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Response to Kenya

kenya_01.jpgDue to the post election violence in Kenya recently, the Irish Missionary Resource Service (IMRS) set up an emergency fund to help cope with many thousands of people displaced by the ethnic violence. The Irish Jesuit Mission Office has successfully processed two applications for this fund. A grant of €15,000 was approved for relief work by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Western Kenya. The money will be spent on tents, clothing, food and counselling among a population of 2,000 Internally Displaced families in Kachimbola, about 30km from Kitale. A second grant has just been approved for food, shelter and educational needs of 2,000 people who fled for protection to the Jesuit Parish of Saint Joseph the Worker in Kangemi, Nairobi. Frs John Guiney SJ and Gerry Whelan SJ have served for many years in this parish. It is hoped to submit a third project by the Jesuit Hakimani Centre to rebuild peace in the community in the near future.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: Social Justice ::

Slí Eile go to Santiago

camino.jpg“Not for the faint-hearted”! So says Slí Eile of its pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, from 27 May to 7 June. It seems that the physical journey, however, will only be moderately rigorous – early starts, long treks over the mountains, enduring hostel life, and so on. More challenging, maybe, will be the journey into the self, which is what all pilgrimages are truly about. Doing the Camino with Slí Eile will require a commitment to take stock of oneself, spending some time walking alone, meditating, and learning to share with the other participants. Young adults who are interested in this event should contact Sí Eile by Tuesday 1 April (no joke!). For more details, phone Slí Eile at 01-8625345 or email ballymunadmin@sli-eile.com.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

Belvedere win Senior Cup

belvedere.jpgIn a hard-fought contest against St Mary’s College, Belvedere College’s rugby team won the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup on Sunday 16 March. Having beaten Terenure, Roscrea and Clongowes in the lead-up to the final, Belvedere were ready for a tough, demanding game. And so it was. They won by the narrowest of margins – 11-10 – with players on both sides pushing themselves to the limit. Over 11,000 spectators watched the mayhem, which took place in the RDS Showgrounds.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

Getting to grips with the Gospels

kells_evangelists.jpgManresa is starting a weekly evening lecture series on ‘Introducing the Gospels’. Delivered by Fr Brendan Comerford SJ, the lectures will elucidate the background of the Gospels and tackle such issues as for whom they were written, who Jesus was for the writers, who exactly the writers were, and what was going on in the communities for which they were writing. The lectures will take place on six consecutive Wednesday evenings, from 8pm – 9.30pm, starting on 9 April. For more details, contact Manresa at 01-8331352 or manresa@jesuit.ie.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

Busy Broadcasting

seoige_oshea.jpgIt’s been a busy week media-wise for Jesuits and their colleagues. Piaras Jackson SJ was on the Seoige and O’Shea programme on RTE 1 television on Thursday March 13, talking about what has been misconstrued as ‘the Vatican’s new list of sins.’ Barney McGuckian tackled the same subject on RTE radio one’s Spirit Moves on Sunday 16. Two young people from the Pioneer Association talked about their reasons for not drinking alcohol on the Ryan Tubridy Show,on Wednesday 18 and later this week, barrister Ursula Kilkelly will be on the Today with Pat Kenny radio show talking about an article she wrote for the current Jesuit periodical Studies which has ‘The Family Today’ as its theme. Her article is on children’s rights and the family.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

Mass of closure: homily of Fr Nicolás

nicolas_homily.jpgThe homily given by Father Adolfo Nicolás at the closing Mass of General Congregation 35 has been released in English. Speaking in Italian at the Church of the Gesù on March 6, Fr Nicolás reflected on ‘the logic of the Christian experience’: ‘God is love, and so we too love. God is mercy, and so we too show mercy. God is good, and so we too desire to be good.’ Echoing the Pope’s words, he affirmed that ‘love for the poor does not have an ideological but a Christological basis’. Relating the Gospel of the Mass to the experience of the General Congregation, Fr Nicolás remarked that ‘everything we have done is for mission’. Jesuits are invited, he added, to ‘go to the source’ of the General Congregation experience and ‘make sure that it is being transformed into mission, an all-embracing mission, a mission which will continue to bear fruit in others’. Read more »

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

‘Lent Matters’ on local radio

rnn_01.jpgThere’s been a great response to RNN’s Lenten series ‘Lent Matters’ according to Eileen Good, Director of RNN. Five half-hour programmes on the theme of ‘journey’ have been broadcast on local radio all over the country with the sixth going out at the Easter weekend featuring a young woman about to become a Catholic through the RCIA (Rite for the Catholic Initiation of Adults). Other programmes featured Mags O’Shea of the Jesuit Youth Outreach Slí Eile who has joined the Loreto Sisters. Piaras Jackson SJ reveals the story behind the famous ‘Footprints’ poem and his godmother is the focus of a programme where she talks to Eileen Good about thirty years of caring for her husband disabled in an accident twelve years into their marriage. Pat Coyle talks to the well known American author and scripture scholar Megan McKenna about the stories of Lent in the gospels and film director Peter Sheridan talks about his journey of recovery from alcoholism.

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General ::

Stations of the Cross on Sacred Space

station10b500.jpgSacred Space presents a set of Kenyan-themed Stations of the Cross that are suitable for individual reflection and prayer. Both the images and the words are challenging and topical as they offer Kenyan perspectives in the art and in the consideration of climate change. Adapted from Trócaire’s 2008 Lenten Resources, the paintings accompanying each station are from Lodwar Cathedral. Having become aware of the political and social unrest in the East African country, we are now invited to pray in solidarity with the people of Kenya. Read more »

Added Tuesday 18 March 2008 :: Category: General, Spirituality ::