The ‘Paolo Freire’ State Institute for Adult Education (CPIA) has three campuses in Turin (Italy) offering educational courses to migrant adults.
The courses in Italian, English, French and other subjects are offered at night to those who have day jobs and in the morning to those who are recently arrived and aren’t yet authorised to work.
One of the three campuses across the city of Turia is located in a prison.
They also offer programmes which enable participants acquire the basic skills required by the Italian secondary school system; as well as diplomas in technical, professional skills, and the arts.
A chance meeting between the Vice Directress of the CPIA and Manuela Bertoncini of the Peregrinus Project (which is affiliated to the Columban Way network) led to an invitation to Fr Pat Colgan of the Columbans in Ireland to give a series of lectures on the subjects of
- Climate Change and Biodiversity
- The History of Ireland
- The influence of Irish monks – particularly St Columbanus – in the cultural and spiritual uplift of Europe from the 6th century onwards.
In April 2026, a group of six students and staff arrived in Co Meath on the Erasmus-funded programme.
The students from Poland, Ukraine and Moldova along with their teachers asked to visit the headquarters of the Columban Missionaries in Ireland at Dalgan, as well as the nearby historic sites of Tara, Bective and Trim.
Fr Pat Colgan acted as informal guide, and the Columbans in Dalgan give a warm welcome to their grounds and dining room for one day of the group’s five-day trip.
Their day in Navan was very useful as they met organisations (both statutory and NGO) striving to meet the needs of migrants to Ireland, in terms of English language learning and certification for employment.
According to Fr Pat Colgan, it looks like the next step will be visits by staff from Dunboyne College of Further Education (https://dunboynecollege.ie) to CPIA in Turin for an exchange on experiences and ‘best practices’ in both Italy and Ireland.
In its General Assembly of 2024, the Missionary Society of St Columban selected two Mission Priorities for its members and associates for the next six years. These were (a) the protection/promotion of biodiversity and (b) ministry to migrants.
According to Fr Pat, it was appropriate that Dalgan Park and the Columban Fathers as well as the Columban Sisters, Friends of St Columbanus Bangor and the Columban Way Network (viacolumbani.com) should act as a first ‘bridge’ between institutes in two EU countries striving to serve the needs of migrants.
As these institutes now pursue their own direct relationship, the Columban Way will remain actively engaged with them.
It was St Columbanus who in 600AD in a letter to Pope Gregory the Great first used the term “all of Europe”. He also said, “Whether we are Franks, Irish or Britons, we are members of one body.” He would surely approve of all attempts to bring greater cohesion to the continent.
St Columban would surely want us to pay particular attention too to the Biblical injunction, repeated 36 times in the Torah: “Welcome the stranger, for you were once a stranger [yourself]” (e.g., Deuteronomy 10:19, Leviticus 19:33-34).