Please click here to read the latest newsletter from Fr. John Fortune in Ewuaso Kedong Parish, Kenya.
Rosmini High School in Tanga, Tanzania, which was founded by Galway native Fr. Tony Mitchell (RIP, pictured below), recently celebrated its Silver Jubilee.
The occasion was marked by a special Mass celebrated by the bishop’s representative, Rev. Fr. Sylvester Nitunga, and concelebrated by Rosminian priests Frs. Isaac, Nicas, Isaiah, Richard and Simon. Mass was followed by the school’s 23rd graduation ceremony, where 117 students marked the successful completion of their O Level education.
As part of a land mark monument for the Silver Jubilee celebrations, the school has initiated the construction of a multipurpose school hall which will cater for internal games, as well as provide much needed space for sitting national exams. In this way, Rosmini High School hopes to carry on its excellent academic record.
Some photos of the day’s Jubilee celebrations can be seen below.
The late Fr. Tony Mitchell of Ballyforan, Galway
Jubilee Mass
Graduating students
Head of School, Sister Seraphina leads the way
The guest of honour, Hon. January Makamba having a light moment with the first class of 1993: the jubilants!
Graduates with their teachers
Please click here to read the latest newsletter from Fr. John Fortune in Ewuaso Kedong Parish, Kenya.
The Provincial of the Gentili Province, Fr. Joseph O’Reilly, visited our Missions in Tanzania and Kenya during February 2018, and was very impressed by the good work that is being done there. Below are a small sample of photographs taken during his trip.
Newly-constructed water tanks at Mombo will provide fresh, clean water for all the local community. We were assisted in this project by The Little Way Association.
The Rosminians are hoping to build two new secondary schools near Dar Es Salaam. The first step to achieving this aim is to collect water
Children arriving at Rosmini Pre- and Primary School, Lushoto
Children enjoying their mid-morning break. They are well wrapped up, as not everywhere in Africa is warm!
All the small children come for their daily blessing
The carpentry shop at St. Patrick’s Technical School
The workshop at St. Patrick’s Technical School, which also trains mechanics
Pictured is Fr. John Fortune from Marino, Dublin. Until recently, there had been a drought in the region for two years and so Fr. John has been feeding 530 families fortnightly.
The new operating theatre at Kwalukonge, which caters for many Masai and other local tribes
Rosmini High School in Saruji is now one of the top schools in Tanzania, ranked eleventh out of nearly four thousand schools in the country for their O-Level results. The school was founded by Fr. Tony Mitchell from Ballyroan, Co. Galway just twenty years ago.
The beautiful setting for our Novitiate at Lushoto
The Maria Margarita Centre helps children in families where there are cases of leprosy
The Rosminian school, Grace Dieu Manor School in Leicestershire, underwent a Regulatory Compliance Inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in November 2017. The quality and standards of Grace Dieu’s Early Years provision was rated as “Outstanding” in every category of the Inspection. The same report showed the School to have met all the standards required within the Regulatory Compliance Inspection. You can read the report in full here.
For more information on Grace Dieu Manor School, please visit their website.
Click below to read an update on life in Kenya from Rosminian Fr. John Fortune
Click here to read the obituary of Bishop Antonio Riboldi of Acerra, who died on 10th December 2017. Bishop Riboldi, a Rosminian, was one of the Catholic Church’s leading opponents of the Sicilian Mafia.
On the 8th of September 2016, Glencomeragh Retreat Centre was transferred to the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. It will be run by the Holy Family Mission as a house of prayer for young adults.
Waterford Lismore Diocese
Fr. Joseph O’Reilly presents the key of Glencomeragh to Bishop Cullinan.
The publication today of the Review of Safeguarding Practice in the Rosminians, by the National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSCCCI), is an opportunity to restate our absolute commitment to safeguarding children now and into the future. We take this opportunity to thank the members of NBSCCCI, who carried out this independent review.
We Rosminians acknowledge our failures in the past, which regrettably contributed to the suffering caused to many children and families. We take this opportunity to again unreservedly apologise to all those who were abused while in our care. We commit ourselves to working with former residents and supporting them as best we can in the continuing healing process.
The review published today rightly highlights our failings in the past. It covers complaints reported from 1975 to date, and includes allegations dating back some 70 years to the 1940’s. The Review acknowledges the work we have done in more recent years, in doing all that is possible to safeguard children. We note that in its Review the National Board recognizes the work undertaken by the Rosminians in relation to safeguarding. The Review states that :
Our safeguarding practices were assessed across 48 criteria within the 7 Standards devised by the NBSCCCI. We are encouraged to note that in respect of 44 of the 48 criteria against which we were measured, our practices fully met the NBSCCCI criteria. In respect of the remaining 4 criteria, all were met partially. The Review by the NBSCCCI makes 5 recommendations (listed below). Implementation of these 5 Recommendations has already begun, and they are scheduled to be fully implemented by the end of this year. We are determined to ensure that our past failures will not be repeated and that the protection of children will continue to be an absolute priority.
We are grateful to the National Board for their work and their support. We also greatly appreciate all of those, especially survivors, who have helped us to improve our Safeguarding. We will continue to welcome all contributions to this important and valuable commitment to the wellbeing of children. We continue to strive to create communities that are safe and which respect the dignity of every person at every stage of their lives. A copy of our Safeguarding policy is available on our website: www.rosminians.ie. We again ask anyone who was abused while in our care to report to the authorities and make contact with our designated person on 01-6877014.
We also ask those who were abused to consider contacting the independent and confidential helpline, Towards Healing:
The Towards Healing Helpline is open, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 11am to 8pm – and on Friday from 11am to 6pm.
Freephone 0800 0963315 (Northern Ireland and UK)
Freephone 1800 303416 (Rep of Ireland)
Hearing impaired Text Line Number – 085 8022859.
Recommendations:
— Ends–
For media contact: Young Communications – 087 2471520
Fr. O’Reilly is a native of Kingscourt, Co. Cavan. He attended secondary school in St. Michael’s Omeath, Co. Louth from 1972-77. Fr. O’Reilly was ordained a priest in 1985 and has worked in St. Joseph’s School for the Blind, Dublin and St. Joseph’s Ferryhouse, Clonmel.
He was also Provincial of the Rosminians in Ireland from 2003-10 at which time he was appointed to their College in Rome.
Fr. O’Reilly took up the position of Provincial in September 2014.