The Junior Parish Pastoral Council in Tullamore, Co. Offaly was set
up in September 2006. At that stage it consisted of 18 young people, boys and girls all of which were in secondary school.
The aim of the parish team and the Senior Parish Council was to involve young people in parish life and to give them an opportunity to be a voice for our peers.
Each new set of 1st year students took the place of the 6th year members going on to college. So each New Year saw new people joining and brought new ideas.
The Junior Council reports to the Senior Council on a regular basis.
Trained
The Junior Council is trained in the correct method of holding and running a meeting.
Every two years a chairperson, vice chairperson and secretary is elected. Two members of the parish team, Sr Genny Hassey and Fr Patrick Donnelly CC work with us and attend our meetings and when necessary we bring in other adults to work with us. An example of this is would when the conference is coming around.
Four years ago the then council chairman came up with the idea of holding a National Conference. Our first ever conference was held in Tullamore in May 2010 with the theme ‘Giving Young people a Voice’ and it was such a huge success that it was decided to hold a second conference the following year.
We changed the date from May to February as we learned that this was a more suitable time of year and allowed exam students to take a break from study.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Life is a Gift’.
Our bishop, Michael Smith picked this theme because of the number of deaths by suicide in our country especially among young people.
The aim of our fourth National Conference is to highlight the awful tragedy that is suicide.
The main speaker at the Conference is Joan Freeman from Pieta House.
Joan spoke in our parish last October and having heard her we decided she was the person we wanted to speak.
Fun activites
The topic is a very serious one but we have balanced the programme with lots of fun activites, music by two bands and a section called ‘In Pursuit of Happiness’.
This year for the first time we have workshops on offer, and our talks are interview style by a lively M.C.-Will Faulkner from Midlands Radio 103.
The conference takes place in St Mary’s Youth and Community Centre, Harbour Street, Tullamore on Saturday, February 23.
Registration begins at 9:30am. Cost of the day is €5 and there will be food available on the premises.
Come along - we can’t wait to meet you!
For more details on the Junior Council and our conference see www.tullamoreparish.ie and visit JPPC, that’s us.