Reality June 2018

PETER McVERRY

THE HOMELESS CRISIS

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

MY HEART WILL GO ON

DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic Magazin e ty li

ISLAMIC DEVOTION TO MARY

EMBRACING CHANGE THE GIFT OF A GAY SON

THE LOST HOPE OF 1968 ANNIVERSARY OF ROBERT KENNEDY'S DEATH

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

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OUR LADY IN ASIA

Re a

JUNE 2018

PRAYING THE ROSARY

REDEMPTORIST SOLEMN NOVENAS TO OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP JUNE 2018 ESKER NOVENA

Tuesday June 5 - Wednesday June 13, 2018 Daily Sessions:

8.00am, 10.00am, 4.00pm, 6.00pm, 8.00pm & 10.00pm Novena times for Sunday June 10:

8.00am, 10.00am, 12.00noon, 4.30pm, 6.00pm & 8.00pm Preachers: Peter Hill CSsR, Tony Rice CSsR and Neil Foley Confessions will be heard before and after each session of the Solemn Novena, with the exception of Sunday Blessing of Babies & Children will take place after each Mass on Sunday June 10 Novena session for the Sick & the Infirm: Saturday, June 9 at 12 noon

BALLINASLOE NOVENA

Tuesday June 5 - Wednesday June 13, 2018 Daily Sessions:

7.30am, 10.00am, 8.00pm

Novena times for Saturday June 9:

7.30am, 10.00am, 7.00pm

Novena times for Sunday June 10:

9.00am, 11.00am, 12.15pm

Preachers: Seamus Devitt CSsR and Michael Kelleher CSsR Rite of Reconciliation: Monday June 11, at all sessions Blessing of Babies & Children will take place after 12.15 Mass on Sunday June 10 Novena session for the Sick & the Infirm: Thursday, June 7 at 4.00pm

CLONARD NOVENA

Wednesday June 13 - Thursday June 21, 2018 Daily Sessions:

6.45am, 8.15am, 9.30am, 11.00am, 12.45pm, 4.30pm, 6.00pm, 7.30pm, 9.00pm, 10.30pm (The Candlelight Session - except Saturday & Sunday) Novena times for Saturday & Sunday, June 16 & 17

6.45am, 8.15am, 9.30am, 11.00am, 12.45pm, 3.00pm, 4.30pm 6.00pm, 7.30pm Preachers: Michael Cusack CSsR, Adrian Egan CSsR, Peter McCarthy CSsR and Kevin O’Neill CSsR Novena Session with Sign Language each day at 11.00am Novena session for the Sick & the Infirm: Saturday, June 16, at 11.00am, 12.45pm & 3.00pm Blessing of babies & young children - Sunday June 17 at 3.00pm without Mass Special Youth session with Mass on Sunday June 17 at 7.30pm The Sacrament of Reconciliation (No Masses) will be celebrated on Friday, June 15 at 9.30am, 4.30pm, 6.00pm & 9.00pm Ministers from other Christian Churches - Monday June 18 at all sessions

For more information/to see the novena go to: www.clonard.com

LIMERICK NOVENA

Friday June 15 - Saturday June 23, 2018 Daily Sessions (including Sunday):

7.00am, 8.00am, 10.00am, 11.30am, 1.10pm, 4.30pm, 6.00pm, 7.30pm, 9.00pm, 10.30pm Preachers: Dan Baragry CSsR, Peter Hill CSsR, Gerard Moloney CSsR and Anne Walsh Novena session for the Sick & the Infirm: Saturday, June 23 at 11.30am Reconciliation Services Tuesday June 19: 8:00am, 11:30am, 4:30pm,7:30pm, 9:00pm Mass 7:00am,10:00am, 1:10pm, 6:00pm,10:30pm Blessing of babies & young children - Sunday June 17 at 4.30pm Celebration for First Communion classes - Monday, June 18 at 11.30am

The solemn novena will stream live on the internet. Go to www.novena.ie

IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES 12 OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP IN ASIA Devotion to Our Mother of Perpetual Help spread rapidly in in the years following World War II. It has touched the hearts not only of Catholics but also of people belonging to other faiths, especially Muslims.

By Dr Terence Kennedy CSsR

17 MY HEART GOES ON AND ON The roots of devotion to the Sacred Heart reach deep into the Bible and the story of Jesus and his passion.

By Sarah Adams

20 EMBRACING CHANGE: THE GIFT

12

OF A GAY SON Embracing change can be difficult, yet rewarding, as one begins to grow by confronting prejudice.

By Gemma

24 THE LOST HOPE OF 1968 Robert Kennedy died fifty years ago, and with him died the hopes and aspirations of a generation of young people

By Fr Gerard Moloney CSsR

32: PRAYER CORNER: BAPTISM OF THE LORD One of the disciples recalls Jesus’ baptism by John, the first of the Mysteries of Light

By Fr George Wadding CSsR

35 THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL NOVENA With a total Catholic population of only 145,000, Singapore hosts weekly one of the most popular religious services in Asia – the Perpetual Novena of Our Mother of Perpetual Help.

By Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR

39 SURPRISED BY JOY Realising that my daughter was gifted with Down Syndrome was a moment of revelation

By Neasa Ní Argadáin

20

24

OPINION

REGULARS

11 BRENDAN McCONVERY

04 REALITY BITES

31 CARMEL WYNNE

07 POPE MONITOR

44 PETER McVERRY SJ

08 FEAST OF THE MONTH 09 REFLECTIONS 40 TRÓCAIRE 42 UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 45 GOD’S WORD

REALITY BITES CARDINAL TO GO ON TRIAL MELBOURNE

TAKING A LEAVE OF ABSENCE

Cardinal George Pell will stand trial on charges of allegedly abusing multiple victims decades ago, a magistrate has ruled. After a four-week preliminary hearing, the magistrate Belinda Wallington dismissed about half of the charges against the cardinal, but she ruled that the prosecution had a strong enough case for the remainder. The number and exact nature of the charges have not been made public. The cardinal has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Cardinal Pell served as Archbishop of Melbourne (1996–2001) and then of Sydney (2001–2014). In February 2014, he was appointed to be the first prefect of the Holy See’s newly created Secretariat for the Economy and has been resident in Rome.

He is the most senior Vatican official ever to stand trial for sex abuse allegations.

He has been on leave of absence from his Rome post since he was first charged last June.

FATHER’S GOT TALENT

HALF OF AMERICAN CATHOLICS LEAVE THE CHURCH

LONDON

THE SHOWBIZ LIFE

4

Fr Ray Kelly

Fr Ray Kelly, 64, parish priest of Oldcastle, County Meath, received a standing ovation on Britain’s Got Talent after performing the song, 'Everybody Hurts.' He received special praise from the judges Simon Cowell who said it was his favourite audition ever and Alesha Dixon who described his performance as “beautiful”.

Fr Kelly said: “I knew I could put in a fairly good performance but I was amazed at the judges’ comments. I am in awe and humbled by it, I really was not expecting it.”

The priest already has two albums to his name, thanks to a previous musical career.

He achieved social media fame worldwide in 2014 when a video of him singing Leonard Cohen’s 'Hallelujah' at a wedding went viral, receiving over 60 million views.

REALITY JUNE 2018

USA

Cardinal George Pell

BECOMING A MORE MINORITY CHURCH

About half (52 per cent) of all US adults who were raised Catholic have left the church at some point in their lives. A significant minority of them return, but most (40 per cent) do not. Twentyeight per cent of all those raised Catholic are now ex-Catholics. Another 13 per cent are “cultural Catholics” – those who now have no religion or are part of another religious tradition (other than Catholicism), but nevertheless still identify as Catholic in some way. The figures come from a PEW survey. PEW is an independent research organisation with an interest in social issues.

Despite these temporary and longer lasting departures from the church, PEW found deep reservoirs of loyalty to the institution.

Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of current Catholics say they have been part of the church their whole life, and a similar number say they could never imagine leaving Catholicism, no matter what. Even among younger generations, there is a similar level of loyalty. About half of Catholic adults (56 per cent) under age 30 say they can’t imagine leaving the church.

St Patrick's Cathedral, New York

N E WS

WOMEN CONSULTORS AT CONGREGATION FOR DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH VATICAN CITY

ADDRESSING THE BALANCE

Pope Francis named five new consultors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on April 21. Three of them were female academics and two were priests. The women are Dr Linda Ghisoni, professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Dr Michelina Tenace, professor of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University; and Dr Laetitia Calmeyn, lecturer of theology at the Collège des Bernardins in Paris. A Vatican spokesman was unable to confirm whether they were the first women appointed to the congregation in this capacity, but Dr Ghisoni is also sub-secretary and head of the section for the laity of the Vatican department of Laity, Family and Life. She works as a judge

at the court of the Vicariate of Rome. Dr Tenace was appointed to the commission to study the female diaconate instituted by Pope Francis in 2016. Dr Laetitia Calmeyn was born in Brussels. She has worked as a palliative care nurse, a retreat organiser for youth, and a Catholic religion teacher before taking up her present position as a theology lecturer at the Collège des Bernardins.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the Vatican department responsible for protecting and promulgating the doctrine of the Catholic Church. It is headed by Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, SJ, and its consultors include cardinals, bishops, priests, canon lawyers, and lay theologians.

Dr Michelina Tenace

Dr Linda Ghisoni

Dr Laetitia Calmeyn

CHURCH AND EUROPEAN LABOUR LAW LUXEMBOURG

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RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO JUDICIAL REVIEW

The Germany Catholic Church said it would review its employment system after the European Court of Justice warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring staff members to be religious. In April the Luxembourg court ruled that demands for church employees to have a "religious affiliation" should be subject to judicial review. The German Bishops' Conference secretary-general said the church has "always ensured it does not impose disproportionate demands on potential workers”, and that, in light of the ruling, it would "examine how far its recruitment practices should be adapted". He also said that the bishops welcomed the court's confirmation that churches were still entitled to consider a candidate's "attitude to religion" in assessment for jobs, and that state courts could not "disregard their religious ethos". However, he noted that Catholic conditions for professional involvement in ministry could now be legally challenged.

Catholic and Protestant churches are among Germany's largest employers, and have been allowed wide-ranging self-administration under religious freedom clauses in the country's 1949 constitution, or Basic Law. Church institutions have faced lawsuits, however, over alleged discrimination against non-Christian staff, notably at church-owned hospitals and charities. In 2015, the Catholic bishops' conference announced it was reforming the church's labour law to reflect changes in legal practice, legislation and society, and would permit trade union membership, while no longer requiring the church's 750,000 employees to reflect Catholic teaching in their lifestyles.

The court’s findings are applicable to other countries in the European Union.

European Court of Justice, Luxembourg

continued on page 6

REALITY BITES

6

ECUMENICAL HOUSEMATES?

CROSSES ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS

The Catholic Archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, and his Anglican counterpart, Bishop Bruce Myers, shared the same residence for more than a year. The Anglican bishopric, located a few blocks away from the cardinal’s residence, was occupied by Bishop Dennis Drainville, the outgoing bishop. He asked his friend the cardinal if he could house his successor, Myers, for a while. “I shared moments of prayer, daily meals, social life. I felt completely integrated in the life of this residence,” Bishop Myers said. “He was one of us, one of our family,” the cardinal added. The two men often prayed together, but when Bishop Myers attended Mass, he refrained from receiving Communion, respecting the Catholic teaching and tradition. “I received the Eucharist spiritually with my confrères,” he said. “For me, it was one of the most important moments of each day, to be present, even if I wasn’t able to receive the Blessed Sacrament with my confrères. It has given me every day a little momentum toward reconciliation, more energy toward the day when we can gather at the same table of the Lord and share the same sacrament.

It’s a manifestation of the real but imperfect communion between our two churches.

Being present, for me, is a testimony to communion and visible unity,” he explained.

Bishop Meyers wears a pectoral cross given him by the cardinal and his two auxiliaries as an enthronement gift which they bought in Rome and had blessed by Pope Francis.

Bavaria’s regional government has ordered crosses to be placed at the entrances of all state administrative buildings. The state’s conservative administration said that the crosses would reflect Bavaria’s “cultural identity and Christian-Western influence”.

Bavaria is a predominantly Catholic region of Germany, and its public schools and courtrooms are already obliged to display crosses. It is governed by the Christian Social Union, partners of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, who tend to be more conservative on social issues.

Cardinal Reinhold Marx of Munich, however, opposed the decision, saying it would cause division and play people off

Bishop Bruce Myers with Cardinal Gerald Lacroix

REALITY JUNE 2018

Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder hangs a cross in the entrance area of the state chancellery

against one another. “If the cross is just seen as a cultural symbol, then it has not been understood,” he said, adding that the cross is “a sign of opposition to violence, injustice, sin and death, but not a sign [of exclusion] against other people”.

FIRST CATHOLIC MASS IN SWEDISH CATHEDRAL SINCE REFORMATION Uppsala Cathedral, Uppland, Sweden

The Lutheran Church of Sweden has offered the cathedral of Uppsala as a place of worship to the Catholic parish of St Thomas while their church is closed for repair from next October until the spring. The first weekly Mass will be held on October 21 and it will be the first Catholic Mass celebrated there since the Reformation.

Pope Francis visited the city in October 2016 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with the Lutheran Church of Sweden. Since then the two communities have held joint Vesper services in each other’s churches.

Rev Lena Sjöstrand, chaplain of the cathedral, said people see the visit as more than “a one-off event”, but rather a concrete way of strengthening relations between the two Christian communities.

The sharing reflects the spirit of the joint 2013 document From Conflict to Communion, which

focused on the outcome of 50 years of dialogue since the Second Vatican Council.

Catholicism is among the fastest-growing religions in Sweden. There are 116,000 Catholics with 4,000 more registering each year and about 100 adult conversions annually. Church officials believe the number may in fact be twice as high as it does not take into account many immigrants, refugees and catechumens. Most of the country’s Catholics are emigrants from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. About 15 per cent of them belong to the Chaldean Catholic community, fleeing from Iraq. Others, like Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, the only Catholic diocese in Sweden, are converts.

He converted from Lutheranism at the age of 20 and is the first ethnically Swedish Catholic bishop in the country since the Reformation.

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS POPE’S APOLOGY In a letter addressed to Chile's bishops and dated Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis admitted to making “serious mistakes” in handling the nation's massive sex abuse crisis, and asked for forgiveness. He has invited Chile’s bishops to Rome to address the issue, and has asked victims to meet with him as well. “I can affirm that all the testimonies collected speak in a stark manner, without additives or sweeteners, of many crucified lives and I confess that this has caused me pain and shame,” Pope Francis admitted: “I have made serious mistakes in the judgement and perception of the situation, especially due to a lack of truthful and balanced information.” Some of these misjudgements occurred during his visit to the country last January and attracted much criticism. In response, the Holy Father sent one of the Vatican’s most experienced investigators in the field, Archbishop Charles Sicluna, on an investigative mission. He said he carefully read the report, and wished to apologise in the context.

Pope Francis met with three abuse survivors over the weekend of April 28-29. In a joint statement issued May 2, the survivors recalled how they had been treated as “enemies” of the church for nearly 10 years on account of their criticism of abuse and cover-up in the church, but that the weekend's meetings allowed them to see “the friendly face of the Church, completely different from the one we had seen before.” Pope Francis, they said, asked for forgiveness in his name and on behalf of the entire universal church. “We were able to speak frankly and respectfully with the pope,” they said, explaining that they discussed not only sexual abuse but also the cover-up and the abuse of power, which they said are not confined to Chile, but are “an epidemic” that has affected thousands of people throughout the global church. Despite their abuse, they said, they have met many priests and men and women religious who are fighting for justice, and regard them as “courageous” people who have made progress in the fight against abuse and cover-up.

HAVE AN ICE CREAM!

People raise their ice cream cones donated by Pope Francis as they toast the pope at a Sant'Egidio soup kitchen in Rome, in honour of his name day.

To celebrate his onomastico, or baptismal name-day, the Feast of St George, Pope Francis asked the papal almoner who is the administrator of his charities to provide ice cream for the 3,000 people served by the soup kitchens of the Catholic charitable organisation, Caritas. The pope likes to give the poor an unexpected treat, and it is well-known that he is partial to an ice-cream, especially if it is caramel flavoured.

7

POPE FRANCIS’ MAY DEVOTIONS Pope Francis opened May as the Month of Mary by visiting the popular Roman shrine of Divino Amore, Our Lady of Divine Love. He invited pilgrims at the audience in St. Peter's Square the previous Sunday to join him at the shrine and "to prolong for the whole month of May praying the rosary for peace, especially for peace in Syria". The sanctuary is on the Via Ardeatina, about 20 kilometres from the centre. Pope Francis was joined in the original small church by just over 100 people, including a few children and young adults, who assisted in leading the recitation of the prayers. Hundreds of others gathered outside and along the paths to the new church, which was consecrated in 1999. After the rosary and the singing of 'Hail, Holy Queen', the congregation offered special prayers "for the intentions of the Holy Father" and then sang the Litany of Loreto. Pope Francis gave no homily or speech but simply led the crowd in prayer and gave his apostolic blessing.

FEAST OF THE MONTH ST CORMAC Ó LIATHÁIN JUNE 21

ST

8

Cormac, a sixth century Irish saint, is reputed to have had an abiding love for the sea, and an equally strong vocation to follow a religious way of life. His people were of the Lehane clan, whose tribal territory falls in or about the baronies of Barrymore and Kinnataloon north-east of Cork harbour. Cormac’s love for the monastic life led him to become a disciple of Colmcille.

As a monk in both Ireland and Scotland he loved to roam far and wide over the north Atlantic in a vain search for an elusive island. That island may be nothing short of Tír na nÓg, or it may have been the ‘desert in the ocean’ which was the heart's desire of many young Irish hermits of his time. Whatever inspired his quest, it earned for him the sobriquet 'Cormac the Sailor'.

One cannot say whether Cormac first met Colmcille on a visit to Iona or whether they met in Ireland long before the Derry saint went into Britain pro Christo peregrinari volens – ‘wishing to become a pilgrim for Christ’s sake'. The most likely view is that he joined the Columban community in Durrow, County Offaly, a monastery founded by Colmcille himself and where he is likely to have settled for a time. Later, when he was abbot of Iona, Colmcille appointed Cormac abbot of Durrow, and it was in that role that Colmcille foresaw Cormac end his days.

Turn now to the years between Cormac’s entry into the monastery of Durrow and his appointment as abbot there in later years. Despite the vagueness of historical record, we can be reasonably certain that Columcille assigned St Cormac to lead a mission to the Orkney Islands immediately north of Scotland. In his Life of Columba, Adamnán says that when Colmcille met King Brude MacMaelchon, the Pictish leader, at Inverness, he had also come into contact with the Orkadian ruler, and obtained from him a safe-conduct for Cormac and his fellow monks in the event of landing in Orkney. Colmcille said to King Brude, in the presence of the Orkadian chief, “Some of our brethren have lately set sail to discover a desert in the pathless sea; should they happen after many wanderings to come to the Orkneys, direct this chief, whose hostages are in your hands, to take measures that no evil shall befall them.”

In common with many islanders, these Orcadians were of mixed blood and archaeological remains seem to indicate that the first settlers were of Mediterranean origin. During the centuries following their arrival, there came successively the Picts, the Celts and the Norse. New arrivals in the past hundred years or so must include personnel from two World Wars and the North Sea Oil industry.

In terms of religious faith I like to think of St Cormac as the ‘Apostle of the Orkneys’ but it is difficult to come by hard evidence. There is, however, a tradition that Irish monks following the rule of Columba worked on the islands in the sixth and seventh centuries; and these papae (Fathers) as they were called, were still on the islands when the Norse began their settlements.

Gradually the Scandinavian culture supplanted the Celtic, and nowhere is this more evident than in the names of the Islands themselves. Most of them end in say, ey, ay, or a, which in Old Norse means ‘island’. Bird-watchers too, quickly realise that they are in a Nordic land when, instead of the familiar oyster catcher, shag and fulmar, Orcadians speak of shalder, scarf and mallimack.

Evidence regarding the presence of early Christian Irish monks, hermits, or indeed whole communities is still scanty. However, Corn Holm in Deerness, on the Orkney Mainland, is considered to be a monastic or eremitical settlement of eighth century date. At the further end of the mainland, on the Brough of Birsay, a tidal island, there is evidence of a Celtic Christian settlement beneath the Viking-age buildings. Archaeologists are of the opinion that any monks that might have been there left in a hurry, most likely because of Viking marauders. Some three kilometres from the site an elaborate wooden box containing wood-worker’s tools was discovered.

It is thought to date from about the year 800 AD. John J Ó Ríordáin CSsR REALITY JUNE 2018

Reality Volume 83. No. 5 June 2018 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960 Published by The Irish Redemptorists, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin 09 X651 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 dmcnamara@redcoms.org General Manager Paul Copeland pcopeland@redcoms.org Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Administration & Accounts Michelle McKeon mmckeon@redcoms.org Printed by Nicholson & Bass, Belfast Photo Credits Shutterstock, Catholic News Agency, Scala News REALITY SUBSCRIPTIONS Through a promoter (Ireland only) €20 or £18 Annual Subscription by post: Ireland €25 or £20 UK £30 Europe €40 Rest of the world €50 Please send all payments to: Redemptorist Communications, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin D09 X651 ADVERTISING Whilst we take every care to ensure the accuracy and validity of adverts placed in Reality, the information contained in adverts does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Redemptorist Communications. You are therefore advised to verify the accuracy and validity of any information contained in adverts before entering into any commitment based upon them.

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

REFLECTIONS The world is full of people who have lost faith: politicians who have lost faith in politics, social workers who have lost faith in social work, schoolteachers who have lost faith in teaching and, for all I know, policemen who have lost faith in policing and poets who have lost faith in poetry. It's a condition of faith that it gets lost from time to time, or at least mislaid.

PD JAMES

Protestants sometimes laugh at us because we address ourselves, now to our Lady of Perpetual Succour, now to our Lady of Good Counsel, now to our Lady of Lourdes, and so on, as if they were so many different people. But the case is much worse than that, if they only knew. Every individual Catholic has a separate our Lady to pray to, his Mother, the one who seems to care for him individually, has won him so many favours, has stood by him in so many difficulties, as if she had no other thought or business in heaven but to watch over him.

Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?

May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.

JOHN WESLEY

It has been said that time heals all wounds.

I don’t agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens, but is never gone.

ROSE KENNEDY

Golf is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well.

PG WOODHOUSE

My sore throats are always worse than anyone's.

THOMAS MERTON

A library is a good place to go when you feel unhappy, for there, in a book, you may find encouragement and comfort.

A library is a good place to go when you feel bewildered or undecided, for there, in a book, you may have your question answered. Books are good company, in sad times and happy times, for books are people – people who have managed to stay alive by hiding between the covers of a book.

EB WHITE

A joyless Catholic is the devil's best tool. A joyful Catholic is God's greatest instrument.

SCOTT HAHN

JANE AUSTEN

People's backyards are much more interesting than their front gardens, and houses that back on to railways are public benefactors.

We never dealt with satire or suggestive material. Although some of our films were broad parodies or burlesques of popular dramatic themes, there was no conscious attempt at being either sarcastic or offensive.

JOHN BETJEMAN

STAN LAUREL

RONALD KNOX

By reading the scriptures, I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me.

The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.

My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms.

DOROTHY DAY

I know there's a proverb which that says 'To err is human,' but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

9

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EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY?

No

one seems to know why the third Sunday in June is Fathers’ Day. Mothers’ Day has a long tradition behind it, going back to the Middle Ages when servants and farm labourers got a day off on the middle Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday) when the rigours of the season were suspended and a special cake was brought home in preparation for the forthcoming festival. Fathers’ Day only became official in the United States in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed for the first time that it was to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. Six years later, Richard Nixon made it permanent. Like a lot of other good ideas, however, Fathers’ Day has good Catholic roots and was just waiting to be rediscovered. In traditionally Catholic countries of mainland Europe, the feast of St Joseph was a holy day of obligation, and fathers were singled out for honour under Joseph, the man Jesus called father, for special respect on the day. It is still like that today, but for us in Ireland, St Joseph was eclipsed by St Patrick two days earlier.

Fatherhood today is ambiguous. While many young men are more conscious (and conscientious) about their parenting roles than were their fathers and grandfathers, social commentators often draw attention to the absent father. It has been estimated, for example, that more than 40 per cent of children in the United States now pass a large amount of their childhood in single-parent households, compared with just 5 per cent in 1960. In Ireland, according to the census returns of 2016, about 21.2 per cent of all children belong to single-parent families, and in 84 per cent of the cases, the head of the households are women. What is much more difficult to assess is the effect of an absent father on the children, particularly on young males. It is known that 70 per cent of juvenile offenders in the US who end up in institutions come from fatherless homes, and that children

from such families are twice as likely to drop out of school before completing high school.

I have not been able to find any statistics for Ireland, but it is likely, despite the often heroic efforts of mothers trying to manage with slender resources, that the figures are not dissimilar. More importantly, growing up with no significant man to model at first-hand what real men do, the son of an absent father receives little training in what he is supposed to become. All he can do is take his cues from his father-hungry peers, or what is reflected to him about manhood through the media: the chances are that there will be little there to challenge him. More than half a century ago, reflecting on the social mess that was the American urban ghetto, the Irish-American politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote: “a community that allows a large number of men to grow up in broken families, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future – that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, disorder – most particularly the furious, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure – that is not only to be expected; it is very near to inevitable.“ There are parts of modern Ireland where this might be said to be valid today, with the addition of factors such as alcoholism and drug abuse.

At his weekly audience on the feast of St Joseph, 2014, Pope Francis spoke especially to fathers, giving them a special Fathers’ Day greeting and putting before them the example of Joseph. "I ask for you the grace to be ever closer to your children, allow them to grow, but be close, close! They need you, your presence, your closeness, your love. May you be for them as St Joseph was: guardians of their growth in age, wisdom and grace. May you guard them on their journey: be educators and walk with them. And by this closeness you will be true educators. Some of us have

lost our dad, he has passed away, the Lord has called him; many in this square do not have their dad still with them. We can pray for all the fathers of the world, for the fathers living and deceased, as well as our own, and we can do it together, each one remembering his or her own father whether he be living or dead.

And let us pray to the great Father of us all, the Father. An Our Father for our fathers!”

A few weeks ago, Tom Evans, father of the child whose withdrawal from life support was sanctioned by England’s high court, gave the world a powerful symbol of a father’s love, even when it is at its most powerless. Pope Francis told him at an audience: "I admire you for your courage; you are so young but you have the courage to defend the life of your son." He went on to say that the courage of this young father is similar to the love that God has for human beings, for he never gives them up for lost.

To all our fathers, and to those men who may have had to take their place, a very happy Father’s Day. Our cover Islamic art usually forbade the representation of humans or animals.

The exception was in Persia and in the Persian Moghul Empire of India, where even incidents from the Quran were represented.

The cover and illustrations in this issue are drawn from that tradition.

Brendan McConvery CSsR Editor

11

C OVE R STO RY

Our Mother of Perpetual Help

in Asia

12

DEVOTION TO OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP SPREAD PARTICULARLY RAPIDLY IN ASIA WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE WEEKLY PERPETUAL NOVENA IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II. IT HAS TOUCHED THE HEARTS NOT JUST OF CATHOLICS BUT ALSO OF PEOPLE BELONGING TO OTHER FAITHS, ESPECIALLY MUSLIMS.

BY TERENCE KENNEDY CSsR

As

World War II lurched toward a close, US Redemptorist military chaplains crisscrossed the Pacific Ocean. Travelling continuously from one place to another, they preached the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help wherever they could. It took root in Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Australia and New Zealand.

The great upsurge in popular piety surprised the missionaries, as if people were meeting their true mother for the first time.

for people in deep material and spiritual need. It extended the Redemptorists’ own practice of honouring God’s Mother, especially on Saturdays, to all people, most of all the poor. The service in the church was short. It lasted just 30 minutes, including preaching , hymn singing , litanies, the reading of petitions and thanksgivings written by the devotees, and ending with benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has penetrated deeply into the religious psyche and imagination of these ancient cultures The Perpetual Novena occupies a special place in the history of Christianity in Asia.

It is a devotion invented in the USA in St. Louis during the Great Depression REALITY JUNE 2018

By the end of the war, the Novena had brought numerous conversions to Catholicism in overwhelmingly nonChristian lands. This flow has never ceased.

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help has penetrated deeply into the religious psyche and imagination of these ancient cultures.

Their sacred mother and child images, their inherent reverence for women, had been preparing a place of hospitality to welcome Mary and her divine Child for millennia.

FROM WONDER TO WELCOME The spontaneous, joyful way Muslims flocked to the Novena rather bewildered the missionaries in the early days. More than any other Asian religion, Muslims recognised their own mother in this icon. They claimed Mary as their very own, affectionately invoking, 'Our Lady' along with Catholics. The missionaries were puzzled. Their seminary training had warned them that Muslims were heretics and that their law punished attempted conversion with death: should they even encourage them to come to the church?

YROTS REVOC

13

C OVE R STO RY

The pastoral wisdom of Christ’s Gospel prevailed, and they welcomed Muslims, and strove never to offend their faith or put anybody’s life in danger through proselytism.

The Redemptorists proceeded to make

closeness and intimacy with him. She is the model of the ideal Muslim woman because her submission recalls the significance of the word 'Islam'. Scholars underline her dedication to prayer so that she becomes the model of what every believing women should be, not because she is the Mother of God (Theotòkos) but because she is the mother of the human Jesus, the Messiah.

A venerable tradition spanning centuries celebrates Mary in visual art, in shrines constructed in her honour, and in poetry and song. The Quran uses the word 'election', exclusively regarding Mary twice. The first is for her conception, but that does not correspond with our 'Immaculate Conception'. The second is for her mission as mother of the Messiah. Under Zacharias’ care, Mary retreated to the Temple, to “a solitary place to the east”, suggesting the niche where the Quran is housed in a mosque. Muslim women aspire to imitate her dedication and modesty as they face toward Mecca in the daily liturgical prayer. The 'Annunciation' takes the form of a dialogue. God brought about Jesus’ conception directly in Mary’s virginal womb by the very power he used at the Creation. There is no hint of Incarnation here: Jesus is not the Word made flesh, but a mere man, destined to be the prophet foreshadowing Muhammad, yet the Quran defends the doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity.

Islam has a 'blind spot' regarding redemption. It cannot make sense of a just man dying for sinners. God spared Jesus the humiliation of crucifixion, it teaches, elevating him to himself only to return on Judgment Day. “We made the son of Mary and his mother a sign to mankind” (23: 50; 21. 91).

A sign demonstrates God’s providence, the abundance of his blessings. For Christians, this sign points to divine filiation, the mystery of 'the Mother of God', a title that Islam can never dare to pronounce.

Muslim women aspire to imitate Mary's dedication and modesty as they face toward Mecca in the daily liturgical prayer

14

foundations in Iraq, Lebanon and Africa, contacting the Tuareg in the Sahara desert.

They became aware that both Jesus and Mary are mentioned in the Quran, and that Mary is mentioned more often than she is in the New Testament.

The Catholic attitude to Muslims has changed radically. Vatican II’s 'Declaration of the Church’s Relationship to Non-Christian Religions' (Nostra Aetate 3) was a turning point. The theologian Gavin D’Costa notes three new perspectives in the document.

First was the esteem for the moral life within Islam. Second, “the importance of the Virgin Mary to Muslims indicates a shared inheritance and spiritual practice." Third was a clear acknowledgement of the enmity between Christians and Muslims in the past.

The council urged both religions to move forward, to strive for mutual understanding and promote social justice, peace and freedom for all peoples.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE HISTORY OF THE ISLAMIC THEOLOGY OF MARY Islam ascribes to Mary a privileged dignity above all woman. She is honoured under the title of siddiqa, 'the woman of truth', she who is holy because of her submission to God when he revealed that she was to become a mother without male intervention. Many conspicuous medieval Muslim theologians considered her a prophet. Not all scholars shared this opinion, but they did agree that she was God’s 'friend' because of her REALITY JUNE 2018

ISLAMIC DEVOTION TO MARY This leaves a spiritual vacuum at the heart of Islam. Muslims pray five times a day with words and gestures that demand not so much personal devotion, but only rightly performed ritual.

For 1,400 years, the Virgin Mother of God has been present to and accompanied Islam.

Over a thousand million Muslims can be said to know her today. Women in particular seek her intercession for a safe confinement and childbirth. Muslims seek healing through her intercession, and flood to Christian shrines in the Middle East and elsewhere that offer exorcism against physical and spiritual afflictions. Still their popular devotion and feeling for Mary is not that of Catholics. Christ’s Mother can fill the 'piety void' that many Muslims experience. That is why Muslims flock in such crowds to the Perpetual Novena and to Marian shrines throughout the world in their every need and necessity. They share their sorrow, suffering and agony with Our Lady of the Passion who leads them along the Way of the Cross, and meet Christ her Son, the Redeemer they seek in their deepest heart.

History linked the fortune of our icon to Islam, first in Cyprus with the invention of this icon type in 1192 AD, and then in Crete where Andrea Rizzo gave the final configuration to this type of icon in the 15th century. The type of icon is associated, not with Byzantine power, but with moments of agony in the life of simple, downtrodden folk. That really explains why the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour has spread in both east and west. Today God’s grace touches the hearts of Christians and Muslim alike as they pray before her image. Mary is a 'sign' to both religions directing them to Christ, her Son. Muslims too share in the benefits of eternal salvation even while 'invincibly ignorant' of his identity and mission. Mary, the Mother of the most abandoned, will never forsake her children.

An Australian Redemptorist, Professor Terence Kennedy CSsR teaches moral theology at the Alphonsian Academy, Rome, and is author of Doers of the Word

YROTS REVOC

15

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In Tune with the Liturgy A series that highlights some of the features of the Church’s worship in the month ahead

My heart goes on and on...

DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART

ALTHOUGH DEVOTION TO THE HEART OF JESUS IS USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH A SERIES OF REVELATIONS TO A 17TH CENTURY FRENCH NUN, ST MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE, ITS ROOTS REACH DEEP INTO THE BIBLE AND THE CHURCH’S LITURGICAL MEMORY OF THE STORY OF JESUS AND HIS PASSION

BY SARAH ADAMS

In

1997 a film appeared which captured the world for different reasons. Firstly, it involved the true story of the sinking in 1912 of the Titanic, on its maiden voyage, when it hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic.

There were an estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, and more than 1,500 died, making it one of the most fatal peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

Although the Titanic had advanced safety features, such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, she only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—about half the number on board, and one third of her total capacity. The disaster was met with worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life and the

regulatory and operational failures that led to it.

In the film, the sinking of the Titanic is merely the backdrop to a story of love and loss. It won a string of awards including one for ‘My Heart Will Go On’ the leading song of the film. It continues to move people, for whether we like the song or not, it holds within its music a real sense of where true love lies and how love continues even when those we have loved have been lost to us.

Near, far, wherever you are I believe that the heart does go on Once more you open the door and you're here in my heart and my heart will go on and on

LOVING FROM THE HEART Love is rooted in the heart and when we open the door to our heart, love can go on and on. It is why, when love ends, that we talk of a broken heart. When love ends it is deeply painful for that very reason. In Judaism the word ‘heart’ represents the core of the person. Not only is it the principal life organ, it can also be considered

Some images of the Sacred Heart can be over-sentimental and fail to express the much deeper theological content of the devotion

17

In Tune with the Liturgy

18 the centre of all spirituality, the place of all emotion, especially love. Within our Catholic faith, we have a profound understanding of the nature of the heart and where its true essence lies. This is why the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which we celebrate on the second Friday after Pentecost, is such an important one for many Catholics and why the month of June has been dedicated to the Sacred Heart.

Why might this be so? In the first instance we can turn to the Catechism to see what reason the church gives us. There we read: ‘"Devotion to the Sacred Heart is a wonderful historical expression of the Church's piety for Christ, her Spouse and Lord: it calls for a fundamental attitude of conversion and reparation, of love and gratitude, apostolic commitment and dedication to Christ and his saving work." #172 It goes on to say that the Holy See and Bishops recommend and encourage us to participate in this devotion by focusing on iconographic expressions, on its roots in Scripture, its connection with the mysteries of faith and importantly because it affirms the primacy of the love of God and neighbour.

REALITY JUNE 2018

DOES A PICTURE ALWAYS TELL THE STORY? All of this is to be commended but as the church also recognises, particularly in the area of iconography, some of the pictures associated with the Sacred Heart can genuinely put people off. They can diminish an appreciation of the devotion because they do not conform to an individual’s taste, particularly when they seem over-sentimental or graphic in their depiction. As a child, growing up, our family like most Catholic families had a picture of the Sacred Heart hanging prominently in our house. It showed Jesus with a massive heart on the outside with his hand pointing to it and a crown of thorns wrapped around the heart. I found it quite a disturbing image and one which did not draw me to prayer.

As a result for a long period of time I rejected this aspect of my Catholic identity. Whilst I do not believe that I am alone in this, I know that just saying this will bewilder others. The problem, as the church reassuringly identifies, is that some images of the Sacred Heart can be oversentimental and fail to express the much deeper theological content of the devotion. However, if we can move beyond the images when we find

them unpalatable, we will discover a profound richness lying at the heart of the devotion.

Popular piety in many countries is an important aspect of what it means to be a Catholic. It is a way of engaging with faith through highly prized symbols. The heart of Jesus is, for Pope Francis, the ultimate symbol of God’s mercy. This cannot be seen as some kind of imaginary symbol. The heart of Jesus represents the centre, the source from which each and every one of us, the whole of humanity, has been given life.

Within the Gospels, there are many references to the heart of Jesus. What is beautiful about these is that so many of them speak of the heartfelt compassion of this human yet divine being. Jesus encourages us to go to him when we are feeling heavily burdened. He will give us rest. He wants us to learn from him because he is "meek and humble of heart" (Mt 11:28-29). When Jesus meets a woman in Nain as she is about to bury her son, he is moved by great compassion for her (Lk 7:13).

This 'compassion' is God’s love for humanity. It is mercy in all its fullness. It is not sentimental but the attitude of God who is in contact with our vulnerability, our suffering, our anguish and our pain. The mercy of God in this instance raises

the son from the dead. This mercy stems from a merciful heart, a heart that always waits for us, ready to heal our inner wounds, to forgive our sins‌all of them. In a world where there is so much pain and suffering, sin and division, a God with a merciful heart is worth spending time with, worth being devoted to.

become known as the Nine Fridays and the Holy Hour, and asked that the feast of the Sacred Heart be established. At the time her community were sceptical, and she herself was full of anguish but she writes about the Lord promising to send her help to fulfil his mission; that of revealing to the world the unfathomable riches of his love. This help came in the form of a Jesuit spiritual director, St Claude de la Colombière SJ. A gifted man himself, he recognised the authenticity of her visions and helped her to spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, so that others including ourselves would come to know the enormous love of Jesus, and the depths of his mercy in the Eucharist.

This devotion to the Sacred Heart was fostered by the Jesuits and was officially recognised by the church 75 years later.

From those early beginnings there has been an ever deepening understanding of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As we strive to appreciate the great

A devotion that was to become known as the Nine Fridays and the Holy Hour ST MARGARET MARY To understand the feast of the Sacred Heart further it is worth looking to the life of St Mary Margaret Alacoque, a Visitation Sister who lived in 17th century France.

From the time she was 22 she experienced visions of Christ, and on December 27, 1673, she began a series of revelations that were to continue over the next year and a half. In them, Christ informed her that she was his chosen instrument to spread devotion to his Sacred Heart, instructed her in a devotion that was to

mystery it contains, we grow more fully in our desire to live this mercy, this compassion, this love of God in our relationships. Family, neighbours, the wider world all need to experience the love which flows from the heart of God. In Jesus, God has opened a heart where the love just goes on and on. We who experience this in the Eucharist, in our prayer, in the sacramental life of the church, are given the grace to let this love flow from us so that all can come to know the mercy and the compassion of Jesus.

The film Titanic is at the end of the day just another love story, with, in this case, an unhappy ending. The love story of Jesus is anything but. It is a true manifestation of an open heart where the love truly goes on and on. We are invited to enter in so that we may experience it in its fullness.

Sarah Adams studied liturgical theology at Maynooth. She now lives in Devon, working for the Diocese of Plymouth as a Religious Education adviser.

F E AT U R E

EMBRACING CHANGE

The Gift of a Gay Son 20

EMBRACING CHANGE CAN BE DIFFICULT, YET REWARDING, WHEN THE SCALES FALL AWAY AND SLOWLY ONE BEGINS TO GROW BY CONFRONTING PREJUDICE AND IGNORANCE.

BY GEMMA

My

name is Gemma and I'm widowed many years. I have three sons and a daughter; my eldest son Andrew is married and I have three grandchildren. Almost 18 years ago now, my second son Steven, then 26, went to live in Australia. I knew most of Steven's

Almost two years later Steven was returning for a holiday, and a few weeks earlier he had sent photos over the internet of himself and his friend smiling, side by side, close – very close.

Steven was home for a few days.

I noticed he was making quite a few calls to Australia. My first thought was that the bill would be sky high. Slowly it began to dawn on me: the photos, the phone calls, and the anxiety the evening before he went abroad to make sure his friend would be at the airport.

I rang my friend Brian, aware that he had a gay son. I told him I was 99 per cent sure Steven was gay. He agreed with my gut instinct, saying “We will pray for

“Mam,” he said, “I feared you might reject me, but deep down I knew you wouldn't.” friends, but he was going with a friend I had never met: “no, there wouldn't be time to meet him, he lived outside of Dublin.”

I was told they were meeting at the airport, and I was working that day.

REALITY JUNE 2018

an opening, so he can tell you.”

“YOU CAN TELL ME” Three days before his departure, Steven came into the kitchen.

His opening words were, “When I return to Australia, I think I'll do a course in psychology. It may help me solve some of my problems.”

“Problems ?” I repeated, “could you tell me? Anyway, perhaps I already know.” “Okay”, he said, “if you know, you tell me.”

“No,” I said, “trust me, you can tell me.”

Then, with tears in his eyes and deep emotion, he spoke the words: “Mam, I'm gay.”

With feelings of love and pain I embraced him saying, “Steven you know I love you.”

“Mam,” he said, “I feared you

F EAT U R E

might reject me, but deep down I knew you wouldn't.” Then he told me about his partner, saying the reason they had gone abroad was to make a new life together.

“Wait till you meet him, he has a lovely smile,” he told me. I guess I knew that.

I told him he had to be true to himself, and said I knew how lonely life can be lacking intimacy. I admired his courage in coping. But I was sad he hadn't told me sooner.

Explaining his sexual orientation, he used the analogy of a football pitch, saying if there was a beautiful actress

in one corner and a handsome male footballer in the other, he would always be drawn towards the male.

Searching for a reason, I spoke about how things happen in nature beyond our control, mentioning for example a member of our wider family with a disability. He was taken aback. I felt I had unintentionally hurt Steven. Thankfully he was patient with my ignorance, and we continued to talk. We decided who to tell and who not to tell.

The next day while Steven was demonstrating the new

lawnmower he had bought me, the phone rang. I could hear him saying “It's okay, Mam knows.” I was called to the phone. Well it's amazing how much one can converse on the workings of a lawnmower!

While his older brother took the news in his stride, his younger brother was devastated. Claire is nine years younger than Steven and they were always close. He wanted to tell her himself, but I regret to say I did not honour his decision when I blurted it out.

For Claire, her brother hadn't changed. He was still the same brother she always loved. She

bought a present for his partner, and kissing Steven goodbye her parting words were “tell him I was asking for him.”

A TIME OF GROWTH Brian, in his wisdom, advised me not to tell people until I was ready. But all was not well as I tried to accept my new reality. I felt depressed, and my mind was racing. I was full of fear about AIDS, society and the church. I felt isolated, confused as to how I now felt about Steven. One nightmare showed me stitched in a shroud. The pain ran very deep.

Posed by models

21

F E AT U R E

Posed by models

22

I knew I needed help. I rang a priest seeking his advice. He said “Come to me.” Before embarking on a trip to Australia, I went on retreat.

A Dominican sister's comforting words are imprinted on my mind:

time before moving in with him.

I was very moved when Steven shared this part of his life with me – when Warren returned from a visit to his parents in the Philippines he had difficulty sleeping. Steven

I felt depressed, and my mind was racing. I was full of fear about AIDS, society and the church “Gemma, God loves your son.”

Steven assured me beforehand, sensitive to where I was at, that they wouldn’t be going around holding hands.

Sadly, after a few years they parted. Steven was devastated, and his friends Tony and Barbara took him into their home and cared for him. Some time passed. Steven met Warren, and said he would take his REALITY JUNE 2018

said, “I went to his apartment to take care of him. I lay on the bed beside him, until he went asleep, then I left quietly.”

The first time they came for a holiday, the whole family was at the airport, nine of us in all. I remember the excitement that day, Claire and I in competition to reach Steven first; she won, and then I was holding Warren in my arms.

REACHING OUT Over the years many parents received support at weekends for parents of LGBT sons or daughters in Knocklayd, County Antrim.

My friend Brian invited another friend Noel and me to go along.

It's interesting to note the seeds for these weekends were sown during a Scripture sharing on a Lectio Divina weekend. Reaching across the religious divide, the love we shared for our sons and daughters was palpable in that large room.

Language such as “intrinsically evil” and “disordered”, we found most unhelpful. It angered, disgusted and hurt us as we sought the best way forward to support our LGBT sons and daughters.

The third weekend the facilitator posed the question: “Well what are you three going to do for parents

down south?” Filled with a sense of joy, I made the decision to reach out.

The following week I plucked up courage and met with a priest in my parish. Hearing my story he said “Your son sounds like a maturing young man.” Cloaking our story with dignity, his parting words were, “It's good to meet an Easter person.” He also encouraged myself and two other parents (Noel and Brian) to commit some of our aims to writing and help support other parents. This is how the LEAF (Love Empathy Acceptance and Freedom) literature came about.

Many times we felt we were being guided by Providence. It led us to spend time at gatherings of a spiritual gay group. They shared their giftedness and creativity

with art, dance, knowledge of the environment, and much more.

a bit angry at the church.” “Then where does your son live?” I told him, and he said that was the next parish to his, 10 minutes by car. “Tell your son he is most welcome in my church,” he said.

I wrote and told them the good news. Going to church with them was a time of great joy, and Fr John shared his homily on a church of indiscriminate welcome.

For me my home is the domestic church, with a round table – a place of indiscriminate welcome. My love for Steven deepened. He doesn't have to do anything to make me proud of him. He is good enough as he is and a worthwhile person as he is. I love him to the core of his being. Warren is a lovely person, a

Language such as “intrinsically evil” and “disordered”, we found most unhelpful DOMESTIC CHURCH I had many encounters along the way. I met a priest who imparted this message: “When a son or daughter tells their parents they are gay, these parents should go out and buy them a special gift.” Fr John, visiting from Australia, celebrated Mass at the prayer group. Over a cup of tea, I told him about my forthcoming trip to Sydney and about Steven. I was surprised by his first question, “Does your son go to Mass?” “Well, to tell you the truth Father,” I said, “he's

great addition to our family. We all really like him, and my grandchildren treat him like a favourite uncle.

Through reading and discussion, I have reached the understanding that a person who is gay can only truly relate to God as a spiritually gay person, giving of his or her total being. My experience has enriched my life, challenged my attitudes and inspired me to interpret my faith in a new way. Receiving the gift of a gay son challenged my Gospel values. It has changed me utterly.

Steven has shown me life is not black and white. To live fully, one must embrace the grey. Continuing my journey I strive to afford dignity to all I meet.

I am happy to say Steven and Warren celebrated the 11 th anniversary of their relationship recently. David, Steven's younger

brother, became one of my greatest helpers, supporting our work and printing LEAF literature.

Working within the framework of the church has always been important for me. It's about building up the church, not tearing it down, and inclusion – the basics of Christianity. I operate from a place of love and mystery, from the unknowing depths of our Creator. I take solace from the words of Psalm 119 – “Accept Yahweh the tribute from my mouth, and teach me your judgements”; “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Gemma prefers to be anonymous. If you would like to speak to other parents about the sexual orientation of a son or daughter, please contact the editor of Reality at editor@ redcoms.org. We will be happy to put you in touch with LEAF, empathic listening support by parents for parents. Confidentiality is assured.

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THE LOST HOPE OF

��68

24 IT IS 50 YEARS SINCE ROBERT KENNEDY DIED, AND WITH HIM DIED MANY OF THE HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS OF A GENERATION OF YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

BY GERARD MOLONEY CSsR

On

the evening of April 4, 1968, while on his way to give a campaign speech in Indianapolis, Indiana, Robert Kennedy was told the news that the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr had been assassinated. Shocked and horrified, Kennedy knew that the murder of the civil rights leader would lead to an explosion of anger and grief by African-Americans across the United States.

1968 was already turning into one of the most tumultuous years of a tumultuous decade. In a country bitterly divided by the calamitous war in Vietnam, with racial tensions simmering, and a counter-

REALITY JUNE 2018

cultural movement with the slogan ‘turn on, tune in and drop out’ on the rise across colleges and universities, King’s death would add yet another level of disharmony, uncertainty and discord.

Kennedy knew that among those gathering to hear him speak in Indianapolis that night were many African-Americans, and that he simply couldn’t deliver a standard stump speech. His audience wouldn’t know that King was dead (no social media in those days), and so he would have to choose his words carefully.

He would have to inform them of the tragedy while at the same time seeking

to comfort and calm them. As a candidate for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, he would have to try to reassure a shocked and fractured nation.

Kennedy hastily scribbled down some words, and then, given the circumstances and his lack of time to prepare, delivered what is considered to be one of the great speeches of the 20th century. He spoke of the need for love and unity, for justice and forgiveness. He appealed for a new togetherness in America. He spoke, slowly and deliberately, from his own experience of suffering and loss. He spoke to people from the heart. Widespread rioting took

25

AN N I V E R S A RY

26

DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS Robert Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King could hardly have come from more different backgrounds, yet by early 1968 they shared much in common. King was a 39-year-old Baptist preacher from the segregated deep South.

He knew from raw experience the reality of racial discrimination and injustice.

Ken n e dy w a s a 42-year-old Catholic from Boston’s elite.

Growing up, he had been introduced to presidents, professors and popes. After Reverend Martin Luther King Jr graduating from high school, King went to place in cities throughout America that Bible college and then took custody of a little night and in the days that followed, but church in Montgomery, Alabama. He had no Indianapolis remained calm. No violence grand ambitions beyond caring for his flock. took place there. Kennedy’s audience had Kennedy went to Harvard, and practised heeded his words.

Tragically, just 61 days later, Robert Kennedy was himself assassinated. 1968 had become one of the darkest years of all.

Watching the speech from the Oval Office that day were Robert and John Kennedy. Both were worried about the prospect of violence, but the march was peaceful REALITY JUNE 2018

both law and journalism, before becoming immersed in Democratic politics. Known for his tenacity and ruthlessness, he helped run his brother John’s presidential election campaign in 1960 and then, ignoring claims of nepotism, was appointed attorney general in his brother’s administration.

King was a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, a long-established lobby group that worked for civil rights but that had achieved modest success. All that changed, however, with the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott began in December 1955 when an African-American seamstress, Rosa Parks, refused to give up her seat in a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white person. It lasted over a year and is regarded as the first large-scale US demonstration against segregation.

Though still only in his mid-20s, Martin Luther King’s charismatic personality and oratorical skills came to the fore during the boycott, and a new civil rights movement, called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, began to coalesce around him.

In the months and years that followed, he became the voice and moral conscience of a non-violent direct action movement that swept across the country, all the way to

Three brothers: Robert (Bobby), Ted and John Kennedy

27 Washington, DC where he made his famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech to hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on August 28, 1963. Watching the speech from the Oval Office that day were Robert and John Kennedy.

Both were worried about the prospect of violence, but the march was peaceful.

That was not the case with other protests, however. The civil rights movement had led to violent clashes across the southern states as local authorities tried to hold back the tide of progress. Activists were killed, black churches attacked, demonstrators water-cannoned and beaten. King himself was constantly harassed and even imprisoned for a time. He was well aware that white supremacists and groups of Klansmen were constantly stalking him.

COMMON CAUSE Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King came to know each other during these years as the attorney general tried to deal with the unrest sparked by King’s movement. While President Kennedy nudged a reluctant congress to pass civil rights legislation, his brother used the federal

authorities to try to maintain peace, enforce court decisions, and protect civil rights campaigners.

In the grief that followed John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, President Johnson was able to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. Desegregation in schools, in universities, in transportation and public gathering places gathered pace, while the Voting Rights Act ensured the right to vote of all citizens, regardless of race or means. New social security legalisation

VIETNAM In 1964, Robert Kennedy was elected to congress as senator for New York. He had been an advocate of the war in Vietnam but, by early 1967, as American troop levels in Vietnam topped 400,000 and the bombing of North Vietnam intensified with no end in sight, Kennedy changed his mind.

He became a vocal critic of the war. He called on Johnson to stop the bombing and negotiate for peace. Martin Luther King had taken the same

Like King, it seemed to Kennedy that, little more than a century after the catastrophic civil war, the country was again on the edge of war with itself and domestic spending programmes were also introduced as part of President Johnson’s vision of the Great Society.

It was a triumph for the civil rights movement as well as for Robert Kennedy and his fallen brother, yet racial tensions and violence escalated throughout the 1960s rather than receded. America’s deepening involvement in the Vietnam War made the climate even more combustible.

stance a couple of months earlier. King had concluded that the war was not only morally unjust, but was also having a disproportionate impact on the poor. With Johnson’s popularity plummeting, and furious anti-war demonstrations fanning across the land, pressure grew on Robert Kennedy to run against Johnson in 1968. It was a pressure that in the end he couldn’t refuse.

On March 16, 1968, Kennedy announced his candidacy for president (campaigns were much

A N N IV E R S A RY

1925

ROBERT KENNEDY'S TIMELINE Robert Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, to Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy. He was the seventh of nine children His father served as an ambassador to Britain.

The family led a wealthy and privileged life.

1946

In 1946, he left the Navy and joined Harvard.

Graduating with a degree in political science, he later joined the law school at the University of Virginia.

1950

In 1950, he married Ethel Skakel. They had 11 children.

1951

He joined the Navy as a seaman apprentice, but did not get an opportunity to fight in the Second World War. His brother Joseph was killed in that war.

In 1951, he passed the Massachusetts bar exam, and joined the criminal division of the US Department of Justice, but resigned after one year to campaign for his brother’s senate election.

1960

In 1960, he campaigned for his brother John F. Kennedy for presidential election. He was his brother’s chief campaign manager.

1961

28

He was appointed as the US attorney general in 1961. The justice department worked effectively under his leadership and the convictions against organised crime surged by 800 per cent during his tenure.

1964

After his brother’s assassination, in 1964 he was elected to the senate from New York

1968

As the attorney general, he was committed to helping African-Americans win the right to vote. He sent US Marshals and troops to Oxford, Mississippi to enforce the court order of admitting the first African-American student.

In 1968, he tried for the Democratic presidential nomination. He won the primaries in Indiana and Nebraska, but was shot dead shortly after his victory in the primary in California.

REALITY JUNE 2018

shorter in those days) and within two weeks a weary Johnson announced that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election.

Kennedy made clear that he was running not just as an anti-war candidate. Like Martin Luther King, he was horrified by the deepening divisions in the country – the poverty, decay and lack of investment that had already led to rioting in dozens of major cities; the hunger and neglect he encountered in parts of rural America; the disruption and dissent that were engulfing college campuses and universities; the heightened racial tensions made worse by segregationist Governor George Wallace’s entry into the presidential race. Like King, it seemed to Kennedy that, little more than a century after the catastrophic civil war, the country was again on the edge of war with itself.

ASSASSINATION From the get-go, Robert Kennedy’s campaign attracted the support of many young people and African-Americans as well as many in the anti-war movement.

As he crisscrossed the country, campaigning

first in Indiana where he was to speak on the night Martin Luther King was killed, opinion polls showed he would go into the Democratic convention in Chicago with a good chance of becoming the party’s presidential nominee. He won in Indiana and then in Nebraska but lost to another antiwar candidate, Senator Eugene McCarthy, in Oregon. Victory in California would increase his chances substantially. Just after midnight on June 5, when it became clear that he had indeed won the California primary,

My brother need not be idealised, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it Ted Kennedy

Bobby Kennedy climbed the podium in the Ambassador Hotel ballroom in Los Angeles to the cheers of his supporters. Minutes later, he was taking a shortcut through the hotel kitchen to a press room when he was shot three times by a young Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan. He died early in the morning of June 6, 1968.

Crowds gather to hear Bobby speak

LEGACY Two days later, Robert Kennedy’s funeral Mass took place at St Patrick’s cathedral in New York. His younger, and sole surviving, b r o t h e r Te d , delivered the eulogy.

His words summed up the life of a man whose deep Catholic faith and life experience had fired his political vision and compelled him to work for the cause of peace, harmony and social justice.

“My brother need not be idealised, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will someday come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’”

These same words could have been used also to describe the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. History will never know what would have unfolded had assassins’ bullets not felled Kennedy and King in that awful year of 1968.

But there’s no doubting that America and the world were deeply damaged by their loss. To many during those dark days, it seemed like the lamp of hope had been switched off. Fifty years later, racial harmony and social justice in America and elsewhere seem as elusive as in that difficult decade. Fifty years later, the causes to which they committed their lives remain as urgent. Fifty years later, the dream they articulated with such clarity and vision continues to inspire others, and always will.

Robert Kennedy's memorial card Fr Gerard Moloney CSsR is a former editor of Reality. He has a life-long interest in American political history.

29

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COM M E N T FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

WHEN YOU CHANGE, YOU CHANGE OTHERS

IS THERE ANY POINT IN NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS, OR RESOLUTIONS MADE AT ANY OTHER TIME OF YEAR? A SURVEY DISCOVERED THAT JUST 8 PER CENT OF IRISH PEOPLE MANAGE TO KEEP THEIR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

Are you one of the many people who made a list of new year resolutions that you didn’t really expect to keep? Did you plan to make some changes but only succeed for a short time before you let things slide? Or are you a highly motivated person who has clarity about setting specific goals, focused on the positive outcomes that you are totally responsible for achieving.

I did a brief Google search to see if I could I find research on why people fail to follow through on the resolutions they make. What I hoped to find were research studies explaining that the wording used in a resolution influences whether people succeed or fail to keep resolutions. I was disappointed not to find one.

A resolution such as “I want to get on better with my family” sounds positive but there's a lack of clarity. Words have power.

The personal expectations generated by that one word 'better' can influence how motivated a person is to look for change. Success is measured against criteria. A positive change will only be recognised when it has a baseline. What needs to happen to be better than what I have now?

The possibility of success with a resolution that involves other family members is not high.

Motivation always involves what is known as WIIFM (What’s in it

for me?). The good intention to improve a relationship, sounds admirable. The determination to put the work in, to take the necessary steps to improve a relationship, will be powerfully influenced by the perceived benefits that offer the person making the resolution what he or she wants.

An Irish Mirror survey found that just 8 per cent of Irish people manage to keep new year resolutions for a whole year - and almost half don't make resolutions. That is not unlike what American researchers discovered. They looked at the success rates of people's resolutions and found that approximately 50 per cent of the population make resolutions each new year.

In the Journal of Clinical Psychology researcher John Norcross and his colleagues published their findings. They found that the first two weeks usually go along beautifully. By February, people are backsliding and many are back where they started by December.

Timothy Pychyl, a professor of psychology at Carleton University in Canada, says that resolutions are a form of "cultural procrastination", an effort to reinvent oneself.

People make resolutions as a way of motivating themselves.

He argues that people aren't

ready to change their habits, particularly bad habits, and that accounts for the high failure rate.

The lack of clarity about the benefits to be gained is one reason why people fail to keep working on resolutions for more than a month or two before giving up. When the WIIFM, the expected outcome of success, is not as rewarding as expected, motivation declines and people stop making the effort.

It was interesting that the most helpful suggestion from the website of the American Psychological Association was to have a support network.

Their focus was on goals rather than resolutions. “Whether it is friends or family members, having someone there to remind you of your goals can motivate you to stay focused and positive along the way.”

As a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) I never cease to be amazed at the power of words. A person can understand every word in a sentence but fail to understand what the speaker intended to communicate. You may understand every word in the sentence, “I love you”, but your emotional response to those words will depend on who said them.

The same words, "I love you", said to a sibling, a friend and a spouse communicate very different messages. The meaning

of communication is the response you get and if you’re not getting the response you want, leave other people alone.

You have to change what you say and how you say it.

Too often in life we blame others for making us feel happy, angry or put down because we have expectations of how we want people to treat us. When they meet or exceed our expectations we respond with happy feelings.

If they fail to live up to what we expect we react with negative feelings.

People don’t know what you don’t tell them. A fragmentary description such as “I want a better relationship!” is lacking in any specific information about what needs to happen for the relationship to change for the better. In my Google search I came across this definition: “A resolution is the action of solving a problem, dispute, or contentious matter”. Family relationships change when you do something different. Change your behaviour and you change how others respond. A family where everyone felt loved unconditionally would be fantastic but that might take a miracle.

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

31

Praying with the Rosary – The First Luminous Mystery prayer corner

The Baptism of the Lord ONE OF THE DISCIPLES RECALLS JESUS’ BAPTISM BY JOHN, THE FIRST OF THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT. YOU CAN KEEP YOUR BIBLE HANDY, MARKED AT MARK 1:9; MATTHEW 3:7-17; AND LUKE 3: 21

BY GEORGE WADDING CSsR

I 32

was not one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, but I was a disciple of his from his baptism in the river Jordan until his death on Calvary, and I still am to this day. People often ask me about the Lord’s baptism so I will attempt to recount what I witnessed so many years ago.

But first a word about baptism itself. For years before Jesus Christ, baptism was used as a symbol of repentance in our land. John the Baptist had close ties with a Jewish religious community that lived in the desert, at a place called Qumran, and they practised a form of baptism. One of their rule-books stated that mere washing couldn’t really cleanse a person spiritually, but only by submitting to God’s will could a person become clean. Their rite of baptism was a token of the sincere inner disposition of repentance. That is what John preached: “Repent and be baptised!” And my goodness, could he preach! He was fearless. He didn’t mince his words.

JOHN THE PREACHER When some people came for baptism because they thought it was the popular thing to do, I heard him lambaste them: “Brood of snakes!

What do you think you're doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to deflect God's judgment? It's your life that must change, not your skin. Don't think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as your father. Being a child of Abraham is neither here nor there—children

REALITY JUNE 2018

of Abraham are a penny a dozen. God can make children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life. Is it green and blossoming? Because if it's deadwood, it goes on the fire.”

In other words, John was telling them, God looks beyond your words and your religious practices, in the Temple or anywhere else, to see if your conduct backs up what you say and he judges your words by the actions that accompany them.

John wasn’t just a firebrand preacher. He could also be practical and down to earth.

When the crowd asked him, “Then what are we supposed to do?” “If you have two coats, give one away to the person who has none,” he said. “Do the same with your food.”

Tax men also came to be baptised and said, “Teacher, what should we do?” He told them, “No more extortion – collect only what is required by law.”

Soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “No shakedowns, no blackmail – and be content with your pay.” Then, to cap it all, he publicly rebuked King Herod for his adulterous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. When the truth was at stake, the Baptist was fearless and on fire DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE Crowds were converging on the place where John was baptising. I travelled with a group from Galilee which included Jesus of Nazareth.

We spent some days there listening to John.

The atmosphere was electric. The people were wondering if John might be the Christ, the Messiah. But John quickly scuppered that notion. “No,” he said, “I am not the Messiah.

The Messiah is on his way, and I tell you, I am not worthy to untie that man’s sandals. I am just a voice, he is the Word; I am a voice sent to prepare a path for the Word. I baptise with water; he will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire, with real power to help you live your reformed lives or power to blow you away like chaff if you renege on your promises to God.” In the end, all our group from Galilee went to be baptised. We understood that John’s baptism with water was but a kind of receipt for genuine repentance. So, we expected to be challenged by him and we were. When Jesus’ turn came, John didn’t challenge him. Quite the opposite, in fact! He protested, “No! I’m the one who needs to be baptised, by you!”

But Jesus insisted. “Do it, John. This is the way God wants it to be.” So John did it. The moment Jesus came up out of the water, a dove seemed to hover over his head, the clouds parted and a voice was heard out of the clouds, “You are my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

SOLIDARITY WITH SINNERS Later, John admitted that until that moment he had not understood that Jesus was the Messiah.

He had seen the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove, but – he said – “I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, ‘the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God” (John 1: 30-31).

Afterwards, when we recognised that Jesus truly was the Son of God, the sinless one, we realised that he did not need to undergo this sign of repentance. By deliberately letting himself be baptised by John, he was identifying with sinners and with those poor innocent people like the blind and lame who were classified as sinners by self-righteous legalists.

In his own ministry later on, Jesus would not only preach conversion and justice, he would act on his own words, he would dine with tax

collectors, he would touch the untouchables and let the prostitutes and other ‘sinners’ touch him. By his easy acceptance of Samaritans and gentiles he censored the racial and religious prejudices of his contemporaries. He forgave the cowardice and betrayal of his apostles. And if Judas had come to him, Jesus would have forgiven him too.

Jesus was clearly deeply impressed by his visit to his cousin on the riverbank. It was the catalyst that launched him on his own mission.

The day after his Father spoke of Jesus from heaven, John the Baptist formally identified him as the Messiah, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (cf. John 1:29). On John’s advice some of us then followed Jesus as his disciples and Jesus began choosing his own inner circle of apostles.

For a brief period, Jesus exercised a Baptistlike mission in Judea while the Baptist himself continued his own mission around Samaria (cf. John 3: 20 & 4:2). But not for long. John was executed as a result of a foolish pledge made by King Herod during a drunken orgy.

This was the signal for Jesus to strike out on his own, away from the desert; he did not baptise any more but went to preach the Good News, and to heal in the towns and villages of Galilee.

His immediate task would be to gather the rest of his team to instruct and train them for their mission. His message was the same as that preached by his cousin John – repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Like John, he preached with great power, but above all, he preached with authority, he forgave sins in his own name, and the many signs and wonders he worked confirmed his identity as the beloved Son of God. Nonetheless, though “his state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are…” (Cf. Phil. 2:6f).

His baptism was the hallmark for his entire mission. At his baptism he showed that he doesn’t stand apart from us. He places himself beside us as a brother.

Fr George Wadding CSsR is a member of the Redemptorist Community at Dun Mhuire, Griffith Avenue, Dublin. He is the author of Praying with St Gerard, the Family Saint (available from Redemptorist Communications).

33

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34

€5 REALITY JUNE 2018

Venerable Mary Potter pray for us

NOV E N A

THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL NOVENA WITH A TOTAL CATHOLIC POPULATION OF ONLY 145,000, SINGAPORE HOSTS ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN ASIA EACH WEEK. IT IS THE PERPETUAL NOVENA IN HONOUR OF OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP.

BY BRENDAN McCONVERY CSsR

35

Catholics

are only 3.7 per cent of the total population of Singapore (5.6 million), but one of the most popular residential areas is called Novena. An underground rail stop is also called Novena, and one of its most popular upmarket shopping malls is Novena Square.

They all take their name from the popular Catholic devotion in the nearby Redemptorist church of St Alphonsus – the Perpetual Novena in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Help that draws crowds in this melting pot of a city, where almost three quarters of the population is Chinese, 13 per cent Malayan and almost 10 per cent Indian. In religious

terms, one third are Buddhists, 14 per cent are Muslims and Catholics are only a small part of the Christian population.

Each Saturday, six sessions of the novena are celebrated in English between 8am and 5.30pm, with an afternoon session in Mandarin for the Chinese community in this multi-racial city. In addition to the sessions

at the Shrine, the Redemptorists also conduct weekly novenas at three Catholic schools in the city. The Sunday Vigil Mass is celebrated at 6.30 in the evening.

BEGINNINGS According to the monastery chronicle for January 1949, “this month finds the Perpetual Novena to our Lady of Perpetual

N OVE N A

36

Help taking shape in our little chapel. Small beginnings.”

The Redemptorists had arrived in Singapore in 1935. From 1942 until 1945, Singapore, part of what was then known as British Malaya, was occupied by the Japanese. The members of the small community were interned in the Changi prisoner of war camp. One of them, Fr John Kennedy, worked as a prisoner for years on the Burma railway.

He and other Redemptorists continued their mission as best they could among the prisoners.

Another of them, Brother Denis Cassin, was able to claim Irish nationality, and so was allowed to remain free throughout the occupation. He was born in Inistioge in Co Kilkenny in 1897.

He lived in the cathedral, and his devotion to the Mass astonished the French Archbishop. Brother Denis’s peaceful demeanour calmed more than one crisis between the Japanese army and the local Chinese population.

A small group of Redemptorists was able to move to a new house on Thompson Road in 1948. In their small chapel, the

The 'Novena' church in Singapore

REALITY JUNE 2018

first novena congregation of 80 people gathered. Within a few years, they had built a larger church, and the crowds coming to the novena continued to swell. A newspaper report from 1957 records: "Every Saturday between 1 o’clock in the afternoon and 7 o’clock in the evening, 8,000 people pack a little chapel, popularly called the Novena Chapel, in Thomson Road, Singapore. Among them are Chinese, Malays, Indians, Sikhs, Europeans and Eurasians - people of all races. There are taxi drivers, business executives, students, housewives, men and women of all professions and every conceivable walk of life found in cosmopolitan Singapore.

Despite their difference in race and age, colour and circumstance, these men and women have come to the little Chapel on the hill with one common purpose: to pour out their troubled hearts. Some are sick. Some are separated from their families. Others are either

homeless, jobless, childless or penniless. With a little prayer in their hearts they make their way to the shrine of the Virgin Mary at the altar. There into a little box inscribed with the words – TO OUR MOTHER OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR – PETITIONS AND THANKSGIVINGS – they place their individually written petitions and pray that they may be answered.”

THE NOVENA TODAY A new church was built in 1950.

Over the years it was expanded to accomodate the growing number of devotees. Even with pews added to the verandas, the attendance at the novena sessions and Masses spilled over into the courtyards. By the early 1990s, 15,000 devotees or more were attending the ten sessions every Saturday, and it was imperative to build a new church. After almost three years of extensive renovation during which time the novena continued elsewhere, the church was reop ened in October, 2017.

PETITIONS AND THANKSGIVINGS One of the features of the novena, wherever it is celebrated, are the prayers of petition and thanksgiving submitted by Mary’s clients. Between 700 to 800 letters of petition and thanksgiving are received each week at the Singapore shrine, and not all of them are from Catholics. These are typical of those which come every day into the petition box at the shrine. People who make the novena regularly in Ireland will find the sentiments expressed very familiar.

My father’s knee has been hurting for some time and has caused him difficulties in walking. Please help to ease his pain. I also pray that both my parents will join me one day in the Catholic church.

Dear Mother, it has been 10 years since my son left the church. I ask for your special intercession for him to return to the sacrament of reconciliation and to draw closer to your Son, our Lord Jesus.

Devotion to our Mother of Perpetual Help is continually gro

owing

Dear Mother, I am distraught and desperate because my son’s marriage is on the brink of a divorce. Please extend your motherly intervention and intercede to save their marriage.

Dearest Mother Mary, My husband and I have been coming to your shrine for many years and you have always fulfilled our requests through your blessing and prayers. My husband and I would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for always being there for us when we needed your help.

Your Non-Catholic Children.

Dearest Mother Mary, This thanksgiving letter is long overdue. When I was younger, I used to attend the Novena regularly. But over the years as I got more successful in my career, I started to miss the Saturday Novena and finally stopped attending. In 2012, I lost my well-paying job that I had worked for 13 years. I was out of a job, I was past 50 and

my last drawn salary probably put off many employers. A few months after I lost my job, I met one of my cousins who had been attending the Novena all his life and suggested that I should come back to pray to you for your help and intercession, which I did. I came to your shrine and prayed for a new job. Within a few months, I found a job. The Lord had blessed me and I thank you and your Son, our Lord for his blessing. Five years passed and I have the privilege of seeing your home being transformed into what it is today. Mother, I also want to thank you and your Son, our Lord, for the many blessings you have showered on me and my family. We are grandparents of a beautiful 2-year-old grand-daughter, with another one due in March. We thank you and pray to you for your continued prayers and intercession that the Lord will continue to bless us with a happy and closed knitted family. Your loving son.

© Courtesy of Scala News

THROUGH MARY TO JESUS It has been estimated that up to 50 per cent of those attending the novena are not Catholic.

Although people of all faiths are welcome, many of these nonChristian devotees of Mary have felt drawn to the church, and St Alphonsus organises two groups of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) each year – one in English and the other in Mandarin.

Every conversion story is unique, but they sometimes share the same elements. John for example, is now 65, and has been attending the novena since his student days. He was fascinated, he says, by the prayers, sermons and music and especially by the serene environment of the church. He continues to attend the novena services unless he is overseas or is unwell. He was baptised in 2006 after he married his Catholic wife.

Serin Lee, 27, started attending the novena in an attempt to find peace after a failed relationship.

She had previously gone to Protestant churches but always felt intimidated there. When she

The Singapore subway system with the 'novena' stop

came to the novena, she felt at peace there from the beginning.

That kept her returning and she was baptised in 2006.

Twenty-four-year-old Ivan Lee also felt that the atmosphere of Novena Church put his heart at ease from the first time he accompanied a friend some four years ago. He knew that many non-Catholics frequented the novena so he was less hesitant in going, but he felt himself grow closer to the Christian faith through his growing relationship with his Mother Mary. He is now preparing for baptism through the RCIA programme.

37

I acknowledge gratefully the help of the members of the Singapore Redemptorist Community and Grace Foo in compiling this article.

Fr Brendan McConvery CSsR is editor of Reality.

© Courtesy of Scala News

NEW TITLE FROM REDEMPTORIST COMMUNICATIONS Redemptorist Communications and Veritas are very pleased to collaborate on Pope Francis: Follow His Call. Divided into four sections, this full-colour copublication examines a number of key topics – family; social justice; the environment; and the centrality of Mary to the Christian prayer tradition – that have all been particularly close to Pope Francis’ heart since he became pontiff.

In language that is both engaging and accessible, Pope Francis: Follow His Call provides a clear-sighted account of Francis’ teachings. This inspiring resource also invites Christians to take up Pope Francis’ invitation to embrace their faith, to proclaim the Good News of the Gospels and to stand in solidarity with all those who feel hurt, lost or abandoned in the world today.

A perfect resource to help prepare for Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland and 2018 World Meeting of Families. Also, an excellent book for personal reflection and as a parish resource for community prayer.

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F E AT U R E

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BY NEASA NÍ ARGADÁIN

On

a cold morning in October, I found myself in St Patrick's College, Maynooth attending the RE (Religious Education) Congress. In a previous life I had worked in the area of religious education and faith development, and despite being currently a full-time mammy, I retain a keen interest in the field.

I especially wanted to hear the keynote speaker, Patricia Kieran, deliver a paper entitled ‘Supporting inter-religious and inter-cultural learning from a Christian perspective’. Trish was excellent and spoke with an authenticity that emanated from her bones. She also used a video clip from Pope Francis' Prayer Intention for January 2016 which everyone should see (Google 'Pope Francis' Prayer Intention January 2016'). I'll let the clip speak for itself.

But my real learning that day was yet to come.

I wandered into a workshop on the spirituality of young children facilitated by the national director for catechetics, Kate Liffey. At one point we were encouraged to share our thoughts on the spirituality of the children we know with our neighbour in the next seat. My partner was a young priest with a Northern lilt and I shocked myself when I heard myself say “I have a child with the gift of Down Syndrome.”

I think I may have shocked him a little too.

It was a moment of revelation for me, a most

unexpected epiphany as I heard myself say what I didn’t even know I believed.

Our third daughter, Sadhbh, was born in November 2013 with Trisomy 21, most commonly known as Down Syndrome. Even before she was born we were warned how difficult this might be; possible heart defects, eye problems, thyroid issues, intestinal difficulties, delayed speech, sleep apnoea, awkward movement… the list goes on.

Nobody told us about the gifts that extra chromosome so often brings with it. Nobody mentioned the enhanced empathy, the stunning smiles, the open immediate warmth and acceptance, the heightened intuition that allows Sadhbh to tune into another’s distress and seek to relieve it. No medics told us that our child would have an extra capacity for joy and laughter and humour, that she would see the fun and goodness in everyone first, that she would light up our lives every day with her quirky emotional intelligence.

No one advised us that our child would be able to bring out the best in each of us and stun us with her sensitivity. Nobody told us that she would be the heart of compassion in our home, that she could alleviate all our worries with a bear hug.

Sadhbh has enhanced all our lives just by living up to the innate goodness within her. Like her much loved older sisters, she is truly a gift to be treasured.

But that day, I heard myself say what I didn't know until then that I believe, that the fact that Sadhbh has Down Syndrome has given her an increased capacity for love and affection, surely the true markers of our humanity. It is a particular gift. Yes, she faced heart surgery and she was slightly slower to begin to walk and talk than many of her peers but now she is running and yapping away. The benefits far outweigh those minor delays and difficulties. Her life is lived with an intensity and an immediacy that would be the envy of any mindfulness guru.

Now she is growing up very quickly. She has started playschool and no doubt she herself may not always feel that Down Syndrome is a special gift to cherish as the frustration of inadequate resources and accommodations stifle her progress. But I hope she will grow up knowing deep in her heart that we consider her, complete with Down Syndrome, a most precious gift. We wouldn't change one thing about her.

That day in October I was “surprised by joy” in a most unexpected way. I hope my young priest neighbour was too.

Neasa Ní Argadáin is a parent and teacher with an interest in spirituality. She is currently studying inter-faith dialogue

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D E V E LO P M E N T I N ACTION

A FUTURE FOR SYRIA? AS THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT DEEPENS, AID ORGANISATIONS LIKE TRÓCAIRE CALL ON POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES TO REDOUBLE THEIR EFFORTS TO END CARNAGE IN SYRIA

BY DAVID O'HARE

At

the end of April, Trócaire and three Syrian organisations supported by the agency, attended the ‘Future of Syria’ conference in Brussels to meet with Irish and UK politicians and push for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Representatives from three local Syrian organisations that Trócaire supports met with Minister Ciaran Cannon of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs at the Brussels

conference and conveyed harrowing firsthand accounts of life in Syria.

Fadi Hallisso of Basmeh & Zeitooneh, Rouba Mhaissen of Sawa Foundation, and Lubna Kanawati of Women Now for Development told Minister Cannon of the risks they face carrying out their work in Syria, the trauma being felt by Syrians families and the abuses women are experiencing.

Minister Cannon said that he heard the

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A young boy plays with a car tyre amidst the ruins of a street in Aleppo, Syria.

Photo: Patrick Nicholson, Caritas

REALITY JUNE 2018

despair from the Syrian people and that the Irish Government would continue to push, as strongly as possible, within Europe for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

SUMMER

TRUSTING THE EYE WITNESSES Niall O’Keeffe, Trócaire’s head of region for Middle East and Asia said, "It was really important that Minister Cannon got to hear directly from our partners who are risking their lives while working with communities in Syria. These conferences can be very formal and bureaucratic, but hearing Fadi, Rouba and Lubna’s eyewitness accounts of the daily horror for innocent Syrians was really powerful and I hope had an impact on Minister Cannon."

The Syrian conflict has resulted in the deaths of over 500,000 people, with a further 5.5 million fleeing the country and 6.1 million people internally displaced within Syria.

Ahead of the conference, 3,853 emails were sent by Trócaire supporters in the Republic and Northern Ireland, asking their TDs and

MPs to do more to protect civilians in Syria.

Those calls did not go unheard. In a statement, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney, said, "Solidarity alone does not address the root causes of the Syrian crisis. A peaceful resolution to the Syria conflict is now imperative, and Ireland fully supports UNled political negotiations." Penny Mordaunt, the UK government’s secretary of state for international development, represented the UK at the conference. She stressed, "The only solution to end the suffering is a political settlement that brings peace."

Ireland has pledged an additional €25 million to the humanitarian response in Syria for 2018, while the UK has pledged an additional £450 million.

Trócaire has been responding to the Syria Crisis since 2013. Over the past year, programmes have included the provision of food, shelter, protection services and support for vocational training.

Over 65,000 people displaced within Syria as well as over 7,000 people who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries in the region were helped by Trócaire last year.

The programme aims to provide emergency assistance, help families cope with the trauma of conflict, and support those seeking livelihood options in the region.

Trócaire says that right now, families across Syria are living in fear of the next attack. A peaceful resolution to this conflict must be found on behalf of all Syrian civilians. The agency says it is vital that ordinary people in the Republic and Northern Ireland keep pressure on their public representatives to push for peace in Syria.

To find out more about Trócaire’s work or to make a donation visit www.trocaire.org or call 0800 912 1200.

Ennismore Retreat Centre

Friday 8th – Sunday 10th June Trinity: The Nearness of God. Stephen Cummins OP Friday 10a.m. to Sunday 4p.m.

Cost: Res – €220/ Non Res €140 Sunday 10th – Saturday 16th June “Be Clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience” (Col 3:12) Fr. Mike Serrage MSC Cost: Res: €440 Sunday 24th – Friday 29th June God is love; Journey into the Heart of Creation (A Centering Prayer Retreat) Fionnuala Quinn OP Cost: Res: €460

Sunday 8th – Friday 13th July “Become who you are meant to be and you set the world on fire” A Journey towards Transformation and Wholeness.

Martina Lehane Sheehan Cost: Res: €440

ST DOMINIC’S

Sunday 15th – Saturday 21st July “For the Beauty of the World” Benedict Hegarty OP Cost: Res €440

All six days retreats commence Sunday evening at 6p.m. with supper and finish after lunch on Saturday.

Sunday 15th – Saturday 22st July Individually Directed Retreat Ann Alcock Cost: €465

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 Fax: 021-4502712 E-mail: ennismore@eircom.net www.ennismore.ie

Sunday 22nd – Saturday 28th July Individually Directed Retreat John Bennett Cost: €465 Sunday 22nd – Saturday 28th July Individually Directed Retreat Sr. Peggy Cronin Cost: €465 Sunday 12th – Sunday 19th August “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them” (John 6:44) Stephen Cummins OP Cost: €440

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE FILM REVIEWS

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BY PAUL CLOGHER

Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara star in Mary Magdalene

MARY MAGDALENE DIRECTOR: GARTH DAVIS Since the birth of cinema, Mary Magdalene has occupied the imaginations of countless film artists. With few exceptions, her story features in almost every film based on the Gospels and like many popular depictions of the Christian story, the cinematic Magdalene expands well beyond her literary contours. A sixth century sermon attributed to Pope Gregory the Great offers, arguably, the most popular image of Mary as the penitent prostitute or adulteress, but the New Testament itself makes no such claim. Gregory’s portrait is an example of the so-called ‘composite Magdalene’, which makes her a combination of several women mentioned in the Gospels, including, infamously, the woman taken in adultery REALITY JUNE 2018

(John 7-8). Directed by Garth Davis and starring Rooney Mara in the title role, Mary’s latest cinematic ‘incarnation’ arrived in cinemas on the cusp of the Easter season. Following her story from the rocky terrain of a wild-looking Magdala to the garden tomb outside Jerusalem, it seeks to answer, perhaps even correct, this ancient act of mistaken identity and vindicate Mary’s role as a central witness to the Good News.

In a striking departure from both cinematic history and a number of popular traditions, Mary leads a relatively sedate life on the shores of Magdala, itself ‘played’ admirably by the coastline of southern Italy.

After she spurns an arranged marriage, however, her family fear that Mary’s introverted demeanour and desire for the

single life may be the product of demonic forces. Following an aborted water exorcism, an inverted baptism of sorts, she lies in an almost catatonic state until a wandering preacher enters the story. Played by Joaquin Phoenix, Jesus is a sometimes disconcerting and muted figure, bearing all the physical hallmarks of a wilderness lifestyle. Their encounter leads to a question: "In the silence, is there something calling?" This ambiguous invitation leads Mary back to the water for a more welcoming encounter. If her first ‘baptism’ sought to impose a life on her, the second offers a new departure. Mary leaves Magdala to follow Jesus – a decision that brings her into conflict with both her family and a suspicious group of disciples.

Biblical films often occupy a dual location. While their setting is ancient, each film’s subtexts and underlying themes are inevitably contemporary.

Mary Magdalene is very much rooted in more recent debates about gender, society, and faith. In the vein of the ‘Time’s Up’ movement, the film seeks to restore Mary’s role in early Christianity, one sullied not only

by Christianity’s institutional moments, but equally through the broader world of popular culture. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar is, arguably, as sensationalist and reductive as any ideas of the ‘fallen’ or deviant Magdalene.

One of the film’s more powerful scenes depicts a group of women questioning Jesus on how one forgives sexual violence and patriarchal honour killing.

Not unlike his predecessors across many media, Davis’ interpretation of the Gospel mingles the past with the present and touches contemporary concerns.

Mary Magdalene makes a significant contribution to the biblical genre. It is one of the few films that depicts Mary as the ‘apostle to the apostles’, while its exploration of the relationship between gender and faith offers a timely reflection on Christianity’s dialogue with contemporary culture. The film’s premise may be novel but its narrative and stylistic devices are familiar. Palestine’s rough terrain takes its inspiration from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, while the portrayal of Judas Iscariot as a mistaken patriot borrows, in an almost wholesale manner, from Nicholas Ray’s King of Kings and Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth. The musical environment, composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Jóhann Jóhannsson, is memorable, moving, and original, capturing something of the film’s search for Mary’s interiority. This quest, unfortunately, remains incomplete and tentative. In that first encounter, Jesus asks Mary what she fears. "My thoughts, my longings, my unhappiness," she replies. Unfortunately, this most interesting dynamic is left as a shadow play beneath a story of conflicts. Its answer, however, might lie among the many Marys of the Christian story as they reverberate through this film and those more permeable screens of the imagination.

THE SHAPE OF WATER DIRECTOR: GUILLERMO DEL TORO As morning breaks by the shores of the Jabbok river in the book of Genesis (32:22-32), Jacob’s celebrated wrestle with an unknown visitor concludes with the stranger refusing to give his name. He does, however, offer a blessing, but one which leaves Jacob irrevocably changed. Not only does he injure his hip, he gets a new name, Israel, and in that most ancient of deed polls, there is a clue to the stranger’s identity.

In the modern sanctuaries of cinema, stories of angels, aliens, superhumans, and mysterious visitors still fascinate, and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water is one such example.

Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is a mute night cleaner at a covert US military research facility in Baltimore. In the course of her work, she begins an unlikely relationship with a mysterious humanoid amphibian (Doug Jones). Set at the height of the Cold War, the US army intend to euthanise and vivisect the creature in order to understand its physiology and gain some advantage in the Soviet-American Space Race. Inevitably, the Soviets infiltrate the mission with the intention of keeping the amphibian-man alive for their own purposes. Fearing the unravelling of their plot, however, they too order the creature’s death. Beneath this political intrigue, lies a story of encounter. Elisa visits the creature each day, bringing food, playing music, and gradually building a connection. Her relationship with this latter day Adam of the water, awakens her to the possibility of healing from her own

Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water

wounds. Both characters are, quite literally, fish out of water. Neither can communicate and they both experience persecution from those who consider themselves superior. This human dimension is handled with a subtlety and believability that takes the film out of the realms of pure fantasy or science fiction and offers viewers a story for our own time, where the fear of strangers is all too real.

If you possess an agnosticism about science fiction, this reviewer suggests bearing with it. You may be surprised.

The Shape of Water is notably influenced by horror films of previous generations. Del Toro even cites Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), a famous film with a similar premise, as his inspiration. While reviving the theme, he offers a powerful reinterpretation of its central ideas.

The so-called ‘B-movie’ horrors of earlier eras tend to exploit rather than interrogate fear. Del Toro’s

creature from the deep gradually inverts the monster stereotype.

Elisa’s rapport with him suggests a latent humanity and the effects of this are among the film’s most moving scenes. In all sorts of ways, The Shape of Water touches on themes of resurrection and healing in times of fear, loneliness, and exploitation. Elisa’s inability to speak leaves her keenly aware of her own separation from others. Her small circle of friends, likewise, live with their own sense of separation. Her neighbour Giles (Richard Jenkins) is a struggling gay advertising artist, who seeks one final shot in both love and art, while her co-worker Zelda (Delilah Fuller), an AfricanAmerican woman who serves as her workplace interpreter, faces the challenges of her era’s racial attitudes. The story’s villain is admittedly archetypal. Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon) despises the creature as a divine mistake and even invokes an

all too familiar misinterpretation of biblical creation to justify his own cruelty. In one scene, he remarks: "... we're created in the Lord's image. You don't think that's what the Lord looks like, do you?" This telling line serves as a powerful vehicle for many of the film’s themes.

The Shape of Water may be set in the 1960s but it is a definitive shot across the bows at American politics and culture in 2018. Its critical acclaim and success at the Academy Awards, I have no doubt, owe much to its contemporary resonances. At its heart is a parable of what it means to be human, and how strangers might help us learn something about ourselves. The Other could be the monster from the deep, wherever that might be, or it may be, as it is for Jacob, a new beginning.

Dr Paul Clogher is lecturer in theology and religious studies at Waterford Institute of Technology. He has a special interest in theology and cinema.

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CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

HOMELESS CRISIS – WHAT HOMELESS CRISIS?

I AM IN DESPAIR. WE HAVE A HOMELESS AND HOUSING CRISIS WHICH IS ARGUABLY OUT OF CONTROL, AND OUR GOVERNMENT IS IN DENIAL.

The

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number of homeless people in Ireland is the highest ever recorded in this state, and each month reaches a new record.

Since the Government introduced its action plan for housing and homelessness, Rebuilding Ireland, over 18 months ago, the number of homeless people has risen by 3,382 and the number of homeless children has increased by almost 1,407. The Minister for Housing, when asked just before Christmas on an RTÉ panel, if he could give a commitment that the number of homeless children next Christmas would be less than the number this Christmas, he replied that he could not give that commitment.

When the Taoiseach was asked, again just before Christmas, if he could say when the number of homeless people might start going down, he replied that he didn’t know.

THE EXPLANATION Rebuilding Ireland isn’t working because the Government is locked into a flawed ideology which believes that 'the market' will solve the housing and homeless crisis.

In 1975, this country built 8,500 social houses; in 1985, we built 6,900 social houses; in 2015, we built 75 social houses. Because social housing is in such short supply, the Government, in 2018, will give private landlords €2 million of tax payers’ money every single day to provide social housing. Over the lifetime of the Government’s five-year action plan, private landlords will be given €3.5 billion, and that money will

REALITY JUNE 2018

not build one single extra house.

But the private rented sector is part of the problem. Demand for private rented accommodation far exceeds supply, and so rents rose by 10.4 per cent nationally during 2017, pushing them out of reach for poorer people. Of the 3,150 properties available to rent on February 1, 2018, only 39 were available to people on the Government’s rent subsidy schemes.

And the problem may get worse.

There are 32,000 home mortgages in arrears of more than two years.

Many of these are likely to be repossessed in the coming years Those families who get evicted will have no option but to seek accommodation in the private rented sector, which is already unable to cope with the demand.

After Brexit, many well-paid

employees currently working in Britain may relocate to Dublin and they, too, will be seeking accommodation in the private rented sector, pushing rents up even further.

THE DENIAL Despite the evidence, the Taoiseach said in November 2017 that the homeless crisis in Ireland is low by international standards. The Taoiseach was using data from an OECD report which states quite clearly that different countries use different definitions of homelessness and so the homeless figures are not comparable. In particular, half the countries surveyed counted as homeless those adults still living with their parents because no alternative, affordable accommodation was available to them. Census 2016 identified 500,000 adults in Ireland

still living with parents!

The Minister for Housing agreed.

“Comparatively our rates of homelessness are low when we look at our peers, and that is a good thing”.

The Junior Minister for Housing complained that the constant focus on homelessness in the national media "is damaging to Ireland’s international reputation".

The head of the Housing Agency, who has recently been reappointed for a further year, also stated that “there is a homeless crisis in Ireland, but there is one everywhere.

Our Government is not doing something wrong.” He blamed the voluntary organisations, who campaign on homelessness, for causing unnecessary “panic”: “There’s a very real risk of us giving attention to the wrong issues because people who have a vested interest in seeing this as an industry make it appear an unusual or a great problem.”

HOUSING AS A RIGHT Several international covenants have affirmed that housing is a “fundamental human right”. But our Government has refused to use the words “human right”, instead referring to housing as a “human requirement”. The terminology is not semantic: “rights” are enforceable in law, and the Government is adamant that it will not allow judges to tell it what to do.

Instead, they delegate this basic right to the market, hoping developers, builders and landlords will deliver.

It is time to call our housing and homeless crisis an emergency, and introduce emergency actions.

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH

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O SACRED BANQUET! Today's Gospel falls into JUNE two parts – preparations for the Passover meal and the meal itself. During the meal Jesus gives the gift BODY AND BLOOD of his body and blood.

T OF CHRIS The Passover meal was elaborate. Special food had to be purchased and prepared: a lamb had to be brought to the temple and sacrificed during the afternoon, and every trace of leaven had to be removed from the house where the meal was eaten. The place Jesus chose for the meal was probably a dining room belonging to a friend whose servant the disciples would meet while he was fetching water.

The foods eaten at the Passover meal recalled the Israelites' escape from Egypt. The bread was flat, dry and unleavened because there was no time to let it rise in the haste to flee. The Passover rite still describes it as

03

"the bread of affliction, the poor bread our ancestors ate". Wine was drunk at Passover, indicating that this was a meal of celebration.

Jesus adds something new to this traditional holy meal. His disciples will celebrate it in his memory, not just once a year, but whenever they come together. The broken bread and poured wine are signs of his life, given in love on the cross. His final words are a vow and promise that what has begun at the table will be accomplished in the kingdom of God. The Passover traditionally ends with psalms of praise. A new episode opens as they leave the supper room to begin a time of anguished prayer on the Mount of Olives.

We celebrated the institution of the Eucharist at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. Today’s feast developed in the Middle Ages, thanks to a saint who lived in the 12th century. St Juliana of Liege was the first person to suggest that a special day be devoted to honouring the mystery of

the Blessed Sacrament. First celebrated in Liege in 1246, 20 years later it was extended to the rest of the church. The greatest theologian of the time, St Thomas Aquinas, was commissioned to compose the Mass and Office for the feast, and much of his work survives in our liturgical texts. The prayers highlight the most important aspects of the Eucharist – food for the journey of life, the abiding presence, the memorial of the passion and death of Jesus and our share in his sacrifice. This prayer sums up much of his teaching: "O sacred banquet! Here Christ is received, the memory of his Passion is recalled, our mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us."

Today’s Readings Exodus 24:3-8 ; Hebrews 9: 11-15; Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26

God’s Word continues on page 46

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH JESUS AND HIS FAMILY St Mark sometimes encloses one story about Jesus within a framework composed of two shorter stories. Bible 10TH SUNDAY IN scholars sometimes call this ORDINARY TIME a 'Markan sandwich'. The framing stories sometimes provide a valuable key for interpreting the story within the frame. The first short block observes that Jesus’ relatives (literally, ‘those around him' or as we might say, ‘his nearest and dearest’) came to take him home as they believed he was ‘out of his mind', neglecting himself and in need of family care. In the final slightly longer section (32-35), his mother and relative arrive at the place where he is teaching but he refuses to see them, and with a gesture, says that his real kin are those who do the will of the father. Many Catholics, with a life-long devotion to the Mother of Jesus,

JUNE

10

may find this an uncomfortable, if not even shocking verse. Families in first century Galilee were rather different from what today’s urban society considers the usual type of family. The ‘Mediterranean family', still fairly common in countries in Southern Europe and North Africa, stretched over several generations and included cousins and even more distant relatives. All the members of the family expected to gain from the success of one. Jesus was aware of how confining that kind of family network could be to members who wanted to follow a different path, especially one as radical as the way of discipleship he proposed.

The central block is a controversy debate with scribes "who had come down from Jerusalem".

Beelzebul (a variant of Beelzebub, cf. 2 Kings 2:2-3) was a Phoenician deity whose name may have originally meant 'master (ba’al) of the flies' or 'lord of the heavenly dwelling', hence the description of

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FROM SEED TO TREE Chapter 4 of Mark’s Gospel JUNE is usually known as ‘the parable chapter’. We read its final section today, two 11TH SUNDAY IN short parables together with ORDINARY TIME a brief explanation of why Jesus uses parables. Parables are intended for the mass audience who come to hear the preaching of Jesus. They are attractive and easily remembered stories or examples that will

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REALITY JUNE 2018

stick in the mind of those who have heard them, and perhaps force them to think more deeply about what they have heard. Sometimes the deeper meaning of a parable might not always be clear, so Jesus needs to explain everything to the disciples when they are alone. This private teaching usually takes place in the house away from the crowd.

The first parable would have been fairly obvious to the people of a farming background who formed the bulk of Jesus’ audience. The farmer’s responsibility is to prepare the soil, and then scatter the seed but he

this particular devil as 'prince of devils'. Jesus points out the absurdity of such an allegation: if he is the 'prince of devils', why is so much of his ministry dedicated to the work of exorcism, the casting out of devils? By his work of exorcism, Jesus is ‘binding the strong man’ in order to strip him of his power.

The 'sin against the Holy Spirit' is the great crux of this chapter. Many scrupulous people had been troubled that a mysterious sin might be impervious to forgiveness.The Catechism of the Catholic Church (3:1:1864) reminds us: “there are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.“ Today’s Readings Genesis 3:9-15; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35

cannot make the rain fall or the sun shine. Rain and heat cause the miracle of growth. All the farmer can do is wait patiently for seed to sprout, and be ready for the harvest. The kingdom of God is like seed. Jesus has sown the word and must now wait for it to bear fruit.

The second parable about mustard seed makes the same point. The size of the seed bears little resemblance to what it will cause to grow. The mustard seed is tiny, and despite what the Gospel says, it will produce more a large bushy shrub than a tree. This parable probably has been embellished a little as it was passed down in the community.

Teachers and preachers in the early community may have seen the potential for expanding this parable by borrowing some details from the prophet Ezekiel’s allegory of the cedar (today’s first reading). Just as the cedar tree was an image for Israel, so the mustard plant is an image for the church. Despite its humble beginnings in the lifetime of Jesus, it is now growing into a larger community spreading to many nations.

Just as a tree provides a home for nesting birds, the church provides a home for all nations.

Today’s Readings Ezekiel 17: 22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4: 26-34

THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER 5 JUNE 2018

HE MUST INCREASE The Gospel begins with a brief mention of JUNE the birth of John and the joy his birth brings to the neighbours and relations of Zachariah and Elizabeth. More space is devoted to events surrounding the circumcision and naming of NATIVITY OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST the child. This may well be one of the oldest references to a child being given its name at the time of circumcision, though this has now become standard practice. Family names, passed on from generation to generation, are still important in some communities. The name Zechariah ('YHWH has remembered') has a long biblical pedigree behind it, including a prophet and a king. That the bystanders need to communicate with Zechariah by signs implies that Luke assumed that he was deprived of both speech and hearing. His deafness and total loss of speech suggests that Elizabeth also knows the child’s name by a revelation. The unloosing of Zechariah’s tongue is the proof that all he has been told is true. His first act with his newly recovered speech is a long song of praise (the Benedictus) that hails his son as the prophet of God the most high. Awe and wonder are common responses to a miraculous event. The mysterious events surrounding the circumcision suggest that there are greater things in store for this child. The final verse of the reading looks forward to John’s future life: a similar verse will describe the maturing process of Jesus (Luke 2:52). Luke does not say how long John lived in the desert before assuming his prophetic ministry as the forerunner of Christ. Some early Christian writings such as the Protoevangelium of James, speculate that his desert sojourn began very early, while he was still a child.

Although we are in mid-summer, today’s feast belongs to the Christmas cycle (it is exactly six shopping months to Christmas!). In Ireland and in many other places, a bonfire was kindled as darkness fell on St John’s Eve. There was a prayer for blessing the fire: “God, who because of the birth of blessed John have made this day praiseworthy, give your people the grace of spiritual joy, and keep the hearts of your faithful fixed on the way that leads to everlasting salvation; through Christ our Lord.” Having reached its highest point on 21 June, the longest day of the year, the sun begins its journey towards winter. When he last appeared in the Gospel of John, the Baptist announced that “he (Jesus) must grow greater, I must grow less" (John 3:30). Jesus’ birth will be commemorated in December, just as the days begin to lengthen after the winter solstice.

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SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 3 ACROSS: Across: 1. Ethics, 5. Wasabi, 10. Rambler, 11. Sabbath, 12. Avon, 13. Demon, 15. Ulna, 17.

Kim, 19. Zealot, 21. Invest, 22. Wedlock, 23. Patina, 25. Elated, 28. Die, 30. Nuns, 31. Padre, 32.

Slab, 35. Mislead, 36. Scribes, 37. Baffle, 38. Decoys.

DOWN: 2. Tombola, 3. Idle, 4. Shriek, 5. Wisdom, 6. Sobs, 7. Braille, 8. Ersatz, 9. Thwart, 14.

Mislaid, 16. Towns, 18. Ankle, 20. Tea, 21. Ice, 23. Panama, 24. Tunisia, 26. Tallboy, 27. Debase, 28.

Dawdle, 29. Erased, 33. Leaf, 34. Croc.

Winner of Crossword No. 3 Sheila Pathe, Rahoon, County Galway

ACROSS 1. Christian season before Christmas. (6) 5. A situation where no progress seems possible. (6) 10. It is also called the alligator pear. (7) 11. Large constricting snakes. (7) 12. Tree from which Adam and Eve sewed their garments. (4) 13. The side of a pig, cured and smoked. (5) 15. An old cowshed. (4) 17. Sink in the middle because of weight or pressure. (3) 19. Old Testament books concerning the Jewish queen of Persia. (6) 21. Bible often found in hotel rooms. (6) 22. Birds with large, often colourful bills. (7) 23. Outing to eat outdoors in the summer.

(6) 25. Imaginary place of perfection. (6) 28. A play on works. (3) 30. Small, mischievous devils. (4) 31. Stable ingredient in most curry powders.

(5) 32. Animal associated with Christ. (4) 35. The island of Saints and Scholars? (7) 36. Social outcasts. (7) 37. Great Hebrew prophet of the Old Testament. (6) 38. A strong, regular repeated pattern of movement or sounds. (6)

DOWN 2. A prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall. (7) 3. Made cheese. (4) 4. Apostle with doubts. (6) 5. Small pampered pooch. (6) 6. Germanic invader of the Roman Empire and present day lifestyle. (4) 7. A person assisting a priest in a religious service or profession. (7) 8. Totally bewilder or perplex. (6) 9. Behind or towards the rear of a ship. (6) 14. Chemical element present in teeth and chalk. (7) 16. Abominable snowmen. (5) 18. A view, especially a beautiful one from a high position. (5) 20. Gigantic mythical bird described in the Arabian Nights. (3) 21. Large dark antelope with a beard and mane. (3) 23. Apostle whose symbol is a basket. (6) 24. Evergreen coniferous free. (7) 26. Rule in ancient Egypt. (7) 27. A woman who is the superior of a convent of nuns. (6) 28. The custom in some Muslim and Hindu cultures of keeping women from being seen by unrelated men. (6) 29. Pinching child. (6) 33. Middle Eastern watercourse that is dry except during rainfall. (4) 34. The military force of a nation. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.5, June 2018 Name:

Today’s Readings

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Isaiah 49:1-6; Acts 13:22-26; Luke 1: 57-66, 80 All entries must reach us by June 30, 2018 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. 5, Redemptorist Communications, Unit A6, Santry Business Park, Swords Road, Dublin 09 X651

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