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Anniversary celebrations for St Declan’s

St Declan's School, Northumberland Road, Dublin 42008 marks the 50th anniversary of St Declan’s School, a remarkable venture begun by the Jesuits in 1958. With premises on Northumberland Road, Dublin 4, it helps children who, for personal or emotional reasons, are achieving below their potential in mainstream primary schools. For a full description of its remarkable work, see its newly launched website. Currently St Declan’s is running a summer school for its pupils, which involves games and day trips. Anniversary celebrations are planned for the autumn, including a Mass in Haddington Road Church on 27 September, which will be celebrated by the Irish Provincial, John Dardis SJ.

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

JCFJ keeps tabs on justice and reform

An DáilAn Ceann Comhairle, John O’Donoghue, will launch the Jesuit Centre of Faith and Justice’s web-based Oireachtas Watch service. The launch will take place on Wednesday 9 July at 7.00pm in Buswell’s Hotel, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2. Oireachtas Watch is an internet database of answers to written parliamentary questions asked of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform in the 30th Dáil. Dr Muiris MacCártaigh of the Institute of Public Administration will deliver an address at the event.

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

Youth festival with a difference

Knock Youth Festival, 2007It’s summertime, and young people’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of festivals. There’s Oxegen and the Electric Picnic, of course; but a surprise attraction for as many as 1,000 young people this year is the Knock Summer Youth Festival. The brainchild of the Knock Youth Ministry, it will take place from 24 to 27 July. It aims “to help people get back in touch with what is really important in life. Are they happy?”  Michael Paul Gallagher SJ will speak to the gathering about ‘faith, unbelief, culture and spirituality’. For more details, see the website.

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

Ethnic tensions in Kenya

Kenyan violenceLast week we published the first of two articles published recently by Gerard Whelan SJ in Civiltà Cattolica: ‘Christian hope and the African city’. This week we publish the second, ‘Ethnicity and political tension in Kenya’ (April 2008). Gerry spent many years in Kenya before taking up his teaching post. In this article he assesses the role which ethnic tensions in Kenya since independence have played in the political turmoil of recent times. Read more »

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

Belvedere hosts conservationists

Belvedere28 years ago the then rector of Belvedere joined a group of local residents concerned with preserving what was left of Georgian glories in that corner of Dublin. On Tuesday 8th July as we go to press, they are meeting in Belvedere House to look back on a generation of hard work. Our local TD Bertie Ahern will be there, with Harold Clarke, Maurice Craig, David Norris, and some seventy others. Paul Andrews, who was rector in 1980, will introduce the evening, reflecting on the huge investment of the Jesuit community in maintaining the splendour of Belvedere House. We invested also in the schooling of a wordy young man called Joyce, by teaching him and paying his and his brothers’ fees for five years. As David Norris will be pointing out, it was a worthwhile investment. James learned his classics well and wrote a couple of his own.

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

At the frontiers

Jesuits in Valentia, KerryThe picture shows five seasoned Jesuits at the edge of Ireland, with Valentia Island behind them. Left to right they have been working in: Milltown-Cherryfield (John Guiney), Zimbabwe (John Moore), Central Mental Hospital (Des O’Grady), Kenya (Cecil McGarry), and Zambia (Jerry O’Connell). Paul Andrews (JCC) was at the other side of the camera. When lumped together for a week in a house on a wild Kerry headland, the days were too short for all they had to exchange. Read more »

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::

CLC holds assembly in Fatima

Fatima, PortugalThe Christian Life Communities (CLC) are holding their World General Assembly in Fatima, Portugal, from 12 to 22 August. Delegates from Ireland are Mary O’Meara of Edenderry, Fionnuala Howard of Howth, and Michael Gallagher SJ, Ecclestiastical Assistant. This assembly is held every five years. The theme this year is ‘Journeying as an apostolic body: our response to this grace from God’.

Added Tuesday 8 July 2008 :: Category: General ::