Nano Nagle (1718-1784), the pioneer of education in Ireland, founded, despite legal prohibition, free schools in Cork City for the education of poor girls and boys. Nano also established night classes for the mothers of her pupils. Nano used her vast wealth to finance her schools so that, in her own words, “the pupils might be prepared by education to make a good life and through the schools, come to know the person of Jesus Christ”.
She began her schools in 1750, and on Christmas Eve (1775) Nano, with four other women, founded the Presentation Sisters in Cove Lane, Cork. For the past 250 years, the Presentation Sisters have brought the light of Christ’s love to so many people all over the world. Nano’s idea of a school being a place where a student reflects on the real purpose of life – to know Christ Jesus. Where school is a place where learning, joy, unity and love exist.
In a very ordinary, normal way, teachers following Christ the Teacher, lead their pupils by their example as educators, to value the gifts of learning, the wonder of the work, and to come to live the full life of a Christian.
Our Catholic schools have become, for so many young people who had to leave with their parents, their own war-torn country. The principals, teachers and staff provide care for these students on a daily basis. The barriers of language in schools are overcome, the post-traumatic experience of these pupils are addressed, and healed by the care of the teachers.
Our Catholic schools have, in a generous way, responded to the request by the Minister of Education and Youth to open special education classes in mainstream schools for pupils with special education needs. Seventy-one special education classes were established in schools in the Dublin Diocese this year, bringing the total of special classes in mainstream schools to over five hundred in the Dublin Diocese. The care of the new Irish pupils, the dedicated concern and care for pupils with special education needs in the Catholic schools, is the living out of Christ’s great commandment of love, in a very ordinary, normal way.
The special schools under Catholic patronage are a vital part, not only in education, but also in the mission of the Church. The expertise and generosity of the principals and staff of our special schools help each individual pupil reach their full potential. In Dublin, we have established two new special schools – Our Lady of Hope School in Crumlin and Libermann School in Templeogue.
In the normal daily life of pupils and teachers in a Catholic school, in the prayer time, religious education and faith formation classes, in the learning and teaching, the whole school community meet in these and in silent ways, the presence of Christ the Teacher.
Pope Leo, addressing educators on October 31, 2025, during the jubilee celebration, asked all Catholic educators to make “interiority, unity, love and joy, key elements of their mission to their students” Pope Leo asked educators to reflect on the motto of St John Henry Newman, “heart speaks to heart”. That education, the Pope said, is not just about methods, or the facilities in a school, but it is how educators relate to the individual pupil and how pupils relate as individuals to their teacher.
Pope Leo in his Apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope, marking the 60th anniversary of the issuing of the document of the Second Vatican Council on Education Gravissimum Educationis (the paramount importance of education in people’s lives) speaks of education as “wholeness” educating people for life influence by the Gospel teachings of Jesus the Teacher – “I came that they may have life – life to the full.”
As pupils in an inner-city school last year were preparing for Confirmation, they met before the ceremony with the Celebrant, who asked each student the reason why they had chosen their Confirmation name. Two students explained they took the name “Conor”, their teacher’s name, because they said he was such a good man, who was kind to them and taught them about Jesus and how to pray. That was an example of how teachers influence their pupils. How normal daily witness and prayer lead people to holiness.
Pope Leo reminds us in Drawing New Maps of Hope that Catholic education “is a collective endeavour – no one educates alone. It is an endeavour for parents, guardians, teachers, catechists, priests, religious and students to be beacons of hope in our world.
‘Catholic schools – normal lives, called to holiness’
Nano Nagle (1718-1784), the pioneer of education in Ireland, founded, despite legal prohibition, free schools in Cork City for the education of poor girls and boys. Nano also established night classes for the mothers of her pupils. Nano used her vast wealth to finance her schools so that, in her own words, “the pupils might be prepared by education to make a good life and through the schools, come to know the person of Jesus Christ”.
She began her schools in 1750, and on Christmas Eve (1775) Nano, with four other women, founded the Presentation Sisters in Cove Lane, Cork. For the past 250 years, the Presentation Sisters have brought the light of Christ’s love to so many people all over the world. Nano’s idea of a school being a place where a student reflects on the real purpose of life – to know Christ Jesus. Where school is a place where learning, joy, unity and love exist.
In a very ordinary, normal way, teachers following Christ the Teacher, lead their pupils by their example as educators, to value the gifts of learning, the wonder of the work, and to come to live the full life of a Christian.
Our Catholic schools have become, for so many young people who had to leave with their parents, their own war-torn country. The principals, teachers and staff provide care for these students on a daily basis. The barriers of language in schools are overcome, the post-traumatic experience of these pupils are addressed, and healed by the care of the teachers.
Our Catholic schools have, in a generous way, responded to the request by the Minister of Education and Youth to open special education classes in mainstream schools for pupils with special education needs. Seventy-one special education classes were established in schools in the Dublin Diocese this year, bringing the total of special classes in mainstream schools to over five hundred in the Dublin Diocese. The care of the new Irish pupils, the dedicated concern and care for pupils with special education needs in the Catholic schools, is the living out of Christ’s great commandment of love, in a very ordinary, normal way.
The special schools under Catholic patronage are a vital part, not only in education, but also in the mission of the Church. The expertise and generosity of the principals and staff of our special schools help each individual pupil reach their full potential. In Dublin, we have established two new special schools – Our Lady of Hope School in Crumlin and Libermann School in Templeogue.
In the normal daily life of pupils and teachers in a Catholic school, in the prayer time, religious education and faith formation classes, in the learning and teaching, the whole school community meet in these and in silent ways, the presence of Christ the Teacher.
Pope Leo, addressing educators on October 31, 2025, during the jubilee celebration, asked all Catholic educators to make “interiority, unity, love and joy, key elements of their mission to their students” Pope Leo asked educators to reflect on the motto of St John Henry Newman, “heart speaks to heart”. That education, the Pope said, is not just about methods, or the facilities in a school, but it is how educators relate to the individual pupil and how pupils relate as individuals to their teacher.
Pope Leo in his Apostolic letter Drawing New Maps of Hope, marking the 60th anniversary of the issuing of the document of the Second Vatican Council on Education Gravissimum Educationis (the paramount importance of education in people’s lives) speaks of education as “wholeness” educating people for life influence by the Gospel teachings of Jesus the Teacher – “I came that they may have life – life to the full.”
As pupils in an inner-city school last year were preparing for Confirmation, they met before the ceremony with the Celebrant, who asked each student the reason why they had chosen their Confirmation name. Two students explained they took the name “Conor”, their teacher’s name, because they said he was such a good man, who was kind to them and taught them about Jesus and how to pray. That was an example of how teachers influence their pupils. How normal daily witness and prayer lead people to holiness.
Pope Leo reminds us in Drawing New Maps of Hope that Catholic education “is a collective endeavour – no one educates alone. It is an endeavour for parents, guardians, teachers, catechists, priests, religious and students to be beacons of hope in our world.
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