St. Joseph’s School

On Saturday 15th May, 2010 students, parents, past pupils, Mercy Sisters and politicians converged on Spanish Point for prayer, speeches, refreshments and a display of art and craft work. All gathered together to acknowledge the eightieth anniversary of the Sisters of Mercy in St. Joseph’s Secondary School and to celebrate the graduation of the Sixth Year Students. Minister Tony Killeen T.D officially opened a newly refurbished section of the school. On display was the book: ‘Salty Faces’ which gives the history of the school and contains articles written by past pupils who now live in various parts of the world.

School Logo

Many tributes were paid to the Sisters of Mercy, especially to those sisters who were blessed with a deep sense of courage and mission motivating them to start a secondary school in Spanish Point when Ireland was experiencing the Great Depression. The opening hymn of the Mass was ‘The Circle of Mercy’ and Sr. Marie McNamara prepared the following Communion Reflection:

“We have gathered this evening to celebrate and give thanks for beginnings and endings. As we congratulate our graduates we recall with love and gratitude how the Mercy story in Spanish Point began eighty years ago on September 4th 1929, with Sisters Anthony, Gertrude, Michael and Albeus.

These founding Sisters realised their dream and vision by educating the young women of West Clare. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to these courageous Sisters whose dedication and commitment to education brought hope, light and opportunity to so many during the Great Depression. We thank God for achievements of a long line of past pupils. We recall with gratitude all the teachers whose skill, care and concern have inspired young lives to blossom and grow.

With deep appreciation we acknowledge the families of all the neighbouring parishes who put their trust in St. Joseph’s Secondary School over these eighty years. We thank God for their constant generosity and support.

Today, we sit in the company of another generation of Leaving Certificate boys and girls who have been formed and educated in the Mercy ethos here in St. Joseph’s.

Our wish today for you young people is that you take with you the vision and dream of those founding Sisters of Mercy as experienced in the love and commitment of your present teachers. May you, graduates, carry in your heart a great sense of gratitude for the love and support of your parents. With the poet Longfellow may you remember that:

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time.

Footprints that perhaps another
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother
Seeing will take heart again.

Tony Behan (CEIST) and Sr. Colette Killeen, Spanish Point cut the cake

Sisters of Mercy,
Spanish Point
South Central Province