CCC student teachers

A number of Transition Year students from Crescent have just completed a learning initiative with St. Munchin’s Girls and Infant School, Ballynanty, on the north side of Limerick. The aim of the programme was to expose 4/5 year-olds to language through story time, games and IT and to build relationships between the child and the Crescent students through a buddy system. Students received initial training from the teachers in St. Munchins. They worked in the primary school one afternoon a week.  The project was be overseen by teachers in Crescent and the principal of St. Munchin’s, Mrs. Rena O’Shea, who is a member of the Board of Management of Crescent. The pilot programme ran for nine weeks, and the response has been extremely positive. Read more »

Come and see

Twice a year, the Jesuit Joint Irish-British Novitiate in Birmingham hosts a Come & See for those interested in seeing real novitiate life. This last weekend a Polish sports teacher and lorry driver living in England, a German lecturer in mathematics teaching at an English university, and an ex-prison officer came and saw. Conall O’Cuinn SJ and Matthew Power SJ (pictured here), the Irish and British Vocations Promoters led the weekend. Kennedy O’Brien SJ from Gonzaga College, Dublin joined them to tell his faith story. Each of the visitors shared briefly their story. Conall and Kennedy were co-novices in Dublin (1975-77). Though not present at the weekend, two Irish candidates are preparing to apply for the novitiate. Others are considering. The next Come and See will take place next November: see Www.jesuitvocations.ie

Guiney in Asia

John Guiney SJ (centre in photo), just back from Asia, saw the impact of the Irish Jesuits in the East from Japan to Hong Kong, Cambodia and Signapore as expressed by people in terms of life-changing experiences. One successful and committed past pupil from Wah Yan College in Hong Kong told how his father, who was the cook of the Jesuit community for years, was able to send his children to the Jesuit college and it changed their entire lives. John asks how can the Irish Province in the future continue to honour the work of our missionaries abroad and the vital connections they have made to so many communities. He is working on a plea from the Provincial of China and Ashley Evans in Cambodia for volunteers to work with local Jesuits and missionaries in social work.

Ulster plantation remembered

2009 marks the 400th anniversary of the Ulster Plantation, a critical episode in Irish history when English and Scottish planters were settled on confiscated lands in the north. This influx shaped the Northern Ireland of today. The Church of Ireland Historical Society, meeting in the Georgian grandeur of the Robinson Library (1771), in Armagh, examined aspects of the Plantation. Brian Mac Cuarta SJ spoke on the Catholic Church at the time of the Plantation, and explored the diversity within the church’s experience. He noted for example that Scots Catholics were seeking refuge in Ulster in those decades. In the photo, outside St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, are (left to right):  Dean Patrick Rook, four of the speakers (Jonathon Bardon, William Roulston, Brian Mac Cuarta SJ, James Golden), and Canon Adrian Empey.

In Thurles the disciples were first called Jesuits

The late Archbishop Tom Morris loved showing his cathedral in Thurles to visiting Jesuits because of its links with the Society. Kevin Laheen SJ remembers one such meeting, when Tom remarked that if the early followers of Christ had not been called Christians, they should have been called Jesuits. The most visible Jesuit connection is the great tabernacle (pictured here), which was once part of the Gesu church in Rome. It was the work of Giacoma della Porto, a pupil of Michelangelo and one of the architects of St Peter’s Basilica. When the Gesu was renovated in the mid 19th century, the tabernacle was sold to Archbishop Leahy of Thurles, and it rested on the main altar of Thurles Cathedral until the 1970s, when a special tabernacle altar was erected.

Short notices

• In Leinster’s Heineken Cup semi-final win over Munster, Clongownian Gordon D’Arcy, pictured here with the ball, scored Leinster’s opening try, and Belvederian Cian Healy contributed mightily in the front row. As schoolboys, Cian and Gordon were senior cup-winners with Belvedere and Clongowes respectively.
• The Jesuit Community at the Cave of S. Ignatius in Manresa (Spain) is offering the 30-day Spiritual Exercises in English and Spanish on a residential basis. For details, consult www.covamanresa.cat.
• Donal Doyle SJ, visited Bill Johnston lately and found him responsive and alert, though hard to understand: “Bill is so serene and at peace. It shows in his eyes and face. His whole countenance radiates peace”.

Welcoming into the Church

At the Easter vigil Mass in Gardiner Street church this year, Dusan Sabol, a UCD student from Slovakia, was fully received into the Catholic Church, after a few years of preparation and accompaniment. He was baptised and confirmed, and he received his First Holy Communion. When asked publicly why he wished to be received into the Church, he said that he felt strongly that he had met Christ in the people he encountered and that the desire to be fully in communion with the Church they represented steadily grew within him. Leon Ó Giolláin SJ, a chaplain in UCD, performed the baptism. Dusan was warmly welcomed by the congregation afterwards. Many of them greeted him with words of appreciation and encouragement. See this YouTube video for the baptism ceremony.

JESUITICA: Clerical dress

Matteo Ricci SJ, a very innovative Jesuit missionary who lived in China from 1582 until his death in 1610, described Jesuit dress at the court of the Ming Emperor: “We have let our beards grow and our hair down to our ears; we have adopted the special dress that the literati wear, which is of purple silk, and the hem of the robe and collar and the edges are bordered with a band of blue silk a little less than a palm wide.”

Malta – douze points!

Speaking at the last Province Assembly, Fr Mark Rotsaert SJ spoke of the important reference to communications in the GC35 documents. He endorsed the work of the Jesuit Communications Centre in Dublin as a role-model for Jesuits and colleagues looking to develop a coherent communications strategy. Since then, a four-country-strong intra-provincial communications team has met in the JCC, the manager Pat Coyle (pictured here) has been to Belgium to help develop the Province’s communications plan, and just last week, she went to Malta to provide the same service. While there, Pat met with representatives from major Maltese apostolates, including JRS, JCFJ, the Paulo Freire literacy programme, and the spirituality centre. She also met with journalists from Maltese radio, television and the print media whom, she says, hold the Jesuits there in high esteem. Read more »

Forthcoming events

• On 6 May St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, is hosting a symposium: “Hints of glory: transcendence and the Arts”. Details from icfc@may.ie   or phone 01-7083349.
• The ‘Fun of Sport’, organised by the Belvedere College Union, takes place from 1.30 to 5.00 pm on Sunday May 24th at Old Belvedere Rugby Club, Anglesea Rd.  For further details go to www.belvounion.ie 
• Belvedere College Choir Team holds its annual musical evening at 7.30 p.m. on 9 May in the O’Reilly Theatre. Details from frances.stokerphelan@upcmail.ie or phone 01-8586600.
• On Wednesday, 6 May, at 7.30 p.m. in Milltown Park, Dr Pat Donlon will launch Fr Kevin Laheen’s book “The Jesuits in Tullabeg, Volume 2″.
• On Tuesday, 12 May, at 7.30 p.m. in Gardiner Street, Bertie Ahern will launch Fr Todd Morrissey’s book: “Where two traditions meet: John Sullivan SJ”.