Go home from Goma

It is over a year since Gerry Clarke joined the Jesuit Refugee Service in Goma, DR Congo, which is about as troubled and dangerous a spot as any in Africa. Though the crushing of the rebellion is supposed to be complete, and the war over, this weekend Medecins Sans Frontieres has accused the Congolese army of enticing Hutus to a MSF clinic near Goma and then killing over 60 of them. Gerry describes how difficult it is to move people from the dependent and protected life-style of the refugee camps to managing their own lives at home. Here is his latest bulletin. Read more »

Belvedere welcomes Sir Terry

Belvedere College afforded a great welcome to Sir Terry Wogan (Class of ’56) on his return to the school for the Union’s Annual Dinner on Friday November 6th. He was invited to be the Guest Speaker at the event by this year’s President, Frank Young, a classmate and longtime friend. True to form, Sir Terry entertained his audience of over 230 past pupils and guests with some hilarious, and typically self deprecating, anecdotes from his career as a leading TV and Radio personality and his fond memories of his years in Belvedere were a particular hit with the past pupils. The picture shows, left to right: Gerry Foley, Headmaster; Sir Terry; Fr. Derek Cassidy SJ, Rector; and Frank Young, Union President.

Focus on faith at Interface conference

Michael Paul Gallagher SJ gave the keynote address to over one hundred young theolgians from North America, Continental Europe, the UK and Ireland on Friday 6 Nov 2009. He told the gathering that the real battleground for faith was the field of imagination, which is a vulnerable area but also a central place where faith can become real. His reflections led to lively discussion on the role of imagination and faith. The people gathered there were mostly lay men and women, doctoral students, who had come for the weekend to explore and debate latest trends in theology. Ten discussion papers were presented over the weekend. Cardinal Sean Brady, pictured here with Michael Paul, attended the opening session.

TEFL in Belvedere

AMDG Express is always looking out for growth points in the ministries we cover. Occasionally good works are rewarded with publicity, recognition, and even medals and awards. That is not what they want. When we do good, says the Gospel, our left hand should not know what our right hand is doing. But readers will be glad to know of a growth point of really good work in Great Denmark Street. It started as part of the Religious Education programme in Belvedere, then involved training in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), then linked up with O’Connell’s School, and later again with the Jesuit Refugee Service. The operation is booming.

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Corkery on Ratzinger: “sympathetic but not uncritical”

In his new book, Joseph Ratzinger’s Theological Ideas: Wise Cautions and Legitimate Hopes, Jim Corkery SJ argues against any simplistic caricaturing of Ratzinger’s thought, which he claims is highly nuanced and has exhibited striking consistency over the years: “Cardinal Ratzinger is Pope Benedict and contrary to what many believe there has been no huge shift in his thinking since becoming Pope.” One US theologian has called the book ‘sympathetic but not uncritical’ as for example in Corkery’s comment:  “I have been shocked when reading the scholarly writings of Joseph Ratzinger over the years at the extent to which the names of women are almost entirely absent from the footnotes, especially in view of their contribution to theological reflection in the last three decades or so.” Read more »

Celebration with music

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Crescent College Comprehensive in Limerick, its music teacher Roisin Lavery organized a  Celebración de Música on October 10th. Choirs and orchestras from Crescent, Belvedere, Clongowes, Colaiste Iognaid, as well as Laurel Hill, Limerick, and St. Dominic’s, Cabra, took part. Two past students from Crescent acted as adjudicators, namely Bill Whelan (Composer of Riverdance) and Professor Reamonn Keary from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Congratulations to Roisin Lavery and to all who took part in this unique and most enjoyable Celebración.

JESUITICA: Mungret man at the front

Tomorrow, Remembrance Day, we might think of Michael Bergin, born in Roscrea, schooled in Mungret, a remarkable Irish Jesuit chaplain with the Anzac force, which he joined as a trooper in order to accompany the Australians to Gallipoli. He was the only Australian chaplain to have joined in the ranks, and the only one never to set foot in Australia. He always aimed to be where his men were in greatest danger, and having survived the Turkish campaign he was killed by a German shell on the Ypres salient in Flanders. The citation for the Military Cross, awarded posthumously, read: “Padre Bergin is always to be found among his men, helping them when in trouble, and inspiring them with his noble example and never-failing cheerfulness.”

Short Notices

• There is a Jesuit link in the significant appointment of Canon Pat Browne as the first Catholic chaplain to Britain’s Houses of Parliament. A late vocation, Pat graduated from the  Mungret Apostolic School in 1967-68, and is remembered as a lovely guy and talented singer, who won a Feis Ceoil award as a tenor.
• From Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta (FÁS): Ba mhór againn tú a bheith i láthair nuair a chomóraimid saothar na n-údar ar fhoilsigh Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta a gcuid leabhar le dhá bhliain anuas: Séamas de Vál,  Éadáil Ní Choinn; Helen Ó Murchú, Ceisteanna na Linne; Pádraig Ó Croiligh, Rún na hEaglaise; Mairéad Ní Bhuachalla RSC, Slí Chun Dé; Séamas de Vál, Frank Duff; agus Alan Mac Eochagáin SJ, Scéal an Oilithrigh. Beidh Cathal Goan inár measc chun na leabhair a chur i láthair agus an obair atá curtha i gcrích a cheiliúradh. Dé Máirt, 17 Samhain 2009, 6.00 i.n., 35 Sráid Líosáin Íochtarach, Baile Átha Cliath 2.
• In the Rite and Reason column of the Irish Times today, 10 Nov, Brendan Butler provides background and commentary on the murder of six Jesuit priests and their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador on 16 November 1989, twenty years ago next week.

Forthcoming events

10 November: Jim Corkery’s book launch (see “Corkery on Ratzinger” above) – Milltown Theatre, 5.30 pm

10 November: Liam Lawton in Concert – Gardiner Street Church, 8.00pm

12 November: Lecture by Patrick Jordan on Dorothy Day – Purcell House, All Hallows, Dublin 9, 7.30 pm

15 November: At the Gospel Choir Mass in the Virgin Mary Church, Shangan Road, Ballymun, a Ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the murder of two women and six Jesuits at the University of San Salvador, 7.00 pm. The theme of the Mass is “Accountability – No Peace without Justice”. All are welcome.

16 November:Milltown Institute: Screening of “Innocent Voices” in commemoration of the El Salvador martyrs, followed by reception, 7pm.

17 November: Launch of six FÁS publications by Cathal Goan – Leeson Street, 6.00 pm: see Short Notices.

18 November 7 p.m.: Irish School of Ecumenics sponsors a public lecture by Professor Ron Large on “Vietnam-Iraq: Language and the Ethics of War and Peace” at the Synge Theatre, Arts Block, Trinity College Dublin.