Activities

What happens at Ely?

Ely aims to help students and young people in their all-round intellectual, spiritual and cultural development through a wide variety of activities throughout the whole year. Residents and non-residents alike are welcome to participate in these.

Study

Ely provides excellent study facilities for students. Our study room offers a perfect distraction-free environment for students who want to get down to serious study and aim for their personal best in their school and college work.The layout of the study desks facilites quiet and productive work.

Useful guidance on developing good study techniques is also available.

The study room is not supervised, as we expect all students to responsibly use their time well and contribute to the study atmosphere on their own initiative.

Guest Speaker series

We regularly invite in guests for dinner and a get-together on Tuesday evenings. Past speakers include:

  • John Killeen (Chairman, ‘Let’s do it, Galway!’, Volvo Ocean Race)
  • HE Mr Francis Campbell (former British Ambassador to the Holy See)
  • Senator Rónán Mullen (Seanad Éireann)
  • Dr Phil Boyle (specialist in fertility care & NaPro Technology)
  • Carl Convery (working for a logistics company in Iraq and Afghanistan)
  • Dr Leo Goodstadt (chief policy advisor to the Hong Kong Government from 1989 to 1997)

Cultural & Academic

  • Book Club (3rd Tuesday of the month): a book is selected and reviewed each month. Recent books
  • Writers’ Club (Monday nights)
  • Cine Club (Saturday nights)

Sport

  • 5-a-side soccer in UCD (Fridays at 8pm)
  • Monthly hikes (1st Sunday of the month)
  • Fishing
  • Sailing

Social Projects

Visits to nursing homes, catechism classes for children from disadvantaged areas and the summer service projects abroad have been regular activities at Ely from the very start. These have always been very popular among students, as they challenge them and help them grow as mature persons.

Spiritual

Ely offers students and young people the opportunity to learn more about the Catholic faith. Those who are interested can attend talks, days of recollection (on the second Saturday of each month), annual retreats (in Lismullin Conference Centre, Co. Meath) and other activities carried out in the centre.

The chapel is open each day and features regular activities such as daily mass and a weekly meditation (a period of guided prayer led by the chaplain of the centre). There are also talks on topics such as ethics, virtues and leadership.

The chaplain of Ely is available for spiritual guidance and confessions for anyone who may wish to avail of them. All these activities are completely voluntary.

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