15 minute read
EDITORIAL
UP FRONT
TRÍONA DOHERTY
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HOPE AND HISTORY
Our six-year-old popped his head around the door as I was working one day this week. He had overheard a story on the news and wanted to tell me about it. “There’s a girl somewhere – in a different country – and she’s separated from her parents, and they can’t find each other.” I knew without asking that he was referring to a story from Ukraine. I tried to reassure him that some kind person would look after this little girl and help her to find her parents. I hoped that was true; I’m sure it was.
Yet, as I’m writing this, I read that at least 38 children have been killed and 71 wounded so far in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of them, a seven-year-old girl, was killed in an attack on a pre-school. Another, nine years old, was killed along with her mother and father when Russian troops opened fire on their family car. Her sister and brother are being treated in hospital. According to the United Nations, more than 400 civilians have been killed. I dread to think what those figures will be by the end of the war, or even by the time you’re reading this.
In the early days of the conflict, images emerged from Ukraine that made us catch our breath in shock and sadness. Newborn babies in a hospital in the eastern Ukranian city of Dnipro were moved from the neonatal intensive care unit into a makeshift bomb shelter in the basement after the city was struck by missiles. Footage showed nurses cradling tiny babies and using inflatable bags to deliver oxygen to them.
In an underground metro station in Kyiv, a baby was born. An image shared on several news sites showed the sleeping newborn wrapped in blankets, a picture of tranquillity against a backdrop of the anxious faces of others in the shelter.
Other images showed children gazing up at bombed apartment blocks or playing in the wreckage.
There were stories of hope, too. Nataliya Ableyeva crossed the border from Ukraine into Hungary with precious cargo – a stranger’s children. She delivered the two children to their mother, with nothing but a mobile phone number to locate her, after their father was banned from leaving the country. “Their father simply handed over the two kids to me, and trusted me, giving me their passports to bring them over,” said Ms Ableyeva. It can barely be described as a happy ending, but it’s one snapshot of hope amidst the darkness of war. There have been heart-warming reports also of Polish people welcoming refugees from Ukraine with overflowing donation centres and offers of transport and accommodation.
In our culture of instant news, we are able to witness events from thousands of miles away as they unfold. If you watch a film set during World War II, you’ll see groups of people gathered around a radio, waiting for the latest news bulletin. Nowadays, images and video footage are available instantly on our phone or tablet, right in the palm of our hands. It means that the realities of war are never far removed from us. It’s hard to think of it as something happening ‘over there’ when it feels so close.
The harrowing images emerging from the Ukranian conflict touch our hearts and inspire us to act. We might feel helpless, but just as there is a window into the heartbreak, there is also a stream of information about ways we can help, from donating clothes or other items or supporting a charity working in the area, to informing ourselves, praying and resolving always to be people of peace.
In the shadow of the worsening conflict, the Christian community around the globe prepares to celebrate Easter. Speaking ahead of Ash Wednesday, Archbishop Eamon Martin encouraged families to pray together and fast for peace this Lent: “Our Lenten journey this year begins as we watch the distressing and frightening scenes from Ukraine. Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Ukraine. We can never take peace for granted. We must always work for peace, pray for peace and make sacrifices for peace. All of us have the capacity to build peace by our words, our actions and our attitudes to others. We choose to sow peace or conflict, love or hate, to build up, or to tear down, to heal or to hurt, to forgive or to resent, to soothe or to inflame.”
So, as we follow the unfolding events in Ukraine, the world unites in prayer and solidarity. On Holy Saturday, when we mark the Easter Vigil, we are suspended between darkness and light, death and resurrection. And in these days, confronted with stories of pain and hope, we are suspended between the darkness of war and injustice, and the hope of a more peaceful and equitable future. Like the late Seamus Heaney, we long for the day when “hope and history rhyme”:
History says Don’t hope on this side of the grave But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise up And hope and history rhyme.
We wish all our readers and their families a blessed and peaceful Easter.
AMIDST THE CHALLENGE OF RISING AGE PROFILES AND DECLINING VOCATIONS, RELIGIOUS ORDERS ARE FINDING WAYS TO ADAPT TO THE CHANGING NEEDS OF SOCIETY
BY ANN MARIE FOLEY
In January the Capuchin Order in Ireland announced the closure of two friaries and withdrawal from a parish residency. The order runs the iconic Capuchin Day Centre in Dublin so news of the closures came as a shock to many. However, the move is not totally surprising given that almost every town in Ireland has had similar experiences over the last decade. “We took some time to really examine our ability to maintain our presence and apostolates in nine communities across the country with now only 65 friars with an average age of 78. For perspective, when I entered the Order in 2002 we had 114 friars with the average age being 70,” said Br Seán Kelly OFM Cap of the closures in Carlow and Rochestown, Cork and the withdrawal from residency in St Francis Parish, Priorswood, Dublin. The Capuchins are not alone. Many other religious orders have closed convents, monasteries, schools and churches throughout Ireland in recent years. This is the physical manifestation of the reality of change. In an article in The Tablet (July 29, 2021) Liz Murphy, past secretary general of the Association of Leaders of Missionaries & Religious of Ireland (AMRI), stated that apostolic religious life in Ireland is “at a crucial crossroads”. While religious congregations were once a powerful force in Ireland
St Mary of the Angel’s Capuchin Church, Church Street, Dublin
– in 1965, at the time of the Second Vatican Council’s decree on renewal of religious life Perfectae Caritatis, there were almost 30,000 priests and religious in Ireland – since the early 2000s, religious life has been declining. As a response, many congregations put schools and hospitals in trusts. Others donated money and property to pay for ministries with those on the margins. In spite of increasing age profile, many got involved in advocacy and influencing government policy on homelessness, climate change, direct provision, emigrants and prisoners.
Figures from the Statistical Yearbook of the Church state that in 2002 there were a total of 11,981 religious (women religious, laymen religious and religious priests) in Ireland, while in 2012 there were 9,428, a 21 per cent drop in a decade. For more recent statistics, the 2019/2020 annual report of AMRI states that there were 6,940 religious priests, missionaries and sisters as of June 2020, and 20 contemplative female groups. More than 30 congregations had fewer than 10 members. The majority of religious, 5,700 of the 6,940, were now more than 70 years old.
Following the Capuchin
announcement, Br Richard Hendrick OFM Cap, a member of the Church Street Capuchin community, says he expects there will be no more changes for at least three to six years. He adds: “It may be that in the future there are other closures or that there are new places opened up. We are open to the inspiration of the spirit and the call of the church to whatever way we can serve the people.”
The Capuchins currently have one person in formation for ordination and two postulants. At a recent vocations day, a further 11 people expressed an interest in joining the order. The Capuchin Day Centre has opened an outreach in Kilkenny, and other new ministries include online work, teaching meditation, and chaplaincy in two Dublin hospices and a Cork hospital. “There is a great interest there and to be honest I think the pandemic has woken people up to deeper questions and looking at life from a deeper perspective. So the Lord can use all these things to wake up to the movement of the Spirit in our own lives,” says Br Richard.
As Br Sean concludes in his statement on the imminent closures, Is cuimhin leis an tír na Manaigh: The land remembers the monks. “That’s how our ancestors felt when they saw monasteries being closed. They knew that even with the monks in exile and the churches closed nothing could expunge the spirit and heritage of prayer and peace created by the life of those dedicated to faith.”
“RESURRECTION MOMENT”
The Brigidine Sisters in Co. Laois are no strangers to change. Having been in education for 200 years, in 2009 their secondary school was amalgamated with the Patrician College and Vocational School to form Mountrath Community School. The Brigidines gifted in trust their convent and school to the local community, and in 2017 they re-opened as a community centre and social enterprise business hub that was named Bloom HQ.
“It was a resurrection moment for the building because it has taken on new life,” says Sr Rita Minehan csb. “It is generating employment and facilities for local groups.”
Martin Meade, chairperson of Mountrath Community Forum (a group behind Bloom HQ) expressed gratitude to the sisters for the gift of the premises, which is now paying its
The former Brigidine convent and school in Mountrath, transformed into Bloom HQ
way. “They gave so much and looked after the community so well, and we are trying to keep that going. We have a school of grinds, music and English classes, and gym and training courses. The legacy of education continues,” he says.
Hot desks, office and meeting spaces and the highest spec internet keeps business and jobs local. The paying activities make it more affordable for community groups such as Scouts, Foróige and other clubs to use the facilities. Martin hopes that Bloom HQ will act as a blueprint for other towns with empty convents. Four Brigidines continue to live in Mountrath.
Sr Rita is chairperson of the board of management at Solas Bhríde Centre and Hermitages in Kildare, where the Brigidines moved in 1992 with a view to “reclaiming her (Brigid) in a new way for a new millennium,” as Sr Rita puts it.
They opened Solas Bhríde in 2015. Scholars, chaplains, students and others visit to hear more about Brigid and Celtic spirituality, as do people of other Christian denominations and faiths. This year, groups from Germany and the US have already booked.
There are three Brigidine sisters present at the centre and Sr Rita hopes that the spirit of St Brigid will live on through 20 lay volunteers or Cairde Bhríde (Friends of Brigid), a group of women and men inspired by the values of St Brigid.
“Religious life as it is will not survive, that is very obvious,” says Sr Rita. “They (Cairde Bhríde) are really very committed to unfolding the legacy of Brigid of Kildare and its relevance to our times. We don’t go back and stay in the past; we see how it is relevant for today.”
NEW LIFE
In Killarney, the imposing grey stone Franciscan friary has become home to Kerry Diocesan Youth Services and a religious bookshop. The church is still used by the Franciscans but four years ago they opened an International Novitiate and Friary which now houses young men and friars from all over Europe and Canada who preside at daily Eucharist, reconciliation and prayer services.
The four international novices have helped prepare local children for confirmation and do pastoral work such as visiting people at the local St John of God facility. There are also four men in the Irish Province Novitiate. Two are in Rome studying and two are in the Novitiate in Galway where they work in a new youth ministry.
“Like most religious orders we have elderly men; we are blessed that we have some young men coming in,” says Br Pat Lynch OFM, who has spent 15 years as vocations director of the Irish Provence. “We have closed a number of places, we will have to continue to do that, but there is hope because in the future it is going to be smaller numbers of men who commit to prayer and the marginalised and to community life.”
The Franciscans are open to new ministries, especially for their new young friars. “We want to cater for them. They are the future of the order and we have to be aware that some of the ministries we did in the past might not be relevant or speak to the people today,” says Br Pat.
The Franciscans were involved in setting up and running Merchants Quay Ireland Homeless and Drugs Services in Dublin in the 1980s when drug abuse and HIV was rampant. Today they have a presence on the board of this lay-run registered charity.
Members of the Franciscan community in Killarney
de Paul, grant-seeking for Good Shepherd projects in the developing world, to new initiatives such as the No Interest Loan Scheme.
This scheme was started by Good Shepherd Australia in the 1980s and has become a model for micro-finance programmes throughout the world. It was introduced in Ireland in 2018 and it involves other organisations referring people who are in need of a small loan but cannot access mainstream sources. They include people in direct provision, women who are being financially controlled by an abusive partner, or those with a bad credit rating. They receive loans of up to €1,000 with no interest, for essential items such as white goods, education and housing rent deposits.
“It provides a safe and affordable alternative to high-cost options such as payday loans or money lenders, which promise ‘fast cash’ but
RESTRUCTURING
In 2017 the Good Shepherds Sisters created Good Shepherd Ireland (GSI) to bring all their ministry activity in Ireland under one umbrella.
“There is nothing constant in life except change and religious life is no different. With a smaller number of sisters, we are restructuring internationally and locally,” says Sr Margaret Lynch, director of GSI. Activities range from supporting older sisters volunteering with groups such as St Vincent often compound a person’s financial situation,” says Sr Margaret. GSI is currently seeking a funder to pay for a loans officer to make the project more sustainable. “It is already having a huge impact that I would love to bring to scale if funding was available,” she adds.
There are 76 Good Shepherd Sisters in Ireland based in Dublin, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Derry and Belfast. The congregation is present in 72 countries around the world. Apostolic sisters work primarily with women
Photo: Darafsh, via Wikimedia Commons
Statue of St Mary Euphrasia, founder of the Good Shepherd Sisters, by Italian sculptor Giovanni Nicolini
and children, promoting their rights and dignity from the grassroots level to the UN, and work collaboratively with many groups and organisations. The contemplative sisters live a life of prayer in support of the work of the apostolic sisters.
The Good Shepherd’s charism of having a heart for those who are excluded in society, particularly women and children, is one that many share. “That will continue even if there are no sisters in the future. I do believe that religious life will continue though even if it is in a form that is very different from what we see today. God is guiding us; we have only to trust,” says Sr Margaret.
“IMMENSE VALUE”
In his homily to mark the Day of Consecrated Life 2022 on February 5, Archbishop Dermot Farrell told religious: “Your mission does not belong to the past. Despite the reduced numbers of those in religious, and your decisions to withdraw from places where your work of service is clearly visible, you are not invisible to us, to the Archdiocese, or to the world. Like the presence of Christ himself, your presence has changed: your very ‘being’ people who are consecrated is of immense value and is greatly appreciated.”
Religious men and women build up the body of Christ through their charisms and in their lives (1 Cor 12:12-30), he said, adding that the 2,500 religious from 54 countries today in the archdiocese are involved in “responding to the cry of refugees, of migrants and of other vulnerable groups, in responding to the cry of the earth, as they strive to promote change, while at the same time endeavouring to deepen the spirituality of people through their ministry of prayer
Micro-finance in action at Good Shepherd Ireland
and witness.”
While the declining numbers, rising age profile, and increasingly negative media image can be disheartening, hope remains. In her president’s report in the 2020-2021 Annual Report of AMRI, Sr Kathleen McGarvey OLA says: “As people called by God and committed to the Good News of the Gospel, we know that ‘the history of salvation is worked out “in hope against hope” (Rom 4:18), through our weaknesses’ (Pope Francis, Patris Corde). Weakness reminds us of our dependence on God, who is always faithful. Religious life is not something we ourselves created; it is founded and built on a call, to love God above all else, to serve God in our neighbour and to be a sign and instrument of God’s love and fidelity to the world.”
