Fr Phil here in St Mary’s Parish Drogheda. Last year I asked Darren Butler to speak to the parents of the confirmation classes about his program and it went down very well. Darren also addressed the children at one of their Preparation Masses and that was a very worthwhile exercise. I intend to book him to talk to next year’s classes.
Phil Gaffney
St Mary’s Parish Drogheda
Our young people are surrounded by problems resulting from drugs misuse. It is a real blessing to have the support of these age appropriate resources and Darren’s wonderful gift of facilitating our inner city children in a fun and meaningful way.
It is amazing to see the variety of approaches and resources that have been developed over the past few years. In particular, our young people loved the bracelets, prayer cards and the prayer book.
We only focused on the day of retreat and the commitment ceremony but even that much opened a whole new way of engaging sponsors and parents in the confirmation preparations.
Anita Ryan,
Parish Catechist. Meath Street, Dublin.
I’ve used the spiritual gift bands with groups from 6th class to 6th year from January to June 2016. I found them to be a wonderful aid, for each age group are happy to wear these mementos (Cool like Festival entry) and it reminds them to be aware of themselves and others. The students in large group choose a colour and then break into small groups of same colour and discuss where this gift is of use to them in their everyday lives. The words speak to their life experience often in surprising ways, I only tell them these are the Gifts of the Spirit when I’m closing the session, and post transition older students often go Wow! as they had forgotten the confirmation experience, connecting the gifts and making them applicable to their living is all their input,
Eileen Pugh
Dominican Retreat Centre, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24
David Conway as a member of the Irish Bishops Drug Initiative has been a fantastic support to WIT Students’ Union and its members over the last year. David will always help no matter what the topic is but what he excels at and is known for in WIT is his integration and effort in any drug or alcohol related campaigns in WIT. David uses materials from the IBDI which work fantastically, taking the rate my drinking tool for example, David always gets students thinking about their drinking habits after a quick chat and a look at the brief intervention tool.
We would like to thank David and the IBDI for all their support so far this year.
Michael Murphy WIT
WIT Students’ Union Welfare Officer.