The Jes goes hi-tech

Catherine Hickey of Coláiste Iognáid has been invited by Hewlett Packard (HP) and the International Society for Technology in Education to attend the HP Innovations in Education Worldwide Summit in San Francisco later this month. In May 2009 the school won a HP Innovation in Education Grant Award, as the result of the application which Catherine submitted. They received a roaming computer suite, comprising 22 HP Elite Tablet PCs, widescreen LCD Monitors, and two wireless printers, all integrated in a specially-designed Internet trolley. It is hoped that this e-classroom will enable the school to integrate ICT across the school curricula. Already, through fruitful links with the Maths Department in University College Galway, new software has been installed on the tablets, which are being used as a teaching tool in the classroom.

A pen portrait of Peter

John O’Rourke of Trinity News wrote the following interview-based article on Peter Sexton SJ, once the music co-ordinator in John’s school and now a chaplain in his college, TCD. “Fr Peter Sexton SJ is a formidable man. My own earliest memory of Trinity’s latest recruit to the burgeoning chaplaincy team is of him in his role as music coordinator for Mass in my secondary school. On my first day in boarding school, I remember him at the pulpit intoning the arcane words of a Latin hymn for us to chime in and repeat. Nervous looks darted around the church as the new brood of overwhelmed twelve year olds wondered how much enthusiasm could be feigned without looking too “uncool,” before Fr Sexton launched into what we were soon to realise would be his trademark move. [Read on...] Read more »

Religious Education symposium

Teachers from the different Jesuit colleges met in the Westgrove Hotel in Clane on 5 February to reflect on the context, value and quality of Religious Education in our schools. The ‘symposium’ was prompted by Fr. General’s exhortation that “all involved in the Jesuit schools in Ireland [should work] to ensure the intellectual quality of what we offer”.  Assisting reflection were Andrew O’Connell (Presentation Brothers & Iona Institute) and Fr. Bruce Bradley (CWC), both of whom spoke about the critical need in Ireland to give students a certain theological literacy and imbue them with a strong sense of public service. Other speakers included Brian Flannery (Education Delegate), Frank Clarke (CWC), and Nicky Cuddihy (Crescent), all of whom reflected on the relative merits of existing programmes. In conclusion, Danny McNelis (Gonzaga) reflected, in his own inimitable way, on the life and spirituality of Ignatius Loyola.

Mission Offices meet

A meeting of the Mission Offices of the Irish, British and Belgian Mission Offices was held in Brussels on 19 February. John K Guiney, Murt Curry and Tom Layden, the Delegate for Interprovincial Cooperation and Planning for the four North-Western Provinces, were in attendance. One of the central issues discussed was the need for advocacy regarding the rights of children, opposing child abuse in all its forms – child trafficking, child soldiers, child labour, young girls’ dowries as a source of family income, etc. The attendants took time out to visit the Africa Museum at Tervuren, which showed the enormous variety of life and culture of the Congo region – which was personally owned by King Leopold II and was left to the Belgian government in his will when he died!

Forthcoming events

• 23 February and 2 & 9 March: Lenten Reflection evenings – reflection and prayer on Lenten spaces in our lives. Slí Eile, 20 Upper Gardiner Street, 7-8pm.
• 24 February: 8-Day directed retreat in Manresa, starting on Wednesday 24th Feb at 7pm cost for this retreat is €615 for further details contact Manresa Tel: 01  8331352
• 24 February: Movies that Matter, Manresa
• 2 March: ‘ Favourites from Luke’, a reflective look at familiar stories from St Luke’s Gospel, by Donal Neary SJ. Fr John Sullivan Room,  Gardiner Street Church, 8-9pm.
• 4 March: St Francis Xavier’s Gardiner Street Church. Novena of Grace starting on 4 March to 12 March.
• 6 March: Neuro-linguistic Programming – weekend course held in Gonzaga College, Dublin 6. For further details contact Myles O’Reilly SJ. Tel: 01 4972943 ext: 216

Jesuit who taught saint turns 101

The Jesuit priest who taught Saint Alberto Hurtado English, Fr Frank Finnigan SJ, celebrated his 101st birthday on Thursday 18 February. He is the first Irish Jesuit to live to such an age. As well as receiving the birthday wishes of his fellow Jesuits in the Gardiner St Community, he also got a congratulatory telegram and cheque from President McAleese. Fr Finnegan’s student Alberto Hurtado was a Chilean Jesuit who died  in 1952 and was canonised on  23 October 2005. After joining the Jesuits he came to Ireland and stayed with the Jesuits in Rathfarnham where Fr Finnigan taught him. Fr Finnegan is a fluent Irish speaker. Also, he was a teacher of classics in Crescent, Galway and Clongowes, and a teacher of philosophy in Ranchi, India. He is a writer, pianist, historian, archivist and librarian. His researches contributed heavily to the beatification of Dominic Collins.

Short notices

• The pictured Colaiste Iognaid (Jes) Transition Year students were winners in the ‘Young Volunteer of the Year’ category in the Mayor’s Award. Mayor Declan McDonnell is pictured with Donal Lyons and the students receiving their award; the group collected over 8000 Euro for Foundation Nepal through bag-packing and selling their own Christmas cards.
• UCD Chaplaincy will hold the first ever inter-religious faith sharing of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Bahais and some of no particular religious affiliation who live their lives according to clear ethics or ideology.  ‘Celebrating Religions on Campus’ takes place in the St Stephen’s Chaplaincy on Tuesday 23 February at 4pm.
• Dublin City University has accredited All Hallows College with an MA programme in Applied Christian Spirituality.It’s a version of the very successful similar Masters at the Milltown Institute, and written by Dr Michael O’Sullivan SJ, programme Director, and Dr Bernadette Flanagan PBVM. The first applicant for the programme is a Nigerian Jesuit priest.
• On 10 February, tender documents were sent to eight contractors for the new extension and refurbishments at Coláiste Iognáid. The contracts have till mid-March to submit their tenders, after which a report will be sent to the Department of Education and Science. All going well, the project will be approved, the contractor will be appointed, and the work will be ready to go by early June.
• From Noel Barber SJ in response to our notice in the last issue about Jesuit alumni on Irish rugby teams: “A piece of rugby trivia relating to the number of ex-Jesuit boys on the Irish team against Italy: there were six Old Belvederians on the Irish team against England in 1946: Gerry and Kevin Quinn (brothers), Brendan Quinn (no relation), Karl Mullen, Jack Belton and Des Thorpe. I am unable to recall if any other Jesuit college supplied players.”
• Peter McVerry SJ and Gerry O’Hanlon SJ responded in the media to the Murphy Report and the visit of the Irish Bishop’s to Rome on Mon 15 Feb. Peter McVerry took part in a panel discussion on TV3 with Vincent Browne, Tue 16 Feb and Gerry O’Hanlon was a guest on The Forum, RTE Radio One, Sun 21 Feb.

Surviving suicide

Brendan McManus SJ has an article on ‘Surviving Suicide’ in the February edition of the contemporary Irish Church journal, The Furrow. In a raw and personal account of the family tragedy that was the suicide of his brother, Brendan relates how they tried to come to terms with the devastation, the guilt and the many unanswered questions that suicide leaves. In the light of the persistent negative attitudes and stigma around suicide, he asks why there is no official liturgy or mass for suicide to help grieving family members at this critical time. Being able to put together a liturgy with the help of family members, he says, was one of the important moments: “the power of appropriate ritual at times like these can be enormously helpful”. The full article can be read here.

“Think about drink – and drink less”

The Pioneer Association launched their Lenten Campaign on Ash Wednesday, 17 February, by calling on people to think about their drinking habits and drink less or abstain totally during Lent. The Association’s Lenten message is specifically targeted at half of all Irish drinkers – that’s four in 10 women and seven in ten men – that research findings show have a harmful pattern of drinking alcohol. According to Padraig Brady, CEO of the Pioneers, there’s been “a staggering 147 per cent increase in the number of  hopsital discharges with alcohol-related diseases over the last ten years”. Aine Brady TD, Minister for Older People and Health Promotion, backed the Pioneers’ call. Read the full press release below.

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Postcard from the edge

Paul Andrews SJ, who last December took time out from his duties as director of the Jesuit Communication Centre to do parish work in New Zealand, wrote this week to AMDG, keeping us abreast of his sojourn in the antipodes. Read on.

“I am writing this in a small room in the presbytery in Gore, a country town, built by hard-working farmers, many of them of Irish blood. I have stayed on site since I arrived in December, occupied with parish work and some writing, as well as some fishing and swimming and praying. Last weekend I made a sortie north into Central Otago, a hot, dry landscape once famous for gold-mining. Read more »

Remembering Ricci and the Church in China

‘Ricci Remembered – The Church in China Today’ is the title of a conference taking place on Saturday 8 May in Dublin, to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of  Matteo Ricci in Beijing, in 1610. Ricci was a Jesuit scientist and missionary to China and a pioneer for the Church reaching out to other cultures. The conference will have speakers exploring  his life and times, his contribtution to China, the place of the Church in China, and the role of Jesuits there today. A celebration of Chinese culture with food, music, song and a demonstration of  Chinese writing will follow the morning’s talks. On Sunday 9 May, a special celebratory bi-lingual Mass will take place in Gardiner Street at 3pm, with Irish Provincial John Dardis presiding.

Praise God for good and for bad

On Ash Wednesday, Bob Faricy SJ, well-known US theologian and spiritual writer, was guest lecturer at the Milltown Institute. His topic was ‘Giving Thanks and Praise’; he told those present that praising and thanking God for everything in their lives was a most powerful form of prayer. “Don’t just praise God for what’s good in your life, praise him for what’s wrong too – no matter how difficult that is. Just try it because it works. God can turn all things to the good, and He will.” Fr Faricy remarked that this had been his experience when as a teenager he had gone badlyoff the rails: ” Now, looking back over sixty years, I see that anything right in my life came from God drawing good out of what I did wrong”.