2007 he moved to Crusheen, also within the Imeall Boirne Pastoral Area. Father Nash was appointed Diocesan Secretary in 2010, while continuing to minister in Imeall Boirne. In 2016 he was appointed Director of Pastoral Development for the Diocese of Killaloe. He was ordained as the 81st Catholic Bishop of Ferns on 5th September 2021 in St. Aidan’s Cathedral Enniscorthy.
In welcoming Bishop Nash, we also thanks most sincerely Bishop Denis Brennan and we wish him well in his retirement.
Pope Francis has invited the universal Catholic Church to begin a series of conversations about what God wants of his people at this time. These conversations are often referred to as a Synodal Process. “Synodal” comes from a Greek word which means “walking together”. On Sunday 17th October we mark the opening of this Synodal Process entitled, For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission. This Synodal Process coincides with the start of the two-year Synodal Pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland which will lead, in time, to a National Synodal Assembly in Ireland.
For more information:
- Check out the Hook of Faith here
- www.catholicbishops.ie/synod – to learn more about the Synodal Pathway for the Catholic Church in Ireland
- www.synod.va – to learn more about the worldwide Synod
Pope John Paul II Awards:
Since launching the Awards in our Diocese in 2017, it has gone from strength to strength enabling many of our young people to link in with their parishes and support them.
During the more restrictive times they have had the opportunity to ‘think outside the box’ and come up with some fabulous innovative ideas that ensured they could not only continue to support parishes but earn them a well deserved Award at the end of it all.
This year we are less restricted and just as enthusiastic. In the last few weeks I have visited 12 schools and presented the Awards to TY students. We have exciting plans for this year to include a Diocesan Camino as well as a trip to Knock.
We look forward to last year’s participants receiving their Award on the 10th of November, 2021 in the Cathedral.
Spirit Youth Group:
We have decided this year in line with Covid restrictions to run a smaller youth group with the Pope John Paul II participants only. .
Once all the applications are in we will commence a Spirit Youth Group in Wexford, New Ross and Enniscorthy.
Each Spirit Youth Group will run for 10 weeks only and will involve a very successful Personal & Spiritual Development Course.
The participants will receive a Spirit Certificate of Achievement and all Spirit Certs will be presented at the JPII Awards Ceremony.
Prayer Pouches
Prayer Pouches have been prepared for all incoming 1st years in association with Aid to the Church in Need, The Gideons Association, Sisters of the Divine Master and C&R Print.
‘The key to happiness is in this little pouch’, these are the words of Davide Barberie who is one of the contributors in the Prayer Pouch Video which has been developed to accompany the pouches.
The video is 15 minutes long and provides testimony from Davide Barberie of Aid to the Church in Need who discusses the importance that faith played in his life when tackling drug and criminal issues.
Another contributor is International Surfer John Mc Carthy who tells us how reading the bible provides us with the light during dark times.
Bishop Ger ties it all together as he explains in the video how he too faces into his 1st year in the Diocese of Ferns.
We will be distributing the Prayer Pouches after the Mid-Term Break.
Diocesan Seminar for Religion Teachers and Chaplains
The Annual Diocesan Seminar will take place this year on the 2nd of November.
We are delighted to hold the event in Our Lady’s Island this year and look forward to input from a range of speakers covering various topics.
To receive a brochure on the event please email fernsda@ferns.ie or you can just download brochure from here RE Seminar Nov 21.
Retreat Brochure
We are currently producing a Retreat Brochure for each of you. There are some fabulous Retreat Facilitators out there with new and innovative programmes. With this in mind we wanted to capture the relevant information for you in a brochure so that you have to hand all the information you may need in order to book a retreat for your school. We hope to have this ready in time for the Inter-Diocesan Seminar which is taking place on the 3rd of March next. The details of this Seminar will be sent out in the next few weeks.
And Finally….
Thank you everyone for all the work that you do. I look forward to meeting you all in the coming months and I wish God’s blessings on you, your students and your school as we embark on this academic year.
God bless the work!!
Colette
Colette O’Doherty: Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
April 2021
Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,
Welcome back everyone after the Easter holidays. I hope each of you had a restful couple of weeks and are adjusting to being back in the school environment once again.
As we welcome our young people back into the school environment, we are conscious that the last year has been a challenging one. It has thrown us all out of our routine and in a lot of cases it has thrown us all into the connected online environment.
Whilst this online spac
e has provided the means to teach and resource our students, there is a general consensus that we must enable our students to ‘disconnect’ sometimes in order to ‘reconnect’ with their own value systems, their own well being, their feelings and indeed their source of hope, their faith.
In relation to this, we have produced a booklet entitled ‘Disconnect to Re-Connect’; A Five Lesson Plan For Senior Cycle Students, which provides that much needed ‘time out’ to allow students to process what has being happening around them and within them.
Accompanied by the gift of the Box of Hope, it provides you with everything you need to run a weekly session for 5 weeks.
It is our hope also that this Box of Hope will provide you, the Teacher/Chaplain with a practical and relevant resource that will support you in meeting the needs of your student at this time and in years to come.
Let us together and with the help of God, do all that we can to help our young people.
God bless you and your work!
Colette O’Doherty
Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
053-9145511/fernsda@ferns.ie
Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser
January 2021
Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,
Happy New Year to you all! I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas break and are renewed to commence 2021 with energy and hopefulness. I am reminded of this wonderful quote by Padre Pio – Pray, hope, and don’t worry!! In keeping with this theme, you might have read about the Star of Hope which launched youth ministry here in the Diocese of Ferns, an initiative which will directly support you in your role as Religion Teacher in the future. Click here for the 3 year plan and you can watch the Star of Hope Launch here https://youtu.be/Dnp2tlCWoMY (watch to the beautiful ending when we see the star in all its glory!!)
As and from tomorrow most of you will be either teaching online or students will be working via distance learning and I have no doubt this can be very challenging. Many of us are trying to do the best we can within these current challenges and that is all we can do. I start each day with the following prayer and at the end of the day I can rest knowing, no matter what the difficulties, even if only half of what I planned actually took place or even on the days when I felt nothing was achieved, I rest in the knowledge that the day went according to God’s plan.
Good morning God, I am awake and ready to do your Will.
I am alert and prepared for the day You have me fulfil.
Send me You Holy Spirit God, so that I can truly understand
Everything you want of me, Your schedule, Your plan.
Give me your blessings God and send me on my way,
For I am excited to begin Your list of things to do today.
Pope Francis has proclaimed 2021 as the Year of St Joseph and he does this within the backdrop of the Covid pandemic as he reminds us that St Joseph’s spiritual path “is not one that explains, but accepts” — which does not mean that he is “resigned.” Instead, he is “courageously and firmly proactive,” because with “Holy Spirit’s gift of fortitude,” and full of hope, he is able “to accept life as it is, with all its contradictions, frustrations and disappointments.” In practice, through St. Joseph, it is as if God were to repeat to us: “Do not be afraid!” because “faith gives meaning to every event, however happy or sad,” and makes us aware that “God can make flowers spring up from stony ground.” Joseph “did not look for shortcuts but confronted reality with open eyes and accepted personal responsibility for it.” For this reason, “he encourages us to accept and welcome others as they are, without exception, and to show special concern for the weak” https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-12/pope-francis-proclaims-year-of-st-joseph.html
Today is my first day back to work and I remain a support to you within whatever capacity that takes place. I hope to make available to you all a wonderful opportunity for support sessions in the next few weeks. This will be offered by one of our neighbouring dioceses and focusses on our mental wellbeing and balance of life within this current environment. Although we can feel zoomed out of it, I have begun to pick and choose valuable opportunities that will ground me and offer me support and I believe this is one of those opportunities for teachers. I will provide more information in the next couple of weeks.
See below liturgical calendar for January which I hope is of some help to you. I will as always make this available on the Diocesan website https://ferns.ie/youth-matters/post-primary-resources-information/
God bless you all and God bless the work.
Colette
Colette O’Doherty
Director of Religious Education & Youth Matters
Ferns Diocesan Centre
St Peter’s College
Summerhill
Wexford
Co Wexford
Tel: 053 9145511
Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News Blog
December/Nollaig 2020
Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,
I hope you all managed to navigate your way successfully, and without too many challenges in this first term. I have no doubt you are looking forward to the Christmas break! As this is usually a busy month in schools, I hope the resources posted in both the monthly post and the shared resources have helped you in some way. In addition, I would be more than happy to receive any contributions you may wish to share with fellow chaplains and R.E. teachers or any suggestions for support which the Diocese could provide.
Although we have been quite restricted, it has been great to visit with many of you and indeed I am delighted to have visited both the CBS New Ross and Meanscoil Gharmain to introduce their TY students to the Pope John Paul II Awards. Thanks you to Shannon White, Joe Bridges, Jim Kavanagh and Pat Rossiter for their very warm welcome.
The Diocese has also been very busy preparing for The Way Forward, a 3 year plan to forge links between schools, parishes and home. The Bishop will launch the initiative by lighting a Star which will be seen for miles around on the 17th of December. The Star will be installed on the top of St Peter’s College and will be a beacon of hope for our young people of the Diocese, announcing to them the arrival of wonderful new activities, projects, caminos, retreats, pilgrimages, school and parish projects that will enable them to build a relationship with God. Thank you to the RE Teachers and Chaplains who have been involved in the consultative process and to Leeann Cummins in Coláiste Bríde, Carnew who brought together her Pope John Paul II participants to be our youth focus group. This has been the culmination of a lot of ideas and ambitions and now we can at last look forward to putting them into action in 2021.
As you are aware, each year, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention each month. You are invited to answer the Holy Father’s request and to join with many people worldwide in praying for this intention each month. For December, the Pope’s intention is:
For a life of prayer
“We pray that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ be nourished by the Word of God and a life of prayer”
http://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/
I hope each of you ‘switch off’ this Christmas time and get the opportunity to breathe fresh air!! You have all put in tremendous work and we thank you for everything that you are doing to bring our young people forward in their faith.
May the joy of Our Saviour’s birth be with you, your families, and in your school communities this Christmas time.
Colette O’Doherty
Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
November 2020 / Mí na Samhna, Mí na Marbh
Dear Teachers/Chaplains
I hope you all had a lovely, restful midterm break and are ready to face the challenges of a new term. This month is dedicated to the faithful departed and is known as Month of the Holy Souls. I have posted some resources for this month on this website, including prayer services in Irish, which could be used with your students through-out the month.
We hope to continue our support in this month by increasing our resource supports for the liturgical month of November, as well as for the John Paul II Award Co-Ordinators. Although I have been to a few of your schools since October, some schools are operating a no visitor policy and therefore we want to compensate for those visits by connecting more online. We have also commence the Shared Resources email which allows teachers to upload tried and tested resources to share with other teachers and we are delighted that 17 out of the 22 schools have opted into this opportunity.
The Pope John Paul II Awards ceremonies are taking place in each of the schools this year and although it would have been lovely to have everyone together in the Cathedral like last year, it will still be a wonderful way to recognise the selfless work of our Pope John Paul II Award participants.
As you are aware, each year, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention each month. You are invited to answer the Holy Father’s request and to join with many people worldwide in praying for this intention each month. For November, the Pope’s intention is Artificial Intelligence “We pray that the progress of robotics and artificial intelligence may always serve humankind.”
Details can be found at http://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/
May God Bless you, your students and your work.
Colette O’Doherty
Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
053-9145511
Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
September 2020 / Meán Fómhair 2020
Dear R.E Teacher/Chaplain,
I hope that each of you are keeping well and settling into the new routines which we find ourselves navigating within. As I dropped off my own daughter to secondary school this morning, I witnessed many of the pupils in her school anxiously masking up and making their way in through various entrances. I have no doubt, even though you are back a week now, this new regime brings it’s own anxieties to you too as you attempt to communicate, teach, reach and support our mask wearing young people. However, I have no doubt, before long we will stop seeing the mask and begin to once again see the young person behind it.
Within the Diocese of Ferns, we too, are adapting to the changes in our work practices. We are trying to find best practice for staying in touch with schools and supporting teachers as well as supporting our John Paul II Award Participants in whatever way possible. I will be in contact with the participating schools to discuss award ceremonies this year.
However, within this restrictive space, and with the Bishop’s blessing, I am in the process of putting together a Strategic Planning Committee. The role of this Committee will be to support and enable the Way Forward, a three year plan for this office in support of Schools and Parishes. The three year plan will focus on the following:
- A Recruitment Campaign for voluntary Youth Ministers throughout our Diocese. These Youth Ministers with be the link between Schools and Parishes and enable future projects to take place more effectively and efficiently. We aim to have over 100 volunteers in place by 2022, all of whom will be resourced, supported and trained by this office. They will be the support system for Diocesan projects and liturgical events, linking both school and parish.
- Development and enhancement of the John Paul II Awards for participants.
- Development of School Retreat Programmes based within the Diocese of Ferns in a number of locations.
- Professional development of key school and parish initiatives e.g. Exam Prayer Project, Library Supply Project, Annual fundraising initiatives within schools, Prayer Room/Space projects.
- Development of key liturgical events.
I will continue to provide resources linked to important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates/feast days from the liturgical calendar in the hope that they will continue to be of some help, you will be able to find access to this on the Diocese of Ferns Website. I will also maintain the Facebook Page as another access point for these resources.
The Annual Inter-Diocesan Conference which normally takes place in October has been deferred to April of 2021. I will send you on details of same by email. I hope also to arrange an Inservice within our own Diocese with the aim of providing support to the Religion Teacher and Chaplain. We hope to facilitate same in Our Lady’s Island and although
we are currently arranging same a date has not been set until the current restrictions lift.
I will be sending out the usual School Profile Form by email and I would be so grateful if you could fill it in and return to me as soon as you can so that I can keep you up to date of developments. I am here to support you in your role and if you have any ideas, or suggestions or requirements please do not hesitate to contact me on 053-9145511 or on fernsda@ferns.ie
May God bless you, your students and your work.
Colette O’Doherty
Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
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Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser
May 2020/Bealtaine 2020
Dear R.E Teacher/Chaplain,
I hope that you are all keeping well. We are heading now towards the end of the school year in a very different way than we could ever have imagined. Since Easter I have taken the time to ring as many of you as I have numbers for. In those conversations, I have found that each of you have found this time a challenge and each of you have taken on that challenge and are working to the best of your ability and circumstances. I hope also that each of you are finding time to breathe a little within the space that we find ourselves.
During the last few months also, I have been in contact with my colleagues throughout Ireland and the situation amongst all Religion Teachers is a variety of the same, same challenges, same uncertainties. But there is one thing that is constant and that is God. Within this space a lot of our young people are beginning to question where God is in all of this, and indeed many of our adults are doing the same.
The Iona Institute, discovered through Amarach Research that one in five people are praying more often. Curiously, 24 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds say they are praying more than usual, the same number as over 55s. The middle generation is the one which was most affected by the scandals and the number is far lower. But that younger generation is also the one which spends the most time online. Perhaps the online and the real-world experience should not be seen in opposition to each other, but as complementary and valuable. (Breda O’Brien; Irish Times : https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/breda-o-brien-the-church-has-been-catapulted-online-1.4242832)
At a time when control of our lives has been taken out of our hands, it is a relief to know that we can turn to God in hope. Pope Francis reminds us that “All of us can live but we cannot live without Hope.” And in this month of May Pope Francis has turned to Our Lady as a sign of hope. Pope Francis’ Prayer to Mary during the coronavirus pandemic calls out to Mary as a sign of our hope and salvation:
O Mary,
you always shine on our path
as a sign of salvation and of hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm. Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God. Do not disdain the entreaties of we who are in trial, but deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.
https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2020/03/16/prayer-resources-for-use-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/
Although school and class times are very different for each of us, I will continue to offer resources linked to important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates/feast days from the liturgical calendar in the hope that they will continue to be of some help. As May is traditionally the month for graduation there are a variety of further resources on graduation available on the Dublin Diocesan website: http://education.dublindiocese.ie/2012/06/22/graduation-resources/ http://education.dublindiocese.ie/graduation-prayer-service-2018/
The School Chaplains’ Association have a number of lovely ideas for graduation which can be found in their April newsletter. Contact them on: https://schoolchaplaincy.ie/
I am sure some of you will find ways to involve your students in ceremonies to mark the ending of their school year.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all who welcomed me into your schools, and invited me to various events through-out the year. I would also like to thank the John Paul II teams and teachers for their continued work and as they witness to their faith in our school communities. I look forward to the time when we can award our wonderful JPII participants with their medals and certificates.
I hope that we will return to some normality in the new academic year, and look forward to continued collaboration as we work together to promote the faith of the young people in our care.
I would like to acknowledge Lily Barry who is Diocesan Advisor in the Dublin Dioce se who has generously allowed me to share her resources with you all.
God bless you all and the work that you are doing and although the academic year is almost to a close, do not hesitate to contact me at any time over the next few months. I look forward in the new academic year to be available to visit your schools regarding the Spirit youth group, JPII Awards, Retreats and Pilgrimages and/or indeed in talking to your students parents in relation to Handing on the Faith.
I look forward also to meeting you all again when possible for inservices that will both support and resource you in the job that you are doing.
God bless you all.
Colette O’Doherty
Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser
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Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
April 2020/Aibreán 2020
Dear R.E Teacher/Chaplain,
I am writing this month’s blog in very different circumstances. I do realise that a lot of the resources for day to day class time may not be of use to everyone at this time. I am also aware that many of us have been saturated with resources from a wide range of media forms in these past few weeks.
However, I have listened to my Diocesan Advisor Colleagues and am upload resources for April. I will include a selection of resources linked to important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates/feast days from the liturgical calendar. There is also a variety of further resources on this website http://education.dublindiocese.ie/post-primary/ under classroom and general resources and on the Facebook shared space I have created for RE Teachers and Chaplains from the Diocese of Ferns, if you would like to join that space please email me on fernsda@ferns.ie and I will send you a link.
Recently, Pope Francis delivered an extraordinary blessing “To the City and to the World” to pray for an end to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. In his meditation, the Pope reflects on Jesus’ words to His disciples: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? In his special Urbi et Orbi he reminded us that God is “calling on us to seize this time of trial as a time of choosing,.. a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not”. He concluded this extraordinary blessing with this beautiful prayer:
Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: ‘Do not be afraid’ (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, ‘cast all our anxieties onto you, for you care about us’ (cf. 1Pet 5:7).”
The full version of Pope Francis’s message is available on: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-03/pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi-blessing-coronavirus.html
If there is any way I can help/assist you in these very challenging times, please feel free to contact me at fernsda@ferns.ie
Stay strong, stay safe and keep your faith. I leave you with the words of Pope Francis:
“We need to rediscover the concreteness of small things, the small acts of kindness shown to those who are close to us, family, friends. We need to realise that our treasure lies in small things.”
Le gach dea-ghuí,
Colette O’Doherty
Diocesan Adviser.
(Thanks to Lily Barry Diocesan Advisor in the Archdiocese of Dublin who has provided me with the bulk of these resources from her monthly blog.)
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Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
March 2020/Márta 2020
Dear R.E Teacher/Chaplain,
This month continues with a calendar of events for March with a selection of resources linked to important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates/feast days from religious calendars. As Lent has already begun, I have included a number of resources to help guide your students throughout the season in preparation for Easter.
Pope Francis’ Lenten message for LENT 2020 is “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). He reminds us that: “This year the Lord grants us, once again, a favourable time to prepare to celebrate with renewed hearts the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the cornerstone of our personal and communal Christian life. We must continually return to this mystery in mind and heart, for it will continue to grow within us in the measure that we are open to its spiritual power and respond with freedom and generosity”.
I was delighted to have met many of you at our recent Fern’s Inservice which took place on Thursday the 27th of February last. We had a capacity crowd with barely elbow room around the lunch table with the added treat of a tour of the St Peter’s Tower by our new Campus Manager Oliver Mahon. We were delighted that the Bishop joined us for lunch and for his kind words in support of your role. The day commenced with Tom Gunning providing us all with insight into the workings of the Soul Searcher’s series. Tom also spoke to all about self-care within the role of R.E. Following this Noel Keating spoke to us of the difference between a guided meditation and silent meditation and finally Annette Evans got us all up out of our seats to create prayer spaces. It was a wonderful day and I look forward to meeting you all and more at the next one. For details of the day please press here.
The Bishop in his speech concluded with the following prayer of St Oscar Romero (assassinated while saying Mass in El Salvador in 1980).
‘It helps now and then to step back and take the long view. This is what we are about. We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realising that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.’
May God bless all that we do.
Colette O’Doherty; Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
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Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
February 2020
Dear R.E Teacher/Chaplain,
I hope that February finds you well as we start to notice a little extra brightness seeping into our evenings. I have uploaded for your information, a calendar of events for February with a selection of resources linked to important dates from international justice, peace and environmental calendars as well as important dates/feast days from religious calendars.
We continue to promote Pope Francis’ monthly intentions which we encourage you to introduce and use with your students. We will continue to highlight the Holy Father’s request for prayers for a specific intention each month and invite you to answer the request and join with many people worldwide in praying for this intention each month. For February the Pope’s intention is Listen to the Migrants’ Cries: We pray that the cries of our migrant brothers and sisters, victims of criminal trafficking, may be heard and considered. For further resources see http://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/
I have been travelling the Diocese over the last few weeks and have spent valuable time with School Chaplains, RE Co-Ordinators and RE Teams discussing your support requirements. I look forward to visiting the remaining schools at your convenience. If you have not already booked a date please ring me on 087-9474513.
Many of you have booked into the upcoming Inservice taking place on Thursday the 27th of February next. Details of same can be found here. If you have any suggestions for further inservices please do email me on fernsda@ferns.ie.
I have uploaded a couple of conferences that you may be interested in, namely ARISE and CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME. If you or your school are interested in bringing a Green Team to Caring for our Common Home please contact me on 087-9474513.
Thank you all for your attention and God bless your work.
Colette O’Doherty; Director of Religious Education & Youth Ministry
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Post-Primary Diocesan Adviser R.E. News
January 2020/ Eanáir 2020
Dear R.E. Teacher / Chaplain,
Welcome back after the Christmas break and a very Happy New Year to you all!! I hope you all had a restful holiday and are refreshed and ready to begin a new term!
As you may be aware I have taken up the post of Director of Education & Youth Ministry in September 2019. For the last few months, I have been busy familiarising myself with the role! I am grateful to all who have supported me over the last while, in particular Lily Barry the Dublin Diocesan Advisor who has been a mind of information.
I have also been organising the John Paul II Awards Night which took place in Cathedral on the 5th of December last. It was a wonderful occasion with 53 students receiving their Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards and with the first ever Papal Cross Awards. Well done to all the schools involved.
Over the next few months, I am hoping to develop the Ferns Website to provide you with relevant and useful resources to support you in your role as RE Teacher and would be delighted to receive any contributions you may wish to share with fellow Chaplains and R.E. teachers or any suggestions for in-service /support days which the Diocese could provide. Please see resources for January at here.
I would like to draw your attention to Pope Francis’ monthly intentions which I encourage you to introduce and use with your students. For January the Pope’s intention is ‘Promotion of World Peace’: We pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of goodwill may promote peace and justice in the world. For further resources see http://popesprayerusa.net/popes-intentions/
I would also like to draw your attention to Catholic Schools Week which takes place from 26th January to the 2nd February 2020. This year the theme is ‘Living in Harmony With God’s Creation’. I have posted resources on the website https://ferns.ie/youth-matters/post-primary/ Further details are also located within the January Resources Section
I have been actively visiting schools over the last few months both as Support Visit within the role of Diocesan Advisor and also in relation to the introduction of the John Paul II Awards and I look forward to continuing these visits.
Finally, I am currently putting the finishing touches to the brochure on the upcoming In-service taking place in the Diocesan Pastoral Centre here in Wexford on Thursday the 27th of February next. It is an exciting Inservice aimed at providing practical resources to you and your team. If you are interested in attending please contact me to book you in.
That’s it for the moment. Please see on the website the section on January Resources which I hope will be helpful to you.
God bless your work!
Colette O’Doherty
053-9145511