John Dardis SJ appointed head of CEP

John Dardis SJ has been appointed president of the Conference of European Provincials and will take up his post at the end of October. He has been Provincial of Ireland since 2004 and will finish in that post on July 31st this year. ‘I am very happy to be given this new mission,’ said John. ‘It is a critical time in Europe. The Jesuit Provinces want to work together to deal with the common problems we have. How does faith confront and dialogue with secularism? How can we reach out to those on the margins? These are two of the critical issues, and I feel privileged to be asked to play a role in helping Jesuit Provinces tackle these issues together.’ Mark Rotsaert  SJ, the present President, expressed his gratitude for the availability of John Dardis, adding: “ I am sure that he will take on this new responsibility with creativity and courage.” Read more »

Cecil McGarry SJ Memorial Fund

The Eastern Africa Province of the Society of Jesus has established a memorial fund to honour the life and memory of Fr Cecil McGarry SJ. Cecil, who died in Nairobi, Kenya, in November 2009, was an Irish Jesuit who dedicated more than twenty-five years of his life to Africa. Initially he worked with African Jesuits, but later he collaborated a great deal with other religious congregations and with the laity to help address the needs of a vibrant and growing church. Prior to going to Africa, Cecil was Irish Provincial in the period after the Second Vatican Council (1969-1975), after which he worked at the Jesuit Curia in Rome. It is hoped that the Fr Cecil McGarry SJ Memorial Fund will help to continue the legacy in East Africa of this exceptional Irish missionary. Read more »

JRS calendar available for 2010

JRS Ireland’s Intercultural and Interfaith Calendar 2010 is available now. Aimed at raising awareness of diversity in Ireland, it marks the feast days of many faiths as well as national days, international days, and bank holidays throughout the year. A brief guide to the faiths referred to is also provided. On top of this, each monthly page in the calendar presents a key fact relating to immigration and asylum in Ireland, helping to provide a context for the many challenges and opportunities faced by migrants in Ireland. To order copies of this calendar, contact Nicola Morris at 01 8148644 or send an email to info@jrs.ie. The proceeds will be used to support the projects and services of JRS Ireland in Dublin and Limerick.

Pioneering efforts in South Africa

Mayo man and active Pioneer Muredach Tuffy recently returned from South Africa where he was  building homes for – and links with – the people of South Africa. Muredach, a volunteer with the Niall Mellon Township Trust, was one of the 950 volunteers on the November 2009 Building Blitz. While there, he held a meeting with South African members from the global Pioneer network and was warmly welcomed. “The Pioneer Association may have been founded in Ireland but the Pioneers are now a vibrant world-wide organisation. It’s really important that each country continues to make efforts and reach out beyond their own Pioneer centre and country to keep their links with other countries alive.” Muredach plans to return next year to foster the ongoing connections between the Pioneer groups of Ireland and South Africa.

Where four Provinces meet…

A group of 18 Jesuits, mainly in formation, met in Manresa, Dublin, from 28-31 December 2009 to discuss and discern possible Inter-Provincial collaboration between British, Irish, Dutch and Flanders provinces. The meeting was hosted by Irish formation delegate Kevin O’Rourke SJ. North West European collaboration delegate Tom Leyden SJ and British Provincial Michael Holman SJ gave the input on the first two days. The Jesuits present, many of whom had been through the joint novitiate in Birmingham, were asked to reflect on their experiences of inter-provincial collaboration and give feedback to the four Provincials on possible ways forward and on future priorities.

The cause of Mary Ward

The Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto sisters) were given great cause to celebrate on 19 December last when Pope Benedict declared their foundress, Mary Ward, ‘Venerable’. This is the first step towards canonisation, and it was a cause of extra jubilation that the decree should have been promulgated during the 400th anniversary of Mary Ward’s founding grace. When she set up a religious community in Saint Omer in 1609, she intended to bring the spirit of the Jesuits to women. This met with great opposition as there was no precedent for consecrated women living uncloistered lives. Mary Ward was undeterred, however, and she eventually received all the approval she needed to continue her work. Read the press statement of the Congregatio Jesu and the IBVM below. Read more »

Film review: A Serious Man

(Film review of Joel and Ethan Coen’s recent movie, A Serious Man, by Brendan Staunton SJ.)

A Serious Man is a serious film, raising serious questions. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the innocent suffer? How discern a good from an evil spirit? If these issues remind you of Job in the Old Testament, you are spot-on. This film is The Book of Job, albeit set among a Jewish community in 1967 suburban Minnesota. It is even framed like a book, with a prologue, chapter headings and a symbolic ending. Read more »

Strong finish to 2009 for JRS Ireland

Jesuit Refugee Service Ireland has extended a “huge thank-you” to all those who made donations to its Christmas Toy Appeal. With their help, the JRS was able to distribute presents to 50 children of asylum seekers living in hostels in Dublin city and county. A number of other end-of-year initiatives went equally well, including a Christmas celebration for the Clondalkin Towers homework club and parties for each of the English language classes in Belvedere College, Hatch Hall and Clongowes Wood College. “We would like to express our gratitude,” said JRS Ireland director Eugene Quinn, “to all our volunteer tutors, who have been so dedicated and committed to their asylum seeking, refugee and migrant students throughout the year.” The JRS also organized a Christmas celebration in its Gardiner St offices for colleagues and volunteers connected with the various Jesuit works in the area.

JESUITICA: Voltaire’s education

Even though he was an inveterate opponent of the Catholic Church, to the end of his days Voltaire felt deep gratitude to the Jesuits who had educated him. He never stopped insisting that the Church was the enemy of progress and sought to “keep people as ignorant and submissive as children”; and yet he waxed lyrical about the profound and expansive education in the classics, theatre, rhetoric, philosophy, and natural science which he received at the Collège Louis-le-Grand (1704-11). This is what he had to say about the Jesuit teachers he had there: “I was educated for seven years by men who took unrewarded and indefatigable pains to form the minds and morals of youth. Is it credible that anyone should fail to have some feeling of gratitude toward such teachers?”

Short notices

• Peter McVerry appeared on Joe Duffy’s Spirit Level on RTE 1, one of three guests invited to present a “20-20 vision for Ireland” coming into the new year. He spoke of how Ireland is going through ont only an economic crisis but also a ‘crisis of values’. See programme on RTE Player (go to 21:30).
• Your prayers are asked for the six first-year novices in Birmingham (Hennie Barnard from South Africa; Jos Moons from the Netherlands; Bart Baele from Flanders; and Niall Leahy, Ronan McCoy, and Joe Keegan from Ireland), who start the Spiritual Exercises at Loyola Hall on 8 January.  Meanwhile the second-years have left for their Long Experiments until Easter. Shane Daly (HIB) is working in a children’s home on the outskirts of Lusaka in Zambia. Mick O’Connor (BRI) and Samuel Overloop (BSE) are bound for Guyana but are, at the time of writing, stranded in Brixton as all flights have been cancelled by the snow.
• The annual week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins on Monday, January 18. The theme for 2010 is ‘You are witnesses to these things’ ( Luke 24:48). Helpful resource materials can be downloaded from www.ctbi.org.uk. This year the centenary of the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910 is being celebrated – an event that is often said to mark the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement.
• ‘Into the Desert: The Contemplative Face of New Monasticism’ by Douglas Burton-Christie – an event organized by New Monasticism Ireland and held in All Hallows College, Dublin, on January 16. For booking details, contact Michael O’Sullivan SJ at: mosullivan@allhallows.ie
• Manresa is repeating the ‘Movies that Matter’ programme, which was hugely popular last year. Again this year Sr. Avril O’Regan RLR will explore with the participants issues of faith and meaning through the medium of film. The series starts at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 13 January, and continues for six evenings – at fortnightly intervals – until 24 March. Payment is at attendants’ discretion.
• The doctoral thesis of Dalibor Renic SJ was approved at a viva on 5 January. The title of the dissertation is “Ethical Elements in Epistemic Normativity: Lonergan and Virtue Epistemology.”

Forthcoming events

• 18 January: Soul Journey – Guided meditation and prayer will be held in Gardiner St. Church each Monday at 6pm for further information contact the parish office on 01 8363477
• 22-25 January: Coláiste Iognáid annual Kairos retreat in Clongowes Wood College. For further information contact Clongowes: 045-868202
• 23-24 January: Neurolinguistic Programming seminar – contact Myles O’Reilly SJ (01-4972943)
• 26 January: Psychologist David Coleman fundraising lecture, “Getting Your Child through their Teens in the ‘Teenies’ “. Belvedere College, Gt. Denmark St., Dublin 1. 7.30pm