God and the Recession

On 23 March, in Buswell’s Hotel, Professor Ray Kinsella of the UCD Smurfit School of Business, launched “The Recession and God” by Gerry O’Hanlon SJ. Ray started by invoking the Holy Spirit on the gathering, with an unforced piety that not every cleric could emulate. Gerry’s message was clear: as we recover from the recession, there should be a spiritual dimension to our economic thinking: respecting the capacity of Planet Earth to sustain us, and reversing the exploitation of the poor, which intelligent neo-liberals have taken for granted in much the same way as 18th-century gentlemen accepted slavery. Church of Ireland Archbishop John Neill, pictured here with Gerry, listened attentively. For an interview with Gerry about his book, see the homepage of Jesuit.ie.

Our Guy in Cork

Brother Guy Consolmagno, Curator of Meteorites at the Vatican Observatory, will speak at the Blackrock Castle Observatory, Cork, on 29 and 30 March at 2.30 p.m., as part of the Lifelong Learning Festival. Guy, born in Detroit, USA, is a research astronomer and planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory. When he entered the Jesuits in 1989 aged 37, he had already worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard and M.I.T., and had served with the Peace Corps in Kenya for two years. He took vows as a Jesuit brother in 1991. On entry into the order, he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican Observatory, where he also serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection, positions he has held since then.

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Two backs and a flanker

TV-watchers in Clongowes and Dooradoyle watched Ireland’s rugby triumph in Cardiff last weekend with particular interest. Gordon D’Arcy and Robert Kearney learned their rugby in Clongowes; David Wallace learned his in Crescent College Comprehensive. Their creative breaks, and fierce, fearless tackling, were a feature of Ireland’s Grand Slam victory. All three are pictured here, left to right: D’Arcy, Wallace, Kearney.

Another way to God

Mary Hanafin, Minister for Social and Family Affairs, joined the enthusiastic crowd who packed Glasthule Parish Centre for the launch of Sr Maureen McMahon’s “Reflections on Irish Art”, a selection of her articles in the Messenger. Many of them were her pupils from the days when she ran the High Loft, the biggest art school in Dublin. There was a good group from the Messenger Office, the publishers, which hosted the party in the elegant parish centre. Paul Andrews SJ launched the handsome book as a search for God not through language or laws, but through light, colour and texture. Read his address below. Read more »

How Lobone impacts on Richard

It is not so long since messages from Lobone would have been written on paper and carried for days, maybe weeks, by a runner with a cleft stick. Richard O’Dwyer SJ wrote this message yesterday, 23 March. It carries the freshness of a man still opening his eyes to the strangeness of Southern Sudan, and coming up with ideas born of the collision between an educated western mind (remember, Richard was a quantity surveyor before he became a Jesuit) and one of the most neglected corners of Sudan. The people of this region need help on many fronts, but most of all,perhaps, they need help to learn to help themselves. Read more »

Slí Eile International

When you think of Slí Eile, the Jesuit Centre for Young Adults, you’d be inclined to think that it’s as Irish as it gets. However, even if you can’t really tell from the photo, there is a splash of colour added by the presence of volunteers on the team. They come from places as far away and diverse as El Salvador, Russia, Hungary and South Korea. The teamwork is enriched not only by the collaboration between lay people and Jesuits but also by the team’s international character. Read more »

Short Notices

• AMDG Express has had no picture of Bill Johnston since his stroke last summer. Today an email from John Dardis and John Guiney in Tokyo reports that: ” We had an excellent visit with Bill Johnston who was in good form (see photo).”
• The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has just launched its new website which can be accessed here. Lena Jacobs, Communications Intern, has spent the last number of weeks designing the new site to make it more user-friendly. If you have any comments please email Lena. 

Three sports in the Jes

The Jes Senior Hockey team beat Foyle/Londonderry in a thrilling final to win the Kate Russell All-Ireland Cup. The Jes came back from one-nil down at half time to lead two-one in the second half. However, with just 5 minutes remaining, Foyle scored an equaliser to force the game into the ‘Golden Goal’ extra time. In a goalmouth scramble after 5 minutes, Isabelle Mortimer scored to send Jes supporters wild and the team into the history books! Elsewhere the Jes Mountaineering Club, as part of the ‘Four highest peaks in the 4 provinces’, climbed Wicklow‘s Lugnaquilla.
Which leaves rowing: both boys and girls continue the great rowing tradition of the Jes, well described in the Irish Times in the article below. Read more »

Forthcoming events

• Donal Neary SJ and Pat Coyle will join forces in giving a retreat in Manresa to the joint parishioners of Gardiner Street and Iona Road. For details, contact Manresa.
• Slí Eile is running a pilgrimage for young adults from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo for Easter. It is an invitation to look at the age-old Christian death-to-new-life dynamic in a new way. For more information contact Debbie at 01 8943165, or Sean at 01 8625345.
• Dr Gill Goulding will give the Veale Lecture: A Church of Passion and Hope: an Ignatian Perspective, on Wednesday, 25 March at 7.30 in the Theatre, Milltown Institute.
• Slí Eile is holding a 3-day residential retreat at the Easter weekend for young adults (18-35) in Clongowes Wood College, Kildare. Cost will be €120 for food and accommodation. It will start at 7.30pm, Thursday 9 April, and run till 12.00 noon, Sunday 12 April. For more details, contact Eoghan Keogh (Tel: 01-8943160/8880606 ext 30)

JESUITICA: A vigorous response

A hundred and eighty years ago, the Unionists who framed the Catholic Emancipation Act put in a clause ordering the Jesuits to take no more novices, to undertake no public work; told us, in other words, to die out. The Jesuits, recently recovered from suppression by the Pope, did not lie down. The Provincial wrote : “No man should stir an inch from his post till our existence is consolidated” – so they opened a noviciate, built Gardiner Street church, and founded Belvedere College.