Tom Layden SJ in Belfast is the Province coordinator of ecumenism, working as a quiet leaven rather than a city on a hilltop. He worships regularly with Christians of other traditions (Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist), and find it an enriching experience. So in sending on this reminder of Church Unity Octave (below), he is encouraging others to find their own way of reaching out. Read more »
Comedian Dermot Whelan gave an interesting perspective on his Jesuit education in an Irish Times article this week. “Coming from Limerick to Trinity, I found Dubliners a bit strange. They are obsessed with schools, and Crescent College didn’t seem to impress anyone. I lived in Hatch Hall with a bunch of Jesuit priests. I suppose that sounds peculiar, but they cooked my dinners and stayed out of my business and it worked out fine.”
On the RTE Documentary on One, 11 January, John, a former newsboy, recalled being in the Children’s Court in 1952, along with other youngsters who came before the judge for offences like shop-lifting. If they were sentenced to Industrial School, they would scream for their mothers, and still screaming, be frog-marched down the stairs to be locked away until transport was ready to take them away. He’ll never forget his saviour, Gerry Walsh of the Belvedere Newsboys Club (pictured here receiving a papal knighthood two years ago). Read the story below. Read more »
The death of Fr John Dunne has drawn condolences from near and far, including, from Zambia-Malawi, Declan Murray SJ and Provincial Peter Bwanali. Also, there have been numerous requests for the text of the homily which Brian Grogan SJ gave at the funeral mass in Gonzaga Chapel. Brian spoke warmly of John’s life and character, concentrating on three areas – the “three E’s”: the Enterprise of John’s life, his Endurance, and his Everlasting joy. Read the full homily below. Read more »
‘Floods of refugees’, ‘waves of migrants’, ‘immigration flow’… In an incisive article for World Day of Migrants and Refugees (18 January), Eugene Quinn, director of JRS Ireland, identifies a dehumanising tendency in our use of such “hydraulic metaphors”. “It is as if refugees and migrants are a wave that might drown us,” he writes. Taking his cue from the Pope’s message for the day of commemoration, he addresses the pivotal question: “How can we fail to take charge of all those, particularly refugees and displaced people, who are in conditions of difficulty and hardship?” Read the full text below.
This year’s Young Scientists Exhibition discovered a couple of stars from Jesuit schools. For the second year running, Clongowes scientist Henry Glass, from Maynooth, was runner-up in the overall individual award, for his study of: The distribution of the freshwater limpet Ancylus Fluviatilis in a short stretch of the Moneycarragh River. Patrick O’Doherty from Gonzaga won the Science Foundation award for a project on Automatic Energy Saving. And Gonzaga’s Jack Hutchinson, Peter Gillen, Mark Lincoln were highly commended for their project on A Food stock renewal system for your house.
On Tuesday 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany, Michael Hurley made a brief appearance on the RTE 1 programme Witness. He could be seen star-gazing through a telescope in Dunsink Observatory and heard talking about the Magi and their role in his own life in the early 80s. As aired, the all too brief programme had literally no time for this story, which Michael was telling for the first time. Here it is, below: Read more »
Fr Todd Morrissey’s book on Jesuits in Hong Kong, South China and Beyond will have its Irish launch in Milltown Park on Wednesday 28 January at 7.30pm. The Provincial, Fr John Dardis, will present a copy of the book to a family representative of each Jesuit who has served on the Hong Kong / Malaysian mission. All are invited. RSVP to Geraldine Kellett: tel. – 01 6768408.|
FR PROVINCIAL’S DIARY 14 Jan: Ballymun visitation |
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Back in the 1960s they used to say the optimistic Irish schools were teaching Russian and the pessimists Chinese – so Belvedere’s Fr Schrenk taught Russian. Things have changed, though, and cultural contact with China is growing apace. On Sunday 18 January the Chinese ambassador, Mr Liu Biwei, will visit Belvedere College to meet seventeen Chinese students from Wah Yan College. These two Jesuit colleges are participating in a student exchange programme. The second leg of the exchange will see eighteen Belvedere students visit Hong Kong and China later this year. They will teach English to primary school pupils in the Chinese countryside.
