The TA President, Gregoria Ruiz, visited the Teresian School in Dublin on the occasion of its 60th anniversary and joined the Mass of Thanksgiving presided by Mgr Ciarán O’Carroll in the local parish church of Donnybrook.
The entire school, from two to eighteen-year-olds gathered in our huge Jubilee Hall on Thursday 9th October to meet and listen to the Teresian Association President, Gregoria Ruiz. After an introduction by the Principal, Damien McCormac, she expressed her congratulations on our long history, and her joy at seeing the whole School gathered together. She reminded us of our Povedan heritage, and of our faith in Christ as central to that ethos, along with her wish that this light would continue to guide us into the future.
Memories
As a lively way of recalling the past, three students conducted a short interview with Ines Neira as one of the founding members who took us back into the past, to 1965, recalling the story of how the student residence, Our Lady's Hostel, was transformed into The Teresian School by the group of very young and very courageous members of the Teresian Association, a lay association founded by Saint Pedro Poveda in 1911. It was a heart-warming memory.
To celebrate the occasion, the students then put on entertainment with a lot of very impressive dancing, –not only Irish but ballet and modern dance of a very high quality, and of course, some lovely singing.
In words of thanks, the memory was affectionately recalled of our recently deceased Rosaleen Doherty, who had spent almost her entire life in the School from the very first day! Her life-long dedication to the School, especially as Principal of the Junior School, helped to form and encourage the pupils in living out St Pedro Poveda’s ideal of education.
The President then went on a tour of the School, visiting the girls in their classroom to which they had returned. Overall, it was a day of joy and pride in our Teresian heritage, and a celebration of our links with the wider Teresian world.
Mass of thanksgiving
The Teresian School celebrated its 60th anniversary with a celebratory Mass of Thanksgiving in our local parish church of Donnybrook, led by Mgr Ciarán O’Carroll, accompanied by Fr Patrick Doherty and Mgr Paul Callan, actually a former pupil of the School in his earliest years. The beautiful liturgy included a procession of symbols that recalled our Teresian history and heritage, while the beautiful singing was provided by the joint senior and junior choirs. The Church was full of past pupils, past and present staff, past and present parents, and family members, many of whom joined, with emotion, in singing what has become, in effect, our School anthem: Dios Te Salve, Maria.
Reception
This was followed by a reception back at the school in our huge Jubilee Hall, which was filled to capacity by the numbers, excitedly greeting each other, often after intervals of a great many years. There was great admiration for how beautiful the School looked after its colourful transformation, particularly since 2015. Many women, seeking what hadn’t changed, went back and sat in what had been their own classrooms, reminiscing on old times spent together. The whole afternoon was one of joyful reunion and celebration.
Following a brief address by the Principal of the Secondary School, Damien McCormac, the TA President, Gregoria Ruiz, addressed the audience, expressing her congratulations, her joy and gratitude for the sixty years of the School and all it had achieved over that time. The numbers of our past pupils spoke for themselves. It was her first visit to Ireland, and a great delight to see the life of the Association in Dublin. Her wish was that the faith and values of St Pedro Poveda would continue to inspire the life of the School in the time to come.
There was also a moment for Ines Neira to recall the very first years of the TA in Ireland when ‘Our Lady’s Hostel’ went on to become the Teresian School, following a request from the then Archbishop of Dublin. A past pupil paid an affectionate tribute to her education, and a present parent likewise. In the speeches there were numerous references to the great duo of Suzanne McGowan and Rosaleen Doherty, who together led the School as Secondary and Primary Principals for much of its life, and left a vibrant heritage of Teresian values. Our dear Rosaleen missed this big anniversary by just over a month.
Overall, it was an occasion of great rejoicing and gratitude for our long Teresian history in Ireland.
Hilda Geraghty, Dublin.
Published in News