Details
| Venue: | Irish Institute for Pastoral Studies, St Patrick’s Campus, Thurles |
| Dates: | Wednesday 6 July to Friday 8 July, 2022 |
| Times: | 9:30am-6pm (except on final day of course which ends at 5pm) |
| Trainers: | Cora O’Farrell and Rosemary Lavelle (accredited members of College of Godly Play Trainers) |
Cost
€430 Residential (including full board) or €330 non-residential (including lunch) as well as training, handbook, and morning/afternoon refreshments
Registration
To register for this course, please click on this link and fill out the form.
Course Content
Over 3 days you will develop your practice and understanding of the art of Godly Play. The training follows an action / reflection model of learning. There is a mixture of trainer-led presentations in each genre and participant storytelling presentations. Each day explores on of the primary genres of Godly Play:
Sacred Stories, Parables and Liturgical Lessons.
Workshops in the cord module also cover details of how to set up a Godly Play environment, the theology and spirituality of childhood, and time to explore your concerns and questions.
What is Godly Play?
Godly Play is a gentle way for children to engage with the Bible and Christianity and to explore its meaning for their lives. It creates the space and tells the stories in such a way that children can listen deeply, wonder and respond. Godly Play storytelling combines words with careful movement of story materials and leads into open-ended exploration and creative response.
How can Godly Play be used?
Godly Play can be used in schools, parishes, hospitals and at home. It is used in play and pray groups, holiday and afterschool clubs, school retreats, as part of religious education programmes, for family worship and for sacramental preparation. It can be adapted for use in children’s liturgies.
Although it has been developed for children, it works well with adults too, and is used in retreats and in care homes.
Trainers
Cora O’Farrell is the Director of the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education DCU and is a Member of the Council for Catechetics, Irish Catholic Bishops Conference. She has completed doctoral research in the area of Children’s Spirituality and written the textbook for first and second class for the new RE primary school curriculum. Cora lives in Dublin.
Rosemary Lavelle served as a Pastoral Coordinator in the Office for Evangelisation and Ecumenism in the Archdiocese of Dublin, supporting parishes in faith development and ministry. She is trained in Spiritual Accompaniment in the Jesuit Tradition. She is currently the President of World Day of Prayer in Ireland. Rosemary Lives in Dublin with her husband and has four grown up sons