The 1609 Celebration of Loreto
Education
Mary Ward Week 2009

Mary Ward and Portmarnock
Community School

What is the connection?
The Loreto Sisters are Trustees of Portmarnock
Community School along with County Dublin VEC
and the Archbishop of Dublin
Trustees have many responsibilities including ‘ethos’
Ethos – the distinctive spirit of a group

Freedom, Justice, Sincerity, Joy

Who was Mary Ward?
An English-woman Born 1585 Died 1645
From a Catholic family of great faith
Lived during turbulent times for Catholics in
England as the Reformation took place

Mary Ward
Had several offers of marriage
Felt ‘drawn by another’ way of religious-life
involving women and education
Gathered together a group of women of like
mind
Women of Faith

“Women in time to come,
will do much”

Nuns – women who dedicated their
lives to God
Nuns different for their time
Mary Ward wanted her ‘sisters’ to educate
the daughters of the rich who in turn would
use their education to help the poor
She did not want her sisters enclosed or
wearing religious dress

This difference was not appreciated by the
Catholic Church of the time
Mary Ward and was imprisoned for
constantly challenging the hierarchical
church
She was not appreciated for encouraging
women to think for themselves

1609
She moved to France in 1609 where she got
an opportunity to open the first school
It was a school of the Institute of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
The school was in St. Omer , just across the
English Channel

1609 - 2009
We celebrate 400 years of education in the
tradition of Mary Ward this year
Ireland:
18 Secondary Schools
7 Primary / Junior Schools
5 Community Schools (as Trustees)

Freedom, Justice, Sincerity, Joy

We pray for Freedom
Lord, we pray that in the true spirit of Mary
Ward each one of us may have the desire to
be men and women of freedom – a freedom
that will help us to think for ourselves as
individuals with the courage to stand on our
own two feet.

We pray for Justice
Lord, we pray that the opportunities we
continue to receive through our education
here in Portmarnock may make us men and
women who act in a spirit of justice and good
living

We pray for Sincerity
“Be as you appear to be and appear to be as
you are” was one of Mary Ward’s sayings.
We pray that we may live lives of sincerity in
all that we say and do as teachers and
students.

We pray for Joy
We pray that as we unite tomorrow with all
Loreto schools we may experience a great
sense of joy in being part of the Mary Ward
tradition