Ember Renewal Day leads in to Catholic Schools Week

More than 250 students attended the Ember Renewal Day at DCU St Patrick’s Campus last Thursday, January 15.

They were welcomed by DCU chaplain Fr Ultan Naughton, and attended various talks on wellbeing and faith.

The diocesan Education Secretariat is very grateful to the Ember core team and the teachers in each of the 33 schools who are rolling out the Ember programme for schools in the Archdiocese of Dublin for 2026 – and especially the students who have brought this faith initiative to their school campuses.

The final Mass of the day was led by Bishop Paul Dempsey, Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin.

The Catholic Schools Week resource Pilgrims of Hope is available here. These Pilgrims of Hope include Venerable Matt Talbot, St Laurence O’Toole, Servant of God Sister Clare Crockett, St Oliver Plunkett, St Carlo Acutis and Venerable Nano Nagle.

Meanwhile, Celbridge and Leixlip parishes had a great start to the New Year. Minister of Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton visited three schools in the area last Wednesday. She was accompanied by the Diocesan Education Secretariat’s Mgr Dan O’Connor and Declan Lawlor.

The first school was St Patrick’s Primary School. The second was St Wolstan’s Community School, which is celebrating 70 years of involvement in education in the area. The final visit was to Coláiste Ciaran, where principal Mark Neville gave a welcoming address and the school prefects also made presentations to the Minister.

The hundreds of primary and post-primary students were delighted to meet the Minister on the day.

The schools were grateful for the Minister’s time during a week in which she launched the National Conversation on Education, shaping the future of all schools in the country.