FROEBEL COLLEGE 1943 – 2013

It is my greatest privilege to be here as Congregation Prioress of the Dominican Sisters, the Dominican Sisters here in Ireland, South Africa, Portugal, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Louisiana.  Many of our sisters were trained in the Froebel College and brought the values of Friedrich Froebel to all these countries.

It is also my pleasure as a past student of Froebel to share in the 70^th anniversary of the college and the historic moving of the college to N.U.I. Maynooth.  Changing location is not new to the Froebel College.  In St. Mary’s Training College, Belfast, which was initiated and run by the Dominican Sisters, a course on the educational values and method of Froebel was being discontinued by the then British Department of Education.  The Dominicans believing in the great insights and philosophy of Froebel decided to set up a Froebel Training College in Sion Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin.

Sr. Simeon Tarpey was sent to train and become the founding Principal of the Froebel College.  Many of us here tonight remember Sr. Simeon and her wonderful gift of eliciting and promoting the quality of trust – trust in her students and trust as bedrock for all levels of education, that trust which Friedrich Froebel promoted in his philosophy of education and which we experience as Dominican education.

We are delighted to have with us tonight, Sr. Maureen Mac Mahon OP, one of the first students of the College in 1943 and also Sr. Edel Murphy the last Dominican Sister to be trained in the Sion Hill location.

We congratulate all involved in tonight’s celebration and wish every blessing on the staff and students as they move to the location in Maynooth, County Kildare.  May the ethos and philosophy of Friedrich Froebel and the Froebel College continue to flourish.

Sister Helen Mary Harmey, OP

Congregation Prioress

20 April ,2013