Reality Magazine Jan/Feb 2020

A 'SPIRITUAL' THEME PARK IN IRELAND?

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

THE INFLUENCE OF MARY AIKENHEAD

THE POWER OF ONE: ELAINE BANNON AND THE MAASAI OF KENYA

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

CATHOLICISM AND IRISH NOVELISTS HOW CATHOLIC FAITH HAS SHAPED OUR STORYTELLING

www.redcoms.org Redemptorist-Communications @RedComsIreland �2.50 �2.00

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES 12 CATHOLICISM AND THE CONTEMPORARY IRISH NOVELIST How has Catholicism fared in the work of writers of the present generation?

By Eamonn Maher

20 THE SANCTUARY This sacred area with its symbolism speaks to us about the mystery of the Christian life.

By Maria Hall

24 AVOCADO – THE PARISH, NOT THE FRUIT Avocado is a mountain parish in the Philippines – remote, impoverished, yet its people are also capable of showing great hospitality.

By Fr Colm Meaney CSsR

12

26 OUR FATHER A new series of reflections on the Lord’s Prayer

By Mike Daley

28 THE POWER OF ONE The story of Elaine Bannon who has dedicated 20 years of her life to the Maasai of Kenya.

By Sr Kathleen O’ Keeffe RSM

32 SERVANT OF PEOPLE IN NEED A woman of contradictions, Mary Aikenhead founded an active religious congregation, but spent her last 27 years as an invalid with chronic spinal problems.

By Dr John Scally

35 TOWARDS A BIBLICAL THEME PARK Theme parks of various kinds, from Irish traditional houses to Disney wonderlands, have become popular. Could a case be made for building a biblical park as a way of spreading knowledge of the scriptures?

By Jeremy Hennessy

24

39

OPINION

REGULARS

11 BRENDAN McCONVERY

04 REALITY BITES 07 POPE MONITOR 08 WOMEN SAINTS & MYSTICS 09 REFLECTIONS 39 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 42 TRÓCAIRE 45 GOD’S WORD

19 JIM DEEDS 31 CARMEL WYNNE 44 PETER McVERRY SJ

REALITY BITES ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST RELIGIOUS-RUN PARISH BELFAST

4

Holy Cross Church

150 YEARS OF PASSIONIST PARISH

The parish of Holy Cross, Ardoyne, celebrated the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Passionist community on November 24 last.

Meeting some Passionists who were giving a mission in Portaferry in the summer of 1869, the Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Dorrian, invited them to establish a house in Ardoyne on the outskirts of Belfast. By August, the first members of the community had arrived. There was no church or residence waiting for them. Instead they found they owed £1,000 for a plot of land the bishop had designated for the church. The superior left for Dublin where he secured a loan of £500, with the promise of another £500 to come. The following October, the building of the church began, and it was dedicated in January 1869.

North Belfast, where Ardoyne is situated, was far from any other Catholic church, but the burgeoning linen trade was attracting

Catholics from across the province of Ulster in search of work in the mills. Due to the shortage of clergy in the diocese, the Passionists were forced to take responsibility for a parish. They would be the only religious community to run a parish in Ireland for almost 100 years. They also accepted parochial responsibility for the linen village of Ligoniel, a few miles further up the Crumlin Road. The splendid new church of the Holy Cross with the adjacent monastery was built in 1902. Although largely Catholic, Ardoyne was perched uneasily between the larger loyalist areas of the Shankill and Crumlin. It suffered much in the Troubles of the 1920s, and in the more recent decades from 1968-1998. In addition to its parochial responsibilities, Holy Cross church drew people from all over the city to its devotions to the Mother of Sorrows and for confession.

ROME TO BETHLEHEM: RELICS OF CRIB RETURN HOME BETHLEHEM

SACRED WOOD

Some portions of wood, believed to be part of the manger that held the infant Jesus, were returned to Bethlehem from the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome in time for the Christmas celebrations in the city where Jesus was born. On

the occasion of his most recent visit to the Vatican, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Pope Francis for the return of the fragments. The relics of the crib were brought to Rome for safety during the Arab conquest of the

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Holy Land in the seventh century.

In Rome, they repose in a crystal reliquary shaped like a crib in front of the main altar of St Mary Major’s, the church in which the Midnight Mass of Christmas was traditionally celebrated, and

which is the ‘station church’ for Christmas. The relics will now be enshrined in Saint Catherine's Church, the Latin Rite church, alongside the Basilica of the Nativity in Manger Square, the traditional site of Jesus's birth.

N E WS

OIREACHTAS RECOGNITION OF SR CONSILIO DUBLIN

OUR LADY HELPED ME

NEW HEAD OF VATICAN ECONOMY VATICAN CITY

Sr Consilio Fitzgerald RSM

Sr Consilio Fitzgerald, who for over 50 years, has founded centres throughout Ireland for the treatment of alcohol and other addictions, was awarded the fifth Oireachtas Human Dignity Award in November. The award was presented to her by the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) Human Dignity Group. The award is presented to a “person or group whose commitment to the promotion of human dignity has been exemplary". Sr Consilio, a trained nurse and midwife, began Cuan Mhuire (Our Lady’s Harbour) in a converted dairy of the Convent of Mercy, Athy, County Kildare in 1966. She was moved by the plight of the 'men of the road' she had encountered as a nurse. Over the years, Cuan Mhuire has grown. It now has treatment centres in Athy, Coolarne (County Galway), Bruree (County Limerick), Newry and Farnanes (County Cork). It also has seven transition facilities. These are intended for the approximately 40 per cent of those availing of addiction treatment who were homeless at the time of admission. Many were sleeping rough or living in hostels for prolonged periods of time. For them, it can be difficult to return to independent living on completion of their programme, especially if they lack financial and/or family support.

The Cuan Mhuire programme is based on the philosophy of total abstinence and strives to

restore the confidence, self-respect and sense of responsibility of all participants. It is wholly inclusive, reaching out especially to those who feel marginalised and distressed, and seeks to help all to discover their giftedness and their infinite value.

Presenting the award, Dáil deputy chairman Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher acknowledged that "belief in the inherent dignity of each person is what drives Sr Consilio in her work". Senator Rónán Mullen of the Oireachtas Human Dignity Group said it was latest in a long series of awards received by Sr Consilio and her team showing "we greatly value you for what you’ve done for us. And we want you to keep going because your work is more important than ever." In reply, Sr Consilio vowed to "keep going". "The challenges are great. Demand for our service far exceeds our capacity to help people. But we trust in the Lord and in the great people who support our work every day."

Now 83, the Kerry-born sister is a woman of courageous faith. Needing land to expand the undertaking, she approached her local bank manager who asked her how she proposed to pay for it. She told him that "Our Lady will provide". She attended the auction in her habit, and she came away with a 42-acre field. When the bank manager asked how she managed to pay for it, she simply replied: “Our Lady helped me.”

MONEY MAN

Pope Francis has appointed a Spanish Jesuit, Fr Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy. His term of office commences in January. Pope Francis established the Secretariat for Economy in 2014 as part of his financial reform of the Vatican. Its task is to oversee the financial aspects of both the Roman Curia and the Vatican City State administration, including a review of financial reports. The last prefect was Cardinal George Pell. As well as a degree in economics, Fr Guerrero has degrees in theology, philosophy and arts. Ordained in 1992, he was treasurer and project coordinator of the Jesuits in Mozambique.

After this he came to Rome as general counsellor and delegate of the superior general for the interprovincial houses and works of the Jesuits. According to Vatican News, Fr Guerrero has asked Pope Francis to not require him to accept ordination as a bishop, so that after his term as prefect, he can return to normal religious life and ministry.

FR JUAN ANTONIO GUERRERO ALVES Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy

continued on page 6

5

REALITY BITES Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

BEATIFICATION POSTPONED The beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen which had been scheduled for December 21 has been postponed after several US bishops asked that the cause be given more time for examination. The Diocese of Peoria announced the delay on December 3. “With deep regret, Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C, Bishop of Peoria, announces that he has been informed by the Holy See that the beatification of Fulton Sheen will be postponed,” the press release from the diocese said. The statement continued that “it has been demonstrated definitively that Archbishop Sheen was an exemplary model of Christian conduct and a model of leadership in the Church. At no time has his life of virtue ever been called into question.” It is believed that the bishop of Rochester, where the Servant of God was bishop from 1966 to 1969, requested the delay, due to concerns that Sheen might be cited in the final report covering an ongoing state attorney general’s investigation into New York’s bishops and dioceses, regarding the history of how they dealt with reported abuse cases.

6

TWENY-NINE MISSIONARIES KILLED IN 2019 Twenty-nine Catholic missionaries met violent deaths in the course of 2019. They included 18 priests, one permanent deacon, two religious brothers and six lay people.

Africa had the highest number of victims (15, of whom 12 were priests). Latin America was next highest with six priests, a permanent deacon, one religious and four lay people. One lay missionary was murdered in Asia (in the Philippines) and one sister in Europe (Portugal). Many of the killings were the result of burglaries that went wrong.

These figures ignore the more general persecution of Christians elsewhere, Fr Andrzej Halemba, head of Middle East projects at Aid to the Church in Need, has said that Christians could face total eradication from countries such as Iraq and Syria, where they have existed since the time of Christ’s first apostles. In 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq; now there are less than 250,000 – with some reports putting the number as low as 120,000. Violence in Nigeria has left more than 15,000 orphans, 5,000 widows and 2 million internal refugees.

Most of them are victims of Boko Haram and the militant Islamist Fulani herdsmen.

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

RATZINGER PRIZEWINNERS ANNOUNCED The 2019 Ratzinger Prize has been awarded to a Canadian philosopher and an African bible scholar. The Ratzinger Prize was instituted in 2011 to recognise scholars whose work demonstrates a meaningful contribution to theology or philosophy in the spirit of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI. The winners of the 2019 prize are Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor and Jesuit priest and theologian, Fr Paul Béré. Fr Beré, the first African to be nominated for the award, Pope Francis presents the Ratzinger prize to lectures at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jesuit Fr Paul Béré Rome and received the prize for his work on the figure of the prophet Joshua. Dr Charles Taylor, 88 is an internationally recognised philosopher who has taught at Oxford and at Montreal and McGill Universities in Canada.

The focus of his writing has been in the areas of history of philosophy, most especially the topics of religion, modernity, and secularisation. “During his years of active research and teaching, Professor Taylor has covered many fields, but he has particularly devoted his mind and heart to understanding the phenomenon of secularisation in our time,” Pope Francis noted. “Secularisation effectively poses a significant challenge for the Catholic Church, indeed for all Christians, and for all believers in God.” He praised Fr Beré as a “renowned scholar of Sacred Scripture” and he expressed his appreciation and encouragement for all those who are “committed to inculturation of the faith in Africa through their original and deepened study”.

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS PAPAL VISIT TO JAPAN AND THAILAND Pope Francis celebrates Mass at the National Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand

Pope Francis visited Thailand and Japan between November 18-26, 2019. Catholics form only a tiny minority in both states – in Thailand there are an estimated 389,000 (0.58 per cent of the population) and in Japan 509,000 or about 0.5 per cent. The usual features of papal visits were observed – meeting with local Christians including the celebration of the liturgy, and meetings with local Catholic church leaders, leaders of other Christian denominations and state officials. There were private meetings with the King of Thailand and the Emperor of Japan. In Thailand he met the Supreme Buddhist Patriarch at one of the historic temple monasteries. “If we are brothers, we can help world peace, the poor, and the suffering,“ Pope Francis said, “because to help the poor is always a path of blessing.”

Centre-piece of the Japan visit was Nagasaki and Hiroshima, now better known as the sites where the first atom bombs were dropped in 1945. Hiroshima was where Pope Francis’ Jesuit brothers made the greatest impact in taking the Christian message to that country in the 17th century. Paying tribute to the martyrs, he said “I also come in humility, as one who himself, as a young Jesuit from ’the ends of the earth’, found powerful inspiration in the story of the early missionaries and the Japanese martyrs. May we never forget their heroic sacrifice! May it not remain as a glorious relic of the past, to be kept and honoured in a museum, but rather as a living memory, an inspiration for the works of the apostolate and a spur to renewed evangelisation in this land.” At the peace memorial, he said “With deep conviction I wish once more to declare that the use of atomic energy for purposes of war is today, more than ever, a crime not only against the dignity of human beings but against any possible future for our common home. The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral.”

The press conference on the return journey (which has become an essential part of Pope Francis’ visits) raised delicate questions, including the Holy See’s attitude to promoting world peace and disarmament, capital punishment and the purchase of an expensive London property by the Vatican as part of its financial investments.

PALAZZO FOR THE POOR

Just before the World Day of the Poor at the end of November, Pope Francis blessed a large building just off the colonnade of St Peter’s Square which will serve as a centre for the poor. Formerly known as Palazzo Migliori – 'Palace of the Best' – after the Roman family that built it as a residence in the late 1800s, it was then acquired by the Vatican as a residence for a group of religious sisters. When they vacated it, Pope Francis directed his almoner (director of papal charities) to turn it into a place where the homeless and poor of Rome could sleep, eat, and learn. It is run by the lay Sant’Egidio Community. Cardinal Krajewski described how the palace will be used: the upper two floors will serve as dormitories for around 50 men and women, though it can accommodate more in winter time. Those guests are also offered breakfast and supper in the refectory on the second floor. Volunteers will also be able to use the kitchen to prepare hot meals for distribution in the evenings to the homeless who find shelter at one of Rome’s train stations.

During the day, the bottom two floors will provide space for volunteers to teach computer skills to those who need them.

There is also space for reading, recreation, and psychological counselling. The construction company that renovated the palazzo employed a group of homeless people at the Vatican’s urging.

They were so impressed by their work ethic that they kept them on the payroll.

7

WOMEN OF THE SPIRIT A NEW SERIES OF WOMEN SAINTS AND MYSTICS Reality

HADEWIJCH OF BRABANT

8

Hadewijch of Brabant was a 13th-century Flemish scholar, poet, and theologian who belonged to a group of independent Christian women, known as the Beguines. They were a movement of devout laywomen who lived beyond the walls of monasteries and convents, serving the suffering and the poor. They wanted to imitate what they perceived to be the ideal Christian lives of the apostles, the vita apostolica. Some lived alone, or in communities called beguinages, sometimes just private houses, but occasionally, settlements of several hundred beguines in the midst of a large city. Groups often formed around gifted beguine teachers, who sometimes preached publicly.

The Beguines began to appear in cities in Germany, Flanders and France from the early 1200s.

The Beguines might be said to have been the first 'women’s movement', especially when one considers their fascinating living arrangements, the beguinages, were established by women, for women, and led by women.

Not much is known about the life of the 13th-century mystic Hadewijch of Brabant, apart from what we can learn from the rich corpus of writings she left behind, which included letters, visions and poetry. Her poetry and prose are considered to be literary masterpieces. She was also a theologian, preaching a vision of Christian life which was both profound and original. Hadewijch was a highly educated woman, with a knowledge of Latin, theological tracts, and courtly literature.

Yet while she could read and write in Latin, she chose to write her spoken language, medieval Dutch. Her surviving works consist of 45 poems in stanza form, 16 poems in couplets, 31 letters, and 14 vision accounts. All of her writings were written with theological, spiritual, and pastoral intent. Hence, while her love poetry is considered to be a masterful example of the medieval genre of courtly or troubadour love poetry, Hadewijch’s intentions in writing these poems were never sentimental nor superficial. Indeed, they were not really personal at all, insofar as they expressed a relationship which went beyond any merely humanly relationship and was more about the relationship between the seeker and the divine, between the lover and the Beloved. Hadewijch transformed the secular genre of courtly love poetry into sublime mystical prayer.

Much of what we know about Hadewijch is gleaned from her letters. They were didactic in nature but included personal elements. They functioned as a medium for teaching and preaching. From them, we can also extrapolate that she was spiritual mentor and guide to younger beguines. This suggests that she lived in a community of beguines, at least for a time, although it appears that she was later banished from her community. While she led the beguinage as head of the community, Hadewijch encouraged her student beguines to study and learn, but it was always more important to Hadewijch that her students should learn that love superseded intellectual development.

Love, or minne, the Dutch word Hadewijch uses, is a term that is difficult to translate. She used it to describe her spiritual experience of ecstatic union with God, but it was also the name of God. In essence, it captures the mystic’s experience of a longing for God which is sometimes fulfilled, but often leaves the mystic bereft and abandoned. It is both God’s presence as union, and the hidden and unknowable God. Hadewijch’s expressions of her own personal experience of God’s presence point beyond themselves to the transcendent God who always remains beyond our ability to know or name. Ultimately, Hadewijch’s poetry is the articulation of her deepening relationship with the Divine who always signified the totality of her life’s meaning.

The ecstasy often associated with mystical women through the ages tends to be dismissed as a kind of hysteria or the expressions of an overwrought and dramatic female. But, as Hadewijch teaches, the ecstasy and supreme joy of the experience of union with God doesn’t mark the end of the spiritual journey, but rather the beginning. Indeed, it might be said that Hadewijch sets the spiritual bar very high indeed!

Edith Ó Nualláin REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Volume 85. No. 1 January/February 2020 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960 Published by The Irish Redemptorists, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org (With permission of C.Ss.R.)

Editor Brendan McConvery CSsR editor@redcoms.org Design & Layout David Mc Namara CSsR Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Accounts Dearbhla Cooney accounts@redcoms.org Printed by W & G Baird Printers, Belfast Photo Credits Shutterstock, Catholic News Agency, Trócaire,

REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS Through a promoter (Ireland only) €20 or £18 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €25 or £20 UK £30 Europe €40 Rest of the world €50 Please send all payments to: Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC ADVERTISING Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy and validity of adverts placed in Reality, the information contained in adverts does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Redemptorist Communications. You are therefore advised to verify the accuracy and validity of any information contained in adverts before entering into any commitment based upon them.

When you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on or recycle it. Thank you.

REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Email: sales@redcoms.org Web: www.redcoms.org

Promoters: We keep all of our promoters in our prayers and thank them for their loyal service in selling Reality.

We remember in our prayers sick and deceased promoters and their families.

REFLECTIONS The time may come when we, the Catholic laity, may come to value the very person we have taken for granted all these years ... the parish priest. In my book he is one of the heroes of this age.

WALKER PERCY

The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds unbelievable.

He (Clement Atlee, British Prime Minister) would never use one syllable where none would do.

DOUGLAS JAY

A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.

EMILY BRONTE

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.

KARL RAHNER

GEORGE ORWELL

The rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next.

The power of the rosary is beyond description.

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

JRR TOLKIEN

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.

JANE AUSTEN

ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN

To be connected with the church is to be associated with scoundrels, warmongers, fakes, child molesters, murderers, adulterers, and hypocrites of every description. It also, at the same time, identifies you with the saints and the finest persons of heroic soul within every time, country, race, and gender. To be a member of the church is to carry the mantle of both the worst sin and the finest heroism of soul...because the church always looks exactly as it looked at the original crucifixion, God hung among thieves.

RONALD ROLHEISER OMI

God has entrusted the Church to keep childhood alive, to safeguard our candour and freshness. Joy is the gift of the Church; whatever joy is possible for this sad world to share. What would it profit you even to create life itself, when you have lost all sense of what life really is?

GEORGE BERNANOS

Since Mary is the prototype of pure womanhood, the imitation of Mary must be the goal of girls' education.

EDITH STEIN (ST TERESA BENEDICTA

If families give Our Lady fifteen minutes a day by reciting the Rosary, I assure them that their homes will become, by God’s grace, peaceful places.

OF THE CROSS)

Anthony Lynch, the Cork corner-back, will be the last person to let you down – his people are undertakers.

MICHAEL Ó MUIRCHEARTAIGH

FATHER PATRICK PEYTON

ST THOMAS AQUINAS

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

9

Are you prepared for Easter?

BRAND NEW EDITION for 2020

HOLY WEEK BOOKLET PALM SUNDAY AND EASTER TRIDUUM

Liturgy for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday & Holy Saturday Includes the Passion Reading for Palm Sunday for Years A, B, and C Reflections for personal prayer or communal celebration

ONLY €0.80/£0.75 Per Copy plus P+P

BULK DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE

A guided Way of the Cross A selection of hymns and chants appropriate for the season Full 64 page colour design

TO ORDER:

ONLINE: www.redcoms.org EMAIL: sales@redcoms.org PHONE: 00353 (1) 4922 488 BULK DISCOUNTS: 10% 250-499 copies; 15% 500-999 copies; 20% 1,000+ copies

EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

CLEMENT ���

Clement

Hofbauer probably does not rank among the best-known saints of the Catholic church. If his name is familiar, it is possibly because you are a past pupil of the Redemptorist College in Limerick or you once made a retreat in Mount St Clement’s Retreat House, either in its first incarnation in Ardglass, County Down or in its later form on the slopes of Cave Hill in Belfast.

Among Redemptorists, Clement is known by the rather grandiose title of ‘Most Illustrious Propagotor of the congregation, or perhaps to put it more simply, the second founder. For Redemptorists and their coworkers and friends, this year is the second centenary of Clement’s death, and offers us the opportunity to re-assess, and indeed reappropriate, his heritage.

Clement had an extraordinary devotion to pilgrimages. Pilgrimages in his day were not pleasant flights to a foreign place and a few days’ sight-seeing in a comfortable air-conditioned coach, rounding the day off with a pleasant meal and a refreshing sleep in a comfortable hotel room. In addition to visiting local shrines in his homeland or in the several countries where he lived, Clement made several pilgrimages to Rome, from his first at the age of 18 to the life-changing one he made when he was 33. Going to Rome entailed walking more than 500 miles in each direction. Roads were for the most part poor, often little more than tracks, across the Alps and other mountain ranges. Pilgrims begged for their food. Accommodation, when available, was usually a barn, or if the pilgrims were very lucky, in the dormitory of a religious house that provided accommodation for pilgrims. Clement’s pilgrimages were in part a desire to escape a suffocating religious world in which the state attempted to exert as much control on the church as possible.

The one-timer baker who felt a call to the

priesthood had begun to study theology at the University of Vienna, but his ‘Catholic nose’ began twitched violently at the content of most of the lectures that wanted to make the church the servant of the state. The only answer was another Roman pilgrimage, this time maybe with the option of finding a place to live and pray as a hermit far from the interference of the state. At the age of 33, he made another Roman pilgrimage and this time ended up joining an unknown religious congregation, along with his 23-year-old travelling companion Thaddeus Hübl. After the briefest of noviciates and a quick repair job of whatever theology they had done, they were professed, ordained and sent back over the Alps to establish the congregation there – but were given no money and few resources.

Had it not been for these two unlikely novices, the Redemptorist Congregation, despite the renown of its illustrious founder, St Alphonsus Liguori, would probably have gone the way of many similar Italian associations of priests founded in the 17th and 18th century founded to serve local needs and which after a generation of flourishing, slowly faded and were no more. Indeed, just a few years before Clement and Thaddeus joined, the founder had been excluded from his own congregation by order of the Holy See which wrongly misunderstood his stand in the state control of his order, and the Roman house they entered was a last-ditch attempt at survival.

For a few years, the Redemptorists thrived in the unlikely setting of Warsaw. They were unable, however, to do the work of parish missions for which they had been founded, but that did not stop Clement.

Their little church became a continuous allday mission from 4.30 or 5 in the morning until 9 in the evening. It attracted zealous young men, and in addition to preaching and hearing confessions in several languages,

it diversified into education and caring for orphans and organising young women to do similar things for girls. Then tragedy struck again. The little community was sent on the roads by the Napoleonic wars. The ordained sought work where they could find it, and the novices and students became an itinerant community living in turn in Germany, France and Switzerland while Clement attempted to get them recognised by the state and carried on what was virtually a one-man mission in Vienna. It attracted unlikely admirers, including poets, musicians and artists. To all of them Clement offered friendship and spiritual guidance, and his Catholic nose was as unfailing as ever. He died on March 15, 1820, apparently a failure, but on his coffin was laid the imperial decree that recognised the Redemptorists.

At Clement’s death, there was a single community of 27 members living in a dilapidated former Carthusian monastery in Switzerland. A scattered handful of others lived in twos and threes in Poland. Thirty years later there were 45 Redemptorist houses north of the Alps, with 500 priests and brothers and over 120 students and novices. As we celebrate Clement this year, we recall his energy, his faith and his determination. May they continue to inspire all Redemptorists.

Brendan McConvery CSsR Editor

11

C OVE R STO RY

Catholicism

and the contemporary

Irish noveli

12

FOR IRISH NOVELISTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY FROM JOYCE ONWARDS, CATHOLICISM WAS AN EVER-PRESENT BACKDROP TO THEIR WORLD. HOW HAS CATHOLICISM FARED IN THE WORK OF WRITERS OF THE PRESENT GENERATION?

BY EAMONN MAHER

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

ist

In

the work of 20thcenturty Irish novelists from Joyce to McGahern, Catholicism was an unavoidable reality. To ignore it would be to present a false image of the world they grew up in and which nurtured their artistic temperament. McGahern often claimed that the Catholic Church was his first book and his most important book. By that he meant that it was through Catholicism that he came to know the power of mystery and ritual: it was the language of his youth. Similarly, Edna O’Brien admitted to Judith Weinraub of the New York Times in 1976: "The ordinary trials of a nun weren’t enough for me. I wanted to be a saint … The Catholic religion really is the most primitive in the world. One never gets over it." This is an excellent summary of the reaction of many Irish writers to the religion in which they were reared: they never fully get over it.

The Catholic religion really is the most primitive in the world.

One never gets over it Edna O'Brien

13

C OVE R STO RY

14

THE ABUSIVE PRIEST In more recent times, the wheel has come full circle and it is now far more commonplace for Irish novelists to either ignore Catholicism or to criticise it unsparingly. A good example of this is John Boyne’s A History of Loneliness (2005) whose main character Fr Odhran Yates fails to confront the reality that one of his seminary friends, Tom Cardle, is a paedophile priest, with disastrous consequences for his nephew, whom Cardle abuses. Early on in the narrative, Yates admits his fascination with the priesthood from a young age: I believed in God, in the Church, in the power of Christianity to promote a better world. I believed that the priesthood was a noble calling, a profession filled by decent men who wanted to propagate kindness and charity. I believed that the Lord had chosen me for a reason. I didn’t have to search for this faith, it was simply a part of me. And I thought that it would never change.

But change it did, and not for the better. Fr Yates slowly comes round to the view that wearing his clerical collar in public could be a demoralising experience, the revelations of clerical sex abuse having resulted in all priests being viewed as potential paedophiles. As a young boy, Yates had been abused himself by a priest: There he was; he was standing next to me now, his foul breath in my ear, his arm around my shoulder, pulling me to him, his hands tugging at my pants, reaching inside. I pressed my hands against my ears. He was there.

He was all over me.

The powerlessness of the young boy to reveal this abuse is mirrored by the adult Yates’ failure to share his suspicions about Tom Cardle. On his release from prison, Cardle confronts Yates with being complicit in protecting abusive priests: You knew it, you kept it secret and this whole conspiracy that everyone talks about, the one that goes to the top of

the Church, well it goes to the bottom of it too, to the nobodies like you, to the fella that never even had a parish of his own and hides away from the world, afraid to be spotted.

These lines, though powerful in their own way, seem to express the personal opinions of the novelist more than constituting a realistic exchange between the two priests.

While A History of Loneliness undoubtedly contains memorable passages and effective dramatic scenarios, I would maintain that the characters have no real inner life, no obvious desire to communicate with God. For example, we never see them saying Mass or acting in a pastoral role. They are ‘dead of heart’, which ultimately leads to their being devoid of any real interest for the readers.

'POST-CATHOLIC' IRELAND? Boyne belongs to the generation of Irish authors who deal in general with a postCatholic Ireland, where the majority religion is no longer the all-pervasive force it was

We never see them saying Mass or acting in a pastoral role. They are ‘dead of heart’, which ultimately leads to their being devoid of any real interest for the readers REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

The wake is made up of a combination of pagan rituals and Catholic traditions

15 for their predecessors. In many instances, Catholicism does not feature at all in their work. Roddy Doyle noted in an interview with Liam Fay that he had difficulty creating his own "agnostic space" in the Ireland of the 1980s: "It basically was the Catholic Church against everyone else. It was the insistence that if you’re Irish, you’re white and you’re Catholic as well, and if you’re not both of these things then you’re not fully Irish." It is noticeable that the urban setting of Doyle’s novels is one in which Catholicism has receded into the background and is no longer capable of influencing people’s behaviour in any meaningful way.

In Anne Enright’s award-winning novel, The Gathering (2007), the death of her brother Liam by suicide causes Veronica to reflect on a traumatic past during which as a young girl she witnessed her brother’s abuse at the hands of Lamb Nugent, a close friend and associate of her grandparents.

The Gathering is Veronica’s articulation of how the unspoken past continues to haunt

her family. Her ‘confession’ is not made to a priest or even to a therapist, but instead takes the form of a written narrative, the veracity of which is open to doubt, as indicated in the following lines: "I do not know the truth, or I do not know how to tell the truth. All I have are stories, night thoughts, the sudden conviction that uncertainty spawns." For Veronica, writing things down, remembering, confronting her ghosts, are a type of therapy, a necessary part of dealing with what happened to Liam as well as her own abuse, which is hinted at on numerous occasions.

At Liam’s wake, Veronica begins to understand the prevailing religious attitude of her parents: "My father was never pious and I do not think he was afraid of hellfire – so when he had the sex that produced the twelve children and seven miscarriages that happened inside my mother’s body […], then that was all he was doing – he was having sex. It had nothing to do with what the priests told him or didn’t tell him,

If you’re Irish, you’re white and you’re Catholic as well, and if you’re not both of these things then you’re not fully Irish Roddy Doyle

Continued on page 17

DIVINE MERCY CONFERENCE 2020 RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Saturday/Sunday 22nd & 23rd February 2020

“Deliver us from evil.”

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (Archbishop of Dublin)

Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo (Papal Nuncio)

Archbishop Eamon Martin (Primate of All Ireland)

Maria Steen (Author)

Fr Pat Collins CM (Author)

Fr Peter Glas (Poland)

Fr Brendan Walsh SCA The Pallotines, Thurles

Structure of conference: Friday, February 21st (evening only) • Saturday, February 22nd (9am – 9pm with special reconciliation service at 3pm) Sunday, February 23rd (9am – 5pm) Tickets available in advance from: Divine Mercy Apostolate, 22 Castle Grove, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 Y2W9 and by PayPal online.

Fee: Saturday €30; Sunday €20; Weekend €35. Early booking advisable. Thank you for your prayer support.

Follow us on FaceBook

www.divinemercyconference.com divinemercyconference@gmail.com

Phone/Text: 0860669203 (9am - 5pm only please)

COVER STO RY

To him her presence was as important as the world. And the stars around it. If she was an instance of the goodness in this world then passing through it by her side was miracle enough.

it was just something he needed to do, or wanted to do; it was just something he felt he deserved.’

The Gathering deals with how middleaged people, when faced with a tragedy, turn to the past in search of explanations. It is only when she begins reading about the horrors visited on young people in schools, Magdalene Laundries, churches and in old people’s homes that Veronica recalls what Lamb Nugent did and then she feels doubly responsible:"It went on slap-bang in front of me and still I did not realise it. And for this, I am very sorry too." Anne Enright’s novel reflects the world inhabited by characters like Veronica, for whom church teaching is an irrelevance. Although initially resistant to waking Liam at home, Veronica finally finds the meeting and greeting of guests, the shaking of hands, the reminiscences, quite cathartic. The wake is made up of a combination of pagan rituals and Catholic traditions, of conflicting and often contradictory beliefs. There is little more than a veneer of Catholic teaching visible in such gatherings, which does not make them any

less relevant for those partaking in them.

Healing comes in all sorts of different ways.

THE WINTER OF THE SOUL? Bernard MacLaverty’s Midwinter Break (2017) relates the problems encountered by a retired Belfast couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, as they struggle with their relationship. Gerry, a retired academic, is losing control of his drinking and his barbed comments about her religious convictions grate on Stella almost as much as his drinking. What he fails to realise is that when Stella was a chance victim of the Troubles during the later stages of pregnancy, she made a promise to God that she would live a devout life if her baby was saved. Hence, during a winter break in Amsterdam, she investigates the possibility of joining a lay congregation of women who devote their lives to prayer and good deeds. Having been the beneficiary of what she perceives to be a miracle – her child was delivered safely in spite of her being shot – she feels compelled to fulfil the commitment she made to God. MacLaverty shows poise and restraint in his portrayal of two people who have shared

so much and yet have lost the ability to communicate. But the flame of love has not been completely extinguished and it is that which wins out in the end, as Gerry resolves to address his drinking in an attempt to hold on to his wife. The last lines read: "To him her presence was as important as the world. And the stars around it. If she was an instance of the goodness in this world then passing through it by her side was miracle enough."

Gerry’s change of heart could indicate the strange workings of grace in this subtle exploration of the Catholic mind-set.

The novel is the most social of all art forms and it tends to track changing mores and attitudes. In the novels dealt with in this article, that is certainly the case. Traditional Catholicism in Ireland at present, if not in full-blown crisis, is certainly on the wane.

Ever-declining numbers attending Mass and the sacraments, a crisis in vocations to the priesthood, anger at the clerical abuse scandals, at the callous cruelty visited on young women in various church-run institutions, these have all brought about a huge sea-change in terms of the role that Catholicism currently plays. Strange as it may seem, the moment could well be the ripe now for writers to explore the human race’s perennial fascination with the transcendent. What makes this unlikely is the fact that Ireland is now a country where two generations of young people, according to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, have little or no knowledge of Catholic doctrine. It may well take an intervention by the Holy Spirit to bring about a change of heart, but such a scenario does not seem likely.

Eamon Maher is director of the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies in TU Dublin. His latest book, co-edited with Brian Lucey and Eugene O’Brien, Recalling the Celtic Tiger, is published by Peter Lang, Oxford.

17

COM M E N T WITH EYES WIDE OPEN JIM DEEDS

IN HIM ALL THINGS ARE MADE NEW

MAKING SOMETHING NEW FROM A SENSE OF FAILURE I once applied for a job for all the wrong reasons. People told me I'd be good at it. The pay was well above what I had ever earned before and I would get to make decisions (be in control).

In other words, I applied for the job not because I had a passion for the work, but because the idea stroked my ego. I took the job. I wore a suit and 'played the part'. It didn't go well. I didn't really know what I was doing.

I was over-doing and under -being. I became sick. I faced the humiliation of admitting I wouldn't go back. I said to myself and those I held close, "This is a mess. I have failed and it is over."

I took time off and tried to heal.

And slowly it began to happen.

I began to re-look; at myself, at life, at everything. I walked a lot.

I sensed that I was emptying myself of the negative feelings that had built up. I began to empty myself of my stories of who I was and what I 'should' be. I began to breathe. I began to get fit. I began to pray more and go regularly to weekday Mass.

I had a real lived experience of God's presence with me in my mess and he made me new again.

I healed and went back to work (in a different job).

Looking back now I see that there were four ‘legs’ to my healing. Firstly, and this seems counter-intuitive, I had to get sick. Even though it was a very unpleasant situation it also told me something was wrong.

I wasn’t listening to my body, my family or the Spirit within me. I now realise that as soon

as I acknowledged there was something wrong, in some way the healing began.

Secondly, there was community.

I reconnected to my family and home life (having been so consumed with work and the stress it offered that I had become disconnected). This afforded me love, companionship and wise counsel. Another source of community I experienced was the parish community. I began to go to Mass daily and to spend time with the daily Mass-goers. Daily Massgoers tend to be people of a certain age – they tend to be older folk.

And what I found over that time was they are folk with great wisdom, energy, stories and wisdom. I grew immensely in confidence and heart being around them.

This leads me nicely on to the third leg of my healing: prayer.

Having time on my hands I found a renewed love of prayer.

In particular I began to pray the Rosary on a more regular basis and to read and study scripture. I thank

God that I have retained a love of both ever since. I often found myself lost in the repetition of the prayers of the Rosary and in that time of being lost, I found the art of contemplation – of simply letting what was happening come to me and go again. And in scripture I found stories that echoed the joys and difficulties of my own life and the lives of those I knew and loved.

I found that Jesus had walked those paths before us and walks with us on them right now.

The final leg of my healing was spending time in God’s creation.

I developed a practice of prayer walking – on the streets, in the parks and up the hills of my home city of Belfast. I would pray the Rosary or just talk to God. Sometimes I would just allow my awe at the astounding beauty of the world around us be a prayer in itself. I thanked God for creation and all within it. I began to heal somewhere deep inside as I practised this discipline of gratitude.

Someone I know and respect asked this question recently: "Would Jesus recognise the church today as the one he founded on the streets and hill 2,000 years ago?" It is a good question, isn’t it?

I’d say that there are aspects of the church that he would not recognise at all – those times when we are not compassionate or welcoming. Or those times when we are wrapped up in legalism, rules or ceremony over loving people.

And yet, when I think about my time of illness and more specially my time of healing I think Jesus would recognise the church in it.

He would recognise the church in family love and communities coming together to pray and support each other. He would recognise the church in how we marvel at and care for the world he created for us.

And so, as this new year begins, let us pray for those who are ill.

Let us pray for families, parish communities and the wonderful gift of the world around us. Let us begin this new year with a renewed commitment caring for people and our common home.

And let us pray that we might hear the words of the Blessed Virgin at the wedding at Cana ringing in our ears, "Do whatever he tells you".

This new year, what is he telling you?

Belfast man Jim Deeds is a poet, author, pastoral worker and retreat-giver working across Ireland.

19

LI T U RGY

THE SANCTUARY

20 Altar of the Cathedral of Havana,Cuba

THE MOST SPECIAL PART OF OUR CHURCH BUILDING IS THE AREA AROUND THE ALTAR KNOWN AS THE SANCTUARY. ITS SPACE AND FURNISHINGS SPEAK TO US ABOUT THE MYSTERY OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

BY MARIA HALL

The

church building is a visual reflection of the reality of our relationship with Christ. The Catechism tells us that “when the faithful assemble in the same place, they are living stones gathered to be built into a spiritual house” ( CCC 1179). Every element of the building has deep significance and should remind us and help us move closer to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Because of this, church architects and artists bear a heavy responsibility in bringing about a sense of the sacred. The focus of this artistic work is the sanctuary, the central and most sacred part of the building. It is the place where the altar stands, the

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Word of God is proclaimed, and ministers exercise their functions. It should be appropriately marked off from the body of the church, either by being somewhat elevated or large enough to allow the Eucharist to be easily celebrated and seen (General Instruction on Roman Missal, GIRM 295).

HOLY PLACE God’s instructions for Israel’s worship were very detailed and included instructions for the tent of meeting, the altar, priestly garments, oil lamps and the burning of incense. The sanctuary of Solomon’s Temple was considered

as the fulfilment of the Holy of Holies. It was lavish and extravagant, built of stone, and everything was covered with gold! Entering through the curtain into the Holy of Holies was to enter heaven on earth! The pinnacle of Hebrew worship was sacrifice which took place at the altar. Animals or grain were burned and produced a smoke that was pleasing to God. ALTAR The altar in the Christian sanctuary is the heart of sacrifice to God. The whole purpose of the church building is the altar; what happens

there is the fulfilment of Christ’s desire for the salvation of humanity. From the very early days of the Christianity, when Eucharist was celebrated in a domestic setting or in catacombs during persecution, the altar was central, whether a wooden dining table or the stone tomb of a Christian martyr. In the dark of underground meetings, candles provided light and the relics of the martyr were revered.

We keep these traditions today.

Following the conversion of Constantine, the domus-ecclesiae, or house-church, declined for ever and a new age of architectural grandeur superseded it.

The early Church Fathers were quick to develop a theology of the altar. John Chrysostom wrote “The altar is an object of wonder: by nature, it is stone, but it is made holy when it receives the Body of Christ.”

To this day, the altar remains the heart of liturgical action. It has been re-styled, reappointed and has been the subject of many artistic fashions. In a 21st century age of concrete, steel and glass, there are some challenging interpretations of ecclesial design, and in recent years some Vatican officials have been critical of church architects for being more focused

on winning awards and creating spaces that resemble museums rather than prayer spaces.

The altar represents Christ’s body as the place of sacrificial offering. It symbolises three things: 1. the realisation of Old Testament realities, 2. the actual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, 3. and is a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet.

The altar should be fixed, in a place that is the centre of the assembly’s attention, dedicated according to the rites of the church. The mensa or table should be made of stone with a worthy and solid base, containing the relic of a saint. In a new church there should be just one altar; this is to emphasise the singularly and centrality of Christ; the Catechism says that the "Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present in the midst of the assembly of his faithful " (1383).

The high altar in older churches should not be decorated to compete with the main altar.

For the celebration of Mass, there should be at least one white cloth covering the mensa.

No vessels should be placed on it until the Preparation of the Gifts.

AMBO AND CHAIR The celebration of the Eucharist has always consisted of both Word and Eucharist. Justin

Martyr in the second century account of the Lord’s Day, described how "The memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read for as long as time allows. When the Lector has finished, the president addresses us and exhorts us to imitate the spending things we have heard….When we have finished praying, bread, wine and water are brought up.”

Through the centuries, the ambo has existed in different forms. It was on an elevated platform, sometimes on two levels, the lower for the epistle and the higher for the Gospel.

Sometimes there were two ambos, east and west for the same reason. These days, some churches have a simple, movable lectern (not ideal) and some have a separate pulpit used for the Gospel and homily.

It is desirable that there is a connection in the styles of the altar and ambo, giving a visual link between Word and Eucharist. The ambo is an important place of proclamation, and so it should be fixed and of artistic substance and integrity. It is to be used for the readings, psalm, Gospel, homily and prayers of the faithful and on Holy Saturday, the Exsultet.

At the time of Christ, the chair was a symbol of teaching and wisdom. Teachers, philosophers, kings

21

LI T U RGY

22

and emperors all spoke with authority whilst seated.

In the Christian church, the bishop, as a successor of the apostles, is the chief pastor and liturgist and his seat, the cathedra, is the symbol of his apostolic authority. The chair in every church is a sign of the authority delegated to the ordained minister, priest or deacon, by the bishop. It is not a symbol of individual power and should not resemble a throne or be too dominating.

TABERNACLE The tabernacle is a relatively recent addition to church furnishings. Eucharistic reservation was intended for the sick. Eucharist was wrapped in cloth and kept safe in a cupboard or chest. The first kind of formal reservation was a hanging pyx, very often in the form of a dove. St Basil in the fourth century commissioned doves of pure gold for the reservation of the Eucharist: there is still one in Amiens Cathedral. This was often done for practical reasons, such as keeping it out of reach of mice. In the Middle Ages, the practice of Eucharistic adoration made the reserved Sacrament a new focus and by the 16th century, the tabernacle was a highly ornate repository on the high altar.

It should be "in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, readily visible, beautifully decorated and suitable for prayer" (GIRM 314), either in the sanctuary but separate from the altar, or in a side chapel intended for private adoration.

CROSS, CANDLES AND CREDENCE TABLE Both Moses and Solomon made lampstands for the tabernacle and the temple. Christ himself said REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

"I am the light of the world." The sanctuary lamp is a permanent light indicating the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and only extinguished at the Triduum. For the celebration of the Eucharist there should be at least two candles on or near the altar.

On a Sunday, there may be four or six and in the presence of the bishop, seven should be used.

From the fourth century onwards, the cross became common in places of worship. As churches grew in size and became more elaborate, so did the central figure of Christ. In the Middle Ages it was part of a rood screen, separating the sanctuary from the nave, sometimes hung from the ceiling.

Today, the crucifix may be suspended or may be a carried in procession and placed in a prominent place during Mass.

Because the altar table should remain empty of vessels till the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the credence table plays an important behind-the-scenes role during the first half of Mass. It serves the action quietly and unseen. It comes from the Italian credenza, a table or sideboard.

PASTORAL CONSIDERATIONS The sanctuary is rich in symbolism even before Mass begins; we should be able to encounter the things of heaven through the symbols we see. This is mystagogical cathechesis! We need to know what symbols mean, use them correctly and see them clearly.

Unfortunately, the sanctuary is often cluttered!

Extra tables and chairs, potted plants, kneelers, a statue or two, votive lights, money boxes, safety notices, prayer intentions, CD players and piles of

CDs etc. All of these things prevent the essential symbols from speaking.

Provision for leading music, commentating or general announcements should be made from somewhere other than the ambo. Flower arrangements can be of amazing beauty but should not camouflage the altar or ambo. Posters and banners are probably better somewhere else in church other than the sanctuary. Microphones, notes and glasses of water should be concealed from view.

Here is a challenge for your parish liturgy group; clear the sanctuary of absolutely everything movable. It should look better already! Then return only what is absolutely necessary. Hide things that shouldn’t be seen.

Allowing symbols to speak is part of the active participation desired by Vatican II. We don’t just watch what is going on but we have a deep understanding of why. Only then will we be able to "derive from it more abundantly those fruit for which Christ the Lord instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice."

Maria Hall is music director at St Wilfrid's Church, Preston. A qualified teacher, she has a master’s in liturgical theology from the Liturgy Centre, Maynooth and is a consultant on matters liturgical for schools and parishes.

REDEMPTORIST

PARISH MISSIONS

Breaking the Word in February 2020

Please pray for the Redemptorist Teams who will preach the Word and for God’s People who will hear the Word proclaimed this month in:

St Agnes Parish, Belfast (3rd – 11th February 2020) Parish mission preached by Denis Luddy CSsR Galway Novena (17th – 25th February 2020) Novena preached by Brendan Callanan CSsR, Denis Luddy CSsR and Clare Gilmore

Weekday times: 7.30am, 11.00am, 1.10pm, 3.30pm, 7.30pm and 9.00pm • Sunday times: 9.00am. 10.30am, 12.30pm, 4.30pm. 6.30pm. 8.00pm Thursday 20th: Reconciliation Services without Mass at 7.30am, 1.10pm and 9.00pm. • Thursday 20th: Mass at 11.30am, 3.30pm, 7.30pm.

Saturday 22nd – Mass with Anointing of the Sick at 11.00am • Sunday 23rd – Blessing of Babies and Young Children after each session Candlelight Prayer on Wednesday 18th and Monday 24th at 10.00pm

Dunloe, Donegal (22nd – 29th February 2020) Parish mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR and Kieran Brady CSsR The details above are accurate at the time of printing. If you have any views, comments or even criticisms about Redemptorist preaching, we would love to hear from you. If you are interested in a mission or novena in your parish, please contact us for further information. And please keep all Redemptorist preachers in your prayers.

Fr Laurence Gallagher CSsR, Email: largallagher@gmail.com Tel: +353 61 315099

January Movies for Dark Evenings Each of the three evenings we view a classic film, and afterwards discuss it. (Donation) Thurs. 9, 23, 30. 7.30pm – 9.15pm Mid-winter Spirit ‘and Christ comes with a January flower’ (P. Kavanagh) Sat.18 10am – 4pm Ben Hegarty OP Spirituality of the 12 Steps Each life can be enriched by this famous way Sat.25 10am – 4pm Patricia Coyle

Ennismore Retreat Centre St Dominic’s

February Desire: Living with not-yet Restlessness at the heart of life Sat. 1 10am – 4pm Stephen Cummins OP Wellness afternoon Exploring ways to healing and wholeness (€30) Sat.8 2pm – 5pm Patrick Sheehan

www.ennismore.ie

Wood you Believe?

Getting the past out of the present…

Fri. 21 10am – 4pm Fr. Jim Cogley Mothering the Mother “you can’t pour from an empty cup…”

Sat. 29 10am – pm Sara Devoy & Laura Whalen Lent The Spring season of the church’s year begins on Wednesday 26 February with the liturgy of ashes.

Is Democracy under Threat?

Values is our age of disruption Sat. 7 10am – 4pm Ian Hughes Nature is never Spent…

The mystics’ sense of creation’s abundance Sat.14 10am – 4pm Donagh O’Shea OP Full day retreat €75 (including lunch) Booking is essential.

Ash Wednesday: Mass with ashes 10am Stations of the cross: Every Friday 7pm Reconciliation: Every Saturday 10am March Retreat for Priests Open to all priests Wed. 4 12noon – 5pm Peter McVerry SJ

021–4502520

info@ennismore.ie

AVOCADO THE PARISH, NOT THE FRUIT AVOCADO IS A MOUNTAIN PARISH IN THE PHILIPPINES – REMOTE, IMPOVERISHED, YET ITS PEOPLE ARE ALSO CAPABLE OF SHOWING GREAT HOSPITALITY.

BY COLM MEANEY CSsR

R 24

eminiscent of the description of the mighty city of Nineveh as a place where people “don’t know their right hand from their left” (the book of Jonah in the Old Testament), the parish priest described Avocado, where I recently gave a mission, as a place where the people hardly know how to make the Sign of the Cross. He wasn’t exaggerating.

Avocado is part of a large mountain village, and I have been in it, and the neighbouring hamlets, for the duration of Fr Colm with some of his mission helpers Lent and Holy Week. It is a picturesque setting: 200-plus houses nestled among the hills (which means no apart from a television set and very little adornment mobile-phone signal for days on end), with an or decoration apart from the school ribbons, and elementary school and a small secondary school. the laminated collage of graduation and wedding I stay in a rather basic bunk-house belonging to photos. Their lives consist of the trip to the well to the local government; the elementary school do the washing and gossip with the other women, teachers with three working students stay in the the ever-returning daily grind on their stony, hilly other half of the rudimentary building. plots of land and the weekly escape of market-day, when they sell their produce, buy the essentials, LIFE IN THE BARIO mingle and joke with the neighbours. Some of I often feel like T.S. Eliot’s Magi returning home the men have a few drinks too many, and amuse after their visit to Bethlehem, with their notion of themselves and annoy the entire village bawling returning to an “alien people clutching their gods”. into the microphone at the sing-along.

These people, and their lives, are so different from Such is their life, a life that seems to me to be mine (and yours?). Their lives revolve around a lived within very limited parameters. When they plain daily (tedious?) routine: living in very bare watch TV, it’s those endless Filipino telenovelas, or houses. For the most part, there are no luxuries soap-operas, the plots of which are memorably

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

simple: rich man dates rich woman; rich man is smitten by attractive, simple, shy maid from the provinces. Ditched rich woman becomes furious, throws multiple tantrums, tempestuous scenes of accusation and blame follow; the mother of the rich girl appears on the scene and begins to mistreat the helpless, hapless maid, etc., etc. Alternatively, if the setting is a secondary school, it’s the two-boys-fighting-overone-girl scenario, with various punch-ups, pulling of hair, etc.

I mean, is there not one single original scriptwriter in the entire country? And this is the entertainment that has the good folk of Avocado agog, because anyone who has two centavos to rub together has a satellite dish on the roof of the house. If they’re not watching local programmes, then it’s the embarassingly stilted predictable offerings from Mexico, or the laughably stereotypical shows from Korea.

A PLACE FOR FAITH? I supppose it’s an escape from the drudgery of their daily living. I mean, what’s more immediately attractive if you’re coming home, trudging tired and weary from the fields? A gathering in the chapel for sharing on the Gospel (which is what I organise most evenings) or half an hour in the sing-along, a few songs to satisfy the tired mind, a few shots of rum to soothe the weary body?

Their lives have a daily grind with which we are all luxury; they will keep wearing such rags until they completely unfamiliar; their quotidian conditions literally fall off their bodies. The only decent blouse never, ever impinge on us: children and teenagers or shirt, skirt or trousers, is reserved for church or hauling water, well beyond their own body weight, fiesta, wedding or funeral. from the well; young men and women carrying 50 Yet I think to myself, they never read (many, kgs of bananas or cassava in baskets on their backs of course, can’t read, being illiterate), they never (I couldn’t even lift one such basket when I tried; listen to Bach or jazz or the haunting melodies adult men carry 70 kgs); I met a girl of 13 and her of Sakamoto or even the catchy tunes of Burt sister (8) at 7.15am as I was setting off for one of Bacharach. However I don’t think this is being smug, the townlands. They were coming back from some it’s just that two very different cultures meet, with pre-school weeding in the fields. Theirs is an almost limited points of mutual understanding. But not of entirely different world from ours. total incomprehension – otherwise I wouldn’t be Maybe this is their lot in life (and similarly for up there for seven weeks, moving from one area to others I’ve met in city squatter-areas), thus has the other. Still, many of them haven’t the slightest fate decreed that they pass their days, in houses interest in whatever it is I’m peddling, so maybe it’s of a most basic nature, amidst mud- and garbage- time to change my sales pitch or come up with a filled stinking creeks, numberless children, some revamped vision-mission statement. with distended bellies, 'clothed' in rags, playing in You might think Avocado, nestled so attractively the dust. Perhaps the dazed, resigned struggle to in the hills, 12 miles from the highway, might be a go from one day to the next, to put some food haven of tranquility. You’d be mistaken. Soon after on the table every day, to try to find some kind sunrise, those with sound-systems let rip. Their of income, to hope that no emergency spitefully entertaining of half the village with their incessant presents itself, for where could they ever find boom-boom from the speakers may, from their sufficient funds for hospital, medicines – maybe point of view, be their daily act of kind-hearted all this is so energy-sapping that there’s nothing left, philantrophy. Needless to say I demur, but being in no interest remaining for what I am there to offer: a tiny minority (one), I keep my dissension to myself. to gather together as believers in order to celebrate Apart from the monotonous cacaphony from early and deepen and share our faith in the goodness morning, conditions can sometimes be somewhat of creation, in the victory wrought by Jesus, in the trying. I’ve eaten more dried-fish and milled corn attractiveness of the way of life taught and lived by in the past month than in the previous ten years, him, in the witness of our forebears and living heroes but that didn’t bother me at all. But eating my food, that change is sometimes possible: what fate has with dogs growling and snarling under the table, decreed, history has decided or culture has shaped is not always what God has willed.

Emblematic of their having so little is what is usually called a 'clothes line', but in their case would more accurately be called a 'rags line', when I see the miserable items hanging out to dry. Sometimes there appear to be more holes than cloth. In many other places such excuses for clothing would long ago have been consigned to the rubbish heap. But 'The Peasant Wedding' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1567 these folks don’t have that

and with cats sitting on the table – well that was not helping my appetite.

The spartan conditions of the bunk-house were satisfactory until the sing-along across the road got going. When the drunken shouting into the microphone finally ended at 1am, I decided I needed to change my sleeping quarters. I moved to a house on the edge of the hamlet and the first few nights were fine. Then their dog produced four pups and between the incessant barking of the cur and the high-pitched whining of the whelps, sleep again was impossible. Once again at 1am I walked in the pitch darkness back to the bunk-house, my flashlight my only guide. With everyone sleeping soundly, I removed two glass jalousies (louvres) and climbed and crawled ignominiously through the gap in the window.

On the last day of the mission, we had the wedding of seven couples, and I went to the reception of one of them. Well, it was like a modern version of the great painting of Breughel's, "Peasant Wedding' (1567): a depiction of the reception of clearly a poor couple and their guests. The bride, a little tipsy, sits on a wooden bench, underneath the solitary decoration in the hall; the 'waiters' bring in plates of gruel for the guests; the man playing the bagpipes as entertainment looks longingly at the plates of porridge, eagerly waiting his turn. A very simple and plain party, with absolutely no luxuries.

And that’s what the reception in Avocado was like: a simple marquee had been placed outside the house, where the rented sing-along was; the men at one table drinking strong beer, the women at another table drinking tuba (fermented coconut juice); clearly not-well-off country folk, dressed in their Sunday best for the big occasion: a scene of merriment and satisfaction, a grand way to end the mission in Avocado.

A native of Limerick city where he went to school in St Clement’s College, Fr Colm Meaney first went to the Philippines as a student and has spent most of his priestly life there.

25

P RAYE R

OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN

A NEW SERIES OF REFLECTIONS ON THE LORD’S PRAYER BEGINS WITH THE OBSERVATION THAT LEARNING TO PRAY IS LIKE LEARNING TO RIDE A BIKE, SKINNED KNEE INCLUDED. 26 BY MIKE DALEY

I

know my wife means well. So, when she suggested a family bike ride, I knew I couldn’t say no. Our eldest was headed back to college the next day. Images of positive family bonding leading to happy family memories filled my wife’s mind. Who was I to stand in her way?

Though all five of us started out together, our youngest soon started to lag behind the others.

I fell back to keep an eye on her.

How could she have forgotten what I had taught her years ago: “Pedal, pedal, pedal.” Eventually, after a few worrisome wobbles, you could literally see her head and body come together where she was no longer thinking about the mechanics of biking. She was in the moment. Person and bike were one again.

Looking at her, it made me wonder why we didn’t do this more as a family.

Unfortunately, that didn’t save her from a brief wipe-out occasioned by a group of walkers and their dog who had taken up too much of the bike path.

PRAYING AND CYCLING The experience did allow me to realise that prayer is a lot like riding a bike, skinned knee included. In the beginning, we learn the basics. Skill acquisition is central. We memorise the words. The theological content, in many cases, exceeds our grasp.

Yet, we like being part of the group.

Over time we gain confidence in being able to say the prayers without even really thinking –"Glory be….”

“Hail Mary, full of grace….” There is no concern for embarrassment

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

at a possible mispronounced or forgotten word. It’s become second nature.

As the years pass, however, what was once exciting and meaningful can become boring and routine.

The words begin to sound more shallow than substantial. The tone may lack its past sincerity while the speed may be more hurried. We may even become self-conscious of how we’ve prayed in the past, realising that our focus was not so much on God but ourselves. In the process, rather than become more mature in prayer, many people become more hesitant or tight-lipped thinking it reserved for a more holy caste of people.

At some point, however, wanting deeper discipleship, we ask Jesus,

“Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Jesus’ response then and now: the Our Father. But…we’ve said this since we were children. Isn’t this a prayer for naïve kids, not mature adults? We want challenge and conversion, not more of the same.

I agree.

For Christians, though, the Our

What a gift of prayer that we have in the Our Father. It is the doorway to the God of Jesus.

Father (aka Lord’s Prayer, Pater Noster) is the foundational prayer.

The early Church Father and Christian apologist Tertullian called the Lord’s Prayer, “the summary of the whole Gospel”. Found in both Luke (11:2-4) and Matthew (6:9-

13), this prayer unites all Christians whatever else their theological divisions are. Due to its place in the liturgical life of Catholics, the version that this column will focus on is the Matthean one. In Matthew’s Gospel it comes in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount between Jesus’ comments on almsgiving and fasting.

As we begin this exploration of the Our Father, you’re invited to slow down, relax, and let the words of the Our Father wash over you.

“OUR” Unlike Luke’s more terse beginning with “Father”, Matthew begins his with “Our”. And that, as they say, may make all the difference.

It’s in my cultural blood as an American to think of the individual before the community. Constantly ringing in my ears are my rights –“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – and my needs. For someone raised on 'me, myself, and I', “our” can seem like a strange bedfellow.

In his book The Lord’s Prayer, Holy Cross Father and emeritus professor at the University of Notre Dame, Nicholas Ayo states that “[a] n argument could also be made that our (Father) establishes not only a vertical relationship with God, but

also a horizontal bond among the members of the praying community.

Since they have in common a Father in heaven, they are brothers and sisters to each other on earth.”

Yet, current events suggest breaks rather than bonds –“no deal” this, “my country first” that. Self-interest – personal, national, even religious – reigns supreme. Those who disagree with us are no longer family or friends but enemies. Unfortunately, we seem to have settled into a dysfunctional state of polarity and partisanship.

“Our” begins a necessary orientation to the Other and others though. Jesuit Father Gregory Boyle would say that “our” leads to kinship.

In his book, Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship, which chronicles his years in gang ministry in Los Angeles, Boyle observes that “[h]uman beings are settlers, but not in the pioneer sense. It is our human occupational hazard to settle for little. We settle for purity and piety when we are being invited to an exquisite holiness. We settle for the fear-driven when love longs to be our engine. We settle for a puny, vindictive God when we are being nudged always closer to this wildly inclusive, larger-than-any-life God. We allow our sense of God to atrophy. We settle for the illusion of

separation when we are endlessly asked to enter into kinship with all.”

“Our” makes possible the Body of Christ; the people we are called to become more fully.

“FATHER” We’ve said and heard this word so often that I wonder at times if it means for us what it meant for Jesus. For him this address for God isn’t to someone who is far off and above the concerns of creation, but to one who is close, personal, and intimate. The depth of this relationship is captured when one goes beyond the translated word “Father” to the original Aramaic word Jesus used – Abba. In Jesus’ common language it conveyed a sense of family tenderness and warmth.

What a difference 2,000 years make. In his recent book, The Our Father: A New Reading, German scripture scholar Fr. Gerhard Lohfink admits, “What the first Christians found so incomprehensible and so precious – that they were permitted to call God abba, “dear Father,” creates problems for us later day Christians.”

Regrettably, our image of fatherhood today is often associated with abuse, authoritarianism, and male domination in society. Looking

at the past and present it must be admitted that some Christians have distorted the image of God as “Father". This is totally contrary to Jesus’ own experience of God as “Father". For him “Father” conveys a sense of trust, compassion, and forgiveness.

Though it was privileged by Jesus, when referring to God as “Father”, it is important to remind ourselves that his language is metaphorical not literal. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God” (#239). As Dominican sister Barbara Reid, professor of New Testament Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, told me long ago, “The problem is not calling God ‘Father'. The problem is calling God only ‘Father'."

What a gift of prayer that we have in the Our Father. It is the doorway to the God of Jesus. Its first words challenge the individualism of our times and offer us relationship with a loving “Father” who desires to be with us, whoever and wherever we are.

Mike Daley is a teacher and writer from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lives with his wife June and their three children. His latest book, co-edited with Diane Bergant, is Take and Read: Christian Writers Reflect on Life’s Most influential Books.

27

wherewithal to survive or educate their children to face a changing world. Rombo is seriously bush territory. The Sahara Desert is advancing at a minimum of 20 miles a year. The spot is beside Tsavo Wildlife Park, and because of lack of food, the wild animals make life very dangerous for both people and their herds, especially in the early morning, and after dark. This was the challenge Elaine was willing to face, and she has committed her life to the people she felt called to embrace as family.

Elaine Bannon

THE POWER OF ONE PROVIDING WATER AND OTHER ESSENTIALS SEEMS LIKE A FAR CRY FROM A DUBLIN BUSINESS OFFICE. ELAINE BANNON HAS 28 FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS BEEN DEDICATED TO WORKING AMONG THE MAASAI OF KENYA.

BY KATHLEEN O’KEEFFE

In

2001 Elaine Bannon was a very successful manager of a lighting company in Dublin.

It was boom time in Ireland, so a holiday in Kenya was no problem, financially. However, it was a costly holiday in other ways, because the poverty she experienced caused her to reassess her whole value system. She returned to Ireland, resigned her lucrative employment and with the money gained by selling her very trendy car, she returned to Kenya.

BACK TO KENYA Her plan was to work in an orphanage for AIDS orphans in Mombasa for a year, but half way through, she made Kenyan friends who brought her to bush territory in Rombo (near the border with Tanzania), where the Maasai tribe lived. They pointed out to her that those living in towns and

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

cities had some hope of government services, but those out in the bush were totally without

THE POWER OF FRIENDS Elaine is a strong, generous and very charismatic woman, and she enlisted a large group of friends to raise money for the enormous challenges that lay ahead. Her experience in management stood her in good stead, and unlike many missionaries (myself included), she did not concentrate on one aspect of deprivation, but was able to take a wide view of all the needs, and involve friends with a variety of skills to commit time, money and experience in the effort to alleviate the suffering which she was encountering on every side.

A good friend, called Martin Breen, saw the need for proper accommodation for Elaine herself. Her house was beside the river, and every mud slide covered her little house, and ruined everything she had. Martin raised money and oversaw the building of a house which not only met her needs but also provided safe accommodation for volunteers who might come for varying periods of

Elaine is a strong, generous and very charismatic woman, and she enlisted a large group of friends to raise money for the enormous challenges that lay ahead the means of survival. Often, in fact, the Kenyan government did not even know of their existence.

The Maasai people had been traditionally nomadic, moving not only from place to place, but from country to country in East Africa. They moved with their herds from one area of pasture to another, but with the advent of global warming there was less and less pasture land, and they were forced to settle where they could, without the

time to help with her work. This has been a great initiative, because those who come often return with others and continue to raise funds at home.

This band of volunteers now numbers many from Ireland (North and South), England, America, Germany, Holland, New Zealand and Italy . Sadly Martin, the man who masterminded the project, died suddenly a few months after its completion, but this house is a wonderful

monument to his memory, and evidence of his amazing generosity. Eighteen years after her first visit to Kenya, Rambo is a vastly changed place, and she has been awarded the status of “warrior” by the Kenyan government for her extraordinary work.

DRINKING WATER From the start Elaine was determined to provide clean water, health care and education. She built deep wells to tap into the underground supply of clean water coming from nearby snow-capped

Kilimanjaro. The boreholes she has provided give clean water through pipes to an area of up to 20 kilometres, so there is water for domestic use and irrigation. Another way of providing water is through sand dams. The Rombo area has very few days when rain falls, but in one day the amount of water can be enormous (frequently causing landslides when everything is covered with mud). This water can also be collected, however, by having a dam in a river. The system used is as follows: the local people are organised to build a high concrete wall, so that when the flood

comes it brings sand with it which lies against this wall, the water level builds up, and remains in place when the rain stops. Then by digging the depth of an arm into the sand, filtered water can be procured. These projects have been very successful, and the lives of the people, especially of the women (who would have had to draw water on a daily basis often from a long distance, at risk from wild animals) have been transformed.

Previously they were reduced to using the same stream to water cattle, wash clothes and make the tea! In fact when streams dried up they were forced to drink cow’s urine to remain alive!

Elaine has built clinics, where mothers can be helped through antenatal and postnatal care, and where HIV sufferers get medication and extra nourishment in their fight for survival.

Her latest project is to provide an eye clinic there is none in the area, and the only alternative is a seven hour journey to Nairobi.

EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION There is always an awareness among Irish people that the way out of poverty is through education.

Many donors are sponsoring children in schools in Rombo, and at this point, several students have gone right through to third-level education, and are coming back to help their own people.

Elaine has reared, and is rearing children who were abandoned, and her amazing energy and goodness has been noticed and supported by many of all ages and walks of life.

One Dublin woman with a big heart has shown the world the power of one! She believes that the answer to the refugee problems lies in helping people through giving them the means to remain in their own countries, among the families they love.

An up-to-date account of Elaine’s work is available on www.lightofmaasai.org. It will also help you to make a donation to the work.

Kathleen O'Keeffe is a Sister of Mercy, living in Beaumont, Dublin. Part of her ministry life was spent in Kenya, and her main goal now is to help a neighbour, Elaine Bannon, in her work for the very needy people of the Maasai tribe.

29

Are you enjoying this issue of Reality?

Would you like to receive Reality on a regular basis?

L ANNUATION* P I SUBSCRNLY O

€25/£20

Taking a subscription ensures Reality magazine is delivered to your door every month instead of calling to a church or a shop in the hope that you will find it there.

Each issue is packed with articles to inform, inspire and challenge you as a Catholic today.

A one year subscription to REALITY magazine is just €25 or £20 No extra charge for postage and packing HOW TO ORDER: Phone 01 492 2488 • Email sales@redcoms.org • Online www.redcoms.org Post Complete the order form below and return it to: Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph’s Monastery, Dundalk, Co Louth, A91 F3FC

ORDER FORM:

Yes, I would like to subscribe to REALITY.Please send me a copy of ‘VISITS TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT’ PAYMENT DETAILS | Please tick

OPTION A:

I wish to pay by credit card

FREE!

With every subscription

one of the following options:

VISA

MASTERCARD

Valid from:

LASER

Valid to: CVC

OPTION B:

I wish to pay by cheque

OPTION C:

Existing account holders only:

PLEASE NOTE THAT CHEQUES MUST BE MADE PAYABLE TO “REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS”

I enclose a cheque for:

Please bill my account at the address below.

My account number is:

Name

Phone

Address

Email Signed

*SUBSCRIPTION RATES ARE: • €25 (ROI) • £20 (NI) • £30 (UK) • €40 (Europe) • €50 (International)

COM M E N T FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

MAKE 2020 YOUR HAPPIEST YEAR

THERE CAN BE A JOY AND FREEDOM IN GROWING OLDER AS WE LEARN FROM THE YEARS THAT HAVE GONE BY. It surprises me that so many of my friends express surprise when I tell them that I love getting older. I enjoy the freedom to break with traditions that no longer serve me well. I love the freedom to ask curious questions of myself and others. And I take great pleasure in explaining, to friends who ask me, how to develop the freedom to say ‘No’ without feeling guilty.

I have no argument with friends who point out that the physical ailments that come with age change the quality of a person’s life. I accept that it is not easy to cope with lack of mobility, failing eyesight, not being able to drive at night, etc.

I acknowledge that there is little we can do about the negative parts of ageing but a little time spent in reflecting on what we can change will empower us to recognise many of the benefits that come through the wisdom of age.

In a very practical and achievable way, we all have the power to make 2020 our happiest year yet. Let me share with you my three-step plan borrowed from the Serenity Prayer: •Accept the things I cannot change.

•Have the courage to change the things I can.

•Have the wisdom to put everything I can’t handle into the hands of God. For much of my adult life I lived by the beliefs and values of others. I was the nice person who

virtuous, but there was an odd sort of relief in facing the truth.

I always sensed I was slightly hypocritical when I felt coerced, doing the good deed for the wrong reasons.

could be relied on to be helpful.

In the mistaken belief that I was doing the right thing, I allowed people to take advantage of me. Blissfully unaware of the lack of self-respect and self-care it demonstrated, I overlooked rudeness and let acquaintances take my kindness for granted, impose on my good nature, forget to pay me back and betray my trust, all of the above in the mistaken belief that it was virtuous to ‘turn the other cheek’.

The beliefs we carry from childhood have a powerful influence that are challenging to change. Taught to obey parents, accept the teaching and judgements of church and authority figures, I was the parent of teenagers when I began to question why I let myself be used, pulled and pushed in all directions by people I loved, looked up to and respected.

Like many Irish people I grew up with the belief that one must

defer to authority. Do not have the presumption to question what the teacher, the clergy, your neighbour tell you to do.

Avoid conflict at all costs. Keep your opinions to yourself. Don’t ask questions or make a fuss. Let sleeping dogs lie. The charitable thing to do if a public figure is said to have done wrong is forget, ignore, or at worst deny it.

Questioning if the motivation behind the philosophy of 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' served me well, I was challenged to look more closely at other beliefs and values that I held.

It’s said that when the time is right the master will appear.

The beginning of my journey to freedom began when I came across the teaching of spiritual master Anthony de Mello SJ. He said there are only two emotions, love and fear. It was freeing to recognise that any time I said ‘Yes’ because I feared to say ‘No’, I only looked as if I were doing the right thing. My positive intention was to be

There is a beautiful freedom when you’re motivated by love rather than by fear. If someone makes a request, you immediately respond honestly, spontaneously and naturally. If you say 'Yes' you say it with a good heart. You say ‘No’ without a trace of guilt or any need to offer an explanation The start of this new year is a really good time to reflect on your personal values, beliefs and motivation. Think how your life would change if you allowed yourself to stop doing what is expected out of fear and decided to act freely out of love. This is how to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty.

The famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud said, “By words one of us can give another the greatest happiness or bring about utter despair.” Take the words ‘must’ and ‘have to’ out of your vocabulary. Replace them with ‘I want to’ or ‘I choose to’ and you give yourself a gift of freedom of choice. When you’re consciously motivated by love you will improve your relationships with your family, friends, colleagues and community.

My new year wish for you is that you make 2020 your happiest year.

Carmel Wynne is a life and work skills coach and lives in Dublin. For more information, visit www.carmelwynne.org

31

W HAT I R E L A N D OW E S TO TH E SISTE RS

Servant OF PEOPLE IN NEED

32

MARY AIKENHEAD WAS UNLIKE MOST FOUNDERS OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES. BAPTISED AN ANGLICAN, SHE CONVERTED TO CATHOLICISM WHEN SHE WAS 15.

A WOMAN OF CONTR ADICTIONS, SHE FOUNDED AN ACTIVE RELIGIOUS CONGREGATION, BUT SPENT HER LAST 27 YEARS AS AN INVALID WITH CHRONIC SPINAL PROBLEMS. YET SHE REMAINED IN CHARGE AND ARGUABLY DID MUCH OF HER BEST WORK FROM HER SICK BED.

BY JOHN SCALLY REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Mary

Aikenhead is one of the most influential women in Irish history.

She lived in a turbulent period of Irish and European life. She was a woman ahead of her time in an era when women did not have a prominent status in society. She was a pioneer as encapsulated in her philosophy: "This has never been done before – that is no reason why it should not be done now." She walked the walk in this respect by doing what many saintly women had failed to do – she founded a religious congregation without enclosure.

THE BELLS OF THE SHANDON She was born on January 19, 1787 in Daunt’s Square in Cork, the daughter of an apothecary. She was baptised in Shandon Church, famous for its bells. She was frail, and, in accordance with the medical wisdom of the time, she was fostered by a nanny living on higher ground. Her father’s conversion to Catholicism and death paved the way for Mary’s entry into the Catholic Church.

It was around this time that she began to have an epiphany in terms of her growing awareness of the plight of the poor when she moved to Dublin. A stay with a friend in 1808 revealed to her the appalling levels of poverty and ill-health in the city and it left its imprint on her young mind. There were widespread epidemics due to poor sanitation and overcrowding. Every day she saw scores of men, women and children sitting in silent expectation of food – some had their hands out in supplication. The children died the quickest in this latter-day slaughter of the innocents. It was always the weakest who lost out.

As she grew older Mary discovered that there were thousands of victims to this blot on the face of

humanity, and every one told the same story. Hunger. The death of hope. A person, it is held, can become accustomed to anything, but poverty for these people was a recurring nightmare. In Ireland at the time, as in most places, money, or more precisely the lack of it, made all the difference. It was difficult for Mary Aikenhead not to succumb to a great sense of the desolation of life which swept all round like a tidal wave, drowning all in its blackness.

The economic, political and cultural disadvantages suffered by these children of God were a violation of justice and a serious threat to their lives. Rather than curse the darkness, Mary resolved to light a candle.

Helping the poor is like motherhood and apple pie. Nobody could object to it. The problem is that everybody is for it in principle but for how many does it translate into practical action? The litmus test for worship for Mary Aikenhead was not the number of nice phrases she trotted out but how she lived.

SISTERS OF CHARITY The Sisters of Charity were founded

by Mary Aikenhead in 1815. Mary applied to Rome for permission for her Sisters to take a fourth vow of ‘Service of the Poor’ in addition to the traditional three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It enabled them to visit poor people in their own homes; those who were sick and hungry and cold and penniless with no one to turn to. She opened her first Catholic school for poor children in Dublin’s Gardiner Street in 1830. The order is still involved in education today in schools such as Stanhope Street Primary School in inner city Dublin.

Mary and her Sisters were the first nuns to visit prisoners in Kilmainham Gaol in the early 19th

century. In 1879, the Religious Sisters of Charity established Our Lady’s Hospice, pioneering a new approach to care for the terminally ill. At the time, Dublin had twice the incidence rate of TB of anywhere in Ireland and London and Glasgow, while its incidences of typhoid and measles was triple that of London.

Mary was also concerned with the causes of poverty and did all she could to influence those who had the means to effect change. In 1833, for example, she converted an old store house in Sandymount into a small ‘hospital’ to cope with an outbreak of cholera. At the same time she wrote to the Commissioners of Enquiry into the State of the Irish Poor describing the appalling conditions in the parish of Ringsend in Dublin. In 1838, five of her nuns went to Australia. They were the first religious women to set foot on Australian soil and they opened a convent in Parramatta with hospitals and schools following later. St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, which Mary Aikenhead founded in 1834, is one of the top teaching hospitals in the country.

Her special gift to the church and the society of her time, which was handed down through the ages to our day, was service to the poor.

Their motto is ‘The Charity of Christ urges us on.’

LIVING WITH CHANGE Pope Francis told us that we are not living in an era of change but in a change of era. He has suggested that our best response to this new era is to adopt humility, selflessness and beatitude, features which tell us that we must not be obsessed with power. Instead he seeks a "restless" church that looks after "the abandoned, the forgotten and the imperfect". Reform of the

Rather than curse the darkness Mary resolved to light a candle church does not end in a plan to change structures but instead it involves grafting ourselves to Christ, leaving ourselves to be guided by the Spirit so that all will be possible with creativity. Under his papacy the Catholic Church has taken a decisive shift: not to the right or the left but to reach out in a new and empathetic way to the bruised, the battered and the broken. Mary Aikenhead had travelled that journey over 200 years earlier.

She died in Dublin in July 1858 and is buried in the cemetery attached to St Mary Magdalen’s in Donnybrook.

In 2015 Pope Francis declared Mary Aikenhead Venerable, recognising her heroic virtues and placing her on the path to sainthood. The Religious Sisters of Charity have their headquarters in Harold’s Cross in Dublin and 400 nuns serve in Ireland, England, Scotland, Zambia, California, Nigeria, and Malawi with an additional 145 in Australia.

DRIVEN BY LOVE Why did Mary Aikenhead do what she did? She believed she must. She believed that people are morally obliged to watch out for each other whether we live in Cork or Colombia.

She believed that every human being from Blarney to Burkina Faso should be treated with respect. A wrong committed against a person in south Sudan hurts as much as if the slight took place in Sligo. She drew strength from a God who is compassionate, supportive, understanding. He was hard to shock; Mary guessed that he had heard it all before. Above all, he is loving, and all he asks, is that we love our fellow children of God. She did. This is a challenge that we must confront individually and collectively.

For Mary Aikenhead, Christian love meant that in the intermingling of faith and life we want to be attentive to where God is today. In responding to the needs of society we are striving to witness to Christ and to reveal his love to struggling people.

The spirit and mission of Mary Aikenhead lives on today, through the Sisters, their co-workers, associates and benefactors. Down the years the Sisters of Charity became involved in different areas such as visiting the sick and poor, providing free education for children, setting up laundries, orphanages, schools and pre-school facilities for children with special needs, established care of the aged services, ‘Meals on Wheels’ and social service centres. They were also involved in setting up prayer groups, Sodalities and Pioneer groups.

Today they are involved in ministries like education, visiting the sick and housebound, preparing children and adults for the sacraments, assisting at funerals, providing material and spiritual support to families, refugees and the needy.

From Mary, the Sisters of Charity today continue to learn the basic values of having respect for others, the need to protect and support the vulnerable in our society, our equality before the Lord but also the inequalities of society and the need to speak up against injustice. Those betrayed by greed and oppression must be given hope – hope of better things in this present world and hope of eternal life after death. In the vision of Mary Aikenhead, Christian people must never become selfabsorbed but keep looking outward.

Her words still speak to us today: "May our Heavenly Father give us truly grateful hearts and by His AllPowerful grace assist us to prove our love by deeds."

John Scally teaches theology at Trinity College, Dublin. He has a special interest in the areas of ethics and history.

33

Redemptorist Communications Presents

A DOSE OF REALITY

By Fr Peter McVerry SJ

“There is something profoundly wrong when, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, we have a record number of people homeless, children going to school hungry, and many, many people struggling to make ends meet and provide even basic necessities for their children.”

For the past 40 years, Fr Peter McVerry SJ has lived and worked with some of the most vulnerable people in Irish society. His experience with those who are homeless, poor and marginalised has given him a unique perspective on the issues facing Irish society, and their underlying political, economic and social roots.

This book contains a selection of articles from Fr McVerry’s monthly column in the Redemptorist magazine, Reality. They offer a reflection on issues from homelessness and drugs to justice and faith, as seen from the perspective of the poor.

Inspired by the Gospel and the Catholic Church’s social teaching, Fr McVerry challenges us all, from politicians to ordinary citizens, to listen with compassion, to examine our attitudes, and to attack the causes of inequality.

To order, contact Redemptorist Communications St Joseph’s Monastery, St Alphonsus Road Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC

Telephone: 00353 (0)1 4922 488 Email: sales@redcoms.org www.redcoms.org

€9.95 (plus P+P)

F E AT U R E

THEME PARKS OF VARIOUS KINDS, FROM IRISH TRADITIONAL HOUSES TO DISNEY WONDERLANDS, HAVE BECOME POPULAR. COULD A CASE BE MADE FOR BUILDING A BIBLICAL PARK AS A WAY OF 35 SPREADING KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES?

BY JEREMY HENNESSY

Raising

the possibility of having a scriptural or Bible theme park in Ireland invariably draws two responses – ‘expensive’ or a resigned expression that infers it is ‘pie in the sky’.

It also raises the question 'Why have one?' which is another way of saying there is no demand or need for such a thing.

When Pope Benedict wrote a letter specifically to the Irish church he suggested, among other things, that we were spiritually illiterate. He could have said scripturally illiterate.

FAMILIARITY WITH THE BIBLE The church- going hear scripture, whereas the Christian gene pool and non-church attendees are rarely exposed to it. Only the really committed read scripture in their own homes.

Only the committed or the lonely will attend a lecture on the subject. The scripture scholars talk to their classes and give a few lectures to the

committed. The vast majority of Irish Christians do not attend, nor are they in the way of hearing scripture, let alone reading it.

The stark reality is that in being indifferent to the Bible, we are being indifferent to the Word of God. The whole idea of having a scriptural theme park is to open up the wonder and joy of scripture to generations who have no idea of what they are missing.

The mention of theme park elicits the wonder and awe of Disney and other such theme parks. But a theme park around scripture has no need to be Disneyesque. It needs to be a place of prayer or worship like the places where Abraham, King David and the Holy Family lived.

That is just, simply, plain and simple.

The displays necessary to depict the vast majority of scriptural events could be made by any of the dozens of set designers involved in this country’s amateur drama circuit. Those

depicting the 'wow' scenes can be skilfully left to the imaginations of the onlookers.

Arguably the most important element of such a theme park would be tone. This could be set by having areas where silence is observed, or areas given over to silent prayer. There would have to be a palpable Jewish atmosphere. It should have worship centres that appeal to different denominations. It would include the reality of the Roman presence, pagan worship and the different conquers of ancient Israel.

Israel then was more multicultural than Ireland today.

Should actors be involved, care should be taken to depict politicians and groups as normal representatives of their respective societies.

Most Pharisees were not ogres; they were you and me. John the Baptist was robust, but he was not deranged as he is often depicted. The ruling elite were, for the most part, fearful but devious operators.

F E AT U R E

One way it could get started would be if a parish, a person or a business got a men’s shed to design and make a model of Mary’s house in Nazareth or of Jacob’s or a relief map of Israel.

The current demand for walkways might make people interested in the distances people walked in Biblical times. Charts with distances and routes might make interesting viewing.

Our churches already have imaginative representations of biblical scenes in stained glass windows, stations of the cross and cribs.

Modern folk museums such as in Knock, Castlebar, Sligo, Strabane, Wexford and Cultra, County Down offer examples of comparatively inexpensive replicas and displays that could serve as a template.

Should churches, dioceses, entrepreneurs or communities develop replicas as attractions in their own areas, sometime, someone may

36

decide to build a truly national biblical theme park.

Such a venture would attract investment from the tourist sector and be competed for by the regions.

It could even become a centre of scripture scholarship. However scholarly, it would have to have considerable educational space to bring a mass public from almost complete ignorance to the stage where scholarship begins.

In short, it would need libraries and reading rooms for the 21st-century public. The artefacts in the Chester Beatty and Trinity College collections do not convey the word of God to many.

It would have lecture rooms and places where the public could hear the psalms chanted as living prayer in their (close to) original settings, that is on the roads as well as in the synagogue. It is a little known

Costumed actors take on bibical characters

A SCHOLARLY ECUMENICAL PROJECT? Governance of a project like this would need a lot of thought. Those who take on the task would need to be committed to a project whose ultimate aim is worship informed by scripture.

It must be Christian and Jewish, as we are all children of God and of Abraham. It must be informed by scholars, but must not be tarnished by their scholarly disagreements.

This project could start humbly in any parish centre or hall. It could develop into a 600-acre park embracing the Old Testament to the first schism when Christians broke with their origins.

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

A typical simple synagogue in the time of Jesus

37 Interior design – Nazareth style

fact that some of the most recited songs or poems sung in Ireland today are biblical, such as the Benedictus and Magnificat. They are said every day by thousands of people in Ireland. It has been so for centuries. In short, scripture is still alive in Ireland today.

But one would never think it.

The whole idea of having a scriptural theme park is to open up the wonder and joy of scripture to generations who have no idea of what they are missing Should such a park be ever developed it would need hillocks, a river and space for

areas depicting Egypt, Nineveh, Babylon as well as the provinces and neighbourhood of greater Palestine.

It would be best located near main roads or railway and not be more than two hours from an airport.

It could be deemed a success if those leaving it had enough prayerful experience to understand that God is not only present in history but is also present today.

It would be a great success if it inspired people to read scripture. It would be an absolute success if it led to increased worship of the Almighty.

The question of cost is, of course, pertinent.

It always is. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Stranger things have happened – when they are blessed by God.

Jeremy Hennessy is a retired journalist.

Demonstration of bibical skills

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE BOOK REVIEW

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

YOUR NEW YEAR'S READING LIST

Halleluia. Memoirs of a Singing Priest

by Fr Ray Kelly Columba Books, Dublin 2020 Hardback. 300 pages. €16.99 ISBN- 9781782183686

Fr Ray Kelly shot to fame when a wedding guest posted a video of him singing 'Hallelujah' to a couple whose wedding he was celebrating. Within a short time, it had gone viral and Fr Ray was persuaded to audition for Britain's Got Talent in 2018. His choice of song wooed the audience and the judges who are usually fairly thick-skinned when amateurs attempt to break into show business. His choice of song, 'Everybody Hurts' showed not just his ability to hold a note but also the instinctive ability to respond to human experience that had been so apparent in his unrehearsed and unguarded wedding song.

He made it to the semi-final of the show, and his manner won him the support of many for whom a ‘singing priest’ was a strange if not confusing event.

In this highly readable biography, he fills us in on more of his personal story. Born in the picturesque village of Tyrrellspass that is almost the very centre of Ireland, where his mother, the local midwife, had delivered babies for miles around, he joined the civil service and moved to Dublin on leaving school. He had always been interested in music and used his salary to get some professional

singing lessons. Unexpectedly, the Lord intervened in his life in his mid-20s, and after much soulsearching, he entered the Missionary Society of St Patrick in Kiltegan, County Wicklow in 1982.

Ray was one of the 'John Paul generation' who had attended the events of the first papal visit and with about a thousand young Irish people, he paid a return visit to the pope the following summer and sang ‘Danny Boy’ as part of the entertainment programme for the pope. The years of philosophy and theology passed relatively smoothly, and he enjoyed the company of his fellow students. After ordination in 1989, he was sent as a missionary to South Africa. For personal and family reasons, he returned to Ireland and was welcomed into the clergy of his native diocese of Meath. Most of his priestly life has been spent in parish assignments in small-town and rural Ireland, doing the ordinary tasks of a priest in parish ministry. While this remains the main focus of his attention, he is generous with his time in making his God-given voice available for many good causes.

It Has To Be Said

by Fr Brian D’Arcy CP Sliabh Ban Publications Ltd, Dublin 2019 Paperback. 400 pages. €24 ISBN- 9781999354916

Brian D’Arcy is, without doubt, one of Ireland’s best-known priests. Last year he celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination. He continues to broadcast regularly on BBC Ulster and to write a weekly column in the Sunday World.

Unfortunately, he has been saddled for many years with a nick-name, 'Fr Trendy', invented by the late Dermot Morgan for the comic figure of a priest who bore several points of resemblance to Brian. Despite his love for popular music and his well-publicised friendship with figures in the world of popular entertainment, Brian D’Arcy is, first and foremost, a priest with an apostolic spirit. Growing up in County Fermanagh in the 1950s and early ‘60s, he could not escape the influence of the Passionist community at the Graan, near Enniskillen, whose popularity as a centre for confession and counselling reached out across county and north/south borders.

It was there he entered the noviciate of the congregation in 1962 at the age 17, and at a time when Passionist life was still very much the shape it had been when the first members came to Ireland and England at the time of what Newman (who was received into the Catholic Church by an Italian Passionist, Fr Dominic Barberi) called ‘The Second Spring'. They soon became known throughout Ireland as zealous missionaries whose sandals without socks bore witness to an ascetic style of life. When Brian joined, they still rose to pray the night office at 2am and after a few hours’ sleep, rose again early in the morning for more prayer. The Passionists were driven by a deep devotion to the sufferings and death of Christ, and in addition to the three regular vows of religion, they took an additional vow to keep the memory of the Passion of Jesus alive for themselves and to promote it among the people they serve. What young Brother Brian and his fellow-novices did not realise was that this world of fixed and deeply cherished values was soon to be changed utterly by the Second Vatican Council which began that same year.

During his studies in Dublin as a member of the Mount Argus community, he made his first Under the Microscope continues on page 40

39

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Continued from page 39

40

foray into reporting and commenting on the world of popular music. This entailed a generous interpretation of some of the community rules on Brian’s part, but it also brought him into a life-long friendship with Albert Reynolds, future Taoiseach of Ireland, but then a dancehall promoter. After ordination, he took up the editorship of the Passionists’ magazine, The Cross.

The book’s title, It has to Be Said, conveys something of the author’s sense of mission in what he has gathered here. Some of Brian’s outspoken comments on aspects of Catholic life in Ireland have earned him both the praise and the condemnation of his fellow Catholics and Christians of other denominations. Chief among them has been his outspoken stand on the sexual abuse crisis and its handling, and on clerical celibacy as a requirement for ordination for diocesan priests (as a religious, he is committed to vowed chastity by a different pathway). There are moments of deep pain and sadness here, for instance in the account of how his superior, a friend and contemporary, was forced to apply pressure on him with threats of laicisation. In an earlier volume, he has told the story of his own history of sexual abuse both at the hands of a Christian Brother when a school boy, and later by a member of his own congregation. Recalling some of the details of the latter is likely to cause offence to his contemporaries in his religious community, but it also caused Brian pain when he was obliged, as superior, to conduct the man’s funeral liturgy and speak the expected words of appreciation and comfort. There are many human-interest stories here, often reflecting another and more humble view of people in the public eye, such as Albert Reynolds in his final days quietly praying the Rosary at night with his wife, or the football team drawn from the world of entertainment that also gathered to celebrate Mass before its annual reunion.

Finally, it has to be said that Brian D’Arcy has, for 50 years, been a compassionate ‘people’s priest’ whether in Mount Argus, Dublin, the Graan or now in Tobar Mhuire, Crossgar, County Down.

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

The Word of God is Living and Active

Mary in Different Traditions

Reflections on the weekday readings for the liturgical

Seeing the Mother of Jesus with New Eyes

year 2019-2020 by Dr Martin Hogan

by Fr Thomas G Casey SJ Messenger Publications, Dublin 2019 Paperback. 144 pages. €9.95 / £8.95 ISBN- 9781788120876

Messenger Publications, Dublin 2019 Paperback. 280 pages. €14.95 / £12.95 ISBN- 9781788120975

Dr Martin Hogan is a priest of the diocese of Dublin who has taught scripture in the Mater Dei Institute for many years and is currently parish priest in Clontarf. In addition to scholarly works, he has produced a number of pastoral commentaries on the Bible as used in the liturgy. This volume contains reflections on the weekday Gospels. It will be particularly welcome because it is organised according to the dates of the calendar year rather than the sometimes confusing day of the liturgical week. It also means that it gives due recognition to those days in which a special gospel of a feast or saint’s day replaces the assigned gospel of the lectionary.

Priests will find it a great help in preparing the short reflection for weekly Mass while other readers will find it particularly useful as a help to daily lectio divina or devout reading of the sacred scriptures. Fr Hogan’s style of writing is easy and fluent, often citing a good example from his own wide reading.

Thomas Casey SJ is an Irish Jesuit priest who is currently dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Fr Casey outlines the guiding thesis of this short but rich book when he writes, “The trouble is not simply that we have stopped thinking about Mary in the way our ancestors did, but that we no longer feel about her the same way they did. Fundamentally we have lost our ability to marvel about Mary. If she no longer elicits a sense of wonder in us, we’ll be tempted to dismiss devotion to her as a waste of time.” It is this sense of wonder that Fr Casey hopes to restore by taking us on a pilgrimage through many aspects of devotion to the Mother of the Lord that are likely to be unfamiliar territory to many Catholics. He may cause Catholic eyebrows to be raised, for example, when he correctly notes the fact that Mary is mentioned more often by name in the Quran of Islam than she is in the New Testament. Some of these traditions echo aspects of early Christian tradition

BOOK REVIEW BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

that were probably familiar in the world where Islam was born and where Jewish, Christian and local beliefs survived side by side. In my northern Catholic childhood, one of the common assertions by Catholics of how we differed from the Christians of the Reformation tradition we label as ‘Protestants’ (and Fr Casey helpfully reminds us that there are many different strands to this tradition) was that "they do not have Our Lady.” This was very much an exaggeration on our part, and the discovery of the common biblical bedrock of Mary, Mother of Jesus and humble handmaid of the Lord, must always be the starting point of all our reflections and devotion. He explores the insights of Lutheranism, Orthodoxy, Islam and Judaism, as well as the Eastern-rite Catholics. A friend who is actively involved in inter-church work in Belfast saw me with this book and immediately grasped its possibilities as a resource for the exploration with members of other churches of the rich seam of theology and life into which the Mother of Jesus leads us. This is indeed a rich book, but it is highly accessible and deserves to be studied by all.

More books can be found at

redcoms.org

Newman: A Short Biography

by Fr Michael J Collins Messenger Publications, Dublin 2019 Paperback. 94 pages. €9.95 / £8.95 ISBN- 9781788121057

There is no shortage of biographies of St John Henry Newman. Some of them, such as those by William George Ward and Meriol Trevor, run to two lengthy volumes. While they are exhaustive in detail (and sometimes exhausting for the reader), often something simpler and more direct is required. A new generation has grown up that ‘knows not Newman’ nor the complex questions such as the Oxford Movement, the Irish University question and the political response in England to the proclamation of papal infallibility – to name but three of the many issues bound to arise in any discussion of Newman and his times. It is for such readers that Fr Michael Collins has written this delightfully succinct book. He currently ministers in St Mary’s Haddington Road, Dublin and is the author of a growing number of books on the Catholic Church, including biographies of recent popes and one on the secrets and treasures of the Vatican.

Born in 1801, Newman spanned the 19th

century until his death in 1890. The first half of his life was dominated by Oxford, from his entrance to the university as a 17-yearold student until his painful departure after his reception into the Catholic Church and his memorable sermon as an Anglican, 'The Parting of Friends', in 1843. The next half of his life moved between Rome, Birmingham and Dublin. It was there that he delivered the famous lectures on ‘The Idea of a university’ in 1852. Sad to say, the Dublin period from 1852-9 was not the happiest of Newman’s life.

Although his proposed Catholic University did not survive, it proved to be the seed from which UCD eventually grew, and his memory is enshrined in Newman House and in the beautiful University Church on Stephen’s Green which he had planned as the university chapel.

It is beyond the scope of a short review to summarise the life of such a colossal figure as Newman. He is commonly regarded as a thinker and theologian whose teachings eventually matured and won acceptance by the whole church at the Second Vatican council, “I want a laity,” he wrote, “not arrogant, not rash in speech, not disputatious but men [and women] who know their religion, who enter into it, who know just where they stand, who know what they hold and what they do not…I want an intelligent and well-instructed laity.”

Fr Collins has chosen some telling illustrations for the book including photographs of Cardinal Newman and photos of some of his correspondence with that other great convert he brought to Dublin, Fr Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ. It will make a good read especially for young students of theology trying to get a grip on this complex man and his time.

41

Malawi

With Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

A LOOK BACK ON THE CEO OF TRÓCAIRE REFLECTS ON A YEAR OF BOTH JOY AND SADNESS, WITH REASON FOR HOPE

BY CAOIMHE DE BARRA 42

I

would like to start with a message of goodwill to all of our supporters. With the daily news cycle regularly dominated by the rise of populist politics and the threat of climate catastrophes, we are so often confronted by messages of fear and anger.

However, it is important to remember that there is still reason and great need for hope, joy and love.

People living in the communities where Trócaire works face exceptional challenges.

These innocent people are confronted by the harsh realities of conflict, war, hunger, climate change, gender discrimination and a real threat to their fundamental human rights. But, with your help, Trócaire is working to support them.

Pope Francis recently denounced the “globalisation of indifference”. He said: “Loving our neighbour means feeling compassion for the sufferings of our brothers and sisters.”

Trócaire has strived to put these words and sentiments into action and, thanks to your support over the past year, we have helped to improve the lives of 2.9 million people in 27 of the world’s poorest countries.

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

THE HEARTBEAT OF TRÓCAIRE As an organisation, we suffered a personal loss with the tragic passing of the late and great Sally O’Neill. Sally was the heartbeat of Trócaire for almost 40 years and she built the foundations of Trócaire.

Sally worked in Central America at a time when three civil wars were being fought. She oversaw humanitarian aid to more than two million refugees and led delegations of politicians and bishops so they could see the suffering, translating for St Oscar Romero six weeks before he was murdered by a right-wing death squad.

Sally embodied our values and through her courage and commitment to human rights and human dignity touched the lives of so many people. Our aim is to ensure her spirit lives on through our work and the brave work of our partners, who are being harassed, arrested, intimidated and even murdered as a result of them standing up to defend their rights.

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS REMAIN UNDER ATTACK In December 2019 seven men were jailed in Honduras for their parts in the murder of human rights defender Berta Cáceres, who was shot dead

in 2016 after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River.

Guatemalan activist Abelino Chub Caal was finally released from prison last April after being wrongfully imprisoned for over two years, while last year’s Trócaire Lenten Campaign supported vulnerable families whose land, security and hope is under threat.

We launched our ‘Making a Killing’ report in March, which highlighted how corporate greed is leading to land being taken, forests cut down and rivers poisoned.

These actions – in addition to events such as the recent catastrophic fires in the Amazon forest – reinforce the need for a legally-binding UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights to hold companies accountable for human-rights abuses.

ILLEGAL ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS The recent US policy shift on Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, which remain illegal under international law, was another worrying development as Palestinians suffer from apartheid. Trócaire has maintained its support for Senator Frances Black’s Occupied Territories Bill, which has now passed the

With Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples

Climate strike, Dublin

���� seventh stage of the Dáil, and would make it illegal to import goods into Ireland from such settlements.

TIME TICKING ON CLIMATE Ireland’s sluggish reaction to the alarming warnings from the scientific community of the devastating effects of climate change has been frustrating. We are the third highest emitters of carbon in the EU and towards the bottom of the table for positive action. The astonishing impact of climate change is being felt by the people in countries where we work.

The Climate Emergency Measures Bill – which would end fossil fuel exploration – was blocked by the Government with their use of a technical measure called a ‘money message’ despite the fact that a majority of TDs have twice voted in support of it.

However, it was an inspiring year of activism on the streets, with young people and adults alike staging school strikes, protests and actions. This year feels like a watershed moment for awareness on climate change, and I was delighted to march on the streets last September with other Trócaire colleagues and thousands of school strikers.

MIGRATION The effects of climate change have played a huge part in the desperate migration efforts being made by thousands of the world’s poorest people.

Back in June, on the same day that the European Court of Human Rights denied 42 migrants on board the Sea-Watch ship permission to land, the shocking photograph of the father and daughter who drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande provided stark reminders of the extent of human desperation on two different borders.

PEOPLE LIVING IN CONFLICT NEED YOUR SUPPORT The migration crisis has been worsened by conflict in many places where we work and, in these countries, 90 million people have lived through constant conflict since they were born.

Our Christmas campaign has highlighted how families fleeing conflict urgently need food, shelter and healthcare. As ever, Trócaire would not be able to help these millions of people without the essential, compassionate and generous support of the Irish public.

In the spirit of hope, I would like to remember

that 25 years ago Trócaire began working in a country that was torn apart, but today people in Rwanda are looking to a brighter future.

We must all remember that hate and division benefits no one.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE To close on a note of positivity, we are entering the ‘decade of delivery’ for the Sustainable Development Goals, which are to be met by 2030.

Meeting these global goals requires a collective effort – we can all play our part to support a movement that puts the furthest behind first.

You can help in many ways, including your essential and much-appreciated support for Trócaire.

If you would like to donate to Trócaire, please go to

www.trócaire.org to find out the various ways you can help their projects

43

CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

DECRIMINALISATION OF DRUGS – A MISSED OPPORTUNITY

AS THE DRUG CULTURE HAS SPREAD THROUGH MORE OF IRELAND AND IMPLANTED ITSELF IN SO MANY SECTORS OF SOCIETY, THE PROOF IS SELF-EVIDENT: OUR RELIANCE ON THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM TO REDUCE DRUG USE HAS FAILED.

44

I would love to see the use of drugs in our society reduced. I have personally buried too many young people who died from drugs; I have brought too many people down to the boat and paid their fare to England, as their lives were in danger from drug dealers to whom they owed money; I have witnessed the intimidation of too many drug users’ families who were ordered to pay the debts of their relatives who had died or left the country, intimidation which involved smashing up their home or threatening harm to them or their families.

But a recent report commissioned by the Government on how we should respond to the drug problem is, in my view, a missed opportunity.

To discuss drug policy, we have to start by acknowledging that the current strategy, which we have been adopting for the past 30 years, has clearly failed. That strategy involved using the criminal justice system to prosecute those who use illegal drugs, in the hope of deterring them from drug use and reducing the demand for drugs. In 2017, 12,173 people were prosecuted for possession of small amounts of drugs. And the result?

Heroin first came into the inner city of Dublin in the mid1980s. The poverty, widespread unemployment and hopelessness of life in the inner city at that time was fertile ground for drug use.

Heroin use for many young people was a “temporary vacation” from

use with health professionals and drug counsellors, not lawyers and judges, and thereby free the Gardaí to focus on those who sell drugs.

After all, our response to the biggest drug problem in Ireland, namely alcohol, is health-based.

Although alcohol causes far more damage to the individual, their family and the community than all illegal drugs combined, we do not prosecute people for being in possession of alcohol. We refer people who misuse alcohol to a treatment programme.

what was a miserable life. It also provided a comfortable living for some people who saw drug-dealing to be their path out of poverty.

However, heroin spread quickly from the nnner city and is now available in every city, town and even village in Ireland. At the same time, the range of drugs available has dramatically expanded to include cocaine, crack cocaine, cannabis, tablets, ecstasy and, more recently, crystal meth.

Furthermore, drugs are no longer confined to poor people in poor areas. The main source of income for the drug gangs now comes from middle-class and professional people using cocaine. And as drug gangs try to protect their territory, collect drug debts, or settle scores, gun crime, almost unheard of 20 years ago, now occurs on a regular basis in many parts of Ireland, including Dublin, Limerick, the West of Ireland, Drogheda and the Midlands.

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

The evidence is overwhelming: our reliance on the criminal justice system to reduce drug use has failed.

It defies logic, then, that the recent, Governmentcommissioned, report on drugs, basically recommended that we continue the same failed policy. It recommended that the first time a person is found in possession of small amounts of drugs, they should be diverted to healthcare.

The second time, they would receive a caution. The third and subsequent time, they would be prosecuted.

The alternative approach would have been to see all drug use, not as a criminal issue which requires punishment, but as a health issue, which requires treatment and support. It would see those who misuse drugs as people in need of help, not criminal outcasts. It would mean responding to drug

The distinction between legal drugs, such as alcohol, and illegal drugs such as cannabis, is completely arbitrary. Other c o u ntr i e s h av e a l re a dy decriminalised the possession of small amounts of all drugs, and now refer all drug-users to the health services. Some countries, and many states in the US, have gone further and legalised cannabis Prosecuting drug-users actually increases drug use, rather than reducing it. It gives drug-users a criminal record, thereby making it harder for them to gain employment, or travel abroad, and thus further marginalising them in our society. Drug use thrives when people feel like outcasts, hopeless about their future, and the door to advancement is closed to them.

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

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES Luke is conflating two distinct Jewish rites into a single one. After THE PRESENTATION childbirth, a woman OF THE LORD ) DAY was ritually ‘unclean’ AS LEM (CAND for a period of time (40 days for a boy, 80 for a girl). 'Unclean' here does not have the sense of impurity, but of attaining a special status through coming in contact with something sacred, such as the source of life. At the end of that time, she took a ritual bath and offered a sacrifice.

The other ritual was called‘the 'redemption of the born,’ which is still observed by Jewish families. If the first-born child was a boy, he was considered as having a special religious status. Before the time of the Law, the firstborn son had a priestly character: the Law later restricted priestly status to the tribe of Levi but the memory of the privilege of the first-born endured. A remnant of it is

FEBRUARY

02

the ‘redemption of the first-born'. The father brings the baby to a member of the priestly caste, who offers him the choice of taking the child back in return for an offering of five silver coins – while the temple was in existence, the offering was an animal.

It is against this background of formal religious celebration of the birth of their child that Mary and Joseph meet two elderly people, Simeon and Anna. In his birth story, Luke places the generations side by side – the elderly faithful like Simeon and Anna, or Elizabeth and Zachary. They represent the old Israel that remained faithful throughout its history, with the new Israel that will be formed

by Jesus the Messiah and is represented by Mary and Joseph. Simeon and Anna also represent the prophetic tradition of Israel.

They have received a prophetic word that reveals to them the identity of the child this unassuming young couple are carrying into the temple. Simeon’s song of thanksgiving (the Nunc Dimittis) is used every day in the

night prayer (compline) of the church. As a true prophet, the elderly man also has a hard word. This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel. He will be a sign that will be contradicted, as the story of his ministry will make clear. For Mary, it is also a moment of grief as the old man tells her how her heart will be pierced by a sword of sorrow. While this scene is classified as the fourth Joyful Mystery of our Rosary, it is also the first mystery of the Rosary of Seven Sorrows.

Today’s Readings Mal 3:1-4, Ps 23, Heb 2:14-18, Luke 2:22-40

God’s Word continues on page 46

45

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH SO SHINES A GOOD DEED IN A NAUGHTY WORLD On account of last Sunday’s feast, we missed the introduction to the Sermon 5TH SUNDAY IN on the Mount that will ORDINARY TIME run on for the next three Sundays. Today’s Gospel contains two sayings in which Jesus compares his disciples to salt and light. Despite health warnings about using too much of it, salt remains an essential commodity for life. In days before food was preserved by freezing, salt was used as a preservative or to add flavour.

Salt was an important item of trade in the ancient world, and caravans carried it long distances to places where it was scarce. Our word ‘salary’ is derived from the Latin word for salt (sal). Roman soldiers received part of

their wages in salt. Salt does not easily lose its flavour but when it becomes damp, it is best thrown away. Disciples are to become "salt of the earth". Depositing salt into the soil would not do it much good, but by their way of life, especially when it is shaped by the beatitudes, the followers of Jesus will add flavour to the world and prevent it from going bad.

The disciples are also to be a light for the world. Ancient towns were often built on top of hills as a protection from invaders. A hill posed a challenge to an army with chariots, but a town on a hilltop could never be hidden from view. The lifestyle of Jesus’ disciples should mark them out as different. The short parable saying about the lamp develops the same theme.

Since they are intended to give light, it would be pointless to light a lamp and cover it with a bucket, unless there was danger that a burglar

was trying to get in. The light Jesus’ disciples will come from their good deeds.

In Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, Portia catches sight of a light burning in her home and says: How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty [evil] world.

It is a perfect illustration of Jesus’ saying about how his disciples should be light for the world.

We have turned it into a bed-side lamp for Christians. How will our good deeds speak for Jesus this week?

GOING BEYOND THE LETTER Jesus’ enemies accused him of promoting an easy-going morality 6TH SUNDAY IN that seemed to ignore ORDINARY TIME the commandments and the written Law. In the Sermon on Mount, he sets out clearly the moral teaching which will guide his followers.

We can divide today’s Gospel into six smaller sections. The first section sets out to correct any mistaken ideas about Jesus’ attitude to the Law. He has not come to abolish the Law, but to bring it to perfection.

His followers have no authority to set the Law aside, but their virtue must be more than skin-deep. Without a deep concern for the Law’s true meaning, they are unfit for the kingdom of heaven. Then follow some examples in which Jesus applies his deeper understanding of the demands of the Law to practical cases. In each case, he contrasts what was said to the ancestors with his own more demanding teaching ("you have heard how it was said to our ancestors … but I say to you"). There are four contrasts in today’s

Gospel: two more will follow next week.

The first example is the law forbidding murder. Jesus extends the commandment to cover all kinds of friction and discord in living together, even name-calling. It contains a little example story showing how a true disciple will act if he remembers offending someone, interrupting even a sacrifice in order to obtain pardon from someone who has been offended.

The second example is in sexuality. The Law forbade sexual relations with the wife of another man. Jesus sets out for his disciples something more demanding. They are to control even their thoughts and desires, since to look lustfully at a woman is to have committed adultery in the heart. The saying about plucking out an eye or cutting of a hand or foot are not meant to be taken literally, but they are important for their shock value.

The third example is divorce. The Law of Deuteronomy 24:1 permitted divorce if a man found ‘something objectionable’ in his wife. This vague phrase allowed some interpreters to offer the husband divorce on demand (never the wife). Jesus restricts the

application of divorce to ‘fornication’. There is some dispute among Christian churches as to what exactly this means. Some, including the Catholic Church, would argue that it refers to a marriage where a couple only realise later that they are close kin since Jesus does not admit of exceptions in the case of divorce in the other Gospels. Christians of the Reformed tradition hold that it grants an injured party, who is victim of the adultery, freedom to divorce.

The fourth example prohibits oaths. Jesus moves beyond that and forbids the swearing of oaths. They are simply to say ‘yes’ if they mean ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if they mean ‘no’.

FEBRUARY

09

46

FEBRUARY

16

REALITY JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Today’s Readings Is 58:7-10, Ps 111, 1 Cor 2:1-5, Matthew 5:13-16

Today’s Readings Eccles (Sir) 15:15-20, Ps 118, Cor 2:6-10, Matthew 5:17-37

THE REALITY CROSSWORD

NUMBER 1 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

AN EYE FOR AN EYE? Today’s Gospel offers us the last two instances in which Jesus radically interprets the Torah of Israel for a new generation of Christians.

The first is the law about retaliation: ‘an eye for 7TH SUNDAY IN an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ This was a common ORDINARY TIME standard throughout the Ancient Near East even before it was included in Israel’s law code. An ancient Babylonian law code which dates back to about 1790 BCE, for example, stated “If a man knocks out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.” Damages were usually settled by monetary payments, and only in a minority of cases was ‘an eye for an eye’ applied literally. In place of even such controlled retaliation, Jesus sets out a more demanding principle – ‘offer the wicked no resistance.’ He gives four examples of meeting aggression with non-violence. To the person striking you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek. To the person who sues you for your shirt, offer him your overcoat as well.

If someone demands you to accompany him for one mile, go two.

The situation here is not two friends enjoying a pleasant stroll. More likely it is a soldier of the occupying army compelling a passer-by to carry a load. There is an example in the Gospels of just such a case when Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry the cross of Jesus (Matthew 27:32). The final example is unquestioning generosity towards anyone who wishes to borrow, even when there is no hope of repayment.

The Law about loving the neighbour states: “You will not exact vengeance on, or bear any sort of grudge against, the members of your race, but will love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18). It says nothing about hating the enemy, but it defines neighbour in a very closed and rigid way as a ‘member of your race’. Those who first heard Jesus’ words about enemy love probably found them as demanding as we do. To his picture of an indiscriminately good God showering his favours on humans regardless of their moral state, Jesus adds some further telling strokes. It is easy to love those who love us. Tax collectors were despised by most Jews in Jesus’ time. They considered them as collaborators with the occupying Roman army and fleecing their own people. While Galilee in Jesus’ time was mainly Jewish territory, it contained large pockets of Gentiles especially in new cities like Sepphoris or Tiberias. Everything about them, including their language (Greek) and the food they ate, marked them out as different. Jesus challenges his hearers to strive for the kind of love that does not recognise barriers of this kind.

FEBRUARY

23

SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 9 ACROSS: Across: 1. Brazil, 5. Abacus, 10. Amphora, 11. Bazaars, 12. Iran, 13. Demon, 15. Wadi, 17.

Son, 19. Helena, 21. Arrest, 22. Apostle, 23. Ermine, 25. Beggar, 28. Roc, 30. Fads, 31. Canal, 32.

Chad, 35. Genesis, 36. Addenda, 37. Sampan, 38. Simian.

DOWN: 2. Raphael, 3. Zion, 4. Loaves, 5. Albion, 6. Adze, 7. Unaware, 8. Parish, 9. Assist, 14.

Monsoon, 16. Inane, 18. Greed, 20. Ape, 21. Alb, 23. Effigy, 24. Madonna, 26. Gehenna, 27. Radial, 28. Raisin, 29. Carats, 33. ASAP, 34. Adam.

Winner of Crossword No. 9 Joe Dunne, Greenacres, Dundalk

ACROSS 1. Considered to be holy and deserving respect. (6) 5. Conduct oneself in accordance with accepted norms. (6) 10. A short, well-known pithy saying. (7) 11. A set of rooms for businesses. (7) 12. The smallest, by volume, of North America's Great Lakes. (4) 13. He was nearly sacrificed to God by 14D. (5) 15. "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" - in short on a cross. (4) 17. The movement of the tide out to sea. (3) 19. Deadlock, impasse. (6) 21. Ancient scrolls originating in the Nile region. (6) 22. Muslim equivalent of Lent. (7) 23. A ruler with absolute power and authority. (6) 25. Location of Kubla Khan's pleasure-dome. (6) 28. Catch forty winks. (3) 30. Possesses. (4) 31. This Montague famously loved a Capulet. (5) 32. The official emblem of Ireland. (4) 35. The technical term for your shoulder blade. (7) 36. Primary language generally agreed to have been spoken by Jesus. (7) 37. Biblical songs and hymns used in Christian worship. (6) 38. Ancient heavy silk or linen with a pattern woven into it. (6)

DOWN 2. Worshipping, venerating. (7) 3. A ridge of jagged rock, sand, or coral just above or below the surface. (4) 4. Reduce in quality or value, currency perhaps. (6) 5. The ancient Tree of Life, it grows in arid African regions. (6) 6. A mood of sulking anger. (4) 7. Room at the inn. (7) 8. Make an urgent or heartfelt request. (6) 9. Birthplace of St. Francis. (6) 14. See 13A. (7) 16. He led the Israelites out of Egypt with his brother Moses. (5) 18. Boring, ordinary and not original. (5) 20. Floor covering. (3) 21. A Roman peace. (3) 23. Half asleep. (6) 24. Days of rest. (7) 26. Characters that represent online computer users. (7) 27. Remove the contents of. (6) 28. People who travel from place to place to find fresh pasture. (6) 29. If you are hoist by this you are hoist by your own! (6) 33. A deadly contest between two, David and Goliath perhaps. (4) 34. Branches placed before Jesus on his entry to Jerusalem. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.1, January/February 2020 Name:

Today’s Readings

Address:

Lev 19:1-2, 17-18, 1 Cor 3:16-23; Matt 5:38-48

Telephone:

All entries must reach us by Friday, February 28, 2020 One €35 prize is offered for the first correct solutions opened. The Editor’s decision on all matters concerning this competition will be final. Do not include correspondence on any other subject with your entry which should be addressed to: Reality Crossword No.1, Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC