Short notices

• How, when, and why did Jerusalem emerge as the sacred city of the Jews? This was the theme of a lecture by Professor Lee I. Levine of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, at the Cardinal Bea Centre in Rome, which is directed by Irish Jesuit Tom Casey SJ. Tom is pictured here with Professor Lawrence Schiffman, Chair of New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Professor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University (NYU), after the lecture.
• Michael Paul Gallagher pre-recorded a 30 minute ‘Dialogue’ with Andy O’Mahony, dealing with the transitions in his life (mainly moving from UCD to Rome), with writers and film directors he has known through UCD, and with his forthcoming book, Faith Maps: ten religious explorers from Newman to Joseph Ratzinger. It is the first in a new series and will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on Holy Saturday, 3rd April on RTE Radio 1.
• JRS and Slí Eile will hold their annual Easter Egg Hunt for children, in Mountjoy Square Park on Easter Sunday morning. Drop your Easter Eggs or donations into the Slí Eile office, 20 Upper Gardiner St.
• Alison Kelly, Director for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in the Department of Foreign Affairs, will be speaking on “Next Steps for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: An Irish Perspective” on Wednesday, March 24 at 7pm in the Robert Emmet Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin. All are welcome to attend this public lecture, which is organised by the International Peace Studies programme at the Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin and Irish CND.

Forthcoming events

• 11 March: Manresa 9-day retreat starting on 11 March and finishing Easter Sunday, 4 April
• 24  March: Movies that Matter, Manresa
• 27 March: Pre-marriage course Milltown Institute further information on jesuitmarriage.com
• 28 March: Lay Retreat Association one-day retreat for Men will be held in The Emmaus Centre, Swords, Co. Dublin
• 30 March: Gardiner Street, Holy week Reconciliation Service at 7.30pm
• 1 April: Gardiner Street, Mass of the Lord’s Supper 7.30pm followed by Prayer in the Garden 8.45pm
• 2 April: Gardiner Street, Good Friday Stations of the Cross at 12 noon. Celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 3pm. Followed by Prayer around the Cross at 7.30pm
• 3 April: Gardiner Street,  Holy Saturday Easter Vigil at 9.30pm
• 3 April: Michael Paul Gallagher with Andy O’Mahony, RTE Radio 1, 7pm

JRS Ireland presents ECDL Certificates

Four students who have been doing computer training at the Jesuit Refugee Service Ireland offices were presented with certificates on Friday 12 March to mark their accomplishments. JRS Ireland runs computer classes every Friday morning, and the students get to sit exams for the ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). Two students (Lana and Mobolaji) passed Module 1 and the other two (Bella and Lassane) passed Modules 1 and 2. The classes would not be possible without the commitment and dedication of JRS Ireland volunteer Paul Clancy who is the ECDL Tutor. JRS Ireland is also hugely grateful to the staff at Eirgrid, who donated the PCs for these classes, and in particular to Paul O’Rourke. The ECDL is an internationally recognised qualification and a great asset for migrant students when applying for jobs.

No more ‘business as usual’

Fr. Gerry O’Hanlon SJ (pictured here), of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, and Dr. Nat O’Connor, of the think-tank TASC, presented an alternative economic and theological perspective on the current economic crisis, on Thursday 11 March 2010 in Manresa, the Jesuit Centre for Spirituality. They challenged the audience to find a way of marrying a new vision of human progress, inspired by authentic values, with concrete economic models, without simply returning to ‘business as usual’. Can we learn from the current recession to develop a healthier notion of economic success? they asked. Can we initiate a conversation among ourselves around banking, financial markets, the economy, culture and values, politics and religion which might lead to a different, more holistic economic model? A lively discussion ensued, chaired by Dearbhail McDonald, legal editor of the Irish Independent.

Putting ethics before profit

“Bad Business” by Seamus Murphy SJ is one of three articles in the March 2010 issue of Working Notes, entitled ‘A New Economic Paradigm?’ This article focuses on the importance of prioritising ethics above profit. Murphy maintains that the economic crisis highlighted the lack of moral integrity among bankers, property developers and other business people. He argues that in the absence of a perfect economic system and with government unable to ensure ethical practice, we rely on companies, banks and other economic agents to create a culture in the business world that maintains moral values. This issue of Working Notes also carries an article exploring a new economic model by Gerry O’Hanlon SJ and an article outlining the potential role of co-operatives in economic recovery by Dermot McKenna SJ. View this issue and all previous Working Notes articles on the JCFJ website. Hard copies also available.

A spiritual perspective on healthcare today

For the second year in a row, Fr Paddy Carberry SJ, Director of Manresa, delivered a lecture on the relationship between spirituality and medical practice to a large group of medical students in UCD. The lecture was part of a programme called Professional Clinical Practice, which introduces students to a range of issues relating to medical practice, including ethics, palliative care and prefessional conduct. In his hour-long lecture, Paddy outlined a number of life-situations and then drew out the implications, as he saw them, for those engaged in the medical profession. In concluding, he challenged the students to pay attention to their own spiritual needs and search for meaning. “Unless you’re searching yourself, you’ll never understand or be sensitive to others in their search,” he said. “In this case, care of self means care of others.”

“Lent is for life”

The final gathering of “Lent is for Life” takes place next Tuesday, 30 March, in Slí Eile, Gardiner Street. All are welcome. Each week, through music, poetry and Scripture, young people have been offered a quiet, reflective space to explore their own personal lenten journeys where, according to the Slí Eile group leaders, even feelings of anxiety, self-doubt, uncertainty or seeming failure can be seen in the context of the hope offered in the Easter story. In the view of the Slí Eile leaders, “The lenten journey that we all undertake is a symbol for the longer journey of life, with its highs and lows, its successes and defeats. In that sense, Lent is for life and is more than just a six-week event in the liturgical calendar”.

Facebook faith

This year’s Coláiste Iognáid (Jes) Lenten campaign, designed by Cathal Doherty SJ and Brendan McManus SJ, included daily mass, confession and a weekly meditation group. What has proved popular in previous years is the ‘Gospel text’ option where you get a line from the Gospel (e.g. “4give others as U r 4givn”) texted daily to your phone. This year, however, what really worked for students was communicating with them through Facebook, where they received longer daily Lenten reflections. “A lot of the students are on Facebook anyway” said Brendan, “so we thought we’d try to speak to their world as opposed to having them fit into ours!”

“Cardinal should not resign”

Alan McGuckian SJ published a personal opinion piece on the controversy surrounding Cardinal Sean Brady, in the Friday 19 March edition of the Irish News. In a St Patrick’s Day homily, Cardinal Brady referred to his role in dealing with child abuse allegations 35 years ago and apologized for failures on his part and said he would “reflect on what he has heard from those who have been hurt by abuse”. Though there were public calls for the Cardinal’s resignation Alan McGuckian believes he should not resign but use his leadership role and the wisdom gained from past mistakes to initiate reform. Read his full article here.

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Slí Eile plan for World Youth Day

Noelle Fitzpatrick of Sli Eile, the Jesuit Outreach for Young People, was one of 22 attendees at the first European planning event for Magis in Spain. The term ‘Magis’ means ‘the more’, and relates to the Ignatian notion of always seeking to do more for God. As a programme, Magis is part of the Jesuit input into World Youth Day, and will involve young people working in the three areas of ecology, spirituality, and faith and culture. It will take place from 5-15th August 2011. The five Jesuit Provinces in Spain, the Portugese province, and other congregations are organising the Ignatian gathering of 3,000 young pilgrims worldwide in Loyola. From there, pilgrims will be split into multinational groups of 25 to travel to various locations in Spain and Portugal to participate in one of 120 different experiments. After the work-experiments all pilgrims will congregate in the Jesuit college in Madrid to take part in the World Youth Day event.

Mission Office workshop

The Irish Jesuit Mission Office held a workshop from 7-12 March to re-envision its apostolic mandate and to discern its future direction. Changed realities have made fresh thinking necessary. On the one hand, the number of Irish Jesuit missionaries is declining; on the other hand, however, the Society is growing well in Asia and Africa. Representatives of the Zambia/Malawi, Eastern Africa, China, Korea and Irish Provinces were all present at the workshop. Also attending were guests from Irish Aid, Misean Cara, Slí Eile, Jesuit Refugee Services and the Voluntary Missionary Movement. It was held in the Manresa Tertianship in Dublin, was facilitated by Eamonn Brehony and funded by Misean Cara. The Provincial, Fr. John Dardis, and the Pastoral Delegate, PJ Farrell, attended on the final morning in order to hear what thoughts had emerged and to share their response.

Jesuit tribute to slain Archbishop

Thirty years ago this week (24 March), Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated while celebrating Mass in the chapel of a cancer hospital in the country’s capital, San Salvador. Michael O’Sullivan SJ worked for a number of years in South and Central America, including El Salvador, with economically poor people. He was refused entry to San Salvador, arrested, and kept under armed guard for the night in 1991, and expelled to Nicaragua the following morning. He was able to return to El Salvador subsequently after the intervention of the Jesuits in that country. Below is his anniverary tribute to the martyred Archbishop, published in this month’s edition of Spirituality magazine. Read more »