By Sean Ryan - 20 November, 2016
The Diocese of Kerry will host a special gathering to explore and support the vital function of post primary religious education next week.
On Wednesday 30 November, principals, religious education co-ordinators and chaplains will gather in the Brehon Hotel, Killarney, County Kerry to discuss the teaching of religion on both the Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate programmes.
According to the Diocese of Kerry, the Junior and Leaving Cycle Frameworks highlight how religion and religious education contribute to the spiritual and moral development of young people.
The speakers for the evening will address how religious education plays a vital role in supporting young people as they begin to ask significant questions and formulate their own way of living. The speakers will also address the place of religious education in the revision of the Junior Cycle Framework.
The guest speakers for the afternoon will be Dr Amalee Meehan and Mr Declan Coyle. Dr Amalee Meehan works with CEIST in the area of faith leadership and governance and teaches part time in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. She teaches on the MA in Christian Leadership in Education with Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, and is the co-author of two religious education textbooks for US Catholic high schools as part of the Credo Series (Veritas, forthcoming).
Her address will explore the situation regarding the increasing loneliness and lack of resilience documented among young people and the on-going spiritual hunger prevalent in western culture. Religious education has a vital function in addressing identity and rootedness, in discovering who and whose we are.
Dr Meehan’s address will conclude by showing how religious education can contribute significantly to the vision and values of the Junior Cycle Framework.
The second speaker, Declan Coyle, is an internationally known management consultant, motivator and mentor with a background in theology. Declan will address the Red and Green Platform system, a system of leadership and motivation that has revolutionised leadership thinking in companies. In addition to being the director of Andec Communications, Declan has worked with government ministers and departments, multi-national companies and charities.
The conference begins at 3.30 pm and concludes with dinner at 6 pm.
