Life

Bishop expresses sadness at closure of Catholic college

Cistercian College, Roscrea
Cistercian College, Roscrea Cistercian College, Roscrea

A LEADING Catholic college is to shut due to a decade of declining enrolments.

Cistercian College Roscrea will close after 112 years.

The school said there had been a 45 per cent drop in enrolment in the last 10 years, with just nine first-year pupils due to begin in September.

The fee-charging boarding school for boys is run by the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists).

It is located on the grounds of the monastery at Mount St Joseph Abbey. The monastery will not be affected.

Abbot of Mount St Joseph Abbey, Richard Purcell said the monastic community had provided significant funding to keep the college open since 2010 and now "does not have the resources to continue to subvent the college".

"Clearly this is unsustainable and the school is simply no longer financially viable," he said.

"We were sadly left with no option but to conduct what we anticipate will be a phased closure of the school over the next 16 months."

Bishop of Killaloe Fintan Monahan said it was "with great sadness" that he heard of the planned closure.

"I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Cistercian Monks (Trappists), and to the many other dedicated staff and students, who have carried out Trojan work in the school since its foundation in 1905," he said.

"For over a century the contribution, and now the legacy, of the Cistercian College in the areas of Catholic education, in sport, in politics and public service, in business as well as in other key facets of Irish life, has been immense and is deeply appreciated throughout the Diocese of Killaloe and much further afield.

"The closure of Cistercian College will be deeply felt in our diocese. May I offer my best wishes, thoughts and prayers to Abbot Richard, college president and principal Brendan Feehan and to all the staff, students and school community in the difficult process of the gradual closure of the school."