Three Candles and a Parchment

Thursday 11th: Met with Larry Byrne Director of the Diocessan CEO for an hour this morning. He is very interested in and committed to the exchange and was keen to learn about ideas from the Irish system, in particular our system of governance. He was encouraging me to go to educational conferences and as one will be in Sydney I guess that I will have to force myself!
I am now the proud owner of three candles and a parchment containing the Vision and Mission Statements of the Southern Zone Catholic Primary Principals' Association. All the Catholic Principals in our zone, which is about the size of Ireland, were invited to a Mass followed by a meal for all the principals and their spouses. All organized and paid for by the CEO. Those of you who have been following the blog will know that two weeks ago there was a mass for all the teachers where the new teachers were comissioned and given a candle. Tonight's mass was for all principals and leaders of the CEO and we were all given another candle and then the two new principals were again 'candelled'. Nice touch and you really have to profess your commitment to the Catholic Schools ethos. The CEO is a magnificent support system for the Catholic schools and principals. I will have to come back to this again, as i do not have the time and space to go into it more here.
At the lovely meal afterwards it was so much like being with principals at home. Everybody was slagging everyone else and winding people up about tomorrow's meeting.