REALITY BITES

SHELTER FOR VICTIMS OF WAR IN UKRAINE

UKRAINE

Redemptorists in war-torn Ukraine are “remaining close to the people among whom we serve,” according to Fr Michael Brehl CSsR, Superior General of the Redemptorists.

Fr Brehl confirmed on February 25 that he had heard from several confrères in Ukraine and from the Missionary Sisters of the Most Holy Redeemer (Gars). “Fr Andriy Rak CSsR, the Superior of the Province of Lviv, has told me that so far, all are safe,” said Fr Brehl.

“In fact, they are welcoming refugees into our homes and churches to share what we can with them. These refugees include children as well as older persons.

“We continue to pray for them and for the many people who have been displaced by the bombs and airstrikes.”

In a letter addressed to Redemptorist Confrères, Sisters, and Partners in Mission, Fr Brehl called for prayer for peace, in solidarity with Ukraine.

“Pope Francis has continued to invite all of us to join in prayerful communion and

Images from a Redemptorist house in northeast Ukraine

solidarity with all the victims of war and violence.

“I make a heartfelt appeal… to participate in a united prayer for peace, especially in Ukraine. Please dedicate time in each of our churches, monasteries, convents, communities and homes for this time of prayer, and invite the people of God to join with us. This prayer for peace is an expression of our communion and solidarity with our Redemptorist Brothers and Sisters in both Ukraine and in Russia, as well as with all people.

“This prayer will embrace and express our deepest longing for peace in every part of our wounded world, among all peoples, on every continent.”

BISHOP MICHAEL DUIGNAN TO MINISTER TWO DIOCESES

GALWAY

The Bishop of Clonfert, Michael Duignan, has been appointed to “minister simultaneously” as Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora. The two dioceses (Galway and Clonfert), though pastorally administered by one bishop, will retain their respective rights, obligations and juridical autonomy.

The event was marked by a Mass in Galway Cathedral on Friday February 11. The papal nuncio Archbishop Jude Okolo was the chief celebrant, with the retiring Bishop of Galway Brendan Kelly concelebrating.

Speaking at the occasion, Bishop Michael said it was a historic day for both dioceses, and for the Catholic Church in Ireland. “Under the guidance of St Peter himself, in the person of Pope Francis, we have been nudged together to do something genuinely new. To paraphrase the words of that great poet from the Aran Islands Máirtín Ó Díreáin, we are being called to bring about a new An tEarrach Thiar – a ‘Western Spring’,” he said.

“We begin a new stage in our journey, a stage that I hope will be, in the best sense of the term, deeply ‘synodal’… It will mean both listening to each other and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. In the process, we are called to prayerfully discern how we, as a people of faith, are to walk together into the future.”

A native of Athlone, Co. Roscommon, Bishop Michael was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Elphin in 1994. In 2014, he was appointed Chancellor of the Diocese of Elphin and Episcopal Vicar for Education and Formation, and also served as national director of the Permanent Diaconate. In 2019, he succeeded Bishop John Kirby as Bishop of Clonfert.

REDEMPTORIST COMMUNITY TO LEAVE ESKER

The Redemptorist Community in Galway have confirmed that they are to end their presence in Esker, Athenry after more than 120 years.

The decision to bring the mission at Esker Monastery to a close later this year was taken with “immense regret and after lengthy consideration,” according to a statement from the Congregation.

“The Redemptorists first came to Esker in 1901 and since then have experienced and valued immense support from the people of the locality and beyond,” said the statement.

“We appointed independent consultants to examine the future direction of the Esker Monastery in 2019, after a decision was taken at a Chapter of the Dublin Province ‘to investigate the pastoral, legal, planning, contractual and all other relevant issues with a view to deciding the future of the Esker site by the end of April 2021’.

“The final outcome of this consultation process was that we could no longer maintain a presence at Esker, leading to this most difficult announcement.”

The community wished to thank “the staff and all who have gone before for their commitment to our mission, as well as their friendship and support over so many decades”.

“We Redemptorists take such fond memories from Esker, of wonderful times in such a special place, but we regretfully must face the realities of the present day and plan accordingly for the future.”

The withdrawal is planned to take place by the end of November 2022, with decisions on how the property will be disposed of to be taken in the coming months.

Esker has been a monastic settlement since the late 17th century when Dominican friars settled there. The site was given to Clonfert Diocese in August 1893, and in 1901 the diocese sold Esker to the Redemptorists

GALWAY

Photo: Helena Connolly

Photo: Helena Connolly

and the new monastery was built. In 1940, Esker was designated as the novitiate for the Irish Province. In later years the building was converted for use as a retreat centre.

US BISHOPS URGE CLEMENCY FOR WOMAN ON DEATH ROW

TEXAS

The state of Texas should grant clemency to a woman set to be executed in April, a Catholic organisation and two bishops have stated.

“The risk of the state taking an innocent life is especially concerning,” said a statement from Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy of Catholic Mobilizing Network. “Texas must grant clemency to Melissa Lucio – to do anything else would be an irreversible injustice.”

Lucio, 53, was sentenced to death in 2008 for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. Alvarez was the youngest of Lucio’s 14 children.

Alvarez was discovered at her home in Harlingen, Texas, with damage to her spinal cord, a head injury, an arm that had been previously broken and healed without proper medical care, and with bruises to her kidneys and lungs. She was declared dead upon arrival in hospital.

In January, Lucio’s execution date was set for April 27, 2022. She is the first woman of Hispanic descent to be sentenced to death in the United States.

“Justice is not suddenly restored because another person dies,” said Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville. Harlingen, where Lucio lived, is located in the Diocese of Brownsville. He added that “executing Melissa will not bring peace to her surviving children,” and that doing so would “only bring more pain and suffering”.

Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin said we must commit to protecting every human being. “People of goodwill understand that an act of violence cannot be overcome with another act of violence. The execution of Melissa Lucio would be a tragedy.” He noted that Lucio’s surviving children “are pleading for Melissa’s life to be spared”.

Lucio’s attorney, A. Richard Ellis, said that Lucio is “a battered woman who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the accidental death of her daughter, who had fallen down the stairs at the family’s home… Her conviction rested on ambiguous statements Melissa made to police in response to a coercive, late-night interrogation by male police officers.”

FEMALE SPEAKERS EMPHASISE NEED FOR “RECIPROCITY” IN CHURCH’S MINISTRY

Promoting better collaboration between women and men in the Catholic Church is not primarily about equality but about allowing the church to fulfil the mission given to it by God, said female speakers at a Vatican conference on priesthood.

“The church needs women and must call them to serve” for the good of all people, said Michelina Tenace, a professor of dogmatic theology at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and consultant for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

“If the church does not make this call, a ministry risks being seen as a right. But serving is not a right, it is a duty,” she said on February 18 in a panel on ‘Women and ministry – the state of investigation’.

Tenace spoke about the work of the commission she was appointed to by Pope Francis in 2016 to study the women referred to as deaconesses in the New Testament and

VATICAN

Participants return to their seats after a break during the international symposium on the priesthood at the Vatican, February 17, 2022. Photo: CNS/Paul Haring

the role of women deacons in the early church. All the baptised are called to serve humanity, she said, so the question is not about restoring what existed in the past, but “what ministry do the people of God need today?”

“Please,” she said, “let it be not to recognise the dignity of women, but to recognise the true identity of the church.”

Salesian Sister Alessandra Smerilli, an economist and adviser to the governing office of Vatican City State, said “It is not simply and only women who suffer from this situation, but the church and its mission” when women’s gifts and call to service are underutilised.

Martha Olavarrieta de Gómez Serrano, a mother of nine who was appointed along with her now late-husband to the Pontifical Council for the Laity in 2004, spoke of the ways families cultivate the faith and reach out to serve the larger community.

“Women have always walked alongside Jesus, reaching out to him as mothers, sisters, daughters, and this is how he addressed them,” she said.

JERUSALEM CATHOLIC BISHOPS INVITE ORTHODOX LEADERS TO CONTRIBUTE TO SYNODAL PATH

Catholic bishops in the Holy Land have invited their Orthodox counterparts to contribute to the consultation process leading to the 2023 Synod on Synodality.

In a letter, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land (ACOHL) explained that Catholics in the region were taking part in the local stage of the two-year synodal path launched by Pope Francis last October.

“We would be delighted to share with you what we are learning and also learn from you, listening to your wisdom and experience,” they wrote.

“Pope Francis has said and written repeatedly that Catholics have much to learn from the Orthodox regarding the exercise of synodality. As we set out on this way, we are more aware than ever that we, all together, as disciples of Christ in this Land, which is His home, are called to witness to him. We remember that his dearest wish was that we should be one (John 17).”

The bishops issued their invitation as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The letter to the heads of the Christian Churches in the Holy Land was signed by ACOHL president Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and secretarygeneral Father Pietro Felet.

The Assembly comprises leaders of the Latin Church, Greek Melkite Catholic Church, Maronite Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church and Chaldean Catholic Church in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.