St La Salle's Day was honoured in style in De La Salle College Churchtown last Friday 11th May. Mass was celebrated by Fr Dermot Nestor of the Good Shepherd Parish in Churchtown for the assembled pupils and staff of the College. Invited guests included Bro. Damien Kellegher FSC (Assistant Visitor), Bro. Partick Collier FSC (Education Officer) and Bro. Patrick Byrne FSC (Retired Headmaster of De La Salle Preparatory School in Churchtown), Former-Principals Tom Smyth and Tim Sheehan and several members of the retired teaching staff. Past-pupils Diarmuid Coogan, Jim Nugent and Ciaran Faughnan of the Class of 1984 were also in attendance, in memory of their classmate the late Jim Stynes who died of cancer so tragically in Australia earlier this year.
The Headmaster, Mr Lorcan Balfe, paid tribute to Jim and also to Mr John O'Leary (First-Day pupil, Former-Teacher and NEPS Psychologist for the College) and Mr Harry Griffith (Former-Chairman of the Board of Management 1998-2001) who also passed away this year. Prayers were also offered for Mrs Judy Moore (mother of 6th Year student Danny Moore) and Mr Gary Doyle (father of 3rd Year student Jack Doyle) who also died this year.
Recent past pupils Jack Morris, Killian Roche and Eamonn O'Shea from the Class of 2011 witnessed the lighting of the Lourdes candle that they presented to the College to mark their participation in the Dublin Diocesan Pilgrimage last year.
A feature of the Mass was the music and singing by the students of the College who performed in French, English, Latin, Greek and Irish. After the Mass the traditional ice-cream was distributed to the boys (many thanks to SuperValu Churchtown) while the staff and guests repaired to the staffroom for a buffet lunch. Many thanks are due Mrs Dunne, Ms Ruth Prenter and Ms Anne-Marie Jordan (and her mother) for providing and arranging the flowers in our traditional wine and gold colours; Ms Émilie Mazzucato, Mr John Corbet and Mr Oisín Chambers who organised the music and the singing; so many of the teaching staff and students who set up and arranged the Hall, the Parents' Room and the Staff Room; and Ms Kathleen Quinlan and Ms Betty O'Connell, Deputy Principal, who organised everything!