Preparing
Leaders for the New Evangelization
Maribeth Kelly ’14 in Ireland.
St. Columcille Institute Energizes the Youth of Ireland and America
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Centuries ago, missionary monks set sail from the great monasteries of St. Patrick’s Catholic Ireland to bring the light of Christ to a Europe that was dark in paganism. These monasteries, from which the monks came, stored the treasures of Western Civilization’s intellectual patrimony. They were beacons of light in a dark age. Today, like these legendary evangelist monks, Christendom College has created a center of learning and evangelization in Ireland. The St. Columcille Institute, named after one of the Isle’s great evangelists, is a three-week summer program for college students designed specifically for the formation of Catholic leaders. “History is always made by small minorities, who are clear in terms of their identity and what they wish to achieve,” Christendom President Dr. Timothy O’Donnell says. “We want to form the next generation of leaders in the new evangelization of Europe and America.” Open to both Irish and American students, the program enjoyed a successful launch last July, receiving a warm welcome from the Church’s local hierarchy.
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“Ireland has a culture that is rich in traditions and profoundly influenced by the Faith,” O’Donnell says. “Whether we are exposing an American student to its culture for the first time History is always made by small or helping an Irish student rediscover his heritage, it is a minorities, who are clear in life-changing experience for the students.”
terms of their identity and what they wish to achieve. ’
“We’ve created a place where American and Irish students can come together for study, prayer, and Catholic festivity,” O’Donnell says, “with the goal to strengthen them in their knowledge and love of the Faith and help them, in the words of Pope Francis, ‘to encounter Jesus Christ in His Church.’” O’Donnell, who both teaches a course in theology and serves as dean for the Institute, says that the program’s location at Ards Friary in County Donegal is a 2
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spectacular part of the northwest of Ireland where local traditions and Irish culture remain strong and vibrant.
Students are able to enjoy over 200 acres of lovely countryside and with a commanding view of the ocean, bay, and surrounding beaches, giving them ample opportunity to pray and reflect deeply upon the riches gleaned in the classroom. “Everyday, I would find myself going for walks up on the cliffs overlooking the bay, meditating on the lectures from class that morning and how to apply those lessons to my own life,” says Maribeth Kelly of Front Royal, Va., a Christendom senior who participated in last year’s program.