Fr Gerard Dunne OP (centre) Chaplaincy services continue to play a vital role in the experience of third level students in Ireland and abroad, the chair of the Third Level Chaplains Association of Ireland has said.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic following a gathering of third level chaplains in Rome organised by the European Episcopal Conference, Fr Ger Dunne OP said chaplaincy continues to be “really important”.
“Apart from the day to day stuff of providing students with opportunities to enrich or enhance their spiritual values, there’s so much more to it than that,” the UCC chaplain said. Singling out mental health issues as an area where chaplaincy can be especially beneficial, he said: “We’re a service within the student experience where we offer something the University can’t give, which is Faith-based, in particular at times of bereavement.”