19 minute read
EDITORIAL
UP FRONT
TRÍONA DOHERTY
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BREAKING THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
If I can dream of a better land Where all my brothers walk hand in hand Tell me why, oh why, oh why can’t my dream come true…
The documentary Young Plato, an abridged version of which aired on RTÉ recently, opens with headmaster Kevin McArevey driving to school through the streets of Ardoyne in north Belfast. As he passes rows upon rows of terraced redbrick houses, ‘IRA’ signs tacked to lampposts and murals depicting paramilitaries with guns, he sings along to ‘If I Can Dream’ by Elvis Presley. It’s an appropriately dreamy and hope-filled song for the subject matter of the film.
Mr McArevey, we discover, is determined to change the fortunes of this inner-city Belfast community plagued by urban decay, drugs, and the vestiges of sectarian aggression. The charismatic headmaster of Holy Cross Boys Primary School is a philosophy enthusiast and engages its methods to encourage his students to think for themselves, solve problems, listen to other perspectives, and look at things in a different light.
“I want a school full of children who are thinking about thinking,” he says. “What I’m trying to do is bring philosophy from this hall, kicking through those doors, through those big blue gates and booting your front door down, going into your living room.” Addressing the boys in one scene, he explains, “Philosophy is all about different thinking, and listening to others’ different thinking, and that could change your thinking. So don’t think ‘I’m always right.’ … Remember, it’s a caring philosophy. Everyone’s opinion matters.”
Crucially, the theory is put into practice to help the students to solve problems. Boys who are caught fighting, for example, are encouraged to discuss what has happened and to reflect in writing on a whiteboard featuring prompts such as “What is a friend?”; “What is respect?”; “How can we control anger?”; “Should you ever take your anger out on someone else?”
The lessons are particularly meaningful in a neighbourhood that has seen its fair share of unrest and violence over the years. The opening shots of small boys running and skipping through the rainbow-painted gates of Holy Cross School are interspersed with footage from the Troubles – armoured vehicles, police in riot gear, gangs throwing rocks. In one heart-wrenching scene, a group of pupils watch footage from 2001 when crowds attempted to block the route to Holy Cross Girls Primary School in Ardoyne. Petrified parents and children are seen battling their way to school through the throngs as missiles are thrown at them. The boys are visibly shocked but aware of the trauma. One says, “My Mummy has really bad anxiety. She says she was scared to go to school, but she had to.” It’s hard to believe these scenes took place just 21 years ago, barely a generation away.
In particular, Mr McArevey encourages the children to discuss and reflect on the history of their part of Belfast, and on its present and future. Their responses are articulate and thoughtful. “It’s ridiculous that people are still fighting over Protestants and Catholics. Why don’t they just make peace, they’re all part of one family,” says one boy. “I don’t agree,” interjects another. “[The fighting] still does go on, but it’s not as bad as years ago.” There are wise words from another child: “We all bleed red after all.”
The introduction of philosophical concepts is part of a monumental effort in the school to break cycles of conflict and violence, and to equip the children with the skills to navigate life in Ardoyne, Belfast and Northern Ireland. The mutual respect between teachers and pupils is evident. Mr McArevey even offers them tools to explore these new ideas with their parents: “It’s time to think for yourself,” he tells his rapt young audience. “Challenge statements that you hear. Everything all of your families went through, they don’t want to go through it again. Violence breeds violence. It never stops. You boys have the power to stop it.”
The film ends with a shot of a newly painted mural beside the school, depicting a pupil in the pose of Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ under the words “To find yourself, think for yourself.”
This uplifting documentary provided welcome relief after a sickening incident came to light just days before the TV screening. A video emerged of a group of young men in an Orange hall singing a song mocking Tyrone woman Michaela McAreavey, who was murdered in her hotel room in Mauritius in 2001 while on honeymoon. The scene was a sad reminder of the bigotry that still exists in some quarters.
But with people like Kevin McArevey working hard to break the cycle of violence, a new generation empowered to solve problems peacefully, and young people like those involved in cross-community work in Clonard, Belfast (see page 16 of our cover story), the future is bright.
Tríona Doherty Editor
At times it seems we can’t escape the image of a church in crisis. We hear reports of the drop in vocations to religious life, the diminishing numbers involved in parishes, and of course the sad revelations of abuse and corruption that have rocked the Catholic Church, in Ireland and elsewhere. According to the European Social Survey 2018, just 54 per cent of people aged between 16 and 29 in Ireland claimed Catholic affiliation.
Our country and our world have changed tremendously in the last 30 years. The culture we now live in encourages a sense of confidence, freedom and awareness of justice issues, particularly amongst younger generations, but the church has at times struggled to respond to these challenges. Yet, recent years have also seen an upsurge in the quest for spirituality and meaning. The perception of what it means to be a Christian is changing, and the church, particularly under the direction of Pope Francis, is placing a clear emphasis on issues of social and climate justice. For young people who have a strong sense of justice and social concern, there are many avenues of ministry and spirituality to explore.
To explore what attracts young people to the church, and their hopes for its future, Reality spoke to five people from all over the island of Ireland who are involved in various church ministries. When asked what had most influenced their faith, all pointed to the witness and friendship of others, be they family, priests or peers. Motivation for embracing their particular ministry ranged from a desire to spread the faith to a recognition of the importance of building community and giving back to society. As for what changes they would like to see in the church, interviewees expressed a wish for a church that is more inclusive and more inclined to reach out to our communities.
NIAMH PUTTING FAITH INTO ACTION
Niamh Grego
Niamh Grego is a member of Young St Vincent de Paul (YSVP) in St Louis Community School, Kiltimagh, Co. Sligo. The organisation appealed to her because in addition to having the opportunity to do community and charity work, the members learn about social justice and social action. She had seen YSVP in action in school and wanted to join since she was in first year.
Upon joining the group in transition year, one of Niamh’s first projects was to help organise a poster day to befriend first years and a ‘wear blue’ day. “Everyone wore blue in school, because that is the colour of St Vincent de Paul. We asked if they could bring €2 and we raised €805,” she says. Niamh felt it was very important that the money went to those in the school who needed uniforms, books and other items.
The YSVP group meets most weeks to review actions and discuss future projects. In the lead-up to a pop-up shop, they spent mornings giving PowerPoint presentations to classes about fast fashion, educating their fellow students about the environmental impact of cheap clothing which ends up in landfill. Afternoons were spent requesting and collecting clothes to sell. “It wasn’t really about raising money but about becoming aware of fast fashion,” explains Niamh.
There is no training necessary for YSVP although Niamh was delighted to attend a YSVP day with around 100 people from Mayo. “It was really lovely to see how so many people of our age love helping out in the community and getting involved,” she says.
The biggest challenge in her YSVP work is dealing with the stigma associated with being helped by SVP. “A lot of people don’t like asking for help. We did Christmas hampers, and when the students collected them it was all in secret – they would take one item from the hamper home each day. Because we are in a rural area, so tightknit, nobody wants people to know that they are struggling. I feel it is okay to ask for help and you should not be judged or feel uncomfortable because we all need help at some stage in our lives,” she says.
Niamh feels that the church could make a bigger effort to engage young people, and be more overt in inviting people to join its work of helping those in need. She would like to see a more inclusive church too; as she puts it, “more inclusion for everyone, be it the LGBTI+ community or whoever. It would be nice if everyone had the opportunity to practise their faith if they wanted to.”
MEGAN JOURNEYING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
Megan Sarl
Megan Sarl is outreach coordinator with the Redemptorist youth ministry Scala in her native Cork city. She facilitates retreats, outreach and a leadership programme called Meitheal. “Our mission is journeying with young people, planting that seed, trying to build between life issues and faith. Some are questioning, searching, some have no faith but they still want to take part in discussions,” she says.
Megan works with individual children with a diagnosis of ASD, Dyslexia or ADHD, or children who are from families that are vulnerable, or have a history of drug or alcohol abuse or trouble with the law. One of her goals is to help them stay in school and to transition from primary into secondary.
A typical day starts with morning community prayer with the Redemptorist community and the Scala team. Then she has a retreat or meetings with teachers or the children she works with. “Pupils taking part in a retreat are coming from their own busy lives, so it is a day to step back, pause, enjoy being with their friends in a different setting. We explore different faith and life issues,” she explains. Post-Covid this has been more important than ever, as young people transition from onscreen classes and gatherings back to in-person encounters. More than 6,000 people attend retreats at Scala every year. Some of the groups have created a Sustainable Development Goals and Laudato Si’ trail and a mural about climate change, and Scala also carry out eco workshops in schools.
Megan is often asked by her peers what it is like working with priests. However, when they see her enthusiasm and passion for her work, they understand. “I haven’t had too much backlash but there definitely are some people who question it more,” she says. She herself has been influenced greatly by her own involvement with the Redemptorists and Scala all through her school days. “That had a huge impact on my own faith and who I am as a person, seeing how much of a difference they make to young people and the people they work with.”
She hopes that in the future the church will go out onto the streets more. “It is about volunteering and living out Christian values, being compassionate and just and fair and humble. I think it is about giving young people the opportunity to be the church, in settings where faith can be nurtured in so many other ways.”
She adds that those who volunteer through youth ministry do this. “That is them living their faith and beliefs, but they might not be going to Mass on a Sunday or in a church building,” she says.
Megan and her colleagues in Scala, Cork
MARIA EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT
Maria O’Keeffe
Maria O’Keeffe is a healthcare chaplain at Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services, Harold’s Cross in her hometown of Dublin. She describes her ministry as providing spiritual, relational and emotional support to hospice patients and their loved ones as well as staff. “You are meeting people on their most frightening, anxious day and just to be a source of comfort or support is such a privilege,” she says.
A typical day is full-on from the start. “As we begin our day, we check if any patient has died or if new patients have come in,” says Maria. Then there is a multidisciplinary team meeting with a doctor, nurse, physio, occupational therapist, social worker, dietician and healthcare chaplain. “That highlights the holistic nature of palliative care, because we are dealing with every part of the person and it gives an opportunity to relay to the rest of the team if a patient or their loved one is dealing with spiritual pain or is distressed,” she explains.
Maria talks with patients about topics like what death will be like, or about physical or spiritual suffering. Some express regret, and some wonder if they are being punished for something in their past. Some can be angry with God, as can their families, but others are at peace. “They reflect on their life. They have things they are grateful for and they express what gives them meaning and purpose. Often they are open with their family about their readiness for death.”
Maria says her motivation for this ministry came from her early years as part of the church community, and from a priest she knew in Knockmitten, Clondalkin. She studied religion as an exam subject in her Leaving Certificate and went on to study theology and philosophy at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. She later did a Masters in Scripture and a Higher Diploma in Healthcare Chaplaincy.
Friends and family were supportive, but some had reservations when she became a healthcare chaplain at the age of 26. She acknowledges that she is “a very young person to deal with so much dying and death and illness,” but hopes that more lay young people choose pastoral care as a career, and as an opportunity to live their faith every day.
When the Irish Synodal Pathway opened up for consultation, Maria made a personal submission as well as being involved with the contribution of healthcare chaplains. She would like to see more openness in the church. “People are very reassured when they realise that you are open to them and supporting them where they’re at, and there is nothing being forced on them; allowing them to tell their story to give you an understanding of their experiences, because sometimes the listening is important for them to feel heard and seen. This is ultimately what I would want the church to facilitate for people,” she says.
Pastoral care is open to all, and Maria contacts spiritual leaders of patients of other faiths when needed. “There is huge emphasis on openness and respect for diversity and inclusivity. Obviously people express that they have no faith, and yet there are some very important conversations to be had. That openness is really present in pastoral care in healthcare.”
LUCIA SHARING THE GOSPEL
Lucia Diamond
Lucia Diamond is originally from Letterkenny and volunteers there with NET (National Evangelisation Teams) Ministries Ireland. “A lot of what we are trying to do is to bring Jesus to young people, or to create an environment of community and making Jesus present where we are,” Lucia says.
People from all walks of life volunteer with NET and they are given the training they need, but Lucia had previously studied Spanish and theology in Maynooth. She enjoyed learning about the foundations of the faith and church teaching, and studying the church documents which she says are “so rich”. She now works with a Mayo man and others from Germany, Canada and Glasgow. Each volunteer has fundraised for a stipend for their year in the parish.
A typical day for Lucia is often from 9am10pm, and the team start and end the day with prayer and participate in a daily parish Eucharist. “The most important part of our day is that time we get to spend with the Lord and let everything flow from that,” she says. NET volunteers also help with religion classes in secondary schools and confirmation classes in primary schools and in the parish. The work is challenging but Lucia always tries to remind herself why she is doing it. “If you are not asking for the grace of God to let you really flow, you can be really drained,” she says.
Working with secondary school students is a particular challenge: “It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus, and it’s okay if I look a bit foolish.” But once they establish a relationship, and that there is no preaching involved, they generally get along. Often young people have set ideas about the church and Lucia sees this as an opportunity to listen. The many questions that young people have can lead to great discussions.
Lucia and fellow volunteers with NET Ministries
In her own mid-teens, Lucia was not committed to her faith. Then she spent a summer with her cousins and family in Glasgow and their witness of going to daily Mass and entrusting their intentions to Our Lady and God in the Rosary had a huge impact on her. “They were really joyful and talking about Jesus or God like he was their best friend and like he was there all the time. I never saw that before and realised that yes, you can have a relationship with God constantly and not just at morning or bedtime prayers,” she says.
These days, Lucia hopes for more community building for the church in Ireland as we come out of Covid and the isolation and fear that went with it. “We come together in the church for Mass [and we need] to have that communion outside the church as well, to invite others into that and really be a church that welcomes all. I think my hope for the church is that we are able to bring the Gospel through ourselves, through communities and prayer groups, but also through meals and the normality of faith in everything,” she says.
BRENDAN A SENSE OF BELONGING
Brendan Dineen
Brendan Dineen has 30 years’ experience working with young people and is currently youth ministry coordinator at Clonard Monastery in Belfast. He explains that Redemptorists are famous for retreats, but in the last 20 years lay co-workers have been leading retreats. He works on one of those teams, facilitating retreats at Clonard for 11- to 18-year-olds.
He is also involved in a young adult group which is all action. During the annual novena, with up to 10,000 people daily, they are stewards and readers and look after car parking.
Up to 40 young people get involved in an annual summer outreach programme over the course of a week. They pray with the Redemptorist community and go out to the neighbouring communities, cleaning streets and inviting families and local children out to play in a safe environment. “It really gives them a sense of belonging. At the beginning of the week, we celebrate the Eucharist and they are commissioned to go out and be witnesses of the Gospel. The young people love it and we have seen very strong friendships form; they develop a passion for their faith and for working with others,” says Brian. Some participants have gone on to take up youth work (following university courses), teaching and caring professions like nursing. A few participants have even met their marriage partners during that summer week!
Brendan and the community at Clonard are involved in cross-community work with a number of projects with people from nationalist West Belfast and unionist North Belfast. Together they have developed formal training for a Certificate in Good Relations and Youth Work Practice.
The young people are very respectful of each other’s culture and faith, and want to learn more. One group has members attending a 12th of July parade and others going to St Patrick’s Day celebrations. “Belfast has been transformed,” says Brendan. “That cancer that is sectarianism is almost disappearing among young people, and it’s people from another generation that may be holding back a little, and holding on to the old narrative of orange and green. But I think we are going to see huge changes in this [generation].”
Brendan’s motivation for his ministry comes from his involvement with the Redemptorists from a young age: “As soon as I came through the door at Clonard, I never really left!” The annual novena also inspires him. “It’s more than an event, it is a gathering of people to celebrate life and to be comforted in the depths of their sorrow. Looking back at the early 1980s during the Troubles, it comforted the people. Now, many who don’t go to church come to the novena.”
He speaks passionately of the need to reach out to people in society who have been abandoned or are not connected with the church or community, including those who need to talk or who are living with loss in life. “I think that is why youth ministry is so important. People often say to me ‘what can you do on a school retreat, it’s only one day?’ and we talk about planting a seed in youth ministry. If you can plant a seed and nourish it, it will grow.”
Brendan feels that the church in Ireland is going through huge change in this time of synodality and the listening process that Pope Francis has initiated. “The way that we do church and what has been the traditional parish community has been eroded away for many people for a long time. I think we should see this as an opportunity for renewal and growth and change. Models of church can and should change. We all become co-responsible for our faith community – all baptised people.”
Brendan with members of the youth ministry team, Clonard
