TRÓCAIRE

from Reality Magazine April Edition 2021

EDITORIAL

ALL DESERVE ACCESS TO THE COVID-19 VACCINE

"NONE OF US IS SAFE UNTIL ALL OF US ARE SAFE," SAYS DR MIKE RYAN OF WHO AS HE ACCEPTS TRÓCAIRE'S ROMERO AWARD.

BY DAVID O'HARE

In a passionate address on Ash Wednesday, Sligo-born Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, said richer countries must share COVID-19 vaccines with frontline healthcare workers and the most vulnerable in developing countries. "Once we cover those individuals who are most vulnerable in our society, can we then at least begin to share with those in the world who don't have access to the vaccine? None of us is safe until all of us are safe," he said.

Dr Ryan and Dr Lilian Otiso, of Kenyan healthcare provider LVCT Health, were receiving Trócaire's Romero Award in an online ceremony in recognition of their efforts to protect vulnerable communities from COVID-19. The annual award, given to honour outstanding contributions to global justice, was given this year to co-recipients to recognise the efforts at the global and local levels to protect people from the virus.

Dr Ryan was awarded for his global leadership and his efforts to highlight the risks facing vulnerable people in the developing world, while LVCT Health, a Trócaire partner, was named as co-recipient for their efforts to protect vulnerable young women in Kenya throughout the pandemic.

Trócaire CEO Caoimhe de Barra said: "The last 12 months have been enormously difficult for everybody. Combatting COVID-19 has required a global and local response. We are delighted to award the Romero Award to Dr Mike Ryan for his global leadership and to LVCT Health for their vitally important work in protecting young women in Kenya. "Trócaire's partners around the world have had to change their programmes entirely to respond to the health and social needs brought about by the pandemic. LVCT Health has worked with vulnerable women in Kenya to keep them safe, not only from COVID-19 but also from gender-based violence. The rates of violence against women around the world have grown significantly during the pandemic. Violence against women is itself a pandemic, and we are delighted to work with such a strong partner as LVCT Health to help keep young women safe. "We are also delighted to honour Dr Mike Ryan. Dr Ryan has consistently highlighted the threat of COVID-19 in the developing world and the need for global solidarity in our response to the virus. This message is so important now at a time when the unequal distribution of vaccines threatens to derail the global effort to combat this virus."

SUPPORTING SOUTH SUDAN

This Lent, the UK government will match public donations up to May 16 in Northern Ireland pound for pound. These matched funds will support thousands of people in South Sudan to grow enough food to feed their families by empowering women, facilitating access to cultivated land, and providing suitable crops and training on sustainable farming practices. For more information on the Lenten appeal, visit trocaire.org.

NO DISCRIMINATION

Accepting the Romero Award, Dr Ryan said:

THE ROMERO AWARD

This is the third time the Trócaire Romero Award has been awarded. The inaugural winner in 2018 was Sr Bridget Tighe in honour of her more than two decades working with vulnerable people in the Middle East. The following year, the award went to Abelino Chub Caal, a Guatemalan human rights defender who had spent over two years in prison due to his efforts to protect the rights of indigenous communities.

"COVID-19 does not discriminate. We, too, cannot, must not, discriminate in our fight against this pandemic. Doing so will only work in the pandemic's favour. The last eight months have shown us that unity, not singularity, defeats pandemics. Richer countries don't need to share all of their vaccines. They need to share just some of their vaccines so that the most vulnerable and the most at risk in the developing world would have access. And I think the citizens in Ireland, north and south, would want that to happen."

Dr Lilian Otiso of LVCT Health said: "COVID-19 has been difficult for everyone but especially the vulnerable. Lockdowns and other restrictions made the poor even poorer, increased cases of genderbased violence and interrupted schooling for millions of children. We are grateful to partners like Trócaire and our staff who adapted quickly and worked tirelessly to minimise the suffering and improve access to food and education for vulnerable girls and their families. As COVID-19 continues to threaten the world, let us ensure our response does not further marginalise those most vulnerable in our communities. We are not hopeful of receiving any vaccines in Kenya this year, and this is very unfair when some countries are buying five times the number of their population."

Dr Lilian Otiso

Praying the Rosary

MEDITATING THE GOSPEL STORY WITH THE MOTHER OF THE LORD

By Fr George Wadding CSsR

Archbishop Fulton Sheen said that when we pray the rosary in a prayerful, contemplative manner, it lifts us into a world where “we see and enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known.” Fr George Wadding CSsR is well-known for his thoughtful but simple and imaginative style of writing. In this little book, he invites us to explore the twenty scenes from the story of Jesus our Redeemer that make up the Joyful, Sorrowful, Luminous and Glorious mysteries of the Rosary. Walking and praying with Mary, we accompany the Lord along his way. This beautifully illustrated book is for beginners, as well as those who have been praying the rosary for many years. It can be used by the family or a prayer group. It is ideal for those who wish to pray the rosary tranquilly, resting in the mysteries, like Mary, ‘who pondered them in her heart.’ It is well-bound but still small enough to slip into a handbag or a pocket, and the colourful images for each decade will long stay in the memory. May God’s Spirit be with all who seek comfort in its pages.

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REALITY CHECK

PETER McVERRY SJ

RAISED IN A NEOLIBERAL SOCIETY THAT PERPETUATES SYSTEMIC POVERTY, IT'S NO SURPRISE THAT MANY YOUNG MEN SEE DRUGS AND DRUG-DEALING AS THEIR ONLY MEANS OF ESCAPE.

"The most dangerous creation of any society is the person who has nothing to lose." James Baldwin.

In recent decades, our society has become increasingly violent. We have sometimes witnessed drugrelated, at other times, random, unprovoked knife attacks, leading to death or serious injury.

Consider John (not his real name), a 14-year-old growing up in a deprived area, whose parents have been unemployed for as long as he can remember, who anxiously await the weekly visit from the St Vincent de Paul with a voucher to help meet their food bills, who borrow from moneylenders for Christmas – as well as for birthdays, First Communions and Confirmations, and when the television breaks down – plunging them into a debt they can only repay by borrowing more from a different money-lender.

John sees for himself only a future of unemployment, or perhaps low-paid, insecure or part-time employment, waiting at least 12 years to get a council house in which to rear his children and facing the same struggle as his parents to provide even the basic necessities of life for his family. Going to school won't change anything. He only goes because he has to. He can read and write reasonably well and sees no point in learning algebra or history or the names of the rivers in Russia. John is growing up in an area devastated by drug use and drug dealing. Many young people are hostile to the Gardaí and alienated from the wider society around them. They see no future for themselves. Some people care – the local youth worker, a kind teacher or a sympathetic probation officer. But they cannot change the systemic injustice which defines the future for them.

Our society has analysed to death the poor and areas of deprivation. Many books have been written about them. Some people have got their PhDs by researching them. But we can only understand people like John by looking at the broader society in which he lives.

Our society is dominated by money and the desire for more money. Businesses constantly seek ways to increase profits. John's father was made redundant by a company that saw it could increase its profits by making him unemployed. Society says that this is how 'the market' works. There is no alternative. Or rather, the alternative is to become 'uncompetitive' and go out of business. Politicians are obsessed with growth, meaning increasing the country's wealth, even if this involves austerity weighing most heavily on the poor, as it did during the last recession.

This neoliberal culture and its idolatry of growth, profit and the market are accompanied by an increasing individualism, with its isolated conscience, which ignores the structural injustices that create and maintain neighbourhoods of poverty and marginalisation.

The only way out that John can see is by selling drugs. Those in his community who sell drugs have money and status. Lots of it. Their material desires are fulfilled. They go on foreign holidays, have the latest gadgets at Christmas, and wear expensive jewellery and Rolex watches. Drug dealing also is a business dominated by money and the desire for more.

And the drug business also is highly competitive. The only way to stay in business is to be more violent than your competitors. The weak die or are forced to leave the country. Violence becomes part of who you are. This is how 'the market' works; there is no alternative. Like traditional businesses, you become obsessed with growth, expanding your territory, eliminating the competition.

If I tell them that they will likely end up dead or in prison, they will reply: "I'm already in prison; it's just there are no bars.” Or: "I don't want to die, but I live for the present because there is no future."

Irish people are generous. They donate to the St Vincent de Paul and numerous other charities. Many charities depend on the generosity of the Irish public. But we need to ask why charities, which provide basic needs such as shelter and food, even need to exist. In the words of Martin Luther King: "Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of injustice which makes philanthropy necessary."

For more information or to support the Peter McVerry Trust: www.pmvtrust.ie info@pmvtrust.ie +353 (0)1 823 0776

SOMETHING Disciple gets there first and waits for Peter to enters the tomb. The Gospel tells us that “he

APRIL EXTRAORDINARY catch up. But he does look inside the tomb saw and believed.” What did he believe? Is it 04 Early on the Sunday morning before dawn, and sees the linen wrappings. Peter, always impulsive, has no hesitation and enters the Mary’s report or is it faith in the Resurrection? What he believes in is the evidence of the Mary Magdalene goes to tomb. He notes the linen wrappings and the empty tomb. He believes not simply that EASTER SUNDAY the tomb of Jesus. Seeing place of the head cloth. the tomb is empty, but that its emptiness that the stone has been The evangelist has offered us a dramatic bears witness to the Resurrection. They have rolled away, she concludes progression in what has been seen. Mary not yet met the Risen Lord and so scriptural that someone must have stolen Jesus’ body. saw the stone rolled away. The Beloved faith in the Resurrection as such still awaits For this is what she reports to Peter and the Disciple saw the linen wrappings. Peter saw them. They will only come to full faith in Beloved Disciple. Note that she says “we do the wrappings and the head cloth. Mary’s Jesus’ resurrection when they encounter the not know…” She is not just expressing her fear that the body was stolen is resolved. Risen Lord and he sends the Holy Spirit. own puzzlement at the empty tomb, but When stealing a body, grave robbers would also that of all Jesus’ disciples. never leave the burial garments behind. The

Once Mary has made her report, the focus implication is that no one has stolen Jesus’ shifts to Peter and the Beloved Disciple. They body away. He has stolen away from death. now set off for the empty tomb. The Beloved It is only now that the Beloved Disciple

Today’s Readings

Acts 10:34. 37-43; Ps 117; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9

I’M A BELIEVER

APRIL It is evening on the first 11 Easter Sunday and the disciples are behind closed doors full of fear. They SECOND SUNDAY clearly have not believed

OF EASTER Mary Magdalene’s report, and have shut themselves away “for fear of the Jews”.

Jesus’ greeting is one of peace. It is an ordinary greeting, still used in Israel today. Yet Jesus reminds this fear-filled group that, with his peace, there is no need to be afraid of the Jewish authorities. Jesus then shows them his hands and side. They break into rejoicing as the reality of his resurrection dawns on them. Jesus repeats the greeting of peace. But this is not mere repetition. The disciples have finally come to recognise him as Risen Lord and the peace that only he can give. Jesus offers them peace and now sends them out to continue God’s work. He breathes on them. The Holy Spirit is the breath of the new life offered by God to all who believe in Jesus. It is this believing community, filled with the Holy Spirit, which will now continue God’s work begun in Jesus.

Thomas is not present when Jesus appears to the disciples. When they tell him the good news of the Resurrection, he does not believe. Jesus appears again a week later and offers Thomas the proof he is seeking. Pay particular attention to how verse 27 is translated in the reading. The Greek text reads: “do not be unbelieving, but believing.” There is nothing about “doubt” here and Thomas does not deserve the moniker of 'Doubter'. Jesus is inviting him to move from unbelief to belief, and offers himself as the basis for this. Thomas’ response to Jesus is profound – “My Lord and my God!” Thomas recognises, not only that Jesus is risen, but that Jesus now shares God’s glory. Thomas and the other disciples have come to faith because they have seen Jesus. Now Jesus offers a blessing to future believers who have come to faith without seeing.

Today’s Readings

Acts 4:32-35; Ps 117; 1 Jn 5:1-6; Jn 20:19-31

RISEN LORD

APRIL 18 In today’s gospel Jesus appears to the Jerusalem community. It comes immediately after the

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER story about how two disciples met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and how it was only when he broke bread at table with them that they recognised him as Risen Lord. They raced back to Jerusalem to tell the others and that’s where we pick up today’s story.

Luke’s account of the appearance of the Risen Jesus has close parallels with John’s Gospel that we read last Sunday. These parallels are: Jesus’ greeting of peace, his invitation to touch him, and the disciples’ doubt.

In Luke’s story (as in John’s) Jesus greets his disciples with “peace”. Fear and doubt set in immediately. They doubt what they are experiencing and think it is a ghost. Yet they say nothing. Jesus’ response is first to question their doubting attitude and then to alleviate it by proving he is no ghost.

Jesus’ first proof is to show them his hands and feet. Luke is clear that the Risen Lord has a living, physical body. Jesus’ invitation to examine his hands and feet is to verify that his body is physically real.

But this first proof doesn’t work. The disciples still do not believe and remain in their wondering doubt. Jesus’ second proof is to eat grilled fish in front of them. Luke wants to make an important point: these disciples are eyewitnesses to the Resurrection and are those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

Jesus now gets the disciples both to look back in time and to look to the future. In looking back, he interprets the scriptures in relation to his death and resurrection. He reminds them of everything he had told them while he was with them. He had told them that he would die. He had told them that everything in the scriptures about him would be fulfilled. He refers to “the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms”. These are the three sections of the Hebrew scriptures with which Luke’s readers would be familiar. In short, Jesus tells the disciples that everything in all of the scriptures has been fulfilled in his death and resurrection. Not only are his death and resurrection the fulfilment of the scriptures, so too is the preaching of repentance to all nations in his name.

The text ends with Jesus declaring that the disciples are witnesses. They are most suitable for this role because they can give testimony to the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus and proclaim the significance of Jesus with a living faith.

Today’s Readings

Acts 3:13-15. 17-19; Ps 4; 1 Jn 2:1-5; Lk 24:35-48

MODEL SHEPHERD

APRIL This is Good Shepherd Sunday and in the gospel 25 Jesus describes himself as the “good shepherd” whom he contrasts with the “hired hand”. The Greek word for “good” is kalós, but it also means 'true' or FOURTH SUNDAY 'genuine'. Jesus is claiming to be the 'true' or 'model'

OF EASTER shepherd. But what kind of shepherd is he? He is one who is willing to die for his sheep.

In Jesus’ time, at night fall, the shepherds would round up the sheep and guide them into a sheep-pen. It was a rectangular stone structure about a metre high. But it had no gate. When the sheep were all inside, the shepherd would lie across the open gate. If a wild animal should attack the sheep or a thief should try to steal them, they would have to face the shepherd. Indeed, many a shepherd died while protecting his sheep. Unlike the good shepherd, the hired hand is not willing to die for the sheep. He is only interested in what he can get from looking after them. So, when the sheep are threatened, he abandons the sheep to danger and destruction.

For a second time Jesus states that he is the “good shepherd”. This time he uses the phrase based on the quality of his relationship with his followers and with God. He is a good shepherd because he

“knows” his own who “know” him, just as he “knows” the Father and the Father “knows” him. Generally in the Bible the degree to which one person knows another is based on the intimacy of their relationship. Similarly, one can only really know God if one has a close, personal, intimate relationship with God. The “good shepherd” has such a relationship not only with his sheep (his followers) but also with the Father. It is because of both these relationships that he lays down his life for his sheep.

In the final part of the reading, Jesus leaves aside the shepherd image and focuses on his own death and his relationship with the Father. In these short verses the evangelist identifies three theological themes which are essential for understanding the death of Jesus in the Fourth

Gospel. The first is that Jesus lays down his life out of love. The second theme is that Jesus lays down his life freely and in obedience to God.

He is not anyone’s victim, but remains in control of his life to its end.

The final theme is that Jesus’ death and resurrection are connected.

He lays down his (earthly) life in order to take up his (risen) life. Jesus takes up his life by the power given him by the Father.

Today’s Readings

Acts 4:8-12; Ps 117; 1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18

SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 1 ACROSS: Across: 1. Esther, 5. Mammon, 10. Aurochs, 11. Recital, 12. Baku, 13. Orcas, 15. Kiev, 17. Yam, 19. Bishop, 21. Solemn, 22. Marvels, 23. Pass by, 25. Yellow, 28. Ore, 30. Lies, 31. Abyss, 32. Asks, 35. Amphora, 36. Elixirs, 37. Deluge, 38. Malign. DOWN: 2. Strikes, 3. Hack, 4. Rosary, 5. Miriam, 6. Mace, 7. Outside, 8. Baobab, 9. Eleven, 14. Calvary, 16. Tombs, 18. Roses, 20. Pay, 21. Sly, 23. Pillar, 24. Steeple, 26. Listing, 27. Wisest, 28. Oblate, 29. Esteem, 33. Tofu, 34. Till. Winner of Crossword No. 1 Noel Murphy, Greenhills, Dublin.

ACROSS

1. Place for public Christian worship. (6) 5. This John wrote 'The Pilgrim's Progress'. (6) 10. Show reverence and adoration for God. (7) 11. Mary, mother of Jesus. (3,4) 12. Take this hardwood. (4) 13. Remove the lid or cover from. (5) 15. The hill of Jerusalem on which the city of David was built. (4) 17. When you have this gift you're an excellent speaker. (3) 19. Many-headed serpents of Greek and Roman mythology. (6) 21. Sides of a cut gem. (6) 22. Knotty problem solved by Alexander the Great. (7) 23. Sharp power tool and cardboard puzzle. (6) 25. Europe's second-longest river. (6) 28. Long bench with a back. (3) 30. Object indicating the occurrence of something else. (4) 31. Art that uses sound in time. (5) 32. Movable frame for a coffin. (4) 35. Nationality of those born in Jerusalem. (7) 36. Small field where horses are kept. (7) 37. Sinful, wicked. (6) 38. A stoat by another name. (6)

DOWN

2. The oldest university in the USA. (7) 3. The largest urban area in Germany. (4) 4. Wishing for something to happen. (6) 5. It is also called 'the Upside-down tree'. (6) 6. Fiery Roman emperor. (4) 7. Extreme greed for wealth or material gain. (7) 8. A small sample of fabric. (6) 9. African scavengers. (6) 14. Wax stick used for votive purposes. (7) 16. A person holding religious beliefs other than those of the main worl religions. (5) 18. A man made waterway. (5) 20. Plant seed by scattering it on or in the earth. (3) 21. A trend or craze, often short-lived. (3) 23. A member of the society founded by St. Ignatius Loyola. (6) 24. This Yuri was the first human being to travel into space. (7) 26. Legendary creature with a single horn projecting from its forehead. (7) 27. What Archimedes said when he had it! (6) 28. Freedom from contamination, adulteration or immorality. (6) 29. Cloth headdress still worn by some nuns. (6) 33. No quantity or number. (4) 34. The very first man. (4)