Veteran broadcaster not a fan of Ignatian methods

Speaking on the bank holiday Monday episode of the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk, veteran broadcaster Pat Kenny spoke to director Neil Jordan about his memories attending annual retreats held in Manresa House, a Jesuit retreat centre in Dublin, which according to him was a mandatory excursion for the boys attending his secondary school.

The boys were required to detach themselves from the outside world and engage in unstinting silence, prayer and contemplation and this period spent in introspection did apparently not agree with Mr Kenny, who described the time spent at the centre in his schoolboy days as “desperate”.

When Mr Jordan was asked if he was a “tearaway” as a young man as he referenced stealing apples from an orchard, Jordan responded “No! There was a place called Manresa House where we used to pick the apples”.

Mr Kenny responded by saying: “Oh, I know it. As a schoolboy, we were sent there on retreats. I went to O’Connell School and every year they would decide to send the boys off on a retreat which meant very thin gruel, rations, lots of prayer and silence in-between. It was desperate.”