The Columba Community was founded in 1980 by Fr.Neal Carlin. After leaving St. Eugene's Cathedral in 1978 Fr. Neal felt moved to explore the idea of Basic Christian Communities in Mexico and America. On his return small steps were taken to form a praying community here in Derry. After a retreat in Wexford he felt God saying that a stranger would point out a house to him. Soon a house was pointed out to him in Queen Street in Derry and with the princely sum of £200.00 Fr.Carlin along with this group of committed individuals decided to buy the house for £20,000.00.
A leap in the dark lit only by the light of God!
We are now in the year 2003 and to cut a long story short a basic Christian Community was formed and matured over 23 years. The centre in Queen Street was established as a House of Prayer and Reconciliation.
A small area of land was gifted to the community in 1985 and a Retreat Centre was developed there, the present St. Anthony's, where Fr.Neal currently resides.
The Community has since facilitated the construction of the White Oaks Rehabilitation Centre to cater for those who are suffering from alcohol and drug Addiction. This Centre is now opened in October 2001. We completed one year in training new counsellors and several have now taken up employment there and have been working since September 2002 to present day.
The Community then concentrated a lot of energy on the refurbishment of Columba House in Derry and building up A Celtic Garden in the land across the road from White Oaks. The Garden is served by a Visitors Centre where the visitor can avail of retail, refreshments and our own locally produced organic food. This Garden, at the Centre of The I.O.S.A.S. (Island of Saints and Scholars) Centre commemorating the Irish Saints is serving as well, as a therapeutic centre for those who may be recovering from alcohol or as an education centre for those wishing to study Celtic Spirituality. It will also serve as aTourist facility and as a place of quiet prayer.
In the year 2007 we started the complete renovation of Columba House. This was completed in 2009 and has future proofed the building for intending members. The building has been completely restored to even better than its former glory; we have moved in and were delighted that The Community Relations Council were able to provide first class furnishing for the whole building; the premises out the back are used by our Y.A.R.D. project for youth development providing training, personal development and possible avenues into employment.
( they also make use of the main building as required) ; the oratory is the main powerhouse of the building and we await Gods plan to outline for us future ministries. Staffing for the YARD Project has been agreed for three years with the International Fund for Ireland and running and staffing costs for the main building have been provided by Community Relations Council for the past 7 years.
At this moment in time we have just completed the building of a small residential campus which will facilitate groups across the divide and across the border and which will play a major role in promoting the whole project. This is funded by IFI as is the employment of a coordinator to promote the work with administrative assistance.
We see the refurbishment of Saint Anthonys as the next major step in The Community's Outreach adding state of the art facilities to the Centre and at the same time retaining its hospitality and spiritual charism.
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