Ger Clarke in the grounds of Dalgan Park with teachers taking part in a programme on ecology geared for primary and post-primary schools.
The Columban Mission Awareness Centre welcomes parish, school and community groups to visit Dalgan throughout the year.
The Centre has a permanent Mission exhibition, which presents the history of the modern Irish missionary movement of the 20th century, and the work of Columbans across four continents.
It houses a number of artefacts, ranging from a model of a Chinese temple, Japanese funeral procession to bog oak sculptures and interwoven cloths which represent the various cultures where Columbans work. All are welcome to visit the exhibition, which is located inside the main door of the college.
The Mission Awareness Centre has an audio-visual library of historical and current missionary themes. It has a Resource Room that presents current missionary themes: Option for the Poor and the exploited Earth, Dignity of Women, Inter faith dialogue, Ecology and the Environment and the Evangelisation of peoples.
The Centre o
ffers in-career development courses for teachers during the summer months in conjunction with the Navan Education Centre and the Department of Education & Skills.
It offers teachers and pupils a programme for working in ecology in primary and post-primary schools and resources for the Junior Cert RE syllabus on the work of missionaries.
It also has retreats for pre-sacrament of confirmation classes and a day retreat and reflection for post-primary students with an emphasis on spirituality where God speaks to us in our surroundings and in His creation.
These programmes have input from returned Columban priests and lay missionaries from Korea and the Philippines working here in Ireland.
There is accommodation available to groups who wish to use Dalgan as a location for their retreats, courses and workshops.
To book a course or retreat, use the facilities or visit the Mission Exhibition, please contact Ger Clarke or Lisa Travers at 353-46-9021525 or email Ger at [email protected]
Some clips from Ger Clarke’s nature walk at the July 2017 NJPN Conference themed ‘A Sabbath for the Earth and the Poor: The Challenge of Pope Francis’.