Mid-summer mission

On 21 June, 32 volunteers, who are travelling abroad with Sli Eile for some of their international programmes, were missioned by the Gardiner Street Congregation while the choir sang its last Mass before the summer break. That was the climax of a day’s celebration of the young adults who come through the doors of 20 Upper Gardener Street throughout the year. People brought their children, played their music, sang their songs, and in lovely sunshine enjoyed a barbeque prepared by Sli Eile in the spirit of John Southard: “The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”

Milltown Summer School

The focus of the Ignatian Summer School at the Milltown Institute was on Social Discernment. The issue was this: Imagine you’re at a meeting where you may be the only person concerned to ‘find God’ in Ignatian fashion. What help can you get from the Ignatian tradition? Brian Grogan led this Workshop; Brian O’Leary unfolded the riches of the Deliberation of 1539; Brian Lennon dealt with ‘Discernment on the hoof” from his experience of the Garvaghy Road. Padraig Swan, Pat Nolan, Peter McVerry and Phyllis Brady kept the discussion grounded by sharing on how discernment was at work in their own lives today. What emerged was that the Deliberation has much to teach us about creating a healthy group which is set on God. A crucial question remains…read below… Read more »

The Jes wins education grant

Coláiste Iognáid (the ‘Jes’) has won a Hewlett Packard Innovation in Education grant which will provide a mobile classroom of tablet PCs. Along with NUI Galway, the Galway school was selected for its commitment to making practical usage of technology in delivering the school curriculum.  The aim is to create a roaming computer suite which would afford the maximum number of students and teachers a unique opportunity to achieve computer literacy and equip them for participation in knowledge economy.  This platform will allow students to access digitally provided content in an efficient and cost effective manner.

Companions on the journey

Jesuits and their colleagues who are leaving for a 9-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land next Monday had a Mass in Gardiner St on Sunday 21 June in preparation. Donal Neary SJ presided. He told the group about St Ignatius’ passion for the land of Jesus ‘birth, and he spoke of  how walking in the footsteps of his Lord led the saint to see the importance of imagination in Christian prayer. Hence Ignatian contemplation encourages people  to place themselves imaginatively, in prayer, in various scenes of Christ’s life. Donal quoted from Brian Grogan SJ’s recent biography of St Ignatius: “The longed-for Jersualem pilgrimage…was an effort to grasp Christ, who although no longer present in physical form in the places associated with his historical presence, became more ardently experienced each day within the heart of the pilgrim”.

JESUITICA: Jesuit left speechless

Many Jesuits are remembered for speaking out. One, however, should be remembered for keeping his mouth shut. In the early 1800s Anthony Kohlmann, a German Jesuit long resident in the United States, became embroiled in a law case that gained huge attention. He had organised the restitution of stolen goods to a man who then tried to get the courts to force him to divulge the thief’s name. He refused, however, to breach the seal of confession. His right to do so was later upheld, and the principle of ‘confessional privilege’ was enshrined in law. It is seen to derive from the first amendment to the constitution, which affirms freedom of religion.

Short Notices

• At the Knock Youth Festival in July, Peter McVerry, the Jesuit who has devoted his life to working with Dublin’s homeless drug addicts, will discuss the power of Christian living. Other attractions include hip-hop dancing, meditation and drumming.
• The JCFJ policy document on housing, which was launched last week, received a welcome boost from Fr Brian D’Arcy in his Sunday World column: “a magnificent document, launched with not nearly as much publicity as it deserved” – ’Report lifts lid on lunacy of big bubble’, followed by an excellent summary of the JCFJ’s findings.

Forthcoming events

• The Annual Pioneer Golf Classic takes place in Clontarf Golf Club on Friday 3rd July 2009. This fundraising event is open to both Pioneers and non-pioneers alike. The cost per team of four is €400. If you are not in a position to enter a team you may wish to sponsor a Tee or Green at a cost of €150 each. For further details, contact Raymond O’Connor at the Pioneers Office. Phone: 01 8749464.

Cardinal launches MacGreil Survey

Micheál MacGréil opted for an internal launch of his report on religious attitudes in the Republic 2007-2008. John Cooney, who has always been fair to Micheál, gave the survey a headline in the Irish Independent: “95% of us still believe there is a God”. The sixty or so who gathered for the launch in Maynooth on 10 June included the Archbishops of Armagh, Tuam and Cashel, the secretary to the hierarchy, and Mgr Hugh Connolly, president of Maynooth, who chaired the meeting. Cardinal Sean Brady took ample notes during Micheál’s presentation (“More than many of my students would take”, commented Micheál), and showed real enthusiasm in his response to the survey. Micheál named the two ministries he would prioritise if he was a bishop: to women and to third-level students. Read Micheál’s summary below: Read more »

Sobering questions

On the day following the  Dublin March for Abuse Victims, Provincial John Dardis met the heads of some ministries to reflect on serious questions: How could Religious lead such split lives, in which commitment to spiritual practices lived side by side with systemic abuse? Was it by buying into the myth of the superiority of priests and religious?  Abuse continues wherever people are not given their full dignity. Why were there so few whistleblowers? Key question: ‘What do you do with the knowledge you have?’ Why did the official church, which had known the Report’s contents, seem so unprepared in its response? Can we ever again trust authority? How do we build a humble, servant church?

JCFJ tackles housing

For several years, a common view of housing was that ‘the boom could only get boomier’, said Kathy Sheridan, Irish Times journalist (pictured here), who launched ‘The Irish Housing System: Vision, Values, Reality’, a new policy paper from the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice on Wednesday, 10 June. However, the comprehensive data and rigorous analysis presented by Dr Michael Punch, School of Sociology, University College Dublin, who compiled the policy paper, showed clearly that the boom and its aftermath have had many negative consequences for individuals and families, and for the economy as a whole. Over forty people, including academics and representatives of a wide range of voluntary organisations, attended the launch in the Mont Clare Hotel, Dublin. Both the policy paper and a summary version are available on the JCFJ website. See photos of the launch here.
Read more »

An Timire ag dul ar aghaidh

An Timire and FÁS have taken on a new manager in a drive to promote Irish-language publications. Fionnuala Mac Aodha (pictured here) will manage both operations from the Messenger office on Leeson Street. Fionnuala has a degree in Psychology and a postgrad in Marketing. Her 15 years of experience with Irish-language media will hold her in good stead as she works to extend the reach of An Timire which, founded in 1911, is the oldest Irish-language magazine in Ireland, perhaps even in the world). The purpose of An Timire is to raise awareness of the Pope’s intentions through articles on religious, cultural and social affairs. And FÁS, which was founded in 1956 by the Jesuits to supply books in Irish that are associated with religion and Christian culture, aids and abets the work of An Timire. Contact details below. Read more »

JRS and local elections

Eugene Quinn, National Director of JRS Ireland responded to allegations by some local election candidates that migrants have not contributed to Irish society as “fundamentally unfair”. In a contribution to a Limerick Leader article, he argues that it is unjust to fail to recognise the significant contribution that migrants workers migrant workers “who live, work hard and pay their taxes here” have made to the Irish economy in recent years. Furthermore, “he urged the public and candidates to remember Ireland’s own history of emigration” and to avoid the temptation “in this time of economic downturn to make foreign national workers ‘scapegoats’”.

Facing the fury

Brian Grogan was one of the Jesuits who joined the solidarity-with-victims march in Dublin. He was startled by the level of anger even in a silent march. Though he was not in clerical dress, he was accosted by one man: “Are you a priest?” “I am,” said Brian. “Well f- you priests.” The man looked closer. “Are you a Jesuit?” “Yes.” “Well, f- you Jesuit bastards,” said the man. In face of this abuse Brian said nothing, but felt the frustration of not being able to make his voice heard – a tiny intimation, he reflected, of the frustration, humiliation and powerlessness which victims of abuse in industrial schools experienced.