Baha'i Community hold annual summer school in Kilkenny
The Baha’i Community has held its yearly summer school in Kilkenny College, with the theme this year ‘Building Havens of Peace’.
More than 400 people attended the summer school, including children, youth and adults from around Ireland and several other countries.
Mayor of Kilkenny, Cllr Andrew McGuinness, kindly gave a céad míle fáilte to all attending. The mayor also opened the exhibition at the school ‘Our Story is One’.
The mayor’s opening remarks were on the legacy of the ten Shiraz (Iranian) women who were hanged one by one because of their beliefs and how 40 years later their story continues to resonate around the world.
His words reminded all of those present of the importance of protecting freedom of conscience, defending the dignity of every person and building communities where diversity is celebrated.
Congratulating the Baha'i community in bringing children, young people and adults together to explore values such as kindness, justice, equality and service, he remarked that teaching the next generation to respect one another, to value our shared humanity and to believe that every person has something to contribute is perhaps one of the most important things that we can do.
‘Our Story Is One’ reminds people that although we may come from different cultures, traditions and beliefs our hopes are remarkably similar – we all want to live in peace, and have our children grow up in safety and we all want to be treated with dignity and respect.
The story of these ten women may have been in Shiraz but the message belongs to the whole world and challenges each of us to think on the values we want to leave to future generations.
The Baha’i community would also like to thank Councillor Maria Dollard for attending the exhibition. The group also extends a big thanks to the staff of Kilkenny College for looking after them all at Summer School.
The Irish Baha’i community has strong links with Kilkenny. To mark the Bicentenary of the birth of the religion’s founder Bahá’u’lláh, back in 2017, an oak tree was planted in Kilkenny Castle Park. The community was joined on that occasion by then Mayor of Kilkenny Michael Doyle.