7 January 2016
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Bishopstown, Cork has been selected as the venue to launch ‘Catholic Schools Week’.
The week wll run from Sunday 31 January to Saturday 6 February 2016, and is an all-Ireland annual event which invites Catholic schools “to give expression in a special way to the ethos of Catholic education”.
The theme for 2016 is ‘Catholic Schools: Challenged to proclaim God’s Mercy’, and this complements the Year of Mercy which was launched by Pope Francis on 8 December, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The launch will take place on 25 January at 10am in the Cork School.
This will be the first time that a school in Cork will host the national launch of Catholic Schools Week. Representatives from twenty-five primary and secondary schools in the Cork city area will also be in attendance. Welcoming Catholic Schools Week 2016 Ms Padraigín Ui Riordáin, the principal of Mount Mercy College, said, “We are delighted to be chosen to launch this national celebration of Catholic education. We look forward to welcoming the wider Catholic community to our school in Cork for this special event. The words of Pope Francis ‘Mercy is the spirit that awakens us’ will inspire the community of Mount Mercy College to participate wholeheartedly in, and celebrate, this spiritually enriching occasion at a milestone in our school tradition, having just celebrated our Golden Jubilee.”
Ms Ui Riordáin continued, “The upcoming Year of Mercy for the Universal Church, and the official launch of Catholic Schools Week, is an opportunity for us to focus on our traditions and at the same time to look forward with anticipation to our future, to the challenge of proclaiming God’s mercy as we promote tolerance, respect and inclusiveness, whilst we explore the possibilities for all in our daily work and the many charities and causes which we support.”
