Reality Magazine October 2019

THOMAS MORE'S HUMOROUS SIDE

OCTOBER 2019

FRANCES MOLONEY: GENTRY LADY, DYNAMIC MISSIONARY

MISSION TO THE PHILIPPINES: YOUTH CONTINUE IRISH MISSIONARY TRADITION

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

BAPTISED AND SENT

THE CALL OF THE MISSIONARY CHURCH

ST PATRICK'S MISSIONARY SOCIETY

CELEBRATING �� YEARS

SCHOOL FOR PRAYER

HOW A BELFAST GROUP CAME TOGETHER TO EXPLORE PRAYER

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IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES 12 BAPTISED AND SENT THE CHURCH ON MISSION IN THE WORLD Not only is October 'missionary month' but it also marks the centenary of a document that put a new urgency into Catholic missionary activity.

By Julianne Moran

20 A MISSION TO THE PHILIPPINES A group from Redemptorist Youth Ministry spent part of this summer in the Philippines.

By Louise Keelan

23 WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE AND MISSIONARY TO CHINA Child of the landed gentry, widow of a colonial governor, Frances Moloney was foundress of a missionary congregation that chose China for its mission.

By John Scally

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26 PRAYER FOR GOOD HUMOUR This prayer, believed to have been composed by St Thomas More, is a favourite of Pope Francis.

By Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR

28 WAY OF THE CROSS How a little mission prayer book has become a treasury of faith.

By Fr Colm Meaney CSsR

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32 WHEN CAN THESE HANDS STOP TO PRAY? A weekly time and space was created at Clonard Monastery Belfast to explore prayer. It became known as the Clonard School of Prayer.

By Fódhla McGrane and Marie Wheeler

36 FOLLOWING ST PATRICK TO AFRICA St Patrick’s Missionary Society is now almost 90 years of age. It started out to assist an Irish missionary bishop in Nigeria. Since then, it has spread to other parts of Africa, Brazil and the West Indies.

By Fr Tomás O’Connor SPS and Fr John O’Callaghan SPS

OPINION

REGULARS

11 BRENDAN McCONVERY

04 REALITY BITES 07 POPE MONITOR 08 SAINT OF THE MONTH 09 REFLECTIONS 41 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 42 TRÓCAIRE 45 GOD’S WORD

19 JIM DEEDS 31 CARMEL WYNNE 44 PETER McVERRY SJ

REALITY BITES NEW MASTER

PELL CONVICTION UPHELD

ROME

Cardinal George Pell leaving court

AUSTRALIA

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ANOTHER APPEAL UNLIKELY

The conviction of Cardinal George Pell for child abuse has been upheld by the Court of Appeals in Victoria, New South Wales. A three-judge panel upheld his 2018 conviction for sexual abuse of minors in a divided decision delivered on August 21. “By majority (2 to 1), the Court of Appeals has dismissed Cardinal George Pell’s appeal against his conviction for the commission of sexual offences. He will continue to serve his sentence of 6 years’ imprisonment. He will remain eligible to apply for parole after he has served 3 years 8 months of his sentence,” Chief Justice Anne Ferguson said in her opening remarks in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Cardinal Pell was convicted on December 11 last on five charges that he sexually abused two altar servers after Sunday Mass while he was Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996 and 1997. He has one further avenue open, namely petitioning the Australian High Court in Canberra, but this is believed by legal experts to offer very slim chances of success, given the appeal court result.

The cardinal, 78, is expected now to face a Vatican proceeding regarding the possibility that he has committed canonical crimes.

In this case, he can be removed from the College of Cardinals or even reduced to the lay state.

NEW DOMINICAN LEADERSHIP

Fr Gérard Francisco Timoner III, a native of the Philippines, has been elected as the first Asian master general of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in its 800-year history, is. As the 88th successor of St Dominic, Fr Timoner was elected to a nine-year term July 13 at the end of the general chapter of the order held at Biên Hòa, Vietnam. He succeeds French Dominican Fr Bruno Cadoré. Born in Camarines Norte, in the Philippines, Fr Timoner, 51, was leader of the Philippine province of the Dominicans and served as an assistant to the master on Asia/Pacific matters. He was appointed in 2014 by Pope Francis to the International Theological Commission, which advises the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Fr Timoner makes his profession of faith after election

CANONISATON OF BOYS TOWN FOUNDER NEBRASKA

Boys Town actor Mickey Rooney with Fr Flanagan

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

A ROSCOMMON SAINT

The cause for canonisation of the Servant of God, Fr Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans, was advanced considerably when the position which outlines the case for canonisation was presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on July 22. Born in Leabeg, County Roscommon in 1886, and the eighth of 11 children, Fr Flanagan emigrated to the US. He emigrated

to the US at the age of 18, and was ordained eight years later. After working with homeless men in Omaha, he founded a boarding house for orphans and other boys, and then expanded to found a home known as the Village of Boys Town. Fr Flanagan helped at least 10,000 boys at Boys Town in his lifetime, and his influence extended around the world.

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for playing him in the 1938 film Boys Town.

N E WS

NUMBERS PLUMETTING GERMANY

CHURCH NUMBERS FALL

The Catholic Church in Germany is rapidly losing numbers. Information issued recently by the German Bishops Conference indicates that Catholicism in Germany lost more than 200,000 members in 2018 alone. Fr Hans Langendörfer, Jesuit secretary of the Conference, described the numbers as "worrying". The figures, he opined, suggest that "the downtrend is unstoppable".

Protestantism in Germany is experiencing a similar decline, reports state. The Catholic Church in Germany lost 216,078 members, while the Evangelical Church of Germany lost approximately 220,000. This is the first time that those leaving the Catholic Church in Germany outpaced those who joined. In contrast to those who left, ony about 176,500 joined.

Approximately 23 million Germans are members of the Catholic Church, out of a total population of 83 million (ie 28 per cent). A loss in membership in Germany also means a loss in money for churches, since the country's "church tax" means that about 8–9 per cent of a person's taxable income goes to their nominated denomination.

IMPROVE STATUS OF WOMEN IN CHURCH ARMAGH

"WE COULDN'T SURVIVE WITHOUT THEM"

The newly ordained auxiliary bishop of Armagh, Dr Michael Router, has called for an improvement in the place of women in the Catholic Church. “We couldn’t survive without them. It just wouldn’t be possible.

But I do think their contribution does need further enhancement and it needs more development if we are to survive into the future,” he said. On the topic of female deacons, he said: “I think there’s a conversation that needs to continue in that whole area definitely. At least 75 per

cent – three quarters – of the people who helped me out and ministered along with me in parishes were women, and I suppose three quarters of the people who worship on a regular basis in parishes are women, so they’re already extremely involved,” he said.

Speaking of the need to involve lay people in ministry, he said: “You just can’t throw people in at the deep end, there needs to be greater emphasis on adult education in the church in Ireland to prepare people for those roles.”

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Bishop Michael greets his parents, Tony and Nora, after his ordination as bishop Photo: LiamMcArdle.com

NO MEMORIAL FOR MOTHER CABRINI NEW YORK

St Frances Xavier Cabrini

PATRONESS OF IMMIGRANTS IGNORED

A New York City public arts programme has said it will not erect a statue in honour of St Frances Xavier Cabrini, despite the saint receiving the most nominations in a public poll. Frances Cabrini, an Italian immigrant, arrived in New York City in the late 19th century. She founded the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and opened many schools and orphanages in New York City. She was canonised by Pope Pius XII in 1946, who named her the patroness of immigrants in 1950. The project, She Built NYC, was established in June of 2018 to create more statues of women around the

city. People were invited to nominate women for a potential statue and the campaign received over 2,000 votes for more than 300 eligible women. According to the published results of the poll, Mother Cabrini received 219 nominations - more than double the number received by the next candidate, Jane Jacobs, writer of The Life and Death of Great American Cities. A spokesperson for the committee said the public nominations process was not intended to determine which women would be honored, but only to inform the judgment of the selection committee. continued on page 6

REALITY BITES CARFIN PILGRIMAGE CENTRE TO CLOSE The Pilgrimage Centre at Scotland’s national shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes is to close in the autumn due to a decline in income and visitors, with 11 staff becoming redundant. The Motherwell Diocese broke the news on August 5, saying the decision was "purely financial" and taken with "deep regret". Bishop Joseph Toal said: “It has had to rely on financial subsidies from the diocese, which can no longer sustain such expenditure or meet the significant additional costs of complying with new statutory food and hygiene and health and safety standards.”

The closure of the centre will not affect the Carfin Grotto. This large-scale imitation of Lourdes, 20 miles from Glasgow, was the brainchild of the parish priest, Fr Thomas Taylor.

Work began in the early 1920s on a site opposite the St Francis Xavier's parish church. Many of

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the builders were coal miners from Carfin and neighbouring villages out of work during the 1921 Coal Miners' Strike. Fr Taylor was aware of the need to keep these workers occupied to minimise the effects of unemployment on their morale. Many of the workers were Irish, from Donegal especially. Over the years, many other shrines were constructed in the Carfin demesne. The Relic Chapel contains some 735 relics of various saints, most of them with certificates of authentication, making it one of the largest single collections of relics outside of Rome. First Communicants from surrounding parishes visited each spring for a procession. Local Hibernian groups attended the shrine annually and since World War II, they have been joined by Lithuanian and Polish groups.

The Carfin grotto

CANONISATION FOR TITANIC PRIEST?

NO HALO FOR CHESTERTON

Forty-two-year-old Fr Thomas Byles, parish priest of St Helen's in Essex, was travelling to America on board the Titanic to celebrate his brother’s wedding. When the ship struck the iceberg, Fr Byles began to attend to his fellow-passengers, hearing confessions and offering consolation and prayers. Some 1,500 people died when the Titanic sank in the Atlantic in 1912. Some of the passengers who survived told how the priest ignored offers of a life-boat and instead devoted himself to the care of passengers. Miss Agnes McCoy said Fr Byles had been on the ship, hearing confessions, praying with passengers and giving his blessing as the vessel sank. Helen Mary Mocklare, passenger, added further details about the final hours of the priest’s life. “When the crash came we were thrown from our berths ... We saw before us, coming down the passageway, with his hand uplifted, Fr Byles. We knew him because he had visited us several times on board and celebrated Mass for us that very morning. Fr Byles could have been saved, but he would not leave while one (passenger) was left and the sailor's entreaties were not heeded,” Mocklare said. “After I got in the boat, which was the last one to leave, and we were slowly going further away from the ship, I could hear distinctly the voice of the priest and the responses to his prayers.”

Fr Byles’ successor, Fr Graham Smith is the promoter for opening his cause for beatification. “We are hoping and praying that he will be recognised as one of the saints within our canon,” he said.

The cause of the writer and Catholic apologist, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, will not be opened, announced Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, Chesterton's home diocese, in a letter to the North American Chesterton Society which has been anxious to promote his cause. The bishop cited three reasons why he would not open Chesterton’s cause.

Firstly, there was no evidence of a “cult” of local devotion to him, second that there was no “pattern of personal spirituality” that could be discerned through his writing, and finally, there have been repeated charges of anti-Semitism in his writing. Chesterton was born in 1874 and became a prolific writer and staunch Catholic apologist after his conversion to the faith in 1922. He is renowned for writing apologetic classics such as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man, as well as for his fictional Father Brown series about a priest-detective, among many other works. He died in 1936.

“I am very conscious of the devotion to GK Chesterton in many parts of the world and of his inspiring influence on so many people, and this makes it difficult to communicate the conclusion to which I have come,” the bishop said.

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS PAIN, GRATITUDE, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAISE POPE’S LETTER TO PRIESTS

On the 160th anniversary of the death of St John Marie Vianney, the Curé of Ars, Pope Francis published the text of a letter he had written to priests. It was prompted by a meeting with the Italian bishops when he confided in them: "my worry that, in more than a few places, our priests feel themselves attacked and blamed for crimes they did not commit” and that they needed to find from their bishops the support of an older brother or a father.

He takes up four themes in the letter – Pain, Gratitude, Encouragement and Praise. He began by recalling how in recent years, “we have become more attentive to the cry, often silent and suppressed, of our brothers and sisters who were victims of the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers.” The other side of that pain is the pain of priests.

Many of them have communicated directly to him how “for all their hard work, they have to face the damage that was done, the suspicion and uncertainty to which it has given rise, and the doubts, fears and disheartenment felt by more than a few.” He recalls the advice of a wise Italian priest who spent most of his life in Argentina, Fr Luigi Gera, that ”always, but especially in times of trial, we need to return to those luminous moments when we experienced the Lord’s call to devote our lives to his service”. He finds many things for which to say thanks to priests and especially for “the times when, with great emotion, you embraced sinners, healed wounds, warmed hearts and showed the tenderness and compassion of the Good Samaritan” for “nothing is more necessary than this: accessibility, closeness, readiness to draw near to the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters.” He reminds priests of the great spiritual danger which was diagnosed by the early Desert Fathers as acedia, a “sweet sadness” or despair, a “sadness that paralyses our desire to persevere in our work and prayer; it makes us hard to live with.” The worst feature of this kind of sadness is that it does not see any glimpse of light in the future and says "that is the way it has always been.” He suggests that they associate their praise with Mary and shares a personal experience.

“Whenever I visit a Marian shrine, I like to spend time looking at the Blessed Mother and letting her look at me. I pray for a childlike trust, the trust of the poor and simple who know that their mother is there, and that they have a place in her heart. And in looking at her, to hear once more, like the Indian Juan Diego: “My youngest son, what is the matter? Do not let it disturb your heart. Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your mother?”

THIRTEEN NEW CARDINALS NAMED Pope Francis unexpectedly named 13 new cardinals on September 1. They will receive the ‘red hat’ on October 5, the vigil of the special synod on the Amazon. The new cardinals are 1. Bishop Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was born in Seville (Spain) in 1952. He is a member of the Comboni Missionaries and spent his early ministry as a missionary in Egypt and Sudan. He is a specialist in Arabic and Islamic studies.

2. Portuguese-born Archbishop José Tolentino Medonça, Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church. His specialist area of study is Sacred Scripture.

3. Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodj, Archbishop of Jakarta, is originally from Java.

4. Archbishop Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, Archbishop of San Cristóbal de La Habana in Cuba.

5. The Capuchin, Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, is Archbishop of Kinshasa, in the Republic of the Congo.

6. Archbishop Jean-Claude Höllerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, is a member of the Society of Jesus. This is the first time the Archbishop of Luxembourg, the only diocese in the Grand Duché, has been named a Cardinal.

7. Bishop Alvaro L. Ramazzini Imeri, Bishop of Huehuetenamgo, was born in Guatemala.

8. Archbishop Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna, was a former auxiliary of the diocese of Rome.

9. Archbishop Cristóbal López Romero, Archbishop of Rabat in Morocco, is a Spanish-born Salesian.

10. Fr Michael Czerny, Undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1946.

He was ordained as a member of the Society of Jesus in Canada.

11. Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, former Apostolic Nuncio of Egypt, was born in Walsall in 1937 and entered the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in 1950 and was ordained a priest in 1961. In 1987 he was nominated secretary to what was then the Secretariat for Non-Christians which became the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in 1988.

12. Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, Archbishop Emeritus of Kaunas, Lithuania, is the third Jesuit on the lists. He was sentenced to ten years in prison work camps of Perm and Mordovia and was exiled to Siberia until 1988.

13. Bishop Eugenio Dal Corso is an Italian and former bishop of Benguela in Angola.

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REDEMPTORIST SAINT OF THE MONTH BLESSED ZENON KOVALYK 1903-1941

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Zynoviy (Zenon) Kovalyk was born in 1903 near Ternopil in what is known today as the Western Ukraine. His family were peasant labourers and devout Christians. He was gifted with a good singing voice, an admirable talent in a Greek Catholic priest who has to sing most of the liturgy.

After a short spell as a primary school teacher, he entered the Redemptorist novitiate when he was 25. In those days, he would have been regarded as a late vocation. He made his first religious profession on August 26, 1926.

After the novitiate, he was sent to study philosophy and theology at Beauplateau in Belgium, the mother province of the Ukrainian Redemptorists. He returned to the Ukraine on the completion of his studies and was ordained a priest on August 9, 1932 and celebrated his first Divine Liturgy in his native village on September 4, 1932.

Fr Zynoviy then travelled with Bishop Mykolay Charnetskyi (who was also to be beatified as a a martyr on the same day as him) to Volhynia to work amongst the Ukrainians of the Orthodox Church. Fr Zynoviy was a good singer and a preacher. After several years he went to Stanislaviv (today Ivano-Frankivsk) to take up the post of provincial bursar but also found time for the traditional Redemptorist apostolate of parish missions and retreats.

Immediately before the Soviet invasion of 1939, he became bursar in the Redemptorist monastery at Lviv. Due to the hostility of the Russians to religion, most clergy avoided issues of freedom and justice in their preaching, lest they be accused of bringing politics into the pulpit. Fr Zynoviy did not hesitate to speak out on matters touching the everyday lives of the people. His friends warned him that he was being watched, and urged him to be careful. He replied, "If it is God's will, I am ready to die, but I cannot be quiet in the face of such injustice."

On the feast of the Dormition (Assumption) of the Mother of God 1940, he gave his last homily, which reportedly drew some 10,000 faithful.

On the night of December 20-21, 1940, the Soviet secret police raided the Redemptorist monastery to arrest Fr Zynoviy for his sermons during the Novena of the Immaculate Conception earlier in the month. Before leaving, he asked his superior, the Belgian Fr De Vocht, for a last blessing and absolution. He was accused of being a spy, and for six months, he was held in Brygidki prison. During this time, he underwent 28 periods of interrogation. After one of these interrogations which was accompanied by severe torture, he fell seriously ill from blood loss. He shared a tiny and unfurnished cell with 32 other inmates. Each weekday, the men said five decades of the Rosary and all 15 on Sundays. Although he could not celebrate the liturgy, he led common prayer. On the feast of Epiphany, he managed to perform the blessing of the water, a popular celebration for Greek Catholics. Apart from prayers, Fr Zynoviy heard confessions, taught catechism and consoled the inmates by telling – in his own humorous style – a fund of religious stories.

On June 22, 1941, after seven days of intense bombardment, Lviv fell to the Germans. The Soviet guards executed 7,000 prisoners before retreating themselves. Prisoners who witnessed his death claim that, rather than simply shooting Fr Zynoviy, they crucified him on a wall of the prison. In a further indignity, they ripped his stomach open and inserted a dead human foetus inside. Soviet official statements denied this, but a witnesses who was on the work party that cleared the prison said the most horrible sight was that of a priest crucified in the way that had been described by the witnesses.

On April 24, 2001, along with 28 Ukrainians who had died for the faith under communism, including three of his Redemptorist brothers, Fr Zynoviy Kovalyk was recognised by the Holy See as being a martyr. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 27,2001 during his pastoral visit to Ukraine. They are remembered in the liturgy on June 28.

Brendan McConvery CSsR REALITY OCTOBER 2019

Reality Volume 84. No. 8 October 2019 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,

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REFLECTIONS A mighty poc from the hurl of Seán Óg Ó hAilpín. His father was from Fermanagh, his mother from Fiji – neither a hurling stronghold.

MÍCHEÁL Ó MUIRCHEARTAIGH

If you cannot love you remain self-enclosed and sterile, unable to create a future for yourself or others, unable to live. If, however, you do effectively love you will be a threat to the structures of domination upon which our human society rests and you will be killed HERBERT MCCABE

All sins are attempts to fill voids.

SIMONE WEIL

Some people talk in their sleep. Lecturers talk while other people sleep.

ALBERT CAMUS

To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.

BLESSED JOHN HENRY NEWMAN

Jesus wants us to be “the light of the world,” “the salt of the earth,” and “the leaven in the bread.” This is first of all a matter of being, not of doing.

RENÉ VOILLAUME

Feminism without spirituality runs the risk of becoming what it rejects: an elitist ideology, arrogant, superficial and separatist, closed to everything but itself. Without a spiritual base that obligates it beyond itself, calls it out of itself for the sake of others, a pedagogical feminism turned in on itself can become just one more intellectual ghetto that the world doesn’t notice and doesn’t need.

The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today.

And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and murder.

FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.

ERICH FROMM

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.

ROBERT WILSON LYND

JOAN CHITTESTER OSB

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.

PAUL SIMON

One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your country and what is your religion? One merely says: You suffer, that is enough for me.

Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever puts one down without the feeling of disappointment.

CHARLES LAMB

Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you – either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation.

We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.

To love means loving the unlovable.

To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.

JOHN WAYNE

MAEVE BINCHY

GK CHESTERTON

LOUIS PASTEUR

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Partners in Peace Two men of God – Intrinsic to the Irish Peace Process – Convinced of their path – Spurred on by their faith

For the first time, the personal stories and political struggles of Redemptorists Alec Reid and Gerry Reynolds are told, highlighting their underlying influence in gaining peace on this island

ONE MAN, ONE GOD

UNITY PILGRIM

Fr Alec Reid made an extraordinary contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process. As a member of the Clonard community for over 40 years, Fr Alec’s peace ministry emerged from a religious community deeply rooted in west Belfast.

Fr Alec saw himself as a servant of Christ in a situation of political conflict. He felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to reach out and work for peace. His contribution to peace in Ireland is immeasurable, and there would not have been a peace process without his hard work and determination.

This unique book by Fr Martin McKeever CSsR. explores the extraordinary work of this good and simple priest.

When Limerick-born Redemptorist priest Fr Gerry Reynolds first arrived in Belfast in August 1983, it was to a city starkly divided by conflict and violence. His instinct to reach out to those who were suffering, on both sides of the community, would develop into a lifelong devotion to the cause of peace and Christian unity – a pilgrim of peace.

He believed the church could be ‘God’s peace process in human history’, and that dialogue and friendship would open hearts to the mutual understanding and trust that are the foundations of true peace.

Above all, Gerry was a pilgrim, struggling in his faith, always striving towards the goal of Christian unity, one small step at a time. This book by Gladys Ganiel draws on Gerry’s own words and writings, and the recollections of his family and friends, to uncover the story of this gentle priest, pilgrim and peacemaker.

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EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

IRELAND – MISSION COUNTRY?

When

I was a student, I went to France for the summer to learn French. One wet day, wandering around the library of the monastery where I was staying, I discovered a book with an interesting title – La France: Pays de Mission?

I suppose you could translate it “Is France a Mission Country?” When I returned home, I found it in our house library in Galway, translated by the great English Catholic writer, Maisie Ward. This time the title was even more striking: it too asked a question, Is France Pagan? I thought that mission countries were in Africa, Asia or South America, not cultured, sophisticated places like France. Anyway, I took it to my room and began to read it in the hope of getting a better sense of how just how Catholic this place was where I was to spend a couple of months. I discovered that it had begun life when Henri Godin and Yvan Daniel, two young priests working with the Young Christian Workers, brought a report they had compiled on their experience to Cardinal Suhard, the Archbishop of Paris. The cardinal read it immediately and commissioned them to work it up into a book as quickly as they could. Republished five times between 1943 and 1962, translated into English and German, it deeply influenced several generations of French priests and seminarians, as it was doing to me some 25 years later. Cardinal Suhard already had intuitions of the accuracy of what his two young colleagues were saying, and he convinced the French bishops to create the Mission de France and the Mission de Paris, almost on the lines of the ancient French foreign missionary body, Missions Étrangers. The aim was to prepare priests to work especially in areas that were felt to be de-Christianised – marked by low Mass attendance, militant and aggressive Communism, parishes in decline or decay.

Some of the steps that were tried like

‘worker priests’ who combined ministry with low-paid work in factories or hotels were condemned by Rome.

France knows that it is still a mission country, but does Ireland? One way of celebrating the Extraordinary Month of Mission this October might be by taking stock and asking, “Is Ireland a Mission Country?” Or perhaps even more starkly, “Is Ireland Pagan?”

It is not just simply a matter of marshalling pieces of evidence like referendum results, or the number of places your bishop has not been able to fill in this year’s clerical changes or growing empty spaces at Mass on a Sunday. The work of mission is not just for professionals: it is for all who received the baptismal anointing as king, priest and prophet. In his encyclical Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis reminds us that “each Christian and every community must discern the path that the Lord points out, but all of us are asked to obey his call to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the 'peripheries' in need of the light of the Gospel.” I wonder did he borrow that word “peripheries” from Frs Godin and Daniel? In France, the 'periphery’ means the outer suburbs of a large city, far from the centres of political power and influence and instead places of high-rise flats, poverty, crime and deprivation, places especially where immigrant communities rise. Leaving our comfort zone is not easy. It requires commitment and love. Pope Francis recommends us to take the first step in greater involvement. He holds out to us the example of Christ who washed his disciples’ feet. “An evangelizing community,” he tells us. “gets involved by word and deed in people’s daily lives; it bridges distances, it is willing to abase itself if necessary, and it embraces human life, touching the suffering flesh of Christ in others.”

It is easy to be overwhelmed by the negative.

Pope Francis recognises that one of the more serious temptations that saps the energy of good people is often a sense of defeatism that can too easily turn us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, “sourpusses”.

He uses the biblical metaphor of the spiritual life as warfare against the forces of darkness.

“Nobody can go off to battle unless they are fully convinced of victory beforehand. If we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents.

While painfully aware of our own frailties, we have to march on without giving in, keeping in mind what the Lord said to Saint Paul: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness' (2 Cor 12:9). While Christian triumph can involve suffering and the cross, it is a victorious banner borne with aggressive tenderness against the assaults of evil."

Someone once met an elderly priest who had spent years ministering in a poor and problem-ridden parish. The priest said he could no longer keep a car, his last one had been damaged so often. His house was burgled so frequently that the police hardly turned up anymore. “So why do you stay?” he was asked, “I am here so that the rumour of God does not totally disappear from this place.” If we can do little, at least we can keep the rumour of God alive.

Brendan McConvery CSsR Editor

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REALITY OCTOBER 2019

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST ON MISSION IN THE WORLD THIS MONTH, THE EXTRAORDINARY MONTH OF MISSION OCTOBER 2019, MARKS THE CENTENARY OF A REVOLUTIONARY DOCUMENT THAT PUT A NEW URGENCY AND SPIRIT INTO CATHOLIC MISSIONARY ACTIVITY.

BY JULIEANN MORAN

October

is already established in the mind and heart of the Universal Church as Mission Month. This year it has even greater significance with Pope Francis’ announcement of the Extraordinary Month of Mission (EMM2019). When an ‘extraordinary’ year or month is announced by the Holy Father, we know he is asking us to become more focused and attentive during this special time. So EMM2019 will be an extra-special month of prayer and action to help strengthen and grow God’s mission and the church. In order to reignite the baptismal awareness of the People of God in relation to mission throughout the world, Pope Francis shared the theme Baptised and Sent: The Church of Christ on Mission

in the World. EMM2019 aims to encourage Catholics into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ; to look to and learn from the actions and sacrifices made by our saints, martyrs and living missionaries; to rediscover and renew our understanding of overseas mission; and to financially support mission.

In his last words to the apostles, Jesus gave them a mission, "So, you must go and make disciples of all nations.

Baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 28:18-19). His instruction to the apostles was a great call to those who became the first missionaries of the church. They were told to go ad gentes – to the nations – to

those who did not know Jesus and proclaim the Gospel. Over the centuries, the church has frequently reflected on her missionary identity. Today, we are invited to do the same.

A MILESTONE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY WORK Pope Francis chose EMM2019 as it coincides with the 100th anniversary of Pope Benedict

The true missionary is always aware that he is not working as an agent of his country, but as an ambassador of Christ XV’s apostolic letter Maximum Illud.

Pope Benedict began by recalling "that

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14 momentous and holy charge" found in the Gospel of Mark 16:15 to "go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creation".

Its theological message wasn’t new, but Pope Francis describes this document as, "a milestone in the evolution of the Church’s missionary work".

Published in 1919, in the aftermath of World War I, Maximum Illud highlighted the need for missionaries to disassociate themselves from every notion of empire and colonialism, "the true missionary is always aware that he is not working as an agent of his country, but as an ambassador of Christ. And his conduct is such that it is perfectly obvious to anyone watching him that he represents a faith that is alien to no nation on earth" (MI 20).

Concerned with the fate of the church in developing countries, the pope sensed the first stirrings of the independence movements that bring colonialism to an end. He also recognised the importance of training local people for local church.

There must be "special concern for the sacred ministry"asserts the pope, "In this REALITY OCTOBER 2019

15 policy lies the greatest hope of the new churches. For the local priest, one with his people by birth, by nature, by his sympathies and his aspirations, is remarkably effective in appealing to their mentality and thus attracting them to the faith" (MI 14).

and the role of overseas-born missionaries, Benedict also fostered the missionary vocation of people at home and organised more effectively the role of the Pontifical Mission Societies.

THE CHANGING FACE OF WORLD MISSION Maximum Illud would become the ‘Magna Carta’ for future papal documents on mission such as Rerum Ecclesiae (1926), Evangelii Praecones (1951), Fidei Donum (1957), and Princeps Pastorum (1959). The Vatican II Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes (1965), is in many respects, the outcome of these missionary documents.

Vatican II was, in effect, a missionary council.

It was not called for any particular crisis in doctrine or church structures but it was a call to find new ways of teaching doctrine in light of the major political and cultural changes occurring.

The church "begins by being evangelised herself…by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelise the world" Benedict was also aware that mission was organised in a way that gave certain congregations authority for certain mission dioceses. Other missionary groups were being kept out, and local vocations were not being encouraged. He insisted these congregations train and value indigenous clergy, thus effectively ‘internationalising’ the leadership of the church. Years ahead of his time, he raised major questions about colonialism, the growth of local churches,

Pope John XXIII’s "Aggiornamento was not a call for change for change’s sake, but a call to mission" and mission gave the Council its basic direction. In Ad Gentes, and other decrees of Vatican II, mission was no longer understood as a territorial reality that focused on a particular people in a particular country. Mission was everywhere to everywhere! Culture too was looked upon positively as missionaries were asked to "learn by sincere and patient dialogue what treasures a generous God has distributed among the nations of the earth" (AG 11).

This theology of mission was not without problems. If mission was everywhere to everywhere and everything was mission, then there was no need for a ‘special mission’ across cultures, or foreign missionaries.

However, Pope Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975) broadened the understanding of mission to include activities such as inculturation, working for justice, liberation, and the "restoration of the full unity willed by Christ" (EN 77). Paul VI wished mission to be understood broadly as inclusive

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To find out more about EMM2019 visit www.wmi.ie or email info@wmi.ie

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of all the forms that evangelisation could take, rather than the narrower principle of proclamation by word and witness. He affirmed the church was continuing the mission of Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom of God and that those who accept the Good News and seek this Kingdom "make up a

Missio (1990) when he spoke of mission including not only inculturation and work for justice, but also interreligious dialogue. He spoke of new worlds and social phenomena as places for mission including megalopolises (mega cities), youth, migrants, refugees, and situations of dire poverty. In cultural sectors, the pontiff included the modern equivalents of the Areopagus: the world of communications, the commitment to peace, the development and the liberation of peoples, the rights of individuals especially minorities, the advancement of women and children, and the safeguarding of the created world. He also included culture, scientific research, and international relations which promote dialogue and open new possibilities (RM 37). The following year Dialogue and Proclamation (1991) elaborated on the relationship between interreligious dialogue

He invites us to look inside ourselves to reawaken and reactivate our missionary hearts community which is in turn evangelising" (EN 13). He insisted that the church "begins by being evangelised herself‌by constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelise the world" and since the entire church is missionary by nature, everyone in the church is to participate in its mission (EN 15).

This broadening of mission continued with Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Redemptoris REALITY OCTOBER 2019

and mission. In 1998 the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples issued Cooperatio Missionalis, stating the mission ad gentes was still in its infancy. "On the threshold of the third millennium, the Church’s missionary task, by no means in extinction, has evervaster horizons" (CM 1).

THE JOY OF MISSION In his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), Pope Francis presented the missionary task as a joyful experience of faith, a joy that has accompanied missionaries since apostolic times. Emphasising the missionary spirit that animates the whole church, he spoke of a "missionary impulse capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channelled for the evangelisation of today’s world rather than for her selfpreservation" (EG 27). Mission for Pope Francis is to make the pastoral structures

and activity of the church on every level more inclusive and open, "to inspire in pastoral workers a constant desire to go forth" (EG 27). As parents, teachers, catechists and pastors, we are responsible for keeping this missionary spirit vibrantly and joyfully alive!

This October, Pope Francis is asking all of us to become involved in the Extraordinary Month of Mission (EMM2019). He invites us to look inside ourselves to reawaken and reactivate our missionary hearts. He invites us to become familiar with the language and culture of people today, to live close to the realities of people’s lives, to share their worries and hopes so we, in our words and deeds, can show the relevance of the Gospel in the context of life today. The apostles, gathered in the upper room, received an anointing of fire from the Holy Spirit. Pentecost was their call to mission. Baptism is ours.

A Master’s graduate in theology from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Julieann Moran is executive secretary of World Missions Ireland

Solemn Novena in honour of St Gerard Majella at St Joseph’s Redemptorist Church, Dundalk October 8-16 2019

Preaching at this year’s novena: Michael Kelleher C.Ss.R (Limerick), Gerry Moloney C.Ss.R (Limerick), Kevin O’Neil C.Ss.R (New Jersey) and Anne Walsh (Newfoundland) Novena times: Weekdays 7.00am, 9.30am, 11.30am 1.10pm, 2.30pm 4.30pm, 6.00pm, 7.30pm, 9.00pm & 10.30pm

(candlelight session)

Sunday October 13 7.00am, 8.00am, 9.30am, 11.30am 1.10pm, 2.30pm 4.30pm, 6.00pm, 7.30pm, 9.00pm Special Friday October 11 Reconciliation Services at 9.30am, 11.30am, 6pm & 7.30pm Saturday October 12 Anointing of the Sick 11.30am & 2.30pm only.

Events Sunday October 13 Blessing of babies and small children 2.30pm (No Mass) Monday October 14 Guest Speaker: Jane Mellet

Conscience: Writings from “Moral Theology”

by Saint Alphonsus Translated by Raphael Gallagher, CSsR 276-page softcover

€20 plus

P+P

To order: Call: 00353-1-4922488 or go to www.redcoms.org

COM M E N T WITH EYES WIDE OPEN JIM DEEDS

WHERE'S YOUR HAPPY PLACE?

JIM’S GREAT DANE HAS FOUND HIS HAPPY PLACE IN A HEDGE. JIM’S IS A CHURCH, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS QUIET AND EMPTY. WHERE IS YOURS? I have a Great Dane dog called Mac. Mac is sight to behold.

He stands about three feet tall to his shoulders, with another foot or so to the top of his head.

And he loves nothing more than to go for a walk with me and my other two (smaller) dogs around my neighbourhood, meeting and being petted by all we come across. I say he loves nothing more, and while that has been true for all of these past three years since he came to live with us, of late he has found a new favourite thing to do; he likes to stand with his head in a hedge! Seriously. A big dog who likes to stick his head right inside a hedge and, well, just stand there looking around.

It’s got that whenever I stop to talk to a person on the road, if there is a hedge, Mac completely ignores us and goes straight for the hedge. It’s comical to see the rear end of a dog the size of a small horse sticking out from the leafy green hedge. But there you have it – Mac has found his happy place and I can see that in his happy place he finds a sense of peace and calm. He looks relaxed and at the same time he looks to be engaged in what is around him.

Where is your happy place?

I have asked myself that question lately and in doing so I came across a memory from childhood. I remember sitting on an evening alongside my mother in St Teresa’s Church in Belfast at evening Mass. It must have been autumn or winter, because

the light was low outside the windows of the church. Inside the church not all of the lights were turned on, so it had a half light feel to it. I was cuddled into my mother’s coat, listening to the rhythmical chanting of prayers and hymns and I felt just what I think Mac fells in his happy place. I felt at peace and calm. I was relaxed and engaged.

I felt safe.

I have taken this love of churches with me through my life. I love to visit churches wherever I go. I still find that they offer me a happy place to be. In particular I love to visit a church during the day when there are few or even no other people there. I find that I can fall into a time of deep prayer and relaxation. I can smell the faint smell of incense and candles and they remind me of times gone by; they transport me back to that time sitting beside my

mother as a boy. This means that, no matter where I am, I can find my happy place.

As I have grown, though, it is not just a memory of a boy’s love for his mother (the mother and the love both very much still alive) that has sustained me in finding my happy place in church. It has been my insight into who else is very much present in the church when I enter – as Thomas declared, My Lord and My God. It is this deep connection to God and God’s special presence in the church, so clearly, literally and mystically present in the tabernacle, that allows me to come in, sit and heave a sigh of relief that I have once again come to my happy place. All sorts of turmoil invade my life like all lives but, even in the midst or maybe especially in the midst of this turmoil, a visit to a church and conversation with God there

allows for calm and a sense of perspective to return. And the great thing is, of course, that I can take this calm with me back out the door where God is just as present. In fact, time in my happy place allows me to live with more happiness outside of my happy place. The more times I visit my happy place the more I see the core element of that happy place – God’s loving presence – in all places. It’s a winwin situation.

The flip side to all of this is that I have noticed that when I neglect my happy place, when I don’t go there often, I feel the absence of it. I miss the gifts that my visits give me – peace, calm, relaxation, engagement, safety.

And the world around me seems bereft of these things.

Jesus, too, had a happy place.

His was ‘a quiet place’. We read in the Gospels of how he withdrew often to a quiet place to pray and to be with his father. He did it at key times in his ministry. He did it when things got tough. He did it to give him strength to face into doing awesome things. For Jesus, a quiet place was his happy place. And if it was good enough for Jesus...

Perhaps in this time to come we could discover or rediscover our own individual happy place, wherever that may be, and in it come to rest easily with God in peace, calm, relaxation, engagement and safety.

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

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F E AT U R E

A MISSION TO THE PHILIPPINES A GROUP FROM REDEMPTORIST YOUTH MINISTRY, IRELAND, SPENT PART OF THIS SUMMER IN THE PHILIPPINES. ONE OF THEM TELLS THE STORY.

BY LOUISE KEELAN

The 20

feeling I have after this trip is not something that can be described adequately. It was a lived experience. We spent only two weeks in the country, but it was quality time over quantity. We started our journey on August 26. We were nine Redemptorist youth ministers representing Scala (Cork), Clonard (Belfast),

Limerick and Dundalk. We were accompanied by Fr Michael Kelleher CSsR and Siobhan Hughes from SERVE. The trip had been two years in the planning, and was a joint venture between RYM and SERVE with many fundraising and training events.

On arriving in the Philippines, it took us some time to adjust to the new surroundings. From

the buses ('jeepneys' or jeeps for public transport) to the various smells and cultural differences, we were taking it all in while being regarded as celebrities by the locals. Many of the group had not been outside of Europe before, so there were lots of new experiences to be had.

Our home for the two weeks was the Redemptorist retreat

house in Nivel Hills and we quickly settled into our new surrounds. We had two missions over in Cebu. One was delivering retreats to the young people of the Redemptorist parish in Cebu and secondly was working with the teachers at the Nano Nagel Childcare and Learning Centre.

OUR FIRST RETREAT On the Monday after we arrived, we commenced our retreats. The youth had travelled from Cebu City, Tacloban and Chaplaincy.

Initially, we were anxious that there might be a language barrier but this was not the case. We followed the theme of the 'Road

From the jeepneys to the various smells and cultural differences, we were taking it all in while being regarded as celebrities by the locals REALITY OCTOBER 2019

As youth ministers from Ireland we were privileged to be missionaries in this foreign land and walk in the footsteps of our ancestors to Emmaus' and without doubt this road was one for all of us.

We were delivering the retreats but we were also receiving much back in return. The young people were so filled with faith, joy and love. Their faith and energy was very refreshing.

Interestingly, the young people were very confident to engage in discussions about their faith and shared their personal experiences and journeys. On the Monday night Fr Michael celebrated Mass. Before commencing Mass, everyone was invited to line up their shoes together in the centre of the room as on the road to Emmaus. During his homily, Fr Michael moved some of the shoes out of the road reflecting those who are often left on the margins of society.

He encouraged our youth to reflect on why this is often the case. During the prayers of intercession the young people were asked to write down the gifts they could bring to help those on the margins of society.

One by one the people were brought back onto the road until only one pair of shoes remained.

Fr Michael then returned these shoes himself signifying how

Jesus carries us even when we are alone.

The retreats continued on the Tuesday and Wednesday with sharing, games, reflections and a cultural night. During the cultural night there was plenty of both music and dance from the Irish and Cebuano traditions.

The 'fields of Athenry' and the 'Rattlin`Bog' were favourites.

We were invited to travel to the parish of Chaplaincy during the trip which was a community outside of Cebu city. The young people here greeted us with song and dance and showed us around their community.

We attended Mass and shared faith experiences with the young people. The Redemptorist community have established

The full group that traveled to the Philippines

a leprosarium there, a hospital which provides treatment for those recovering from leprosy.

We had the opportunity to visit the hospital and meet with the patients. Often times the patients would not get many visitors so they were pleased to see us there.

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In our own special way we walked the road to Emmaus on our mission to the Philippines. We reached out to those on the margins of society and brought them with us on our journey.

As youth ministers from Ireland we were privileged to be missionaries in this foreign land and walk in the footsteps of our ancestors. The experience I had in the Philippines has left a lasting impact on me. It has made me think about the mission each and every one of us has each day we leave our homes. Are we faithful to our Christian mission of being welcoming and helping everyone who is on the road to Emmaus? And are we willing to transfigure into the butterfly and spread our faith and joy to others?

Adult literacy class. Students learning English

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AN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY After the retreats we started to work with the Nano Nagle Child Care and Learning Centre.

This centre was established by the Presentation Sisters and is located in the Badjao co mmunit y. The B a d ja o community are a peaceful tribe who traditionally lived at sea and near the water. Today they live on the margins of society and are often discriminated against.

Their motto in life is to take each day as it comes. We were privileged to visit their homes and experience their culture and way of life. The average life expectancy in the Badjao is 50: this is mainly due to poor diet and lack of clean running water.

Our time in the school was spent well; in the morning we worked with the Montessori and adult literacy programme and the evening we ran workshops for the youth council.

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I was involved for a few days with the adult literacy programme which is for students who for one reason or another have not been to secondary school but are now going back to learn English. The Montessori children came in each day for one-two hours depending on age. They would sing songs, participate in activities and then go home with a hot meal.

We worked with the youth council on areas around children’s rights, team-building, developing a vision for the future in their community and anti-bullying. The youth council work with the other youth in the community and pass on their suggestions to the elders. Some of the young people explained to us the struggles they have in secondary school as they are discriminated against because they are Badjao. For us, we could see no difference between them and the other young people

we had been working with. The welcome and warmth they gave us and the inspiration for life they shared with us was unreal.

Louise Keelan is a secondary teacher and a volunteer with Redemptorist Youth Ministry in Dundalk. Last year she completed a postgraduate diploma in Leadership in Christian Education.

Children and teachers outside the Nano Nagel Child Care and Learning Centre

WHAT IREL AND OWES TO THE S I ST E R S

Always deeply religious, her deepest wish was to become a missionary

WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE AND MISSIONARY TO CHINA

CHILD OF THE LANDED GENTRY, WIDOW OF A COLONIAL GOVERNOR, FRANCES MOLONEY WAS FOUNDRESS OF A MISSIONARY CONGREGATION THAT CHOSE CHINA FOR ITS MISSION.

BY JOHN SCALLY

She

was a woman apart and her story is the stuff of Hollywood.

Frances Owen-Lewis was born in Marylebone, London, England in April 17, 1873, one of a family of six. Her father had an estate at Inniskeen, County Monaghan and for a time was MP for Carlow. Frances was tutored at home by governesses and then went to study at the Sacred Heart Convent, Hove, Sussex.

In 1897 she married Captain Sir Alfred Moloney K.C.M.G., Governor of the Windward Islands and later Governor of Trinidad, West Indies. When they were in Italy in 1913, he became seriously ill and died in hospital. While grieving for him, Frances had

she was seeking. She entered into dialogue with him and together they took steps towards the foundation of the congregation that was to become the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban. Frances went to train in midwifery in the National Maternity Hospital and in general nursing in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, and she tried to extend her knowledge in every area that might be of use in China. When approval had been received from Rome for the new foundation and a house had been procured near the Columban Fathers’ seminary in Cahiracon, County Clare, Frances was among the first group of women who began their training there on February 7, 1922.

Frances was received into the congregation on October 4, 1922, taking the religious name, Sr Mary Patrick, and made her first profession on July 29, 1925. In Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis expresses his belief that: "In virtue of their baptism, all the members of the People of God have become missionary disciples…

Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are 'disciples' and 'missionaries', but rather

an audience with Pope Pius X who assured her that God would comfort her in his own way.

NUNS FOR CHINA At the outbreak of World War I, Lady Moloney, as she was officially titled, returned to Ireland and gave herself to charitable works, helping the Belgian war refugees in Dublin. Always deeply religious, her deepest wish was to become a missionary.

When she heard of Fr John Blowick’s appeal in 1918 for women missionaries, especially nurses and doctors, to work in China, she felt that this was the challenge

The young Frances Owen-Lewis

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

The first Columban sisters to travel to China. They were accompanied by Columban fathers.

24 that we are always 'missionary disciples'."

Almost a century earlier Sister Mary Patrick had the same intuitive understanding.

body, and nobody could find a vein to give the injection that could save him. The first task for Mother Mary Patrick was to tend to him.

We no longer say that we are 'disciples' and 'missionaries', but rather that we are always 'missionary disciples' Pope Francis Accordingly, she was among the first group of Sisters to leave for China to make a foundation in Bishop Galvin’s vicariate in Hanyang. They arrived in November 1926 and Sr Mary Patrick would spend the next ten years ministering to the Chinese people with her catechetical and nursing skills and winning their hearts by her selfless dedication.

When she arrived, one of the first things she saw was a young boy running a high fever as he wiped flies from swollen eyes. The boy was dressed in torn rags, and a shrapnel wound on the back of his leg reeked of infection. His eyes were empty, waterless like the rest of his REALITY OCTOBER 2019

MISSIONARY She quickly found that immersion into China shaved her spirituality o f e x tr a n e o u s accretions: "If you don’t hold on to God there is no otherwise." She was a different type of missionary – less concerned about bringing the Good News and more concerned about being the Good News and to explore with searing honesty the complexities and the contradictions that make us human. The code of her humanity was that not even great deprivation can shackle the human spirit.

In 1936 she was recalled to Ireland as she had been elected Superior General of the congregation at the second General Chapter.

In many ways Sr Mary Patrick was a woman ahead of her time. Salvation, many thought, was attained by rejecting and shunning the

worldly dimension of our human existence.

Human existence itself was often seen as sinful and unworthy, and the emphasis was on the salvation of one's soul to be attained in the next life. A culture like this promoted a juridicial approach to human behaviour and reflected a highly individualistic understanding. There was a risk that the ecclesiastical apparatus of the church might overshadow the action of the Spirit and of grace in people's lives. The shadow of the Pharisee, a deep attachment to known forms of religious expression rather than to the spirit of life they aimed to express, hovered ominously around. Inside the system of the Pharisees was a quest for legal purity, going from one subtlety to another and ending in narrow legalism that Our Lord fought against.

In marked contrast Sr Mary Patrick had a much deeper understanding of Christian life with God at the centre and recognised that to be a Christian was to answer the call to be her best self, to be fully human. Her approach was not built on great cathedrals because she knew that is not where its

founder would have gone. On a holy night Jesus was born almost unnoticed in a sleepy stable in Bethlehem. On Easter Sunday morning he returned once again into our world like a thief in the night, noticed only by a woman who was scorned and ridiculed by a judgmental society. Sr Mary Patrick’s approach was based on such humility.

During her ten years as general, war conditions in both the East and West made travel difficult but, with dauntless spirit, she set out on a visit to the missions in 1939. After many hazardous journeys, she endured shipwreck when the boat on which she was returning from the United States in December 1940 was torpedoed. Though missionary work was impeded during those years, there was an increase in vocations and Mother Mary Patrick saw that young Sisters were trained and educated so that when travel was again possible they were ready to set out for China and the Philippines and for new openings in Burma, Hong Kong and the United States. She was elected Vicar General at the General Chapter of 1946 and, with Mother Mary Vianney, then Superior General, helped to procure approval in Rome for the revised constitutions, an approval which gave the congregation pontifical status.

Mother Patrick's final resting place

FINAL YEARS When in 1947 it was decided to publish a congregational magazine, later named Star of the East, Mother Mary Patrick contributed to the first issues and remained its editor until shortly before her death. In 1952 when she was released from congregational responsibilities, she was 79 years of age but she remained active with writing and correspondence and kept up a keen interest in the employees and neighbours in Cahiracon.

She died in Cahiracon on August 15, 1959 and her remains were brought for burial to Magheramore where the motherhouse had transferred two years previously.

Mother Mary Patrick was a woman of vision and courage, totally dedicated to the congregation and its mission and with a motherly interest in each Sister. Among the many virtues which she showed as a religious was poverty. She always chose the least of material goods and she wore her clothes until they were threadbare. Her life of prayer and commitment remains a legacy and an inspiration to all Columban Sisters and beyond.

This brave woman was marked by a quality of life which attempted to give renewed heart to the Christian life by a radical commitment to simplicity, sharing and caring. She anticipated what the founder of the L’Arche communities, the late Jean Vanier, said when he claimed that when the poor and weak are present, they prevent us from falling into the trap of power – even the power to good – of thinking that it is we who are the good ones.

Meek and mild she was not. While she had great compassion when necessary she had ice in her veins, in the spirit of Matthew’s Gospel: "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves"(Matt 10:16).

The ancient Greeks did not write obituaries.

They just asked one question: did they have passion? Mother Mary Patrick was a woman of passion. She illustrated it not by eloquent words but by actions, which were often hidden, that showed that she and her Sisters shared a sacred trust, a common code: one

that spoke of sacrifice and led each of them to forfeit every fibre of their being, every everything to those in their care. Their stories embody, in microcosm, the living DNA of the Columban Sisters.

She was less concerned about bringing the Good News and more concerned about being the Good News

25

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

P RAYE R

! e l k c u h C

Chuckle!

Chuckle!

St Thomas More’s Prayer for

Good Humour

26

THIS PRAYER, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED BY ST THOMAS MORE, WHO HAD A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOUR, IS A FAVOURITE PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

This

prayer has been commonly attributed to St Thomas More.

While it contains much that reflects More’s own humour, it is not easy to trace it in its present form to the prayers or poems that were known to be written by the saint himself. That More was gifted with a fine sense of humour was commented on by many of those who knew him well. One of them, the Dutch theologian and philosopher, Desiderius Erasmus, described More’s sense of humour in a letter to a friend.

“From boyhood he always enjoyed a joke and it seemed sometimes that jesting was the main object of his life. With all that, he never lapsed in buffoonery and never had any inclination to bitter humour. When still quite young, he

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wrote farces and acted them. If something was cleverly said, even when it was aimed at himself, he was charmed with it, so much did he enjoy any witticism that had a flavour of subtlety or genius. This led to his amusing himself as a young man by composing epigrams, and he took great delight in Lucian, the Greek writer of epigrams.

Indeed, More suggested that I should write my own book, In Praise of Folly, which was much the same thing as setting a camel to dance.”

More was a serious man who refused to allow King Henry VIII to bully him into accepting his divorce of Queen Catherine of Aragon and his self-proclaimed role as head of the church in England. For this More was condemned to death. Even as he stepped up to be beheaded,

his humour was not far away, saying to the executioner, “I pray you, I pray you, Mr Lieutenant, see me safe up and for my coming

He always enjoyed a joke and it seemed sometimes that jesting was the main object of his life down, I can shift for myself." In his last letter to his daughter, he described his hopes for heaven: “Farewell, my dear child, and pray for me, and I shall for you, and for all your friends, that we may merrily meet in heaven.”

27 Members of the More family

The prayer for a sense of humour enjoyed a wider circulation when Pope Francis recommended it in his Christmas greetings to the members of the Roman Curia in 2014. The pope mentioned that there are "diseases and temptations which weaken our service to the Lord". He listed 15 of them, among them “the disease of a lugubrious face. Those glum and dour persons who think that to be serious we have to put on a face of melancholy and severity, and treat others – especially those we consider our inferiors – with rigour, brusqueness and arrogance.” For people like this he recommended the daily recitation of St Thomas More’s prayer for a sense of humour.

THE MEANING OF THE PRAYER The prayer is quite straightforward. It begins with a series of petitions for very ordinary things, especially good health and good digestion. There is something humorous in not simply asking for good digestion, but also asking for something worthy of digesting. It is a

Christian duty to care for the body’s health and doing what is necessary to keep it healthy. The next set of petitions concern what we might term an optimistic outlook on life – simplicity of heart that is able to enjoy the simple things of life that surround us every day. It is able also to live in a world in which there is evil without being overcome or depressed by it, but is able to strive gently against every sort of wrong.

The prayer then moves to the ìnner world of the person praying. It now prays and prays to be delivered from dwelling on the negative aspects of life, as well as to be delivered from stress.

One clue that the prayer is either a modern composition or has been translated in modern times is its awareness"of that obstructing thing called 'I.'" We might translate it more accurately as ‘ego’ but that is a term which has come into use only with the rise of modern psychology.

The prayer reaches its conclusion by praying for a sense of humour, for the grace of being able to take a joke ourselves and to share it light-heartedly with others.

Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest.

Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it.

Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.

Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called “I.” Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour.

Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others.

Way of the cross 28 HOW A LITTLE MISSION PRAYER BOOK HAS BECOME A TREASURY OF FAITH

BY COLM MEANEY CSsR

“Padre,

I anointed a dying neighbour." The speaker was a pious housewife from a former mission area of mine in Cebu. I was intrigued and asked for more details. She had gone to her own parish as well as a neighbouring one to request a priest to anoint a dying woman, but nobody was available. So, taking with her the mission book, Bahandi (“treasure”), she went to minister to the sick. She read all the prayers and intercessions under “Blessing of the Sick”, and then she did the anointing! It’s a simple but moving part of the ceremony wherein all present make the sign of the cross on the forehead of the patient. I always find it emotional, whether in private hospitals with the well-to-do, or in the simpler homes of the rustics of the Negros hills. The accompanying prayer says that, as an infant the sick person was marked with the sign of the cross at baptism, now we make the same sign invoking God’s help. I find it a lovely display of communal empathy and support,

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

living compassion. This is then followed by the sacramental anointing with oil.

BAHANDI – THE MISSION BOOK These are my thoughts as I prepare for the printing of the latest Bahandi; this will be the sixth edition. The Bahandi is the mission book I’ve been using since the first edition in 1994. I make no claims to originality, I’m simply a compiler. But still, I have to say, it’s a fine compilation! For me, the Bahandi is essential to the mission – it’s a fine way to teach about the faith and how faith and life should integrate at various levels; it ensures participation during, for example, the Way of the Cross and singing, and it also allows eager readers to revisit topics I may have mentioned during our nightly prayer meeting. What I’m referring to are the dozen short biographies included in the book: Oscar Romero, Alfonso de Liguori, Ignatius of Loyola, Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, and so on.

A lay minister with local housewives and their trusted mission books

Apart from being useful during my time with the people, I know from anecdotal evidence what part it plays in their post-mission lives, like the “anointing” mentioned above. In another part of Cebu city, the Bahandi was something of a best-seller. A few months later, the members of a very active family said that when their elderly father had a stroke, in order to comfort both him and themselves, they had sung every single song in the book, and when they had reached the last page, they had returned to page one!

During the evaluation of that mission, I had asked what the memorable events were, hoping that what would be highlighted were my brilliant sermons (!) or how life-changing someone had experienced the mission. In fact, to my chagrin, one of the married daughters of the stroke victim, whose husband was the guitarist, said that the thing she’d never forget was how I’d inform her husband what key a song was played in: “C, as in carabao!”(water buffalo) or “D, as in dalugdug!” (thunder). So much for my lofty ambitions!)

THE WAY OF THE CROSS I like to look at the faces as we stop at the stations during our Way of the Cross. The procession winds its way, mostly uphill, along the paths and among the rocks of a hilly village in Negros Oriental (central Philippines). The people are mostly small farmers, not in stature but in the size of their rocky holdings. Many also work

harvesting sugar cane in plantations in nearby towns getting 120 pesos per day (about €2). Some of the women work as maids in nearby towns or Cebu or Manila. In a term reminiscent of a Gospel parable or the Book of Exodus, one woman entirely unselfconsciously referred to herself as a slave or servant “sulogoon”, from “sugo”: to order, command; in this construction, obviously, the one ordered.

A sugarcane distribution truck in Silay City, Bacolod

In that village I was blessed with a team of four housewives as my daily guides, whose punctuality and dependability were exemplary – they were also great company. They are the ones who recruited the 14 men to take turns in carrying the cross, all 14, present as instructed, from the first to the last station. In a largely patriarchal culture, such women (not at all unique to this place) exercise a certain persuasion over their husbands and other men in the village.

So, I look at the faces, and what do I see? I see faces lined with effort, struggle, suffering and perseverance. I know a lot of the individual stories from listening to the people, both during my visits to their homes and when they share at the prayer meeting. Some of the men look self-conscious. I suppose the prospect of being seen carrying the cross or even joining in the procession conjures in their minds the possibility of comments later, especially from our 'separated brethren'.

There are tales here about the somewhat childish antics of some of the smaller born-again groups, jeering as the Catholic Aurora (dawn procession) passes by, and so some in our Way of the Cross may feel that they’re in the evangelical crosshairs. But the women are stronger, more resolute. After all, there’s no need to take such annoying interference lying down.

A good example is the parish priest of my former mission area. He heard that some of the former members of his flock had 'gone over to the other side', and then, at the prompting of the pastor, had buried their erstwhile-treasured Catholic statues.

The priest let it be known that he was planning to sue the pastor for interference in religious freedom. Before you could say 'ecumenism', those statues were unearthed, and if not back on the family altar, at least back on terra firma.

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.

29

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COM M E N T FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

COMMUNICATION THE KEY TO A HAPPY MARRIAGE

HOW DO WE COMMUNICATE OUR FEELINGS, ESPECIALLY TO A PARTNER? IS IT JUST BY BODY LANGUAGE SO THAT THEY CAN TAKE WHATEVER MEANING THEY LIKE FROM IT, OR ARE WE PREPARED TO TALK, HOWEVER DIFFICULT IT MIGHT BE? Couples are deeply in love when they get married and usually start out married life with the expectation of staying in love.

Spouses who are in love find it difficult to imagine that their feelings will ever change, but they do. Feelings change all the time.

The deeper your love is for your spouse, the more painful it is when things go wrong.

Problems can be the gift that tests one’s commitment to love, especially in the times when s/he has no loving feelings for a spouse.

It’s frightening to admit that you’ve said the words, "I love you", when one part of you meant them and other parts are aware that deep feelings of hurt, disrespect and anger are also in you.

Feelings are neither right nor wrong. It may be unpleasant to feel angry, to dislike how you are treated, but it is perfectly okay to feel this way. It is normal and natural to react when your expectations are not met or you feel provoked or disrespected.

Accepting negative feelings can be a great relief for couples who feel bad because they don’t like each other at times.

In any interaction between two people, we judge ourselves by our own positive motivation. We judge others by our perception of what was intended, which may or may not be accurate. For example, Aoife was a bright, vivacious, funloving girl who needed to talk a great deal about everything that happened. Archie, her husband, needed quiet time to unwind when he came in from work.

He felt overwhelmed by Aoife’s constant chatter the moment he came in the door. Not wanting to hurt her, he never told her this. He stayed silent, unaware that Aoife interpreted his silence as rejection.

Spouses who believe that it should not be necessary to tell a partner what they need are in for a great deal of distress and disappointment. ‘Putting up and shutting up’ when your feelings are hurt deprives your spouse of the information he or she needs to make an effort to put things right.

Friction is inevitable in a couple's relationship when a spouse has wrong beliefs like, "S/he should know how I feel." It’s only one small step from believing "I’m not loved enough" to the much more painful assumption, "S/he is doing this deliberately to cause upset." Inaccurate mind-reading generates bad feelings and allows unresolved issues to build up over time Some couples have so much tension between them that even an innocent remark such as "Did

you have a good day?" invites an unpleasant response. Spouses often hear themselves saying hurtful things that they know are wrong but somehow feel good to say. Every relationship problem needs to be looked at in the context of both childhood and adult family relationships. Most of what we know about relationships comes from what was modelled for us when we were growing up.

Our beliefs about how men and women should treat each other are powerfully affected by our earliest experiences. Our adult relationships and parenting styles are affected by deeply rooted beliefs and attitudes that we carry from childhood.

Many highly intelligent, articulate couples are shocked to learn they have communication problems.

Being a good communicator means more than having the ability to get your point across. A person may be skilled in finding the right words but the listener who hears them can be wounded by a message that was never intended.

Misunderstandings arise because

perception is reality. People have a real emotional response to what they believe to be true.

Minor issues start early in couple relationships, build up over time and can become toxic.

Misunderstandings are inevitable.

Rather than talk about needing space, Archie complained about the radio being too loud. His complaints upset Aoife who already felt rejected by his silence and was hurt and annoyed that he now wanted to control the volume of the radio. If Aoife told Archie, "When you don’t talk to me when you come home from work, I feel rejected", he could have done something about it.

Had he explained that he liked a little time to unwind after work it would have changed how she felt.

Family therapist Virginia Satir found that when her clients did not feel heard, women unconsciously raised their voices and repeated themselves louder until in some instances they were shouting. Men tended to go silent and withdraw emotionally.

Author Sarah Litvinoff says, "Half of good communication involves knowing yourself well and explaining yourself to others." It takes courage to be honest, to share how you feel and to trust that your spouse will hear and respond lovingly.

The increased understanding and trust such openness brings has the potential to transform a marriage.

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

31

prayer corner

WHEN CAN THESE HANDS STOP TO PRAY?

WHEN WE ARE BUSY, WE WONDER “WHEN CAN THESE HANDS STOP TO PRAY?” IN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION, WE CREATED A WEEKLY TIME AND SPACE AT CLONARD MONASTERY BELFAST TO EXPLORE PRAYER. WE CALLED IT THE CLONARD SCHOOL OF PRAYER.

BY FÓDHLA MCGRANE AND MARIE WHEELER 32

In

this article, we’ll describe the school to encourage you to consider a similar venture for your church or group.

WHAT IS PRAYER? Prayer is spending time with God and can be described simply as a conversation with God, involving both listening and talking.

As children, we were taught to pray in school, at home, in church. We say our old favourites: the Angelus, the Rosary, the Our Father and so on. Many people reach a point in their faith journey when they look for something in addition to, or different from, their childhood prayers. This can lead us to ask: "how should I pray?"

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

A SCHOOL OF PRAYER There are s o many ways to pray and it is good to experience multiple ways of praying. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI encourages us: “Schools of Prayer should b e e st a b l ish e d w h ere v er possible so that people may learn personal prayer in all its dimensions”.

My first experience of a school of prayer was in Avila Carmelite Centre, Dublin when I was invited to lead a session on the prayer of forgiveness and to serve as a prayer guide.

To create such a school at Clonard, I invited Christian l ea d ers f ro m a c ro s s th e spectrum of traditions to lead a session. The brief was simple:

in one hour, teach us about with a session on praying with a prayer that is close to your St Alphonsus Ligouri, founder heart and pray it with us. of the Redemptorist Order.

The result was an extravagant programme! Male and female, A SPIRITUAL TASTING MENU ordained and not, young and One student compared the older, Catholic, Protestant, school of prayer to a ‘tasting and Orthodox, led sessions.

Approximately 20 forms of prayer were included This was a truly experiential p r o g r a m m e . Pope Benedict XVI We n o t o n ly l e a r n e d a b o u t t y p e s o f menu’ in a restaurant because prayer but prayed the prayers it gave us an opportunity to together. The school was sample many different types opened by Reality’s Editor, Fr of prayer. This helped us to Brendan McConvery CSsR, discover other ways to pray and

Schools of Prayer should be established wherever possible so that people may learn personal prayer in all its dimensions

Aim1: Formation Adult faith formation is an ongoing need. We used various tools to help us to reflect regularly on our growth. For example, on opening night, each student received a set of questions about their prayer lives to ponder privately. The questions gave people a chance to consider their prayer, their relationship with God now, how they’d like it to be, and indeed how God might like it to be. In addition, each student received a journal in which to write their notes each week, to store their homework, and to reflect on their prayer experiences and progress.

Aim 2: Community Another of our aims was to build community as we journeyed together over the six months.

Everyone was paired with a classmate and was allocated to identify what worked best for us in this chapter of our lives.

One of the over-riding messages throughout the programme was 'Pray as you can, not as you can't'. The school gave us the opportunity to actively sample other forms of prayer. These forms were not necessarily new but rediscovered, such as praying with our senses (we prayed with clay, like the potter in the book of Jeremiah) and writing songs to God as personal prayer (like David did in his Psalms, and like Hannah in her song in 1 Samuel).

AIMS OF THE CLONARD SCHOOL OF PRAYER Thre e aims created the foundation of our programme.

a small group. All were encouraged on a weekly basis to join in opportunities to talk and build relationships.

Clonard’s app proved to be a great tool for building community. 81 per cent of the group joined our dedicated group on the app to receive messages directly to their phones/tablets. The app message was lovingly and prayerfully written by Clonard volunteer, Marie Wheeler, who assisted on the programme each week. In her app messages, she reflected on the prayer we’d just covered and prepared us for the next. Via the app, we shared what we had learned from the presenters and our personal experiences with the prayer.

Aim 3: Impact The main aim of the school of prayer programme was to positively impact the students’

Presenters, Peter Burns and Padraig O Cuinneagain

relationships with God and their prayer lives. In their final comments, students wrote of an enhanced, closer, deeper, stronger relationship with God, and of a fuller, richer, more joy-filled prayer life. We are thrilled that the programme glorified God and allowed us to experience his beauty through prayer.

Three themes emerged across our evenings.

1. Intimacy with God A strong theme of intimacy with God emerged from the evenings.

My heart was for everyone to know the real and intimate presence of God in prayer. He says: “I want to come so close that I can whisper to your soul what you are longing to hear – I love you”.

Redemptorist Oblate, Marie Crothers, gave us a wonderful example of the intimacy of

33

REDEMPTORIST

PARISH MISSIONS

Breaking the Word in October 2019

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:

Jamesbourough , Limerick (5th – 11th October 2019) Parish mission preached by Derek Meskell CSsR and Clare Gilmore Holy Cross Novena (5th – 12th October 2019) Novena preached by Denis Luddy CSsR and Laurence Gallagher CSsR St Gerard Solemn Novena, Dundalk (8th – 16th October 2019) Novena preached by Michael Kelleher CSsR, Gerry Moloney CSsR, Kevin O’Neil CSsR and Anne Walsh Macroom, Cork (19th – 25th October 2019) Parish mission preached by Laurence Gallagher CSsR, Gerry Moloney CSsR and Neill Foley 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

A Redemptorist Pilgrimage Visiting the sites associated with St. Alphonsus & St. Gerard in Southern Italy Saturday May 16th to Saturday May23rd 2020.

Based at the Caravel Hotel in Sant’Agnello, Sorrento (Half Board) Cost: €1,095.00/ £985.00 per person sharing.

Places are limited so early booking is advised.

Group Leaders Fr Seamus Enright CSsR and Fr Dan Baragry CSsR For further details contact Claire Carmichael at ccarmichael@redcoms.org Tel: 00 353 (0)1 4922488

Beautiful Sorrento

prayer corner

Fodhla McGrane (fourth from the left) with some participants

If you'd like to experience our school of prayer, you can watch videos of many of the sessions on a specially dedicated YouTube channel called Clonard Monastery Belfast. the Holy Spirit praying in us and with us (Romans 8: 26-27).

This occurred in a session on 'praying with our senses' led by Clare Gilmore, Drumalis Retreat Centre and Redemptorist mission team. We were each given a lump of clay out of which to mould something. Clare asked the Holy Spirit to be with us as we worked the clay. The aim was to listen to God as we handled the clay, as opposed to creating a masterpiece! When we’d finished working the clay, Clare asked us to listen again to the Holy Spirit to name our clay creations.

From her clay, Marie created a scene from the creation story. She named it: 'The Breath of Life'. In it, Adam lay on the ground lifeless, while Jesus shared His holy breath with him, giving him life. Marie, who shared that she had never prayed like this before, commented on how she was moved by the experience. A midwife throughout her life, it was poignant that Marie birthed this scene. We all benefitted from her experience and from her willingness to share it then, and now. This example is indicative of the mutual benefits received throughout the course when students shared their personal and intimate experiences of God. 2. Praying with Music Music emerged as another theme in the programme. Music lifts us out of our current state to another place, often a heavenly place. In the Book of Revelations, we read how 10,000 times 10,000 angels in the heavenly throne room sing of the holiness of God (Rev 5: 11-12).

We dared to lift our voices and join the angels when we sang Evening Prayer of the Church in Irish with Fr Clem MacManuis CSsR. We sang the music of the Mass with Cathal Murphy, Clonard's director of music.

We soaked in restful songs with God in the Rest and Receive session which I led. We prayed the Song of Hannah from 1 Samuel, led by Fr Ciaran O'Callaghan CSsR, Clonard's scripture scholar.

3. Seeking Silence Another theme that recurred was the power of praying without words. We learned that being silent with God is as good, if not better, than praying with words.

God knows what we’ll say before we say it anyway. “Let the silence grow around you," Fr Tom Layden SJ encouraged us.

CELEBRATING THE CLONARD CLASS OF 2019 On our final night, we enjoyed a graduation evening. We can never ‘graduate’ in prayer since we’ll always

be students of prayer. However, to mark the commitment of the students over the six months, all were presented with a certificate of attendance. The presenters were invited to return for the celebration and present the certificates.fifty-two certs were joyfully presented on the night by 11 of our presenters. The theme for our evening was thanking God. We threw a party in his honour! Throughout the evening, students and presenters thanked God through poetry, art and song. The joy shared this evening was an apt closing for a powerful programme.

You’re Invited!

Would you like to join us in Clonard on Saturday October 19 when we will reopen the school for one day? It will feature new sessions on Praying with Icons, Praying through Writing to God, and Imaginative Gospel Contemplation.

You can reserve your complimentary place at Clonard reception from September 1.

Fódhla McGrane is programme leader of Clonard School of Prayer and Marie Wheeler is a Clonard volunteer

35

MIS S I O N

FOLLOWING ST PATRICK TO AFRICA ST PATRICK’S MISSIONARY SOCIETY IS NOW ALMOST 90 YEARS OF AGE. IT BEGAN LIFE TO ASSIST AN IRISH MISSIONARY BISHOP IN NIGERIA. SINCE THEN, IT HAS SPREAD TO OTHER PARTS OF AFRICA, BRAZIL AND THE WEST INDIES. THE FIRST AFRICAN MEMBER WAS ORDAINED IN 2007. THERE ARE 37 SEMINARIANS PREPARING FOR ORDINATION.

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

By Fr Tomás O’Connor SPS

36

Our story goes back to an address of a famous Irish missionary to the Maynooth ordination class of 1920. He was Joseph Shanahan, of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. He was about to be ordained bishop of the Vicariate of Southern Nigeria in that Bishop Joseph Shanahan

chapel a few weeks later. In his audience that evening in the late spring of 1920, there was a deacon from the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois. His name was Patrick Joseph Whitney, and he was due to be ordained the coming June. Young Whitney was impressed by the lively faith and infectious enthusiasm of the bearded 49-year-old Tipperary man.

Shanahan had made an impassioned plea for some of his audience to consider offering their services for a number of years after ordination to the Vicariate of Southern Nigeria. An entry in Patrick Whitney ’s diary that night tells a lot: In God’s name I will go to Southern Nigeria with Joseph Shanahan. In many ways our Society was founded that evening, even though another 12 years would elapse before it was formally established as St Patrick’s Missionary Society.

Very soon he was planning how to entice more Irish diocesan priests to join Bishop Shanahan and himself in this great venture.

After a lot of hard work, meticulous planning, effective fund-raising and some good fortune he was able to get the Society founded canonically on March 17, 1932.

The good fortune was a chance meeting with a man called John Hughes around 1927.

John Hughes was a very wealthy businessman who owned a large property near the

Shanahan had made an impassioned plea for some of his audience to consider offering their services for a number of years after ordination to the Vicariate of Southern Nigeria

BEGINNINGS In September 1920, the recently ordained Patrick Whitney set sail for Southern Nigeria.

He was appointed to a mission called Emekuku. He immediately took the Igbo people to his heart. He admired their innate desire to know Jesus Christ, their thirst for education and their willingness to work hard to achieve their goals.

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

picturesque village of Kiltegan in County Wicklow. With great generosity, John Hughes gave the property to Patrick Whitney as a gift.

It would in time become the headquarters of St Patrick’s Missionary Society.

For the first 18 years, priests of the Society worked only in Nigeria. In 1951, the number of members and students were increasing, so the Society was asked by Propoganda Fide, the Congregation for the Evangelisation of People, which is the church’s central agency for the foreign missions, to consider going on mission to the Prefecture of Eldoret, Kenya.

One of the first Society priests to work

Fr Patrick Whitney, founder of St Patrick’s Missionary Society

there was Leo Staples. He arrived in 1952.

Incredibly, he is still working there, hale and hearty at 94 years of age!

NOT JUST AFRICA A mission in Brazil was opened in 1962.

Currently there are 11 members working there – mainly in São Paulo – along with two long-term volunteer priests.

The Biafran War in Nigeria 1967-1970 caused great turmoil within the Society. Many priests were displaced and unable to return to their places of work. The displacement of so many afforded an opportunity to open new missions. In 1970 the Society began its work in Grenada in the West Indies. That same year, a new mission was opened in Malawi and another, in 1973, in Zambia.

The Society first went to Sudan in 1983.

This was to be the most challenging mission by far with huge distances and little by way of infrastructure. A civil war has raged for most of the time the Society has been there.

Then in 1988 new missions were opened in Cameroon, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

In 1993 we decided to accept candidates from the countries where we work. Up to that point we saw our role mainly as helping to build up the local church by encouraging and promoting local clergy. We ordained our first African priests in 2007. Today we have 37, the most recent having been ordained in May of this year.

As well as running parishes, our priests are involved in everything from building schools and medical clinics to establishing self-help, sustainable agricultural projects and raising awareness around environmental issues.

Caritas Christi urget nos (2 Cor 5:14) is our motto. We pray that it will continue to inspire not only our members, but all who wish to share the joy and hope of the good news of Jesus Christ.

First Society group to go to Nigeria, 1938

IN OUR WILDEST DREAMS… A MISSIONARY TELLS HIS STORY

By Fr John O’Callaghan SPS

I consider myself blessed in my missionary career and experience. I came to Kenya at the height of the missionary expansion of the 1950s, ’60s and ‘70s, and was sent to Turkana which was then opening up as a mission area.

As a young missionary, straight after Vatican II, what more could you ask for!

37

MI S S I O N

Turkana began as a mission in the mission. It was a bit of a shock, but late 1950s. Frs Leo Staples, Morgan we accepted it.

O’Brien and others began coming During all this time one memory to Turkana on trader lorries to say sticks out, the same memory which Mass for the security forces based in has never changed from 1967 Lodwar and Lokitaung, and to visit to date. And that is the support Lodwar Primary School, the only we got from our families, friends, primary school in the District. A neighbours and all our supporters number of the administration staff in Ireland. We were kept going by in Lodwar were Catholics, so it was a the ordinary person at home. Many blessing for them to have a few visits times we didn’t have enough to pay for Mass each year. the wages at the end of the month.

Within a few years, Bishop Joseph But one could always rely on the Houlihan of Eldoret Diocese decided Mass stipends we got from Kiltegan Society priests working in South Sudan and Kenya. Back row left to right: Peter Mwale to open a permanent mission in (Zambia), Sean Cremin and Tim Galvin (Ireland), Stanley Duru (Nigeria). Front row or directly from the people at home Turkana. This became urgent when a left to right: Kufre Afangide (Nigeria), Tom Laffan and John O’Callaghan (Ireland), in Ireland. Only the Lord knows how famine broke out in 1963 and Frs Joe Emmanuel Obi and Godfrey Ozogene (Nigeria) much we received in those early Murray, Mick Brennan, Ray Murtagh years. And although the people and Mick Dillon and many others were sent to DEVELOPMENT ON THE HUMAN SCALE knew that we were poor, it didn’t prevent them set up Lorugumu and Kakuma missions and also The famine camps in Turkana were closing in 1968 asking for help but everybody knew we weren’t to set about feeding thousands of very hungry and ’69, and Msgr Mahon and we priests saw much better off than themselves. It was and is people in both places. huge opportunities for our mission as the people the outstanding memory of mission life for me.

had to be resettled. Msgr Mahon had no doubt RUNNING A SCHOOL that education was the key. Whether we got the KEEP RIGHT ON TO THE END OF THE I arrived in January 1967 to become headmaster of people settled in fishing on Lake Turkana, or in ROAD! the Standard 5 primary school which Sr Bernadette farming on the Turkwell river, every new village It is now time to wind down. We retire at 75 Gilsenan MMM had set up in Lorugumu. Fr had to have water, a school, and a dispensary. but can continue living in one of the mission Kevin Brehony was alone in Lorugumu when I At first teachers came from our old diocese of houses if we want. So we try to be useful, but arrived unannounced. Fr Leo Traynor was alone Eldoret but later we had many young Turkana really sometimes one feels in the way. The old in Kakuma but had three Medical Missionaries teachers as well. way of doing things does not have to be the only of Mary Sisters running the hospital there, Nurse Education of girls became something of a way or the best. The younger priests running the Sr Campion, Dr Marie Bernard O’Brien (sister of priority, and the Ursuline Sisters led the way in church nowadays have different priorities, are the late Frs Morgan and Pat F O’Brien), Pilot Sr this. Again it was all go, all expansion of missions mostly local people or at least African. They are Michael, and the staff. It was all very exciting for me and outstations, and the result can be seen today. very well accepted by the people no matter what and I was kept busy running the school and filling Only recently we celebrated the golden jubilee of changes or mistakes they make. They are all on the in for Kevin in the famine camp or doing some Lodwar High School which was begun by Msgr same journey and feel the need to do it their way. of the safaris to newly formed outstations which Mahon and was the first secondary school in I am still grateful to be an active missionary he set up. Lodwar town was 60 kilometres away Turkana. and to be able to watch the new church take and we said Mass there every week. I remember I consider myself lucky to have been part of this the steps to become a strong and active gift to the headmaster of the primary school was a very mission to the Turkana, to be part of a great team the people of Turkana. In our wildest dreams we active Catholic and he had all the children well of priests, sisters and lay people who were part of could never have foreseen what we see today. prepared when I arrived for Mass. Many of the this great chapter of the mission of the church. God has blessed us and it has been our pleasure older boys, but no girls, knew the Latin Mass, as it Many Irish volunteers joined us as teachers, to have contributed something along the way. was the time of changing to English in the liturgy. priests, nurses, farmers, managers, mechanics, The war in Biafra (Nigeria) meant no new priests and carpenters. Volunteers also joined us from could be sent there. Kenya and Turkana got most Denmark, Germany, England, Holland, the USA, of the newly ordained. The prefecture of Lodwar Spain, Italy, Norway and Australia. Brothers was set up in 1968 with Msgr John Mahon SPS came from the USA, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Photos: Courtesy Africa, St Patrick’s Missions Magazine and St Patrick’s Missionary Society Archives. as Prefect Apostolic. It became a diocese in 1978 The Congo and Nigeria. As an Irish priest told This article was first published in Africa Magazine, July/August with John Mahon as its first bishop. us 30 or 40 years ago, it was no longer a Kiltegan 2019

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AUTUMN

Ennismore Retreat Centre

Saturday 12th October 10am-1pm €10/ Donation Lectio Divana Fr. Brendan Clifford Friday 18th October 10am-4pm Cost: €60 Archangel Raphael Fr. Jim Cogley Sunday 17th November 2pm-5pm Cost: €25 Bereavement Day Patrick Sheehan

ST DOMINIC’S

CONVERSATIONS AT ENNISMORE

Resume Mondays from October 7th from 7.30pm-9.15pm €10/ Donation

Monday 7th October “Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction”- John Cummins, Psychotherapist Monday 14th October “Stress: friend or foe” Patrick Sheehan, Psychotherapist Monday 21st October “What Rene Girard would say to Mr. Trump!”

Michael Kirwin, SJ, TCD

Ennismore Retreat Centre is set in 30 acres of wood, field and garden overlooking Lough Mahon on the River Lee. It’s the ideal place for some time-out, reflection and prayer.

For ongoing programmes please contact the Secretary or visit our website Tel: 021-4502520 E-mail: info@ennismore.ie www.ennismore.ie

www.ennismore.ie

PINK PRAYER BOOK Breast cancer: coping… healing… surviving… thriving…

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UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

BOOK REVIEW BY STAN MELLETT CSsR

DOM EUGENE BOYLAN: TRAPPIST MONK, SCIENTIST AND WRITER

Dom Eugene Boylan: Trappist Monk, Scientist and Writer By Thomas Morrissey SJ Messenger Publications, Dublin 2019 Paperback: €19.95 / £17.95 ISBN- 9781788120258

The

name Eugene Boylan stirs up memories of seminary days in the 40s and 50s. His Difficulties in Mental Prayer and This Tremendous Lover came as a breath of fresh air. In those days theology and scripture took pride of place in our formation. The nod towards our spiritual nourishment was provided by titles like Adolphe Tanqueray’s The Spiritual Life and Alphonsus Rodrigues’s The Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues. Kevin Boylan – his baptismal name – had already read the former before he entered the monastery. Had he read the latter? “Yes, but never again,” was his reply. Obviously, what was available was poor fare! But he did have a favourite in Fr De Jaeghder and his One With Jesus.

Thomas Morrissey S.J. writes a readable and informative biography – Dom Eugene Boylan; Trappist Monk, Scientist & Writer. Carefully

researched with helpful footnotes, we are introduced to the extraordinary family of Richard and Anne Boylan. Deeply Catholic, it was a home of faith, music and scholarship.

Kevin was the eldest of five children. His brother Dermot became Fr Stephen, a Carthusian. His sister Molly joined the Sisters of Marie Reparatrix; Kathleen became a Cistercian nun in Glencairn. Gerald, the youngest, married.

Kevin enjoyed a happy and fulfilled youth.

From O'Connell School where success in study came easy, he tried his vocation for the Dublin diocesan priesthood. Unhappy in Clonliffe, he left the seminary and transferred to UCD as a lay student. There he excelled in scholarship as well as shining in science and musical societies. However, it was probably the Literary and Historical Society that most developed and matured him. He won a scholarship to Vienna where he became well known in student circles, making most of his opportunity to socialise, travel and further his love of classical music.

Back in Dublin at the age of 25 he got a job as lecturer in physics in UCD. Popular, athletic and fun-loving, he surprised everyone by announcing his decision to enter the Cistercian Monastery of St Joseph’s in Roscrea. From his youth and through the teenage years and college days, he remained steady in the practice of his faith and was a convinced believer in his Catholic tradition.

Nevertheless the change from an engaged and energetic social and academic life to one of monastic silence and detailed obedience was an enormous challenge. The novitiate, the work and prayer, the Hours of the Divine Office, the enclosure and the communicating in sign language – all the bits and pieces of monastic life – he made no secret of how much all the discipline and self-negation cost him. But he persevered and in 1936 was accepted for final profession and ordained a priest a year later. All those testing years were not just endured but lived fully because as

he himself said he had “fallen in love with God”. Out of a full heart he was to write the spiritual bestseller This Tremendous Lover.

Conscious of his own and others' distractions and ‘failure’, he had previously written Difficulties in Mental Prayer - requested by Christian Brothers to whom he had lectured.

International acclaim followed. Writer, correspondent, confessor, and retreat director, he was sent by superiors to find a suitable location and found a Cistercian community in Australia. A mountain of work and months away from the monastery resulted in a foundation in Terrawarra. That done, he was sent to save the troubled and decaying community in the Island of Calday. With community and financial problems there, he started a perfume business. An American interlude followed where he preached a series of retreats. Finally back home in St Joseph’s Roscrea, he was elected abbot by a narrow majority. Four years followed a mix of peace, tension and activity – a mixture that made him opine "the mixture between what I teach and what I am makes me wonder if there isn’t a mistake somewhere."

His death after a single-car accident four years into his abbacy ended the extraordinary and fascinating life of a truly human person.

Restless, active with a pastoral heart – retreats, confession, spiritual direction, writings -did he wonder if his vocation was a truly monastic one! Did his Carthusian brother, Fr Stephen, sense that when he offered pointed advice to the newly elected abbot: ”Only profess those who are genuine lovers of solitude and silence…never leave the monastery except for Chapter and unavoidable visitation.”

We are indebted to Fr Morrissey for a good read. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Fr Stan Mellett has served the church as a parish missioner in India and Ireland. He is currently a member of the Redemptorist Community serving the parish of Ballyfermot.

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IRISH FOOTPRINTS ACROSS THE WORLD

42 TRÓCAIRE’S ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS MORE THAN €23M INCOME FROM DONATIONS

BY DAVID O'HARE

Trócaire

has thanked people across Ireland for their unwavering support over the last year which has helped the charity to improve the lives of 2.9 million people in 27 of the poorest countries across the world.

The figures are contained in Trócaire’s latest annual report which showed that the scale of the organisation’s work increased in 2018/19.

Trócaire thanked the public for donations of €23.2m (£21.05m) – donations that change the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.

The Lenten campaign remains Trócaire’s largest fundraiser, generating €7.6m (£6.9m).

Last year, €2.3m (£2.09m) was raised during the Christmas appeal as people responded to conflicts affecting families in countries such as Yemen and South Sudan. This was one of the strongest Christmas campaigns in Trócaire’s history and reflects an increase of almost 10 per cent on 2017.

REALITY OCTOBER 2019

Trócaire also received an additional €45.8m (£41.5m) in grants from institutional donors, the most ever received through these donors.

The Irish Government remains Trócaire’s largest institutional donor, with Irish Aid providing €21.5m (£19.5m) to the organisation.

The UK government was the organisation’s second largest institutional donor, with €3.1m (£2.8m) provided through the Department for International Development (DFID).

Of the 2.9 million people supported last year, 1.9 million people received humanitarian support, while 496,000 were supported to improve their access to land and water.

A further 272,000 people were assisted by the organisation’s Women’s Empowerment programme, while 207,000 people received human rights support.

Trócaire provided support to people in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. In terms of number of people supported, Trócaire’s largest programmes

last year were in Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya.

The organisation also reported a number of successful advocacy campaigns during the last year, which included helping to secure historic court judgements in Guatemala which dated back to crimes committed during the genocide of indigenous communities in the 1980s.

In Ireland, a two-year campaign by Trócaire and other organisations resulted in a landmark decision by the Irish Government to become the first state in the world to withdraw its investment in the fossil fuel industry. This is an important action for Ireland to take in its effort to tackle climate change as its impact becomes even more stark – especially on the communities where Trócaire works around the world.

“The generosity of the public in Ireland continues to leave an enormous footprint across the world,” said Trócaire’s CEO Caoimhe de Barra. “Trócaire works with local partners

Images courtesy of Trócaire's Annual Report

so that we can reach as many vulnerable people as possible. We are thankful to have been able to help improve the lives of 2.9m people facing poverty and injustices. People right across Ireland have continued to show incredible generosity towards our work over the last year. We are enormously grateful for the support of the public and our ongoing partnership with Irish Aid and DFID.” Despite many positive developments, Caoimhe warned there has been a deterioration in human rights standards in many countries. “Trócaire remains steadfast in the promotion and protection of social justice and rights for the most vulnerable people worldwide, and the need for this work has never been more relevant,” she said.

“The commitment of the public in Ireland to social justice is astounding. I hope people here at home will continue to help us champion human rights, including the right of people and organisations to mobilise

peacefully and speak out against injustice. It is a characteristic for which we are known around the world and one we should all take enormous pride in.”

To make a donation or find out more about Trócaire’s work visit www. trocaire.org

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CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

A LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR THE RICH

LIBERATION FROM THE ILLUSION THAT WE ARE SELF-SUFFICIENT, SO THAT WE CAN RECOGNISE OUR DEPENDENCY ON EACH OTHER AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR EACH OTHER, IS THE STARTING POINT OF A “LIBERATION THEOLOGY FOR THE RICH”.

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The problem of poverty is also a problem of riches. Christians concerned with alleviating the abject poverty which one billion people in our world suffer must also be concerned with addressing the decadent luxury that many millions of people in our world enjoy.

As Pope Francis has described it, many of us live in a state whereby we “ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 101) Th e e co n o my is w hat generates our wealth, so in the pursuit of wealth, understood as an abundance of goods, the economy becomes all -important, to which everything else becomes subordinate. The pursuit of wealth can easily, and unknowingly, become an addiction; the person who orders their life in the pursuit of growing wealth makes growing wealth the goal of their life. Wealth becomes the master, whose quiet power can surreptitiously claim our allegiance. But like many addicts, the addict is often in denial.

“In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families and close-knit communities, and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption” (President Jimmy Carter, 1979).

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which we can stockpile belongs entirely to us and we are free to use it as we wish. It just seems common sense that “more is better”.

David Cloutier, an American moral theologian, has written about “the neglected vice” of luxury and concluded that “there are strong reasons to be concerned that our society has this disease of excess.”

The church is consistent in its warning of the dangers of avarice.

But trying to identify the vice of luxury is almost impossible, as the concept of 'enough' has become meaningless, and there is no sense of when enough becomes too much.

The pursuit of wealth turns basic human needs, like housing, into commodities, to be bought and sold for profit.

This is the fundamental cause of Ireland’s homeless crisis today. The pursuit of wealth puts the common good, the most basic of Christian values, as secondary to the accumulation of wealth by private interests. It favours owners over workers, landlords over tenants, banks over mortgage payers, turns us away from care of our neighbour to a competitive struggle for

the limited goods and services available. This over-riding pursuit of self-interest leads inevitably to the fragmentation of society.

The pursuit of wealth is also a primary objective of nations.

It was greed that created the financial crash in 2008. Instead of re-examining the desires, policies and values that led to the crash, Ireland is once again consumed with the pursuit of ever-increasing wealth as the fundamental objective of national policy, as if the world’s resources were infinite. We are therefore locked in a competitive struggle with other nations to secure what we can, as quickly as we can, however we can.

It is not just the rich who are at risk from this vice of excess – we all are. Our culture tells us that it is just common sense that, in a world defined by scarcity and risk, we must look after number one. It just seems common sense that we should accumulate assets to secure our independence. It just seems common sense that the wealth

The accumulation of wealth provides the illusion of finding our security in self-sufficiency, making us independent of the up and downs of life and the unpredictability of others. The economic recession of 2008 should shatter that illusion: some people who had everything, a nice house, good income, money in the bank, lost everything because of decisions that other – wealthier – people made.

Liberation from the illusion of our self-sufficiency, to recognising our dependency on each other and therefore our responsibility for each other, is the beginning of a “liberation theology for the rich”. We may not be millionaires, but most of us in the western world are beyond privilege compared to the majority of people in the world. We have an abundance of material goods available to us and we constantly desire more. The Gospels challenge a culture which pushes us to desire more and more. Instead it challenges us to “live simply, share generously”.

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 DOING WHAT IS EXPECTED OF YOU There are two distinct sayings of Jesus in today’s Gospel. The first is about 27TH SUNDAY IN the need for a bold faith ORDINARY TIME (verses 5-6). The second is about what is expected of a servant. When Jesus talks about faith, he does not mean saying yes to a set of statements that we find in the Creed or the Catechism, for example that Jesus is God, or that the bread and wine are changed into his body and blood at Mass. Faith is more the kind of trust you have in a person that makes you ready to follow them wherever they lead. The disciples will need that kind of faith as Jesus leads them to his passion and death in Jerusalem. He tells them that with faith the size of a mustard seed, they will do great things. Despite its tiny size, the mustard seed contains great potential for growth (see Matthew 13:31-35)

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The second saying is a parable about what is expected of servants. Jesus’ hearers would probably have known situations like this where a medium-sized farmer could afford to employ a single worker who helped on the farm and around the house. It might have been tempting for some employers to pile all the work on the servant, including serving the master’s dinner in addition to his work in the fields. To quote a familiar proverb, "Don’t keep dog and bark yourself." The ending of the parable applies it directly to the disciples: they should not expect special treatment in doing what is expected of them – they are simply servants of the Kingdom of God. Today’s Gospel outlines two basic attitudes that are should be the hallmark of Jesus’ disciples. The first is a strong faith/trust in him that will not be daunted when things look forbiddingly impossible. The second is a humility that does not expect to be thanked for simply doing what is expected.

It is directly opposite to the attitude of the Pharisee who expected public recognition for every act of piety. Saints, then, are people who do not take no for an answer. There are many people who consider themselves as very ‘average’ believers who are ‘doing what is expected of them’ when they put their career on hold to look after an elderly parent or take time off work to give fulltime care to a sick child. There are also fathers and mothers who have put themselves in second place for years, or spouses who held a marriage together through hard times because ‘it was their duty'.

Today’s Readings Hab 1:2-3, 2:2-4; Ps 94; 2 Tim 1:6-8, 1314; Luke 17:5-10

God’s Word continues on page 46

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GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH AND DON’T FORGET TO SAY THANKS In the Bible, the word ‘leprosy’ covers all kinds of skin ailments, and not just 28TH SUNDAY IN the serious one known ORDINARY TIME today as 'Hansen’s disease'.

The biblical Book of Leviticus contains detailed rules for distinguishing the more serious kinds and for treating them. In the ancient world, sickness had a religious aspect as well as a physical one. Most often, illness was associated with impurity, which also had a religious sense. Leviticus also recognised how some diseases can be spread by human contact, so it ruled that “the person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be dishevelled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp (village)” (Leviticus 13:45-46).

The ten victims of the disease in today’s Gospel may have been living in a kind of settlement set aside for people like them. They observe the rules about keeping their distance, but instead of calling out that they are ‘unclean', they ask Jesus to take pity on them. He does touch them as he does in

most other miracle stories but tells them to go to the priests. On the way, they discover that their skin has suddenly improved.

Now we learn the point of this miracle story. Nine of those who have been cured continue their journey, anxious to get back into the flow of everyday life and who would blame them? One man reacts differently – the Samaritan who returns to throw himself in gratitude at the feet of Jesus. Jesus recognises that it is a foreigner who has returned to give thanks. His final words to the Samaritan – "Stand up and go on your way, your faith has saved you" – are a reminder that the salvation message of the Gospel will eventually come to the Samaritans but already they have shown their openness to it.

All the healing stories in the Gospels make the point that Jesus overcomes the distance between suffering people and the community where they should be loved and cherished every bit as much as he overcomes physical illness.

NOT TAKING 'NO' FOR AN ANSWER What do you do when your prayer is unanswered? Not just for yourself but for MISSION SUNDAY someone you love deeply, who may be faced with a personal crisis or whose life looks as though it is slowly falling apart? That is the question this week’s liturgy invites us to ask. The persistent widow of the Gospel is not simply content to be a suppliant. In some ways, she is very like the foreign woman whose prayers for her sick daughter Jesus tried to brush off or ignore. She answered him back that even dogs were allowed to eat the scraps from beneath the table.

The widow in today’s Gospel is also an

example of persistent prayer that will not take no for an answer. The judge may pride himself in being unbending, but he is forced to yield to this defenceless woman. Why? Our translations usually have something like ‘because she will persist in coming and worry me to death’. The original Greek word in the parable can be translated by something closer to ‘she will slap me in the face’ or even perhaps ‘she will give me an uppercut’. What the judge fears is that the exasperation of this powerless woman will know no bounds and that her persistence will finally spill over into violence. So a judge who does not fear God or give a farthing for public opinion, is brought to his knees by the most defenceless of people, a poor widow!

The first reading (Exodus 17:8-13) gives us

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REALITY OCTOBER 2019

Reading the story of the grateful Samaritan reminds us, first of all, to be grateful for the gift of health. It might also remind us to visit a long-term sick person this week and bring them some of the comfort that comes from the healing presence of Jesus.

Today’s Readings 2 Kings 5:14-17; Ps 97; 2 Tim 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

another example of persevering prayer in the story of Moses. As long as Moses kept his arms raised, Israel prevailed; when they became so tired that he let them fall, the fortunes of the battle turned. Eventually, Moses found the solution – Aaron and Hur would help him keep his arms raised. Sometimes, we need to discover the importance of solidarity in prayer. Knowing that someone else – a child, an elderly person, a sick person – is praying for you and with you can bring the great consolation that even when our own prayer falters, we have friends who continue to pray to the loving God on our behalf.

Today’s Readings Ex 17:8-13, Ps 120, 2 Tim 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-18

THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER 8 OCTOBER 2019

WHO PRAYS BEST? You could say that this Gospel is asking a question – who prays best? Is it the professionals, who know all the techniques, or the amateurs who do not even trust themselves to get it right?

30TH SUNDAY IN The Pharisee was the totally dedicated religious ORDINARY TIME amateur. Strictly speaking, they did not figure in the Jewish hierarchy. They were a fellowship of like-minded people that included priests and laity. What influence they had, came from the popular esteem they enjoyed. The Pharisee’s prayer is almost a commercial for the movement, except for one omission and one wrong attitude. What is omitted is any reference to the Pharisee’s zeal for studying the Law: we will note the wrong attitude later. He has been blessed with an attitude that finds observance of the Law easy and, according to his catalogue of the commandments, he is a most observant Jew. The Pharisees added more fasts and set apart a tithe of all crops, even those the law had not mentioned.

Tax collectors, or publicans, were at the other end of the social scale.

They bought the rights to collect the taxes of their own people from the Romans. If that was not bad enough, they maximised their profit by adding a percentage to the taxes for themselves. Tax collectors were despised as outsiders who had long ago abandoned any loyalty to their own, so ‘tax collector’ and ‘sinner’ were effectively the same thing. How could people like this pray? The surprise in the parable is that, it is this person rather than the dedicated religious one who knows instinctively how to pray correctly. Even his very demeanour at prayer speaks of a humble heart: he stands barely inside the area of the temple reserved for prayer, he keeps his eyes downcast, he strikes his breast as a sign of penitence and pleads for mercy. After his prayer, he returns home "at rights with God".

The prayer of the Pharisee was useless because he made the fatal mistake of judging that God would not hear the prayer of the tax collector. In other words, he was playing God. Luke rounds off the parable with yet another reference to a favourite theme since Mary has first mentioned it in the Magnificat: "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted".

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SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 6 ACROSS: Across: 1. Bazaar, 5. Filthy, 10. Packing, 11. Tonsure, 12. Ruhr, 13. Major, 15. Ciao, 17.

Gem, 19. Asleep, 21. By-line, 22. Trailer, 23. Papacy, 25. Druids, 28. Shy, 30. Opal, 31. Gloat, 32.

Noah, 35. Praying, 36. Warrior, 37. Bhutan, 38. Honest.

DOWN: 2. Alcohol, 3. Acid, 4. Ragbag, 5. Fathom, 6. Lent, 7. Houdini, 8. Sparta, 9. Remote, 14.

Jericho, 16. Fetch, 18. Myrrh, 20. Pry, 21. Bed, 23. Prompt, 24. Pharaoh, 26. Ivories, 27. Sahara, 28.

Slogan, 29. Yahweh, 33. Rift, 34. Iron.

Winner of Crossword No. 6 Anne Dolan, Tullow, Carlow.

ACROSS 1. Buildings occupied by communities of monks or nuns. (6) 5. A small settlement for the troubled Shakespearian character. (6) 10. Traditional stories which may be historically authentic. (7) 11. He rose from the dead after four days. (7) 12. The original man. (4) 13. A fabled storyteller. (5) 15. Small ornamental case for needles, cosmetics, etc. (4) 17. The gullet or jaws of a voracious animal. (3) 19. Maiden name of Peig Ní Guithín, Blasket folklorist. (6) 21. Sleeveless garment from South America. (6) 22. Says something in a low or barely audible voice, often in irritation. (7) 23. The capital of Croatia. (6) 25. The colour between green and orange in the spectrum. (6) 28. A wild mammal's hidden home; a lair. (3) 30. The largest and lowest-pitched instrument in the brass family. (4) 31. Tree associated with Lebanon. (5) 32. Another name for the Three Wise Men. (4) 35. A letter adopted as a book of the New Testament. (7) 36. A collection of church songs. (7) 37. Not study, thin or slender. (6)

38. A poem of fourteen lines. (6) DOWN 2. Nickname for New Orleans. (3,4) 3. Sicilian volcano. (4) 4. An organised scheme or method. (6) 5. Having a space or cavity inside. (6) 6. A network of paths and hedges designed as a puzzle. (4) 7. Unpredictable, not regular in pattern or movement. (7) 8. Communion tables. (6) 9. An Inuit by another name. (6) 14. Fried quickly in a little hot fat. (7) 16. Equipped with or carrying a weapon. (5) 18. He led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt. (5) 20. A short twelfth man on a soccer team. (3) 21. Inquire too closely into a person's private affairs. (3) 23. Her zit hid a musical instrument. (6) 24. Angel who visited the Virgin Mary. (7) 26. Deliberate disclosure of confidential information. (7) 27. Playfully quaint or fanciful humour or behaviour. (6) 28. An act of keeping the truth hidden, especially to get an advantage, (6) 29. Mexican dish of tortilla chips topped with melted cheese. (6) 33. An adult male deer. (4) 34. An event regarded as a portent of good or evil. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.8, October 2019 Name:

Today’s Readings

Address: Telephone:

Sir 35:12-14,16-19; PS 32; 2 Tim 4:6-8, Luke 18:9-14 All entries must reach us by October 31, 2019 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.8, Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC