Ahern praises work of religious as he opens Rice centre

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday praised the work of Ireland's religious congregations "whose members devoted themselves to the education and care of those who could not provide for themselves".

Mr Ahern was speaking in Waterford yesterday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the €6 million Mount Sion heritage centre dedicated to the founder of the Christian Brothers as well as the Presentation Brothers, Edmund Ignatius Rice.

The remains of Edmund Rice, which have been in a casket at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel at Mount Sion for more than 25 years, are now placed in the new Edmund Rice Chapel.

Welcoming the centre, Mr Ahern said: "We must never forget the sickening, criminal abuse of the innocent by a small minority. But equally, we cannot allow the wickedness of some to cloud the good faith and good actions of many who did so much to lift the lives of others."

Born in Callan, Co Kilkenny, in 1762, Edmund Rice attended a commercial school before arriving in Waterford city as a teenager to be an apprentice for an uncle who owned an extensive provisions supply business.

Aged 23, Edmund Rice married Mary Elliott, but she died three years later and he was left to care for their infant daughter, believed to have had a disability.

Rice became successful in business before dedicating his life to religious and charitable works, establishing a school for poor boys on New Street in 1802 that would eventually relocate to the Mount Sion site on Barrack Street. He died in 1844.

Mr Ahern said Edmund Rice was a "social reformer" and a "quiet revolutionary . . . who overcame personal tragedy to put his life in service of the greater good."

Chairman of the heritage centre Michael Godfrey said it honoured "Edmund Rice, one of the blessed in our church and one whose spirit enriches the hearts and lives of men and women around the globe".

Audio-visual techniques are used to place visitors to the centre in 18th century Waterford; the centre also includes a replica 19th century schoolhouse.