As their populations were diminished over the past century, none of the major churches in the west of Ireland had significant educational resources available to support those engaged in active ministry, Dr Eugene Duffy, director of the Western Theological Institute, has said.
"All of the Catholic colleges were located in Dublin or in the more prosperous southeast corner of the country, (and) the Protestants had their colleges in Dublin or Belfast. Consequently the west was devoid of any third-level institution providing theological formation for those in ministry or who simply sought to deepen their knowledge of their faith," he said.
Father Duffy was speaking in Galway at the opening of a Theological Library at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) on the institute's Cluain Mhuire campus.
To help redress the situation, the Western Theological Research Association was set up about 10 years ago, including Profs Enda McDonagh, Markus W÷rner, Martin McNamara as well as Archbishop Joseph Cassidy, Bishops Eamonn Casey and John Kirby. It aimed to develop a theological research centre in Galway, for which a library was essential.
In 1991 they were presented with an extensive collection of periodicals from the English Redemptorists and that same year bought a complete theological library. The library now consists of over 22,000 volumes.
