Saturday, May 05, 2012

Civic reception marks 175 years of Saint Patrick's College in Thurles

A former seminary, which is now a third level College, was recently accorded a Civic Reception by Thurles Town Council in Recognition of its 175th anniversary.

Saint Patrick's College in Thurles this year celebrates 175 years in existence, and to mark the milestone, the College was honoured by the Mayor of Thurles Cllr John Kennedy and his council colleagues. 

Speaking at the reception, College President Fr Tom Fogarty said the philosophy of the College has always been, “Whatever you do, do it well.”  

He said, “Some 1,600 priests and clergy have been ordained in the College since its inception 175 years ago, and in that time many have gone on to serve as far afield as Australia, California, New Zealand, South Africa and Florida.” 

“The vast majority did outstanding work in spreading the gospel all over the world.”

Since closing as a priest training seminary in the early 1990's the college now serves as a teacher training third level institution and is affiliated to the University of Limerick. 

It offers teacher-training degrees in Business and Religion, and Irish and Religion.
Speaking of its new teacher training degrees Fr Fogarty said, “The College takes it responsibilities very seriously and is committed to producing teachers of the highest calibre.” 

Speaking at the function, the Mayor of Thurles Cllr John Kennedy said that the College had made a huge contribution to the town over the past 175 years. 

“During the past 175 years, St Patrick's has had to meet many challenges and showed resilience and capacity to adapt to changed circumstances. I think it is fair to say that the College met its most serious challenge for survival in recent years with the very sharp decline in vocations to the priesthood.  However St Patrick's College , as in the past , adapted to meet this challenge as it is now a College of education, primarily specialising in preparing students to teach in post-primary schools offering two full time BAs in Education degrees.”

The mayor also acknowledged Saint Patrick's College's generosity to the town of Thurles and said that land for a number of factories in the town as well as Thurles Town Shopping centre were made available by the college.  

He also stated that land for Thurles swimming Pool was sold by the College to the local town Council for £1. 

A special presentation was also made to the College President Fr Tom Fogarty by Mayor Kennedy in recognition of the College's service to the town and wider community.