Brigidine Tradition in Education
The Brigidine Congregation was founded in Tullow, Co. Carlow, Ireland
in 1807, by the Dioccsan Bishop, Daniel Delany, as a response to
the challenge of widespread poverty and illiteracy that plagued
Ireland in those penal times.
Commencing with six Sisters, Eleanor Tallon, Eleanor Dawson, Catherine
Doyle, Brigid Brien, Judy Whelan and Margaret Kinsella, the Congregation
expanded considerably over the ensuing years. By the 1880's, the
Brigidines had become a highly educated group of women committed
to providing an education that was Catholic in a number of centres
throughout the Diocese of Carlow.
It was around this time that the Bishop of Sandhurst, Martin Crane,
was successful in his request for a community of Brigidines to emigrate
to Echuca- a town with few resources but with urgent educational
needs. Hence the Brigidine story in Victoria began in 1886. A similar
beginning had occured in New South Wales in Coonamble in 1883.
Over the next fifteen years four other foundations (Beechworth,
Wangaratta,Ararat and Rochester), were established in rural Victoria
and in 1904 saw the beginning of further expansion in the Diocese
of Melbourne. The mass migration to Australia, following World War
II accelerated the growth of schools, particularly in Melbourne,
and it was not long before there was an extreme shortage of teachers.
From the 1970's to the present day, the Brigidines have been increasingly
working in partnership with lay staffs in the provision of Catholic
Education, both in Brigidine and in Parish Primary schools.
The challenge over these years has been to be faithful to the vision
of Daniel Delanywho saw the education as a pathway to fullness of
life, a pathway which ought to be available to all, particularly
to the most vulnerable.
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