Friday, March 30, 2007

CEIST will be the new trustee body for the voluntary secondary schools of the Daughters of Charity, the Presentation Sisters, the Sisters of the Christian Retreat, the Sisters of Mercy and the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Project Update

The closing date for applications for the three senior management positions in CEIST is today (30 March 2007) at 12 noon. The posts of Director of Education Support Services, Director of Training & Development and Director of Corporate Services will report to the CEO, Anne Kelleher, who will take up her post on 16 April 2007. Interviews for the three posts will take place in May 2007.

The first Meeting of Chairpersons of CEIST Boards of Management took place on the 24th of March 2007 in Tullamore.  The day was rated very highly by the participants.

We are currently developing a 'Members-Only section' on the website where Board members, principals and staff can log on for further information. The Charter will be put on the 'Members Only' section of the website as soon as it is ready.  Copies of the Charter will be sent to each school in time for its launch in CEIST schools in September 2007.

The West's Awake!

Presentation College, Athenry has put together an excellent website. It has a sleek, clean design and has a breadth of useful information relevant to all members of the school community.

CEIST would like to encourage all of its schools to develop their websites. We would also like to publicise good practice. Why not contact us to say why your site should be featured here.

Studies - Quarterly Review

Studies is a quarterly Review published by the Irish Jesuits. Studies examines Irish social, political, cultural and economic issues in the light of Christian values and explores the Irish dimension in literature, history, philosophy and religion.

Studies have recently developed their website and one can now access the full text of the lead article of each edition online, together with abstracts from the remaining articles. They have also made availabe online an archive of back issues, going back as far as 1997.

This is an excellent resource for those interested in the dialogue between faith and culture in light of Gospel values.

Relationships and Sexuality Education

DES and the Crisis Pregnancy Agency undertook a review of Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) in post-primary schools. The Minister for Education & Science, Mary Hanafin, T.D. recently launched the findings.

The research showed that significant progress has been made in the implementation of RSE, especially at junior cycle level. 89% of schools surveyed stated that they teach RSE in 1st and 2nd year. However, 11% of schools stated that they do not teach RSE at all in 1st or 2nd year. This increased to 20% in 3rd year, 30% in the 1st year of the leaving certificate cycle and 33% by the final year of that cycle.

CEIST promotes excellence in teaching and learning. How well does your school promote excellence in teaching and learning in this vital area?

To see the executive summary of the findings, click here. To see the full report please click 'More'.

Disturbing the Peace

Fr. Michael Drumm addressed our Principals & Deputy Principals, and more recently, our Chairpersons on the topic of Leadership in the Catholic School. He spoke in a language that his listeners understood and he communicated his message most effectively. It is clear that there is a hunger in many adult Catholics to learn more about their faith and to tease out its implications for their own lives. Michael was asked whether he could recommend any reading material for adults interested in exploring further some of the themes he raised in his talk.

He suggested 'Disturbing the Peace' by Eamonn Bredin as one starting point. Chapter 4 of this book explores what we mean when we speak of the reign or kingdom of God. Austin Flannery OP has written that 'One of the greatest needs of our time is adult education in theology. The treasury of the mysteries of our faith needs to be opened to our people. Fr Bredin's book is a major contribution.'

Time for Personal Prayer

To say your work is your prayer or your life is your prayer is not only meaningless, it is quite misleading. It is understandably the ideal, but such an ideal will never be realised, outside the monastic way of life, without giving daily time to personal prayer
- Cardinal Basil Hume

(quoted in How to Pray by David Torkington)

 Then taking the Twelve aside he said to them, 'Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of man is to come true. For he will be handed over to the gentiles and will be mocked, maltreated and spat on, and when they have scourged him they will put him to death; and on the third day he will rise again.' But they could make nothing of this; what he said was quite obscure to them, they did not understand what he was telling them.
Luke 18:31-34

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