Our ESKER YOUTH VILLAGE is ideal for youth groups, with accommodation for about 70 people, and plenty of open space. Schools come here all through the school year for retreats.
School Retreats/Reflection Days, for Secondary School Students, Junior and Senior, from all over Ireland.
Pre- or Post-Confirmation Retreats for Students in Sixth Class in Primary Schools.
Pilgrimages, Summer Camps, Youth Events -the Village as a Base: Our facilities are available for rental, provided certain conditions are met. The facilities are also available for Youth Group Events. Our Youth Village facilities and/or Retreat House can make an excellent base for groups, from Ireland and Overseas, who wish to go on Pilgrimage from here to various sacred places and shrines in the West,- eg. Knock, CroaghPatrick, Ballintubber Abbey, Clonmacnoise, Clonfert,- or to visit Connemara or the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.
The ESKER YOUTH VILLAGE could be an ideal venue for groups during this year of ‘THE GATHERING’ in Ireland, when people with Irish roots (and those who wish they had Irish roots!) will be invited to Ireland, and will be made most welcome, with a big Irish ‘Cead Mile Failte!’,- a hundred thousand welcomes.
The Youth Village has two dormitories with bunk beds; each dormitory can sleep about 35. There are also separate sleeping facilities in each, for adult leaders. The ‘Rambling House’ is a place where groups can prepare their own food, if they wish. The Retreat House has plenty of accommodation also, subject to availability.
Among the facilities we have available on site are an 18 hole Pitch & Putt course and a variety of wooded walks.
In our retreats, we take time to celebrate the humanity of each young person, affirming their dignity and worth, hearing their questions and struggles, and seeking to show them who they truly are, through the face and eyes of Jesus Christ, as made in the image and likeness of their Creator. We work so that they will experience themselves and others with truth and real joy, by the time they leave us for home. We place before them food for the journey of Life. When possible, we end each retreat with a celebration of Eucharist with the students.
We offer One-Day Retreats/Reflection Days, and also Residential Retreats. Parishes offer a day in Esker as a special gift to their Confirmation Children, with an early start and arriving for 9.30am or so, departing around 2.30 or 3pm, when possible.
The beauty of the spacious grounds is another part of the experience for all who come to Esker, as is the beauty and simplicity of the Youth Village itself – an old converted farmyard.
In Esker, once a Dominican Foundation, now a Redemptorist Community, “Welcome” is our middle name! Everyone who comes is a V.I.P.
School Groups come to Esker from places as far away as Donegal, Dublin and countries in the South and West.
For further information email info@redemptoristsesker.ie or phone Gearoid Mulrooney, Esker Project Manager for details, dates and costs at 091 850 361, or phone the Monastery on (353) (0)91-844007, or Fr. Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R. (353) (0)85 7112161.
SEE GALLERY FOR PHOTOS OF YOUTH VILLAGE AND THE ESKER GROUNDS.
A Redemptorist Ireland Website