The Afternoon Show – RTÉ Television

Fr Peter McVerry was in studio to speak about theMeteor award and his tireless quest for the homeless of Ireland. <br />
<a href=”http://www.amdg.ie/blog/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ydGUuaWUvdHYvdGhlYWZ0ZXJub29uc2hvdy8xMDgwNTU4Lmh0bWwgIA==&amp;entry_id=86″ title=”http://www.rte.ie/tv/theafternoonshow/1080558.html ” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.rte.ie/tv/theafternoonshow/1080558.html ‘;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” >http://www.rte.ie/tv/theafternoonshow/1080558.html </a>

Spirit Moves – RTE Radio 1

This week, the government announced the largest spending programme in the history of the State. 184-billion-euro will be spent over the next seven years with the aim of giving us all a better quality of life. <br />
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But what makes a good quality of life? What makes life worthwhile? What gives it meaning? Or does it have to have a meaning? And can we achieve real happiness if we have no spiritual dimension to our lives? <br />
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Susan discussed these questions with Austin Hughes, Chief Economist with IIB Bank, Paula Downey of Downey Youell Associates, Ian Robertson, Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and Marie Ward who’s a volunteer leader with Sli Eile.<br />
<a href=”http://www.amdg.ie/blog/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ydGUuaWUvcmFkaW8xL3NwaXJpdG1vdmVzL3JhbXMvMjAwNy8yOGphbnVhcnkuc21pbA==&amp;entry_id=83″ title=”http://www.rte.ie/radio1/spiritmoves/rams/2007/28january.smil” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.rte.ie/radio1/spiritmoves/rams/2007/28january.smil’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” >Click to listen</a><br />

Sunday Miscellany – RTÉ Radio1

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This morning’s programme featured “North Side, South Side” by Paul Andrews SJ .It was a reflection on the buying of Belvedere College.<br />
<a href=”http://www.amdg.ie/blog/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ydGUuaWUvcmFkaW8xL3N1bmRheW1pc2NlbGxhbnkvMTEyMTQ4OS5odG1s&amp;entry_id=88″ title=”http://www.rte.ie/radio1/sundaymiscellany/1121489.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.rte.ie/radio1/sundaymiscellany/1121489.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” >http://www.rte.ie/radio1/sundaymiscellany/1121489.html</a> <br />

Conversations with Eamon Dunphy – RTÉ Radio 1

Fr. Peter McVerry was this week’s prominent people in conversation with Eamon Dunphy about his life, passions and the music which inspires him. <a href=”http://www.amdg.ie/blog/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3BjLnJ0ZS5pZS8yMDA3L3BjL3BvZC12LTIwMDEwNy0zNm0xNXMtZHVucGh5Lm1wMw==&amp;entry_id=121″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://pc.rte.ie/2007/pc/pod-v-200107-36m15s-dunphy.mp3′;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” title=”Listen to the programme”>Listen to the programme</a>

The Jesuits: God’s ’secret agents’! New book tells story

January 25, 2007
New book tells story of 16th century Jesuits in Britain
by Brendan McManus SJ

Review of Alice Hogge’s God’s Secret Agents (2006, Harper Perennial) by Brendan McManus SJ

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The word “Jesuitical”, typically used in a pejorative sense, aptly applies to the vision of the Jesuits portrayed in Alice Hogge’s God’s Secret Agents. Depending on which side you are viewing it from, the Jesuits come across as heroes or villains. Using contemporary documents, with extensive footnotes that render it somewhat dry and heavy, she manages to make religious history engaging. The book pieces together a violent game of cat-and-mouse between Jesuit priests and government spies, set in Elizabeth I’s England where the establishment of the Anglican Church fuelled a reactionary Catholicism at the end of the 16th century. Hogge presents the largely forgotten Catholic view of 16th century events that shaped England, and redeems the Jesuit image to a large extent from its pejorative labelling.

The book begins dramatically with the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and with it Catholic hopes for England’s return to the faith. Subsequently two young English Jesuit priests are put ashore secretly on a beach in Norfolk. Their aim is to achieve through evangelisation and dialogue what the Armada had failed to do by force: to return England to the Catholic Church. Religious practice had political and civic consequences as Elizabeth sought to control church attendance and religious allegiance through the institution of strict laws and accordant punishments, including fines and death. The book takes us up to the succession of James I to the throne, with increasing persecution of Catholics during Elizabeth’s reign, leading up to the infamous Guy Fawkes plot to blow up Parliament. Despite their commitment to dialogue and the use of peaceful means in evangelisation, the Jesuits were unfairly accused of having the plot to blow up the English parliament. The book ends with the Jesuit mission in ruins, not through their own actions, but through those of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.

Hogge’s use of letters, court transcripts and other historical records is synthesised into a very dynamic storyline that is both accurate and engaging. It follows the Jesuits from their schooling on the Continent, through their perilous return journeys (many were English) and their lonely lives in hiding, to a gruesome death on the scaffold. The Jesuit mission in England was nothing but controversial and momentous: to their government they were traitors; to their fellow Catholics they were glorious martyrs. This drama of the radical division of views on the Jesuit mission, that makes the English of the time potential converts or assassins, makes for engrossing reading. Accordingly, the image of Jesuits portrayed is inspiring in their commitment to the cause, their willingness to risk their lives on it, and their ingenuity in avoiding capture.

Hogge gives very detailed accounts of these young English priests being smuggled into the country for the briefest of ministries, and the enormous pressure of the hunt for them by government agents and traitors. It has many aspects of a spy thriller: of double agents, informers, secret hiding places (“priest holes”), and the inevitability of capture, torture and hanging. Particularly, the accounts of those Jesuits facing death at the hands of their fellow Englishmen are detailed and very moving. The sufferings and subsequent deaths of such saints as Edmund Campion, Cuthbert Mayne, and the poet Robert Southwell rate alongside the death’s of any of the Church’s martyrs. Those who sheltered the priests, and also suffered the same harsh treatment, emerge as inspiring and totally committed to the cause. Among the latter is the noble St Margaret Clitherow, who sheltered many priests until she finally paid the price.

The portrayal of the Jesuits in England within the particular historical and cultural context is well outlined. The use of political tools such as oratory, philosophy, reasoning and printed literature, assumes a significant role in what was ultimately a war for souls. Hogge paints a credible picture of the Jesuits as scapegoats for Elizabeth’s Government to blame their troubles on. The Jesuit priests are painted as traitorous Englishmen who had been “indoctrinated” abroad into the Pope’s service, seen as a “Spanish” political and religious conspiracy, where they would fulfil the Armada’s goal of delivering England to Spain. Hogge’s book goes a long way to uncovering the truth of the period that is very different to what typically has been handed down in English history. The pejorative use of the term “Jesuitical” well captures the historical context of propaganda and manipulation, an injustice that needed to be undone.

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A terrible beauty

How the Irish are in flight from the past

by Thomas G Casey SJ

Every article written for the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica must be vetted by the Vatican before it is published. For this reason, many people believe that La Civiltà Cattolica is the unofficial voice of the Holy See. So what does the Vatican currently think about Ireland? What perspective on our country does the Holy See subscribe to? All the signs are that the Vatican believes there may be a terrible beauty unfolding in our land. At least that is what an article written by Thomas Casey in last month’s La Civiltà Cattolica claimed. Here is the English translation of Tom’s article. Read more »

Lifeline for the suicidal

In his regular AMDG column, David Gaffney applauds efforts, both in Ireland and abroad, to take a holistic, communitarian approach to suicide prevention, especially among young people.

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There were two reasons why I found myself being interviewed by George Hook on Newstalk 106 FM. One was that was that President Mary McAleese had presided on the previous day at the launch of a new programme from the National Office Of Suicide Prevention, to be unveiled in 2007. The other reason was that I had written about suicide in my weekly column in provincial newspapers. Read more »

What is love?

Christine Clear, who is currently giving a course on Love at the Milltown Institute, reflects here on the multifarious and complex meanings of that simple word.

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Do you think a lone tiger crossing the frozen planes of the Antarctic is really just searching for love? Are the thousands of marathon joggers crossing a bridge in any one city really running towards the Ineffable? Is a mother pushing her daughter’s car to a wrenching start, and waving her on, honouring the basic laws of love, or basic laws of evolution? Read more »

The Jesuits: God’s ‘secret agents’!

Brendan McManus SJ reviews a recent book about the Jesuits in 16th and 17th century Britain, a book which goes a long way towards rebutting the pejorative fictions about Jesuit priests which have abounded for centuries.

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The word “Jesuitical”, typically used in a pejorative sense, aptly applies to the vision of the Jesuits portrayed in Alice Hogge’s God’s Secret Agents. Read more »

Taking time out with the LRA

The Lay Retreat Association has been running retreats since its foundation (by Fr Eugene Ward SJ) in 1945. It is still alive and well, meeting the needs of lay people from all over the country. Pat Carey describes its origins and aims.

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We all need our own little space from time to time. The LRA has been providing such a service for the leity for over 60 years. This is achieved with short retreats at weekends. Approximately fifteen such retreats are held annually, and men, women and couples are all welcome. It is intended to actively pursue a youth programme as a priority, as early as possible. Read more »

The Ignatian dimension of Clongowes life

Recently appointed Director of Ethos in Clongowes Wood College, Frank Clarke poses some interesting questions and outlines some new programmes which will further emphasise the role of Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit identity in the college community.

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Who are the Jesuits? Who was Ignatius? Why do over 20,000 people in the world dedicate their lives to Christ by living the vocation of a Jesuit? Questions that may seem difficult enough to discuss here, but questions for consideration nevertheless? I’d be interested on your take of what you think “Ethos” is and where it fits in with Clongowes Wood College and its Ignatian identity. Read more »

The Pope: a scholar and a gentleman

Michael Paul Gallagher, Dean of Theology at the Gregorian University, has watched Pope Benedict from close quarters and has been very impressed. He speaks about the pope to Piaras Jackson SJ in this interview for RNN.

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Fr. Michael Paul Gallagher: Oh it was exciting, it was a great morning. It was a beautiful morning too, a lovely sunny morning. And the Pope, if I can put it in very popular terms, was a great hit with the students. As as soon as came in there was great cheering and so on. And most of the students couldn’t fit in the big entrance hall where he was meeting everybody else. Read more »

Silence and the slowed-down life

Philip Groening spent six months living with Carthusian monks in France in order to make a film about their lives. The film, ‘Into Great Silence’, is an extraordinary chronicle of extraordinary men. Pat Coyle went to see it – twice!

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In 1987 film-maker Phillip Groening asked the Carthusian monks of the Grande Chartreuse Abbey in France if he could make a film about their lives. The monk’s regime there is generally regarded as the most tough and ascetic among contemplative religious orders. Read more »