Christmas Message from Fr. Ulic Troy, O.F.M.
December 2011
Dear Parents,
May the Lord give you peace!
As the great feast of Christmas approaches and as another New Year beckons, this letter is simply to wish you and your family well. I was appointed Rector of the College last August, and I am still striving to get to know each one of the three hundred and twenty students in the College. I trust that I will achieve this by the end of the academic year 2012.
It is our privilege to have your children here in the College as a boarding and day students. In keeping with the centuries old tradition, we are educating not only by means of formal instruction, but also by example. Both the Friars and the Staff here in Franciscan College, Gormanston, seek to create an ambience within which the students live, study, recreate, pray and socialise in close proximity to the Franciscan community, and within which each student can receive a holistic education aimed at their spiritual, physical, academic, social, moral and personal development. During the coming New Year, we trust that we can continue to provide the above in collaboration with you, and help your children to use all their talents to their full potential. Since my arrival here, I am amazed at the calibre and integrity of so many students and I trust that we can further enhance those talents during the time that they will spend in the College.
The founder of the Franciscan Order was St. Francis of Assisi, and when the world had forgotten all about the birth of Jesus he played a huge part in reminding us then and now of the birth of the Son of God. On my own behalf, that of the Principal, the Teaching Staff and all other Staff associated with the College, I pray that just as the Child Jesus came down into the arms of St. Francis of Assisi that night in the small town of Greccio, Italy, that He will come into your heart, your home, to your friends, and above all to a world that is badly in need of Jesus Christ and his Good News at this time. May He bring His peace and joy to all of you, now and in the New Year.
Yours sincerely,
Fr. Ulic Troy, OFM.
Rector.