Benedict XVI and the media

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office and the head of Vatican Radio, spoke on 29 May 2008 at the Catholic Media Convention in Toronto. His address, entitled When the Pope Speaks to the World: Working With Modern Media, is made up mainly of personal reflections on working in communications at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI emerges from these reflections as a pontiff who truly holds, as he said at his inaugural Mass, that ours is not a religion of prohibitions but, rather, a religion based on the great ‘yes!’ of love. His norm in presenting the Christian proposition is to state the positive first. The full text of Fr Lombardi’s address is available at the Catholic News Service blog.

The 1983 Code – twenty-five years later

This year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which replaced the 1917 code. This was the eventual fulfilment of the intentions of Pope John XXIII, who announced that the code would be completely revised at the same time that he called the Second Vatican Council. To mark this anniversary, the Milltown Institute has invited a renowned canon law expert, Professor Emeritus Francis Morrissey OMI of St Paul’s University, Ottawa, to give a public lecture on ‘The Code of Canon law – Twenty-Five Years on’. It will take place on Wednesday 25 June 2008, at 7.30pm. All are welcome.

Jesuit lives on show

The exhibition in Rathfarnham Castle, one of many events in the Bealtaine 2008 calendar, has proven to be very popular, so the Office of Public Works is extending it for at least another week. It includes many exhibits relating to the Jesuit years of the castle (1913-1986). Another exhibition in Dublin of interest to Jesuits and friends is called ‘Land of Silk and Sages’, in Marsh’s Library. It is an exhibition of early printed books on China – books on geography, culture, missionary themes, language, etc. – many of which were written by Jesuits.

Jesuit Admonitor spends time in Ireland

Currently on an extended visit to Ireland to improve his English language skills is Marcos Recolons SJ. A native of Cataluña, Marcos has travelled here from Rome, where he recently took up his appointment as Admonitor to Adolfo Nicolás, Superior General of the Society. Before he moved to Rome some years ago, he spent many years ministering to the Quechua people in Bolivia, at times being responsible for over one hundred villages.

Modras and Ignatian spirituality for today

In a series of seminars in Dublin last weekend, Professor Ronald Modras spoke about the humanistic perspective of Ignatian spirituality and what this can contribute to contemporary life – to the world of education and to the business environment. On Friday 23 May he spoke in Manresa about great Jesuits whose conversations had a transformative impact on those who heard them. For the full text of this paper, click here. On Saturday, Professor Modras spoke at the National College of Ireland about Ignatian spirituality and education. And on Monday 26, he was in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce to speak about leadership. All three seminars were well attended, and the question-times were lively.

Ronald Modras: Conversations that Change Lives

Below is the text of Professor Ronald Modras’s address at Manresa, the Jesuit House of Spirituality in Clontarf, on Friday 23 May 2008.

Thank you for the kind introduction and for the warm Irish welcome and hospitality. I remember my first visit to Ireland 30 years ago, in 1978, with Mary Elizabeth, my wife, and our two mothers. On the way to Dublin, we stopped in Westmeath. Mary Elizabeth’s mother wanted to see the town where her mother was born and the church where she was baptized. The sacristan, a lovely lady in her 60s, opened the church for us and then invited us to tea in her cottage, where she boiled water over an open hearth. No stove, whether gas or electric stove, let alone a microwave. But time for strangers, for visitors, and for conversation. Read more »

Timire an tSamhraidh

The summer edition of the Irish language Jesuit publication, An Timire, is now available. Carly-Anne Gannon writes about her experiences at World Youth Day and of the periods which she has spent working on a voluntary basis under the auspices of Slí Eile in Bogota, Columbia.  Fr Sean McDonagh SCC illustrates how Jesus drew inspiration from nature in much of his teachings to show his care for mankind and discusses his healing ministry. Dr. Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin tells of the destruction being carried out near Tara with the construction of the new motorway and Daithí Ó hÓgáin gives us the lore and mythology about Tara.  Leon Ó Giolláin SJ tells the story of a young man and his search for God. There are reflections for each day of the Sacred Heart Novena as well as book reviews.  Copies of the Timire can be obtained by writing to An Timire, Manressa Centre of Spirituality, Dollymount, Dubin 3.  An Timire is published quarterly and the annual subscription is €10.

Expert calls for wiser policy on women and prison

In her keynote speech at the Women in Prison seminar on 22 May, Baroness Jean Corston urged Ireland not to make the same mistakes Britain did in the matter of women and criminal justice. Community sanctions, she argued, should be the norm for women offenders, and prison sentences should be reserved for serious or violent offenders. As author of the Corston Report, a commissioned study of women and the criminal justice system in Britain, Baroness Corston is a renowned authority on the problems generated for families and communities when women who are minor offenders are incarcerated. The seminar was organised by the Jesuit Centre of Faith and Justice and the Bar Council. Other speakers included Tony O’Riordan SJ, Dr Mary Redmond and Senator Ivana Bacik.

Second year for S. Africa Challenge

Gerry Clarke SJ is heading up this summer’s Slí Eile S. Africa Challenge, aimed mainly at graduating students from Jesuit Schools. The project, now in its second year, is based in a rural township of KwaZulu-Natal and involves the Irish volunteers building a community health clinic, and teaching basic computers skills and English. The first group of volunteers from Clongowes fly out on June 21, they complete their two week project before being replaced by other groups from Belvedere, Colaiste Iognaid and the Crescent. Conall O’Cuinn SJ and Paddy Dillane from Slí Eile will also be involved in helping lead the project. [Photo: Belvedere graduates for this year's project]

Devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Irish experience

Dr Louise Fuller, Research Fellow at NUI, Maynooth, charts the history of devotion to the Sacred Heart in Ireland. This article is re-published with permission from Intercom, May 2008.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart has a long history dating back to the medieval period in the Church, but the development and popularity of the devotion in modern times dates from the seventeenth century. Read more »

Celebrating Community Links

Community Links, a project of the Jesuit Refugee Service, has been officially wound down after six years of promoting the integration of immigrant communities in Dublin’s inner city. On Thursday 15 May, a celebratory event was held in Belvedere College. For the last three years, Ruth Diaz Ufano has always been mentioned in the same breath as Community Links. Much of the day-to-day success of the project has been due to her. She is now on standby to be deployed by the UN to areas of humanitarian crisis or armed conflict, under the auspices of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. We send her our thanks and best wishes.

End of scholastics’ year

Ireland is host to a number of international Jesuit students (scholastics), studying mainly post-graduate theology courses in Milltown Institute, who are returning home for the summer. The John Sullivan community hosted the annual barbeque to mark the end of the academic year on 14 May. Around 30 attended from Milltown, Loyola, Leinster Road and Gardiner Street. Many of the scholastics will be finishing up this year and so there was sadness mixed in with the high spirits!

Public lecture on Ignatian education

Ronald Modras, Professor of Theology at St Louis University, will be principal speaker at a public seminar on Transforming Education at the National College of Ireland (Mayor Street, IFSC, Dublin 1) on Saturday 24 May at 11.00am. Professor Modras’ theme will be ‘Ignatian Humanism‘, based on his book of the same title: Ignatian Humanism: a Dynamic Spirituality for the 21st Century). He stresses the fact that Jesuit spirituality is rooted in a humanism which values the secular world, the diversity of world cultures, and scholarship of every hue. The seminar is free but registration is required: Modras page.