The vital role of our Pastoral Centres

Br. Kieran O’Callaghan

Br. Kieran O’Callaghan, from the Castletown Monastery Community, has provided an article that reminds us of the great work being carried out by our Pastoral Centres and the vital role they play.

This article looks at the many activities that took place in Castletown Pastoral Centre prior to lockdown which underlines just how important this service is and how much it has been missed, while we look forward to a return to full capacity over the coming months.

Weekend Activity in Castletown

In the De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown, for some 20 years or more there has always been a certain amount of both youth and adult religious or secular education taking place at weekends.

In the beginning, most of it was haphazard and, one might say, not ‘pushed’. For the past number of years, we are seeing evidence of a renewed interest in ‘continuing formation’ and we have no difficulty in booking the Centre for most weekends from Thursday evening to Sunday.

We began, around 2010, to notice a significant increase in requests from different groups, both religious and secular for accommodation at weekends. The Community discussed the new situation and agreed that we should provide such accommodation, and, if required, meals. There was no need for Brothers as animators or lecturers or supervisors, as most of the groups brought their own or ‘hired’ in facilitators. The most challenging aspect for the Community was the organisation of the weekends, the presence of Brothers to meet and greet, the putting together of a team of cooks and assistants, and the provision of moderately comfortable accommodation and the wash-ups.

It was agreed by the community that this would not be a profit-making apostolate, though obviously participating groups would have to pay for food and accommodation. Both the meals and the accommodation would be, as one participant put it, ‘the cheapest around’. In reality this hasn’t worked out like that and our bank balance must be one of the most healthy growth centres in the Province as the fees for the Monday to Thursday groups are added to the weekend profits. We are fully booked up to the end of 2020.

In practice, this means that groups of 25, 30, 40 or even 60 plus, arrive on Thursday or Friday evening and stay until Sunday evening. All meals are provided by the kitchen staff and, with one or two exceptions, all the wash-ups are done by the Brothers.

The writer has always claimed that this weekend mix of lay people, religious Brothers, seculars and priests, members of organisations belonging to ‘new Irish’ – especially Indian – provide the most positive evidence of ‘Lasallian Integration’ in the new District of Ireland, Great Britain and Malta.

The dining room, the tea room and, in summer weather, the whole campus, is a hive of meetings, of conversations, of enquiries, of catechesis, of language learning, of formation.

If someone were to ask what the most positive aspect of this ‘new shoot’ has been, I quote from one or two of the many letters and cards we receive from members of different groups:

“On behalf of all of us, we want to thank you for the warmth of your hospitality and for your delicious good”.

“Thank you Brothers for your warm welcome, your expert cuisine and your caring, welcoming spirit. This is a sacred place which we so often by-passed on the main road and never knew it existed”.

“Just to say a big, warm thank you for looking after us so well during our stay. It was all just wonderful and we will be back”.

“We cannot thank you enough for the hospitality and care you showed to us, students and teachers alike. The food was nothing short of outstanding”.

“This is an example of International Community”.

Most of the groups are religious. I give, as an example, a relatively recent group from Kilkenny city and county. It is called ACTS, standing for Adoration, Contemplation, Theology/Teaching and Service. Another group from Dublin, made up of professional people in the 20 to 35 age range, call themselves ‘Living Water’. A son of John Bowman, a delightful young man, is one of them. Another is called ‘Evangelisation Ireland’, definitely the most Catholic group with mostly teenagers with adult leaders. We have a group of 70 Indians, settled in Ireland, who come in families – 10 x 5 or 6 – a very religious, friendly group.

Another group using the Centre for the training of their new, and not so new, recruits is the Order of Malta. When they book, they book three weekends each term – one for the new recruits, one for the ‘Scholastics’ and the third for ‘Continuing Formation’ or, what they term, ‘up-skilling.

‘Doing a trawl’ of our groups for this article, the writer finds that we have 25 groups, each taking one or two or three weekends in the course of the year. And, for the coming year, we have just had a meeting with the national leaders of ‘Mindfulness Ireland’ who have booked a full week in early August for a seven-day silent Mindfulness retreat. I am not forgetting the May Bank Holiday weekend of Irish dancing with at least half of the participants coming from different European countries.

Not an insignificant aspect of this new shoot, is the use of the Monastery. We have always used the student dining room in the Monastery but in the last few years we have been using the bedrooms. Last weekend we had 17 of the 65 members of a group called ‘Emerald Approach’ staying in the Monastery. All the rooms used are en-suite. It means we can take 50 in the Pastoral Centre and a further 17 in the Monastery. Our prices are very reasonable both in terms of B&B and meals. In recognition of this, some groups give very generous ‘tips’ to the staff.

If the writer were asked to list the most important supporters of Castletown, I would have to list a number of groups who take a full month at a time. For example ‘MEITHEAL’ from the second level schools in the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, take the whole month of June. This means 60 students with their leaders each week for the four weeks. Another example is ‘Anois’ from the second level schools in the Diocese of Limerick who take the first three weeks of January each year. In each instance, the leaders visit the schools, interview the students who have responded to the invitation and choose ten from each second level school. The groups then return to the schools and form the Student Council.

Other groups of note are the Mindfulness group – at least 60 adults with their American teachers – Emerald Diamond, another adult group of 55-60 who use the Centre and the Monastery three times a year. Another very interesting group is named ‘Living Water’. All are in the 20-35 age range and they come twice a year. Most of them are from Dublin and they use the Carmelite Monastery in Clarendon Street as their weekly base. These are all third level either medical, law, teacher-training people and they are truly an inspiration. Two other large groups call themselves ‘Jesus Youth’. They are Indian and quite traditional. The leader of one of the groups, SYRO-MALLIBAR –in answer to a question, said: “We want to keep them together and protect them from the secular mores of the Irish teenagers”.

I list other groups from the diary: Ardscoil Ris and Crescent College, Limerick, Newbridge College, Naas CBS, Order of Malta, ‘Pure in Heart’, another Dublin post-university group. The Augustine Philosophers come from many provinces. The name is a ‘cover’ for ‘Reforming Alcoholics’. About 20 in the group but each year the ‘resident’ 12 members bring five or six newcomers who are starting the goal to recovery and they have counsellors and experts in to encourage and assist.

And, the FSC Mission Council take three days in the year for the presentation of a project on De La Salle by the different De La Salle Schools plus an over-night stay for new teachers in De La Salle schools for their induction into the Lasallian Educational Philosophy.

The last-mentioned group is always greatly anticipated as they become very moved and inspired by the teachings of De La Salle and it leads to great conversations and suggestions.

Finally, I must mention the two buses from Loreto, Foxrock, who travelled all the way to Castletown and were overjoyed by their stay and want to come back again.

This article would be unworthy should I neglect a word of praise and gratitude to the house staff. We have been blessed from the beginning with teams of local ladies who appreciated and supported the project with their enthusiasm and culinary expertise. The current team ticks all the boxes: dedicated work, unity of purpose, team spirit and a wholesome and generous approach to the challenges inherent in the project.

Names are well-known today: Catherine, Josie, Linda Phelan, Margaret Brophy, Louise Fleming, Margaret Conroy, Paula Dooley and Noreen Dollard.