Our Charism

Our Charism – Edmund Rice

St Kieran’s Catholic School is founded on the patron saint of St Kieran of Saighir and our school charism is founded on Edmund Rice and the Christian Brothers using Edmund Rice's legacy of compassion and care for others.

Edmund Rice charism may be summarised as:

• His compassion and love for the poor
• A radical trust in the Providence of God
• Found in the story of Jesus the call to liberation
• Addressing the social and political realities of the world 
• Recognised the dignity of each individual person
• Called to provide education that is transformational and liberating within the reign of God for the world

Our motto is meaningful for our school and underpins all we do: Love God. Love One Another. Love Learning.

Our Patron Saint - St Kieran

St Kieran Saighir was one of the first Irish saints. When he was 30, he went to Rome to learn about the new religion Christianity. He became a bishop there. Upon his return to Ireland 20 years later, Kieran met St Patrick. St Patrick gave him a bell. St Patrick told Bishop Kieran to build a Monastery wherever the bell rang. He went on to say that the bell would ring near a river or stream called Uaran in the middle of the country. The bell rang at Bellhill, Clareen. It was here that Kieran built his monastery with his Br animals (Br Bore, Br Dear, Br Fox, Br Wolf & Br Badger) and began his work of spreading the Good News of Christ.

What is Charism?

A charism is a divine spiritual gift given to an individual or group for the good of the community. Each religious order has a specific charism, a gift to be put to the service of the Church and the world.

Pope Paul VI was the first to label "charism" specifically in relation to religious institutes. He explained that the charism of the religious life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, who is always at work within the Church.

A charism touches the very core of our existence and colours everything that we do as human beings. It allows us to see things in new ways, and to understand them even more wonderfully. We absorb a charism as we absorb sunshine, and we radiate a charism as a light pierces the darkness.