We are very lucky in St. Louis to have two school chaplains, Fr. Stephen Joyce and Louise Mulligan. Our Chaplains work with the Religion Department in promoting the Faith Formation of our students. Both Louise and Fr. Joyce also offer an enormous amount of support to all our students.

The role of Chaplain is described as being a faith presence in schools and helping students with their faith development. This as I would see it can be done in a variety of ways. Many of the classes have shown an interest in trying out class meditations and having more class or year group liturgies, while other classes have shown an interest in setting up justice and peace groups so that they can learn more about what's happening in the world and what it is that we as Christians should be trying to do to help others in need.

Last year we set up a Fair Trade Awareness Group which I hope will be just as successful this year as it was last year. Other events that the students always respond well to is fundraising events such as the Concern/Trocaire Fast and the St. Vincent de Paul Food Appeal at Christmas. Last year we also raised 6682euro for Habitat for Humanity. This money was spent building homes in Uganda for some of the World's poorest people.

I also work with the R.E. Department in planning schools liturgies and organising retreats. I also try to organise speakers to come to the school and give talks to senior cycle students. I visit R.E. classes throughout the year to try and build up a relationship with the students and also meet students on an individual basis if required.

I hope that the students will see me as someone who is easy to talk to and approachable. I'm not a counsellor and I don't have qualifications in counselling but I would hope that if a student was struggling in any way and needed someone to talk to that they would come to me instead of trying to cope by themselves. From there we could refer them on to the school counsellor if needed.

Fr Stephen assists the school chaplain Miss Louise Mulligan, by providing a Sacramental Presence in our school.

Mass is offered for the intentions of the school community every Tuesday morning at 8:40a.m.

Fr Stephen is available throughout Tuesday for spiritual advice to the school community.

The Religion Department has organized a Sacred Space in the school. Every week the theme of the sacred space changes. These themes have included St. Valentine's Day, Lent, St. Patrick's Day and International Women's day. The Sacred Space is used to explain the significance of these events in the school community.

This summer I spent 3 ½ weeks leading a team of young adults to Botswana. We were volunteering with an organisation called Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity work in over 100 countries worldwide and build houses for some of the world’s poorest people. It was an amazing experience and while we were there we helped build 5 homes in the village of Sefhare.

When we weren’t busy on the building site we spent our time playing with children, visiting schools, and we played 3 football matches and lost all of them! We were also invited to visit the Chief of the village, which was a great experience. Our accommodation was very basic – we slept on mattresses on the ground! In one room there were actually 8 girls, but no-one complained. It was one of the best experiences of my life so far.

The people have so little yet they never stop smiling! The children really made the whole experience amazing. They came to see and play with us everyday and they always had a song to sing for us. I learned so much from the people of Botswana. Although life is very tough for them, they never seem to stop smiling.

This year in St. Louis, we have linked up with another St. Louis school. This school is called Louisville and it is in Nigeria. The purpose of our link is for the students of both schools to learn more about each other and each others cultures. The Worldwide team at Leargas and Irish Aid are supporting us in this link and we are hopeful that some of our staff members will actually visit Louisville during this academic year. We are really excited about this opportunity and the new experiences it will bring to the staff and students in both schools.

Liturgies in St. Louis click here.