End of the line for Slí Eile pilgrims

Over the past five years young adults involved in Slí Eile have been walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in stages. This year the pilgrimage reached its climax. A ten-strong Slí Eile group made their great entrance into the city of Santiago in the company of many hundreds of other pilgrims. Below are the personal stories of two of the group. If you’d like to know more about Slí Eile pilgrimages, email Slí Eile Ballymun or call them at 01-8625345. Read more »

Critics applaud Jesuit’s literary debut

Nigerian Jesuit Uwem Akpan has garnered considerable critical acclaim for his book of short stories, Say you’re one of them, published this week. He first attracted attention three years ago, when a lengthy short story of his was published in the New Yorker. That story, ‘An Ex-mas Feast’, opens his current collection, and it establishes the themes and sets the tone for the rest. The stories are powerful but disturbing insights into the perilous lives of the dispossessed children of Africa – lives of homelessness, begging, prostitution, glue-sniffing, HIV/AIDs – all narrated by the children themselves. For more about Akpan, see the book’s website, an interview and an essay in the New Yorker, and the Amazon.co.uk page.

Letter of Provincial concerning GC35 decrees

John Dardis SJ, Irish Jesuit Provincial, writes to the Province on the occasion of the official release of the decrees of General Congregation 35. For a useful summary of the decrees, see the Australian Province Express.

Father General has now officially issued the documents of General Congregation 35 and they are available on the Society’s website: www.sjweb.info/35/index.cfm. The delay in making them available was because of the difficulty in harmonising the three official texts (English, French and Spanish). Read more »

Refurbishing the Gardiner Street organ

Kenneth Jones & Co. are refurbishing the organ in St Francis Xavier’s church, Gardiner Street, to ensure that it will be in good condition for generations to come. It was renewed in 1976, but it suffered damage not merely from age but from dust during repairs to the church. The parish is grateful to the Jesuit Province, which is shouldering 50% of the cost.