Reflecting on the encyclical

Maynooth College’s Michael Devlin Lecture for 2010 will be given by Dr Patrick Riordan SJ, of Heythrop College, University of London. His theme will be ‘A Blessed Rage for the Common Good’, and it will be the centrepiece of a half-day conference on the papal encyclical Caritas in Veritate. The conference, including Dr Riordan’s lecture, will take place in Renehan Hall on 16 February. Other speakers at the conference will address the encyclical from the perspectives of theology, economics and development. The number of places available is limited, so advance registration is required. The full brochure of the conference can be downloaded here: Maynooth conference on Caritas in Veritate, Feb 2010.

Praying with the Province for Lent

The Irish Jesuit Province has just issued a Cycle of Prayer booklet to help those who work in its various apostolates to pray together during Lent. “This simple prayer guide,” writes Provincial Fr John Dardis in his foreword, “is designed to accompany us through the Lenten period, and takes as its theme ‘Praying Together for Renewal and New Life’, based on the Province Apostolic Plan and focusing on our mission today.” The original suggestion for the guide came from Ken Rue (pictured here) of Messenger Publications, who raised with Deirdre Soffe (Partnership in Mission) the question of getting the many Jesuit works in Ireland to support each other through prayer. The first fruit of this discussion is the current guide, designed and laid out by Triona McKee and Paula Nolan at the Messenger. The full text is available here.

London launch of spirituality association

Michael O’Sullivan SJ was the invited Irish delegate at the British Association for the Study of Spirituality (BASS),  launched in London on 29 January. The creation of BASS is the latest initiative in a growing worldwide trend concerning spirituality as a new academic discipline. Its inaugural conference in May will explore the relevance of spirituality for the socio-economic, political and cultural challenges in contemporary society. Michael O’Sullivan SJ, a serving member on the Governing Board of the International Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, will deliver a paper on spirituality and social justice. A version of his paper, ‘Authentic Spirituality and a Journey with Incest’, delivered at the second European conference on the academic study of Christian spirituality in London last July, will be published by Continuum this summer.

Chaplains welcomed in Orange lodge

“The work of Chaplains in third-level institutions around Ireland is increasingly valued by parents and the University authorities”, according to Bishop Donal McKeown, the Catholic Bishop’s liaison person with chaplains. He was speaking at the annual general meeting of third-level chaplains network (CN3) in Dromalis, Larne, on 24-26 January. Jesuit Leon Ó Giollain (pictured here), Chair of CN3, welcomed representatives of the four main churches to the weekend event where the theme of the conference was Encountering the Other. The key-note speaker was Derek Poole, who works for reconciliation among both Loyalist and Republican combatants, and the programme included a visit to the headquarters of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland in Belfast.

JESUITICA: The waterfront priest

One of the most positive depictions of a Catholic priest in the movies can be found in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954). Father Barry (played by Karl Malden), incensed by corruption and violence in the mob-run longshoreman’s union, puts pressure on young Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to do the right thing and give evidence against the union boss. The script was written by Budd Schulberg, who based Father Barry on a Harlem-born Jesuit, Fr John Corridan. Fr Corridan had long and successfully combatted the gangsters who controlled the piers of New York Harbour. Schulberg described him as a “tall, youthful, balding, energetic, ruddy-faced Irishman whose speech was a fascinating blend of Hell’s Kitchen jargon, baseball slang, the facts and figures of a master in economics and the undeniable humanity of Christ.”

Forthcoming events

• 10 February: Professor Terence O’Reilly, Veale lecture on St Ignatius and the World of the Royal Court. Milltown Institute. 4pm
• 16 February and each Tue in Lent: Guided prayer in Manresa Centre for Spirituality, Clontarf. 7.30pm-9.00pm
• 18 February: Gerry O’Hanlon SJ lecture on The Recession and God. St Mary’s Church, Haddington Rd. 8pm
• 20 February: Annual Fr John Sullivan Mass. Gardiner St. Church. 11am

‘Magis’ – learning more

Thirteen volunteers, some from Galway and Donegal, took part in the Slí Eile (Jesuit Outreach to Young Adults) ‘Magis experience’, working with the homeless in Dublin, from 29 to 31 January. According to Noelle Fitzpatrick of Slí Eile (pictured here), the Magis experience is ”a programme with practical action for social justice, wrapped around personal and communal prayer and reflection. ’Magis’ means ‘more’ in latin and the immersion experience helps young people to consider the ‘more’ of their lives.” She says it’s not an easy weekend as people are nudged out of their comfort zones, but as they reflect on the experience many discover an ‘empathy with’ rather than a ‘sympathy for’ the people they meet, along with a growth in self-awareness. A series of Magis experiences on the topics of alcohol abuse, disability and refugees will take place before June 2010.

Mission at home and abroad

Parishioners in Star of the Sea Church, Sandymount, were given an update one year on about the success of their Friendship Programme with the Jesuit parish of Matero, in Lusaka, Zambia. In the past year money collected by the parishioners in Sandymount was used to hire teachers in the Matero Parish Community School and to fund the expansion of the feeding programme  for orphans and vulnerable children in the school from 72 to almost 200 pupils. Mambo Choobe SJ, Director of the Feeding programme, sent his greetings and thanks to the Dublin parish saying education was the key to long-term progress for the children in their school. The Friendship Programme promotes cultural and personal links between the schools, children and parishioners in each parish.

Navigating John

Phil Fogarty SJ’s second book in the  series Navigating the Gospels has just been published by Columba Press. The book  examines the Gospel of John and is a guide for the general reader based on contemporary scholarship. According to the author, John’s gospel, in all probability, reflects communal memories of what Jesus said and did, but not the same memories preserved in the other gospels. But he says, whilst it is important to understand what the evangelist means, the reader is also invited to let the gospel speak to the heart as well as the head. He recommends to readers the Ignatian tradition of contemplating the gospel, by undertaking an imaginative journey with the people in the stories told, identifying with them in the hope of better appreciating each gospel’s message.

Short notices

• Joe Duffy’s Spirit Level on RTE on 7 February included a feature about Fr Joe Mallin SJ, the 94-year-old Irish Jesuit who is the son of Michael Mallin, one of the executed rebels in 1916. It showed Fr Joe walking around Kilmainham Gaol and the Garden of Remembrance as he reflected on his father’s life and faith – particularly his remark in his final letter from prison: “Joseph, my little man, be a priest if you can”.
• At the Six Nations rugby match between Ireland and Italy, the Irish side could boast six Jesuit alumni: Gordon D’Arcy and Rob Kearney (Clongowes); David Wallace and Eoin Reddan (The Crescent); Kevin McLaughlin (Gonzaga); and Cian Healy (Belvedere). Is this a record?
• A new documentary film by Jim Davis (Cineworld, 21 February, 3.30pm) will shine a searchlight on a controversial moment in recent Dublin history. In early 1982, residents of Hardwicke Street (part of Gardiner St parish) called a meeting to address the epidemic of heroin use in the flats and soon had formed a group known as Concerned Parents against Drugs. Using film, newspaper and photographic archives, Davis’s film reconstructs their rise and fall.

Jesuit theologian’s response to Murphy report

Theologian Gerry O’Hanlon SJ’s article written in the wake of the Murphy report has attracted media attention after its publication in this month’s Furrow magazine.  Referring to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s statement that now was “without doubt a time of deep crisis for the Dublin Archdiocese”, the former Provincial of the Jesuits in Ireland says that ”We are at a watershed in Irish Catholicism, with repercussions for Catholicism worldwide”. He also believes that the clerical abuse scandal points to a deeper crisis within the Catholic Church. Looking back to the 1960′s and the hopes of Vatican II, he critiques the Church’s power structure that has excluded women in particular and the laity in general. And in pointing a way forward, he suggests a national assembly to address the findings of the Murphy report. Read the full aticle below.

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