Reality September 2021

ADAM AND EVE AND SEXUALITY

A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF PRAYER

THE CATHOLIC UNDERTONES IN ANNE ENRIGHT'S THE GATHERING

Informing, Inspiring, Challenging Today’s Catholic

SEPTEMBER 2021

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WHAT RELIGION AND SPORT HAVE IN COMMON

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SPORTS SPECIAL

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IN THIS MONTH’S ISSUE FEATURES �� A QUESTION OF SPORT What the church and sport have in common

By Tríona Doherty

�� A SPIRITUALITY OF SPORT A 2018 Vatican document offers a good overview of the church's interest in sport

By Fr Kieran O'Gorman SMA

�� WHY SPORT MATTERS The beauty of sport is its capacity to bring people together

By Michael O'Regan Courtesy of Eurosport

�� UNDERSTANDING PRAYER The key to a healthy prayer life

By Maria Hall

��

�� ECHOES OF CATHOLICISM IN ANNE ENRIGHT'S THE GATHERING The award-winning novel highlights the role Catholicism continues to play for many Irish people

By Eamon Maher

�� CHASTITY AND SEXUALITY Adam and Eve and our attitude toward sexuality

By Fr Colm Meaney CSsR

�� DIALOGUE AND FRIENDSHIP IN SOCIETY

By Michael Daley

�� DANTE’S HOPEFUL MESSAGE Dante’s Divine Comedy offers a timeless reflection on the importance of hope

By Fr Richard Reid CSsR

�� ME AND MY GOD

By Nóirin Lynch

�� THE CHURCH AND THE IRISH REVOLUTION During the War of Independence, the bishops were not on the sidelines

By Fr Kieran Waldron

�� I'D LIKE TO SAY Let's talk about the cult of virginity

By Fr Gerard Moloney CSsR

��

��

OPINION

REGULARS

11 EDITORIAL

04 REALITY BITES 07 POPE MONITOR 08 FOREVER YOUNG 09 REFLECTIONS 42 TRÓCAIRE 45 GOD’S WORD

17 JIM DEEDS 31 CARMEL WYNNE 44 PETER McVERRY SJ

REALITY BITES VATICAN CITY

CRISES SHOW CHURCH IS STILL ALIVE Difficulties and crises within the Catholic Church are not signs of a church in decline but alive and living through challenges, just like men and women today, Pope Francis has said.

"Let us remember that the church always has difficulties, always is in crisis, because she's alive. Living things go through crises. Only the dead don't have crises," he said.

In a video message released by the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope offered his prayer intention for August, which is dedicated to the church's mission of evangelisation.

At the start of each month, the network posts a short video of the pope offering his

4

specific prayer intention.

The church's call to evangelise and not proselytise, he said, is more than just a vocation; it is a part of the Catholic Church's identity.

"We can only renew the church by discerning God's will in our daily life and embarking on a transformation guided by the Holy Spirit. Our own reform as persons is that transformation.

Allowing the Holy Spirit, the gift of God, in our hearts reminds us what Jesus taught and helps us put it into practice," the pope said.

Catholics can renew the church only by "discerning God's will in our daily life" and putting Jesus' teaching into practice, he added.

CHINA

FIFTH CHINESE BISHOP ORDAINED WITH BOTH GOVERNMENT, PAPAL APPROVAL

Courtesy of CNS

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

When Fr Anthony Li Hui was ordained a bishop on July 28 in the cathedral of the Diocese of Pingliang, China, he became the fifth Chinese bishop appointed under the terms of a VaticanChina agreement signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020.

Bishop Li was appointed coadjutor bishop of Pingliang by Pope Francis on January 11, 2021. He will eventually succeed Bishop Nicholas Han Jide, who is 81 years old and has led the diocese since 1999.

The Vatican-China provisional agreement outlines procedures for ensuring that Catholic bishops are elected by the Catholic community in China and approved by the pope before their installations.

Vatican officials have said that giving up full control over the choice of bishops would not be what the

Vatican hoped for, but that the agreement was a good first step toward ensuring greater freedom and security for the Catholic community in China.

Pope Francis has told reporters that the agreement envisions "a dialogue about potential candidates. The matter is carried out through dialogue. But the appointment is made by Rome; the appointment is by the pope.

This is clear."

The nomination and assignment of bishops was a key sticking point in Vatican-Chinese relations for decades; the Catholic Church insisted that the pope appoint bishops, and the Chinese government maintained that would amount to foreign interference in China's internal affairs.

N E WS

CANADA

TWO NEW CANADIAN INDIGENOUS LEADERS TO PRIORITISE RECONCILIATION

Reconciliation between Canadian society and the country's Indigenous communities is possible, say two new national Indigenous leaders. While they come at reconciliation with Canada's Indigenous people from two different vantage points – one is the first female leader of the Assembly of First Nations, and the other is the first Indigenous governor general, representing the British monarchy in Canada – both are new to their roles and say reconciliation will be at the forefront of their efforts going forward.

Assembly of First Nations Chief RoseAnne Archibald, who was elected on July 8, said true reconciliation can only happen if Canada's provincial

Courtesy of CNS

Courtesy of CNS

RoseAnne Archibald, the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada

Governor General Mary Simon takes the oath as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, look on

and federal governments and the Catholic Church, which helped to operate numerous residential schools on behalf of Ottawa, take full responsibility for their roles in the destruction that the residential school system caused to Indigenous communities and culture in the past.

"For many Canadians and for people around the world, these recent recoveries of our children – buried nameless, unmarked, lost and without ceremony — are shocking, and unbelievable," Archibald said. "Not for us; we've always known.

"I ask every Canadian to stand with First Nations as we continue this painful but important work," Archibald said of ongoing efforts across Canada to

recover the remains of Indigenous youth who died at residential schools.

"I ask that you listen, learn and reflect on the history we share as a country," she said. She also urged people to call their elected officials, adding "there must be a true reckoning for what happened in the past."

"Crimes have to be investigated, and those guilty must be held to account," Archibald said. "People and media have been referring to them as discoveries. These are not discoveries, these are recoveries. There must be truth before reconciliation. It's time to find our children and bring them home."

ROME

POPE ASKS FOR LOCAL EVENTS TO COINCIDE WITH WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES Pope Francis has asked dioceses worldwide to make it possible for every family to participate in the World Meeting of Families by holding local celebrations during the gathering in Rome from June 22-26, 2022.

"After being postponed for a year due to the pandemic, the desire to meet again is great," the pope said in a video message on July 2. In the past, the World Meeting of Families "was perceived as being something remote, at most followed on television," but "unknown to the majority of families."

The theme of the 2022 gathering is: "Family love: A vocation and a path to holiness."

Rome will be the main venue, the pope said.

Bishops' conferences and international Catholic organisations will be invited to send delegates involved in family ministry to Rome for "the Festival of Families, the pastoral congress," and the concluding Mass.

At the same time, the pope said, "each diocese can be the focal point for a local meeting for its families and communities. In this way, everyone will be able to participate, even those who cannot

come to Rome."

Pope Francis asked dioceses to be "dynamic, active and creative in organising this with the families in harmony with what will be taking place in Rome.

This is a wonderful opportunity to devote ourselves with enthusiasm to family ministry with spouses, families and pastors together."

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REALITY BITES VATICAN CITY

VATICAN PROPERTY TRIAL GETS UNDERWAY

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On the first day of his trial at the Vatican, Cardinal Angelo Becciu turned to members of the press behind him to comment on the gruelling seven-hour hearing.

"I am serene, I feel calm in my conscience, I have faith that the judges will know well the facts, and my great hope is that certainty they will recognise my innocence," Cardinal Becciu said on July 27 after the hearing concluded.

During the trial, however, the cardinal's lawyers questioned the fairness of the accusations against him, saying that he was not allowed to give a statement to prosecutors during their investigation, while Msgr Alberto Perlasca, the former head of the Vatican Secretariat of State's administrative office, went from suspect to star witness.

According to the indictment, Msgr Perlasca, whose office and home were raided

by Vatican police during their investigation, provided investigators “with a precious

contribution for the reconstruction of some central moments relating to the case of the London property."

The Vatican's chief prosecutor countered the claims about flipping a suspect, saying that it was Msgr Perlasca who had approached them on several occasions to give his testimony.

Cardinal Becciu's lawyers also argued that they had yet to receive the full contents of Msgr Perlasca's testimony. Vatican judges ordered the prosecution to provide videotapes of his testimony to defence lawyers by August 10.

Unsurprisingly, Cardinal Becciu announced that he instructed his lawyers to file a similar lawsuit against Msgr Perlasca.

However, he also announced a lawsuit against an old foe: Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, a member of the now-defunct Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See.

For many, the reappearance of Chaouqui, who was found guilty by a Vatican court in 2016 of leaking confidential documents about Vatican finances, added an unforeseen twist worthy of a modern-day court drama.

According to the 488-page indictment, Chaouqui "spontaneously presented herself" at the offices of the Vatican Gendarmerie on October 28, 2019, several weeks after Vatican police raided the offices of the Secretariat of State and the financial oversight office, formerly known as the Financial Information Authority or AIF. The day after the raid, the Italian magazine L'Espresso published what it said was an internal notice from the Vatican police barring certain individuals from entering Vatican City State and alleged that the raid was part of a Vatican investigation into how the Secretariat of State used $200 million to finance a property development project in London's Chelsea district in 2014.

ROME

VATICAN REPORTS A $78 MILLION DEFICIT The Vatican reported the Roman Curia had a $78 million deficit in 2020. On the same day, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which administers Vatican properties and investments, made a summary of its annual budget public for the first time.

Releasing both reports on July 24, the Vatican said the coronavirus pandemic had a serious negative impact on the Vatican's financial situation, including the €66.3 million deficit in the consolidated budget report for 2020.

Bishop Nunzio Galantino, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, known by its Italian initials APSA, said making the budget synthesis public was "a step forward in the

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

direction of transparency and sharing."

"The release of the balance sheet is a sign of great respect for all those who, with trust and generosity, have placed and continue to place part of their resources in the hands of the Catholic Church," Bishop Galantino said.

"I harbour a secret hope: I hope that the publication and reading of the numbers and the important notes that accompany them will foster more correct and complete information," he added.

In 2019, Italian journalist and author Gianluigi Nuzzi claimed in his book Giudizio Universale ('Universal Judgment') that decades of mismanagement of the Vatican's investment

portfolio and real estate holdings by APSA would leave the Vatican no choice but to default by 2023.

APSA directly administers 4,051 properties in Italy and entrusts to outside companies the administration of some 1,200 properties in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, the Vatican report said.

During the 2020 fiscal year, APSA reported a profit of almost €22 million, compared to €73.21 million in 2019.

Aside from the economic challenges posed by the pandemic, Bishop Galantino told Vatican News the drop in its income was due primarily to the "changing behaviour of the securities market."

N E WS

POPE MONITOR KEEPING UP WITH POPE FRANCIS POPE LEAVES HOSPITAL

On July 14, ten days after undergoing intestinal surgery, Pope Francis was released from Rome's Gemelli hospital.

In a statement, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said that after leaving the hospital, the pope visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major to say a prayer of gratitude before the icon of Salus Populi Romani ('health of the Roman people').

The pope thanked Mary "for the success of his surgery and offered a prayer for all the sick, especially those he had met during his stay in hospital," the statement said.

The pope was admitted to Gemelli hospital on July 4 to undergo "a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon."

He underwent a three-hour left hemicolectomy, which removes the descending part of the colon, a surgery that can be recommended to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.

During his stay, the pope continued working and spent time visiting patients at the hospital.

POPE TO VISIT HUNGARY AND SLOVAKIA IN SEPTEMBER Pope Francis has announced that he will visit Hungary and Slovakia from September 12-15.

The pope will celebrate the concluding Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest on September 12 before going to neighbouring Slovakia.

The Vatican press office said the Slovakia trip would include stops in Bratislava, Presov, Kosice and Sastin, but did not immediately provide details of the pope's program.

Eduard Habsburg, the Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, replied on Twitter to people who asked why the pope was going to Hungary only for a Mass but then would make a full pastoral visit to Slovakia.

"Hungary, a few hours, Slovakia, a few days. Why?" he tweeted. The pope "is doing exactly what he has been invited for — in Budapest, the final Mass of the @iec2021Budapest (the eucharistic congress), in Slovakia, an extended visit to the country."

St Stephen's Basilica, Budapest

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FOREVER YOUNG SAINTS WHO DIED YOUNG

8

ISIDORE BAKANJA 1887–1909

Reality

Isidore Bakanja was born in northeast Zaire sometime between 1885 and 1890.

Becoming a Christian at 18, he was taught the faith by Belgian Cistercian monks from the Abbey of Westmalle, who had come to the region not long before. Isadore was an eager pupil and took on board all the monks taught him. He was especially devoted to the Mother of God, saying the Rosary frequently. He carried his beads with him and wore the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

In search of employment, Isadore made his way to a nearby town. He also wanted to find some companions in his new faith, as few local villagers were Catholics. He found work as a houseboy with the agent of a Belgian company that controlled many of the rubber plantations in the town. Many of the Belgian bosses strongly opposed the church on account of the missionaries' defence of the rights of the native people.

Although of a quiet nature, Isidore's enthusiasm for his faith made him eager to share it with his fellow workers. This did not make him popular with his employer, who refused Isidore's request to be allowed to go home. Instead, he was told to get rid of his scapular and stop teaching his fellow workers to pray. "You'll have the whole village praying and no one will want to work," the agent shouted at him.

When he didn't throw away his scapular as ordered, Isidore was flogged.

Some time later, the agent became violently angry. He attacked Isidore, tore the scapular from around his neck and threw him to the ground. He then ordered two servant boys to hold him by his hands and feet while instructing a third servant to flog him with a whip made of elephant hide with nails protruding at the end. Isidore cried out for mercy. The boss continued to kick the boy and ordered the servant to continue the whipping. Isidore's back was an open wound by now, and he was thrown with his legs chained into a hut. Since an inspector was due to visit, Isidore was told to hide in another village. He staggered along but fell by the wayside and hid in the forest.

Eventually, he met the inspector, who was horrified by what confronted him: "I saw a man come from the forest with his back torn apart by deep, festering, malodorous wounds, covered with filth, assaulted by flies," he wrote. "He leaned on two sticks in order to get near me – he wasn't walking; he was dragging himself." The perpetrator now appeared and tried to kill "that priest's animal," but the inspector physically prevented him. He took Isidore to his own settlement, but the young man knew he was dying. "If you see my mother, or if you go to the judge, or if you meet the priest," he said, "tell them that I am dying because I am a Christian."

Isidore received the last sacraments. The missionaries urged him to forgive the agent. "Certainly, I shall pray for him and when I am in heaven, I shall pray for him very much." Isidore lingered for six months. He died on August 9, 1909, rosary in hand and his scapular around his neck. He had been a Christian for just two years.

Pope John Paul II beatified him in 1994. "You showed brotherly love to all, without distinction of race or social class; you earned the esteem and respect of your companions, many of whom were not Christians."

His feast is celebrated on August 12.

Volume 86. No. 7 September 2021 A Redemptorist Publication ISSN 0034-0960

Brendan McConvery CSsR REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

Published by The Irish Redemptorists, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC Tel: 00353 (0)1 4922488 Web: www.redcoms.org Email: sales@redcoms.org (With permission of C.Ss.R.)

Acting-Editor Gerard Moloney CSsR editor@redcoms.org Design & Layout David Mc Namara CSsR Sales & Marketing Claire Carmichael ccarmichael@redcoms.org Accounts Dearbhla Cooney accounts@redcoms.org Printed by W&G Baird Printers, Belfast Photo Credits Shutterstock, Catholic News Agency, Catholic News Service, Trócaire 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, St Joseph's Monastery, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk County Louth A91 F3FC 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.

When you have finished with this magazine, please pass it on or recycle it. Thank you.

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Promoters: We keep all of our promoters in our prayers and thank them for their loyal service in selling Reality.

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

REFLECTIONS The doctor shouted, “Typhoid, tetanus, measles!”

Puzzled, the nurse exclaimed, “He likes to call the shots around here.”

It is simple. We are where we should be, doing what we should be doing. Otherwise we would be somewhere else, doing something else.

RICHARD STINE

Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.

OPRAH WINFREY

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.

REBA McENTIRE

I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

DIANE ACKERMAN

Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.

OG MANDINO

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

THOMAS MERTON

It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important.

You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there will be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

MAHATMA GANDHI

All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message.

Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.

M. SCOTT PECK

To understand the nature of God, it is necessary only to know the nature of love itself. To truly know love is to know and understand God; and to know God is to understand love.

DAVID HAWKINS

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

DALAI LAMA

MALCOLM MUGGERIDGE

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

MARCEL PROUST

STEVEN COVEY

Joy is what happens when we allow ourselves to recognise how good things really are.

Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON

SOCRATES

9

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EDI TO R I A L UP FRONT GERARD MOLONEY CSsR

FACING THE FUTURE WITH HOPE

Looking

at the state of the church in Ireland today, it can be easy to feel downcast. We know the grim statistics. They don't need repeating. But no matter how bleak the outlook may seem, resignation or defeatism must never supplant our hope. Teilhard de Chardin said, "joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God," something we can experience even in the most challenging of situations.

One of the striking features of Pope Francis' letters is his frequent use of the word ‘joy.'

When our faith is lived from a place of joyful hope, Francis is saying, it will animate everything we do. It will be authentic and life-giving. We need at least three qualities as the people of God if we are to face the future with joyful hope. Each begins with the letter 'c'.

The first is conversion. The church exists to bear witness to the Gospel. This means having an aptitude for self-criticism at both the personal and ecclesial levels.

"Conversion requires unlearning, learning and relearning," says Fr Richard Lennan, professor of systematic theology at Boston College. "These three elements will act as a framework in the ongoing reform and renewal of the Christian community. Since the church in history will never be a flawless and unfailingly consistent symbol of grace, there is need for regular conversion."

The Holy Spirit orients and re-orients the Christian community to the right side of history, Lennan says. "Only a church aligned in the Spirit can fulfil Pope Francis's vision for a community whose members form a field hospital for the world's wounded."

All conversion, all learning, all conscienceforming must begin with listening, attentiveness, humility. For conversion to happen in the church, says Lennan, it's essential to be attentive to the voices of the

"invisible" or those Pope Francis regularly refers to as the "fringes" that church people tend to avoid. "The movement that is a necessary part of listening to the Spirit follows from such encounters." Conversion means being attentive to the signs of the times, in tune with the Spirit’s whisperings.

It means a willingness to change, to adapt, to grow.

The second quality is compassion.

Compassion defines true Catholicism and is central to Pope Francis' ministry. Speaking at a consistory to create new cardinals, he emphasised its importance. "So many disloyal actions on the part of ecclesiastics are born of the lack of a sense of having been shown compassion, and by the habit of averting one's gaze, the habit of indifference," he said.

He suggested the cardinals ask themselves: "Am I compassionate towards this or that brother or sister, that bishop, that priest?

Or do I constantly tear them down by my attitude of condemnation, of indifference?"

"The church is not a fortress," Francis says, "but a tent capable of expanding and offering access to everyone. The church is 'going out' or it is not church, either it is walking, always widening its room so that all may enter, or else it is not church."

Our church doors must always be open, he says, "because this is a symbol of what a church is – always open so that anytime someone feels moved by the Holy Spirit and seeks God out, they do not find the coldness of a closed door."

Too often, our preaching and our actions have tended to exclude rather than include.

Without compassion, we will not be effective witnesses to the Gospel.

The third quality is courage. Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister says that as church, our model must be both Jesus the healer and Jesus the prophet. The popular embrace of Jesus the healer has obscured the more

radical Jesus, who challenged the status quo and religious leaders of his time. "We live in an era that accepts half of what it means to follow Jesus," she argues. "We want our religion in a spiritual Jacuzzi, a feel-good spiritual world."

Chittister wrote her book, The Time is Now, she says, "because I could not bear the roar of the silence any longer." She warns that we are at a time when huge choices must be made that will determine the future of the world.

Choice takes three forms, she says. The first is avoidance and withdrawing from the fray. The second is submission and passive acceptance, not talking about religion or politics and "becoming part of the great enabling silence." The third is to be prophetic, to refuse to accept the status quo. "This prophetic choice says 'no' to anything that ignores the will of God or God's creation."

If we are to be authentically Christian, we have no choice but to be prophetic, by our words and our example. It isn’t for the fainthearted, Chittister continues, but Christianity was never meant for the faint-hearted. It demands that we be bold.

If we are to face the future with hope, we must be compassionate and courageous, constantly aware of our need for conversion.

Live by these three 'c's, and we can hope for a new dawn for the church.

Gerard Molonry CSsR Acting Editor

11

C OVE R STO RY

SPORT

A question of

THE CHURCH IS INTERESTED IN SPORT BECAUSE SHE RECOGNISES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GIVING OUR VERY BEST IN SPORTS AND LIVING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IN EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE

BY TRÍONA DOHERTY 12

The

European soccer championship (Euro 2020) earlier this summer cast a spotlight on some of the best and worst aspects of the sporting world. The standout moment in the early stages of the tournament was in the match between Denmark and Finland when Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field having suffered a cardiac arrest.

The Danish captain Simon Kjaer was widely praised for his actions, tending to Eriksen, starting chest compressions and, once the medics arrived, arranging Eriksen's teammates around him to shield him from the glare of the TV cameras.

The incident brought out the best in the spectators, too. United in shock, Finnish supporters began to chant "Christian!

Christian!" while the Danish contingent responded with "Eriksen! Eriksen!" Minutes later, the entire crowd erupted in a roar when the stadium announcer confirmed that Eriksen was "stable and awake." It was a frightening incident that united football fans worldwide in disbelief and then in hope and prayer.

In contrast, the final between Italy and England was marred by violence and racism.

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

There were ugly scenes as some fans tried to barge their way into Wembley Stadium.

Arrests were made, and police officers were injured. In another nasty development, three England players were targeted with racist abuse on social media after missing penalties in the deciding shootout.

But a ray of hope shone through when a mural of Marcus Rashford, which had been vandalised following the defeat, was covered in hundreds of messages of support for the player. One read: "We stand with you.

Love will always win. We are so proud of you." Rashford responded on Twitter: "The communities that always wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up."

Sport can also offer moments of great courage, both on and off the pitch or track.

The Tokyo Olympics of July-August brought a much-anticipated buzz as fans from all over the world celebrated their athletes. One of the legacies of this year's Games was the prominent focus placed on mental health.

US gymnast Simone Biles withdrew from the final, citing the tremendous pressure she was under. A few months previously, tennis player Naomi Osaka withdrew from the French Open and Wimbledon, also to

prioritise her mental health. The actions of these young athletes placed a spotlight on the often taboo subject of mental health in sport, in particular, the pressures of highlevel competition.

Closer to home, RTÉ recently aired a two-part documentary titled Why Girls Quit Sport, in which coach and camogie player Anna Geary examined how teenage girls might be encouraged to embrace the life-enhancing benefits of sport. So conversations are taking place at all levels of society about the value of sport and how it must develop in a way that promotes the wellbeing of athletes and celebrates all that positive in human nature.

"GIVING THE BEST OF YOURSELF" The health benefits of participation in sport are widely documented, and research has also confirmed its positive contribution to mental health. While we might not readily connect sport with our faith or spiritual life, there is growing awareness of and reflection on this link. In 2018, the Vatican published its first major document about sport, Giving the best of yourself: a document on the Christian perspective on sport and the human person. The document

13

C OVE R STO RY

Distraught teammates of Christian Eriksen shield him from the glare of media and English supporters stampede Wembley Stadium spectators

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examines how sport can contribute to the integral development of the human person, outlining the relationship between giving our very best in sports and living the Christian faith in every aspect of life. "The church is interested in sport because the person is at her heart, the whole person, and she recognises that sports activity affects the formation, relations and spirituality of a

"Sharing with a friend is even more beautiful. It was just magical," Tamberi said afterwards. Speaking of beautiful moments, few were left unmoved by the joyful reaction of boxer Kellie Harrington to winning gold in Tokyo, not to mention the celebrations of her family and friends in Dublin who described her as "a beacon of light" for the community.

Pope Francis notes that sport is an activity of great value with the ability to enrich people's lives.

It is enjoyed by people of every nation, ethnic group and religious persuasion. "When we see athletes giving their very best, sport fills us with enthusiasm, with a sense of marvel, and it makes us almost feel proud," he has said. Speaking to a delegation of Italian football teams, he expressed his desire that football and other sports retain their element of celebration: "Today football also operates within the world of business, marketing, television, etc. But the economic aspect must not prevail over that of the sport; it risks contaminating everything on the international, national and even local level.

It is important that sports remain a game! Only by remaining a game will it do good for the body and spirit."

Gerard Hartmann, a physical therapist based in Limerick, believes there is a definite link between sport and spirituality, arguing that faith can give athletes an 'edge' when dealing with the ups and

There is something life-giving about sport; it breaks down barriers and unites people and families person," it states. One of the refreshing aspects of the document is its focus on the value of play and recreation, for its own sake, not just as a means to an end. Pondering the question of why people run marathons, for example, it concludes, "They must enjoy the challenge. Reaching for improvement step by step, mile by mile, evokes a sense of satisfaction that brings joy to the challenge."

Sport offers us a chance to take part in beautiful moments or to witness them taking place.

One such example was the decision by friends Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar to share the gold medal for the high jump at the Tokyo Olympics. Given the option to settle the tie with a jump-off, they decided, with a nod, on joint first place, celebrating with a jubilant hug.

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downs of competitive sport. "I deal with a lot of top-class athletes who are very mature and who have spirituality, whatever their faith, but I'm also seeing the 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds who are very naive and insecure," he said "How can I help someone get over an injury if they don't have belief? They need to believe in something greater, if they have a pillar, a faith, they really have a greater chance of getting over it." (Irish Independent, March 27, 2016) "COMMON JOY" Retired Bishop of Killaloe, Willie Walsh, is a familiar figure to GAA fans. A native of Tipperary, he played hurling throughout childhood and secondary school at St Flannan's College in Ennis, later returning to coach college teams there. The high point of his sporting career was his time as a selector with the Clare senior hurling team.

"Sport has always been part of my life and I'm thankful for that; overall it has been a very rewarding experience. I was an average hurler – let's just say no county selectors ever came looking – but I got great enjoyment out of it. My biggest achievement was being involved in the county senior hurling team as a selector. They got rid of me from the backroom team in 1994, and Clare won the next All-Ireland in 1995, so I don't know what that says," he laughs.

Bishop Walsh believes sport contributes significantly to health and wellbeing, as well as to building character. "Sport teaches us about

Reaction to the racist remarks made against Marcus Rashford

winning and losing. Losing at times can be devastating but we have to remind ourselves and others that losing is part of sport. If we accept it in the right way, it develops character. There is something life-giving about sport; it breaks down barriers and unites people and families," he says.

He feels that coaches have a particular responsibility to build up young people's confidence and encourage them in their endeavours. "I often asked myself the question when coaching younger people, 'Am I using these people to satisfy my own desire for success or my ego?' I think coaches have a specific responsibility

Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi share the gold medal

to ensure that they are not using young people, and are treating them with the respect to which they are entitled. There is no problem with taking them aside to talk about how they can improve their skills or behaviour, but there is a problem with diminishing a young person publicly in front of their peers."

Above all, the bishop says sport offers a sense of belonging and community. "Sport produces lasting friendships. I'm conscious that there have been battles on the hurling field that have gone over the top, but when the game is over the same players are friends. Some of the closest friends I

Bishop Willie Walsh with a St Flannan's team in the early 1980s

have to this day are people who were involved in the GAA with me, both players and backroom teams. My experience of sport has been that it promotes friendship and brings people closer together. It contributes to community spirit, particularly in rural parishes."

This aspect is highlighted in the Vatican document, which argues that sports sets higher goals beyond victory by encouraging the development of the person in a community of teammates and competitors. Participants work together to achieve a common goal, with the gifts and talents of each individual placed at the service of the team: "Sporting activity must be an unavoidable occasion to practice human and Christian virtues of solidarity, loyalty, good behaviour and respect for others … Sport only makes sense as long as it promotes a space of common joy."

Sport has also been instrumental in promoting equality and peace, breaking down racial, cultural and religious barriers. Many popular sports have campaigned against racism and homophobia.

There have been powerful drives such as the GAA's 'Bring It On' campaign highlighting the need for diversity and inclusion. A survey found that the majority (85 per cent) of respondents would like to see more players from diverse backgrounds on inter-county teams. The GAA has committed to increasing participation among people of diverse backgrounds by 30 per cent by 2025.

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"FAMILY OF SPORT" In his introductory letter to the 2018 document, Pope Francis said: "The need for others includes not only teammates but also managers, coaches, supporters, the family. All this makes sports a catalyst for experiences of community, of the human family... We reach great results, in sports as in life, together, as a team."

This sense of community was experienced in a concrete way by Olive Foley after her husband Anthony passed away in October 2016 at the age of 42. Anthony was a former Irish rugby captain and head coach of Munster, and was in Paris with the Munster squad when he died. In the days and weeks that followed, Olive and their two young sons Dan and Tony were supported not only by

today that all those he soldiered with, those he coached, and those he played with and played against were joined together as one great family to help us, his family, in a blanket of support." She recalls, in particular, her two sons being included in the Munster team huddle before their game in Thomond Park on the day Anthony was buried.

Olive found comfort in her faith and was amazed at the thousands of Mass cards and letters she received from the sporting community around the world. In the days after Anthony's death, Tony came up with the idea of inviting people to attend Mass every Sunday from October to Christmas – eight Masses to honour the number 8 jersey his Dad had worn. The tribute reached 160,000 people in more than 40 countries. "It still brings

It was a celebration of the family of sport because in those darkest hours, the arms of that family wrapped themselves around me and my family in a way that was quite remarkable

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Olive Foley their family, friends and church community but also by their "family of sport."

"The rugby community is very much a family," says Olive. "Anthony was in team sport for years and the partners of the players and coaching staff were my close friends and were right beside me.

The players were so supportive and kind. To the young lads in their early 20s, Anthony was like a father figure and they came in groups to visit. He was very close friends with a lot of players, and they are here for the kids now too. There was always a lovely family of support, and it's still propping me up today."

At the World Meeting of Families in August 2018, Olive spoke of how this support in the midst of her grief was a true celebration. "It was a celebration of Anthony's life and it was a celebration of sport and it was a celebration of the family of sport because in those darkest hours, the arms of that family wrapped themselves around me and my family in a way that was quite remarkable," she said.

"Anthony would be very proud and happy REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

joy to my heart – I still get letters from people who went back to Mass because of it," says Olive.

"I believe that God has put all these people in my path. We were propped up with support from around the world joining us in prayer."

"THE SOUL OF SOCIETY" The sporting world has changed beyond recognition in the past year and a half, with the pandemic forcing the cancellation of sporting events at all levels and the closure of clubs and fitness centres. While online training is readily available, the loss of the social interaction that normally comes with training and competitions has had considerable effects on physical and mental wellbeing. According to a UN report, "Young people are particularly affected by social and physical distancing, considering sport is commonly used as a tool to foster cooperation and sportsmanship, promote respectful competition, and learn to manage conflict. Without sport, many young people are losing the support system that

such participation provided." Thankfully, training has now resumed, and stadiums and venues are cautiously increasing their spectator numbers.

As the world begins to 'reopen' post-Covid, we face the challenge of reshaping our vision of community, and sport can undoubtedly play a role in this. Bishop Walsh points to the prominent role that sports clubs, particular the GAA, played in supporting people through the various lockdowns. "I live alone, and straight away in lockdown members of my local club came to make sure I was managing. These things are precious in a world where it is possible to live in isolation," he says.

Fr Harry Bohan, a sociologist and former manager of the Clare senior hurling team, says sport has always been at the heart of Ireland's community and voluntary activity and can help us now to 'reinvent' our sense of belonging and community.

"COVID-19 has taught us a hard lesson in that it has forced people, organisations and government to reflect on what is truly important to them. We have been challenged in all walks of life to reflect on what is fundamentally required to achieve peace and contentment," he says.

"We are now being reminded that this could be a time of vision and of hope, and sport could play a major part in this. In a consumer culture where unconstrained individual freedom tends to be nourished, sport can protect the need for balance between the mind, heart and spirit of society.

It can help to take stock of the soul of society, of the non-material attributes that distinguish community from the economy … a sense of place, a sense of belonging, a sense of relating to others."

Pope Francis encourages us all to give the very best of ourselves, not only in sport but in the rest of our lives: "I invite you not only to play, but [to] challenge yourself in the game of life like you do in the game of sports. Challenge yourself in the quest for good, in both church and society, without fear, with courage and enthusiasm. Get involved with others and with God; give it your best, spend your life on what really matters and lasts forever."

Tríona Doherty is a freelance journalist and editor and is a regular contributor to Reality. She is co-author, with Jane Mellett, of The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Luke, available from www.messenger.ie.

COM M E N T WITH EYES WIDE OPEN JIM DEEDS

FINDING GOD IN OUR DISRUPTED PLANS

FINDING MYSELF ON LOUGH DERG THIS SUMMER RATHER THAN ON HOLIDAY IN PORTUGAL, I WAS REMINDED THAT GOD KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR US So, the summer is over. September and autumn are upon us as the year marches on and us with it. For many of us, the plans we had for summer were either disrupted or cancelled altogether.

I was one such person. A mixture of travel restrictions and the visitation to my home of the dreaded coronavirus meant that neither our plan A nor a quickly organised plan B could happen.

I was disappointed, saddened even, by this turn of events, even if I wasn't exactly surprised, given the times we live in.

Nor was it only individuals and families who felt these disruptions; organisations did as well. Take, for example, Lough Derg. A normal summer for Lough Derg would see thousands of people travelling to its hallowed ground in boat after boat, day after day, walking together, praying and keeping vigil. But this was not a usual summer. With the best will in the world, for the second year in a row, the island could not be opened to the public for the traditional three-day pilgrimage.

Keen to explore new possibilities whilst the traditional pilgrimage is suspended, the team on Lough Derg put together a programme of residential retreats spanning three nights and four days.

Retreatants were to have a typical retreat experience of talks, prayer, Mass and quiet time. Unlike the traditional three-day pilgrimage, retreatants got to keep their shoes on, sleep each night and eat three modest meals per day.

Why am I sharing this with you? Well, my time of disrupted

plans and Lough Derg's time of exploring new possibilities collided gloriously this summer when Msgr La Flynn, the prior of Lough Derg, asked me if I would be free to come to Lough Derg as director for two of these retreats.

If my plans had worked out, I would have been in Portugal, and my answer would have been a polite "Sorry, I can't do it." With the disruption of my plans, I was in a position to say, "Yes, of course!"

You see, Lough Derg is a place close to my heart. I have made the three-day pilgrimages almost every year in the last decade. I have also worked as part of the wider pastoral team on Lough Derg for three years or so. In many ways, my year doesn't feel complete without a visit to the island.

And so, I got to say yes to going there in July and again in August. I wrote the inputs for the retreats on the theme, 'The Closeness of God'. As a basis for my inputs, I used my Redemptorist Communications book, A Look of Love – imagined stories from the ministry of Jesus as told by bystanders, onlookers and the peripheral characters we don't get to read so much about in the Gospels.

The first of my two three-day retreats was attended by a group of young people in their early twenties. Drawn from the dioceses of Derry and Clogher, they were students, teachers, delivery drivers, musicians.

They were sons and daughters,

uncles and aunts. They were, well … normal young people.

And here they were committing to attending a three-night residential retreat. Most had an association with Lough Derg.

Many spent summers working as volunteers on the island and so felt at home there. Not only that, but they felt at home with the prayer and contemplation that a retreat offers and, in some ways, draws us into. Truth be told, I was astounded by their ability to go from laughing and joking together in the dining room to falling silent for long moments as they contemplated the life and ministry of Jesus, sharing how it held inspiration for their lives. Of course, they were able to pray well and to sit in silent contemplation, you might rightly tell me. I like to think that I hold a very high opinion of young people, but my surprise told me that I needed to look once more at some of the assumptions I make. Thankfully, young people like those I met this July will be carriers of the faith and of good spiritual practice into a future far beyond an old man like me!

And so we spent four wonderful and spiritually uplifting days on Lough Derg. We really did experience the closeness of God, as the retreat was themed. For me, that closeness was made even more real as I watched the commitment, courage, humour and deep spirituality of these young people. I think we all left the island of Lough Derg nourished and consoled.

I spent time the following days reflecting on what I had learned on the retreat. It struck me that I was at the right place at the right time on Lough Derg this summer, even if I had planned to be in Portugal on holiday. In fact, I had a deep sense of God wanting me to have been there.

I recalled the difference between my feelings of disappointment and sadness at not being able to follow my own plans, and then the feeling of consolation I felt after following the plan that came my way in their stead.

They say that if you want to make God laugh, you should show God your diary. There are things we can rightly plan for in life, and that is good. There are, however, things that happen in life that are beyond our control and not in our plans. It is ok to feel disappointed and sad when this happens. My time this summer reminds me, though, that there is a plan bigger and greater than our own at play. In these unsettled times, we are reminded that we are not in charge; we are not in control. It is good to realise that, despite the disappointments and sadness that can come our way, God's plan for us is, as we read in Jeremiah 29, designed to bring us peace and consolation, to prosper and not to harm us.

Our job, it seems, is to pray and trust that God is at work and that God's plan is a good one.

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

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A SPIRITUALITY OF SPORT

A 2018 VATICAN DOCUMENT OFFERS A VERY GOOD OVERVIEW OF THE CHURCH'S INTEREST IN, INVOLVEMENT WITH, AND INTERPRETATION OF SPORT 18 BY KEVIN O'GORMAN SMA

Growing

up in Ireland in the 1960s, the first Sunday in September held great significance for me for both sporting and educational reasons, as the AllIreland hurling final was held on that day, and the schools opened the next day, signalling the end of the summer holidays. Whether for delight or dread in raising the Liam MacCarthy Cup or rooting out one's school bag, the day is etched in many people's memories.

The sight of the Archbishop of Cashel (Patron of the GAA) throwing in the sliotar to start the senior final positively symbolised the interest of the church in sport, though the honour party had to scurry to the safety of sideline and stand, as players from both sides didn't hesitate to draw on the ball.

While this image indicates the intense involvement of the church

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with Gaelic games at local level, other sports such as athletics, soccer and rugby are also included under this banner.

In 2018 the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life published a Document on the Christian perspective on sport and the human person. While much has been written in recent decades on the moral, spiritual and theological aspects of sport, this Vatican document offers a very good overview of the church's interest in, involvement with, and interpretation of sport. The title 'Giving the best of yourself,' taken from the opening sentence, sets out the understanding of sport shared by so many people throughout the world: "Giving one's very best is a fundamental theme in sports, as athletes both individually and collectively strive to achieve their goals in the game."

While 'being the best' is a mantra that motivates many people in different areas of life, 'giving the very best' is both a mark and measure of the pursuit of excellence that engages sportsmen and women in competition with each other, personally and collectively. 'Giving the best' means aiming at and achieving higher goals, as the official slogan of the Olympic Games – Altius, citius, fortius/higher, faster, stronger – suggests. Appreciation of human excellence has an aesthetic appeal all over the globe, with athletes across a spectrum of sporting activity generally regarded as the virtuosi of the outdoors while artists are seen as the virtuosi of the indoors.

INTEGRATE SPORT INTO CHRISTIAN LIFE The Document’s intention is "to help the reader understand the

relationship between giving our very best in sports and living the Christian faith in every aspect of our lives." It seeks to integrate sport into Christian life, for "the Church approaches the world of sports because it desires to contribute to the construction of an increasingly authentic, humane sport." This vision is important because it goes against the grain of another view of human life, which looks at it through the lens of business interests intent on building control and treating players as products to be bought and sold to boost profits.

Increasing international ownership of clubs and sponsorship of teams are evidence of an expanding economic model of sport, while the church engages the ethical and spiritual dimensions. Inserting 'the whole person' in its vision of sport, the Document quotes from an address to the Italian Tennis

Federation by Pope Francis in 2015 that “sports activity affects the formation, relations and spirituality of a person.” This holistic perception and presentation, putting the person at the heart of sport, is wise and also a warning that while players are competitors, they are not commodities to be traded or thrown away when their best before date has passed.

Quoting from an address to members of the European Olympic Committee by Pope Francis in 2013, the Document notes that sport is identified as a “powerful instrument for the integral growth of the human person" which "raises us up to go beyond ourselves and our own interests in a healthy way; it trains the spirit in sacrifice and, if it is well organised, it fosters loyalty in interpersonal relations, friendship and respect for rules.” This vision of sport is of a piece with the church's overall promotion of the value of human life. Sport is heralded here as playing its own part in fleshing out Saint Irenaeus' saying that "the glory of God is the human person fully alive." Chief sports writer for The Daily Telegraph Paul Hayward made the same point in psychological rather than theological terms in concluding that “sport's only real point is to help people find out about themselves, and to show how good life can be when human potential is fulfilled.” (27 May 2015) COMMON GOOD With the dignity and development of the person a paramount principle, the Document considers the contribution of sport to the common good. As the COVID-19 pandemic attests, the formation of community is fundamental for feeling healthy and hopeful, with sporting activity helping to fund

this so-called social capital. In Ireland, we are fortunate to have the link between sport and the local, which historically the church has helped to form, particularly at the parish level. This familiarity is epitomised in sayings such as Matt the Thresher's in Charles Kickham's 19th-century novel Knocknagow, “for the honour of the little village,” and the recent rugby banner “Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of God.” The importance of belonging and the role sport plays in it was beautifully illustrated in the beguiling advertisement on television a few years back about the GAA Club championship which showed the community gathering for a group photograph, while a voiceover spoke a litany of statements beginning with "Be …," commencing with "Be kith" and concluding with "Belong." In between exhortations to "Be shoulder to shoulder" and "Be shipmates/Be on the same boat" bring out the fact that for many sport enjoys, in Shakespeare's phrase, a local habitation and a name.

The intensity of local rivalry, whether at club or county level, attests to the importance of faceto-face interaction and sport’s role in facilitating such interaction, a point prophetically made by Eric Dunning in his sociological study enticingly entitled Sport Matters: 'Sport today provides a context in countries all over the world where people can meet and bond if sometimes only fleetingly, and it can help to give people a sense of continuity and purpose in contexts which are highly impersonal and beset by what many experience as a bewildering pace of change."

HUMAN UNIVERSAL This year the European soccer

championship, Olympics and Paralympics, Lions rugby tour to South Africa and Ryder Cup of golf all witness to the Document’s statement that "sport is a human universal." While acknowledging that 'of course, still local forms of sport exist and they rightly enjoy a growing popularity (one thinks of hurling), the document's focus here is on "global sport which – like a global language – can be understood by almost every human being."

While the globalisation of sport is a good thing, the consolidation of club ownership and broadcast rights can deny access to those who cannot afford the costs of subscribing to channels that carry games and matches. Moreover, the granting of global competitions to certain countries raises issues in relation to labour and other human rights.

The Document deals with the ethical demands of sport, particularly in relation to the virtue of justice, declaring that "sports bears witness to justice in that they require obedience to rules…and without rules, the sense of the game and the competition would be lost." Indeed, the importance of sport is evident in such everyday phrases as 'fair play' and 'a level playing pitch.' Exhorting respect for opponents is evidence that competitors are "striving or seeking together" for excellence and that "it is one's opponent who draws out the best in an athlete."

The American Jesuit Patrick Kelly's comment that “many people in the United States are beginning to think about and discuss sports in relationship to the spiritual life” is true also of other countries, as several conferences in this country attest to, for example, ‘Exploring the Link between Spirituality and Sport’ held in St Patrick's College, Thurles in 2005.

The Document delineates six values or virtues as a point of departure for discussing the dovetailing of sport and spirituality – sacrifice and joy, harmony and courage, equality/ respect and solidarity.

More individual and less institutional than in the past, the church's formal involvement with sporting organisations, events and players today is likely to be conducted from the stand rather than the sideline. This doesn't diminish the importance of sport for the church nor its influence on sportsmen and women. Believing is a basis rather than a barrier to broadening one's interest in and involvement with sport, whether as administrator or coach, player or spectator. While not explicitly mentioned by St Pope John Paul II in his encyclical The Mission of the Redeemer as one of "the new sectors in which the Gospel must be proclaimed," the world of sport is an arena for Christian witness and work in educational and ethical areas.

Together both church and sport are about giving one's very best, as communicated in a Chaplain's Prayer: “Lord, my work is off the field of play, hidden from the sight of spectators.

This demands a dedication similar to the men and women I minister to. Inspired by the sacrifices they and their families make, I want to serve them to the best of my own skills and strength. Give me the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to help them discern their successes and failures.

As a community of faith, may we run together the race of discipleship to the finishing line.” (From Playing and Praying, St Pauls, 2016)

Fr Kevin O’Gorman SMA lectures in moral theology in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Author of several books, he is a passionate supporter of Tipperary GAA.

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WHY SPORT MATTERS THE BEAUTY OF SPORT IS ITS CAPACITY TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER, ECLIPSING STRIFE AND DIVISION 20 BY MICHAEL O'REGAN

Few

things can rival, in public pride, the playing of our national anthem at a major sporting occasion, not least in Croke Park on All-Ireland day. The President has met the players, who have marched behind the Artane Band, and then the national anthem is played. Everybody stands to attention, facing the flag, some joining in the singing.

It is a moment of great unity with a spiritual dimension. I still find it as deeply an emotional experience as I did when I first saw my native Kerry play in Croke Park decades ago.

Sport, all sports, bring people together, eclipsing strife and division. Our great love affair with Jack Charlton and the Irish soccer team led to a long national celebration. Charlton, a Geordie from a country regarded by many as the ancient enemy, was an Irish hero. After big tournaments, thousands lined the streets to welcome our heroes home, prompting a bewildered Charlton to speculate on what might have happened "if we actually won something."

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The once unthinkable happened when rugby was played in Croke Park, with hardened players weeping because of the emotion of the occasion.

The British national anthem was played on the location of the Bloody Sunday atrocity of decades earlier.

The unifying nature of sport was illustrated in the concern expressed for the health of Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen after he collapsed during Euro 2020. His teammates formed a protective circle around him, while fans everywhere wished him well.

The broadcaster Eamonn Holmes summed it up on Twitter. "Of all the people and things I have to pray for, little did I think Christian Eriksen would be in my prayers tonight."

of national pride, with men and women doing us proud at home and abroad, some at a high level such as the Olympic Games.

My late father used to recall listening on a crackling radio in Kerry for word of Ronnie Delaney's magnificent run to a gold medal in Melbourne in 1956. Archive black and white film shows Delaney blessing himself in his hour of glory.

N o n - g o l f er s h av e f o l l o w e d th e

A priest, who worked as an emigrant chaplain in London in the 1960s, told me that his way of establishing a rapport with the emigrant Irish was through the local GAA club

NATIONAL PRIDE Sport has given us heroes, great moments

achievements of Shane Lowry, while even those with a jaundiced view of modern boxing have celebrated the great Katie Taylor.

The achievements of those in lesser-known sports have also led to a lift in the public mood.

Women are slowly but surely getting due sporting recognition. Some have taken up officer roles in clubs, something unthinkable at one time. Musty male-dominated golf

clubs have opened their doors to women members, even if shamefully late in the day.

ROLE OF GAA The GAA is central to sport in this country and very much part of our history. As a young fellow in Kerry, I was immersed in the GAA, and, like many others, I owe much to the organisation for its sporting and social outlets.

For decades, the Catholic Church and the GAA had a twin-like association. Many priests were involved in GAA clubs and did great work as part of the volunteerism that is fundamental to all sporting organisations.

I recall prayers being said at Sunday Masses in Kerry to assist the county team in an All-Ireland final. In those days, the prayers were frequently answered! There is a school of thought in the county that the practice should be resumed, given Sam's long absence from Kerry!

A priest, who worked as an emigrant chaplain in London in the 1960s, told me that his way of establishing a rapport with the emigrant Irish was through the local GAA club. Young men and women were arriving by the boatload, and sport became the currency of contact and conversation.

"We talked football and hurling,'' he said.

"Religion followed automatically."

The closeness of the GAA and the Catholic

Church was reflected in the singing of 'Faith of our Fathers' on All-Ireland day in Croke Park.

It would be inappropriate today, given our increasingly secular society, but its value to a battered and downtrodden people in the new State should not be lightly dismissed.

I recently listened to a recording by the great tenor Frank Patterson of 'Faith of our Fathers'.

My secular tendencies, honed over the years, disappeared, and I found myself overcome with emotion. Had it been decades ago in Croke Park, I could have understood its value to an oppressed people. It is worth noting also that, for all its triumphalism, it contained the line, "we will love both friend and foe…."

UNIFYING FORCE The GAA played a huge role in bringing bitter enemies together in the aftermath of the Civil War, again emphasising the unifying nature of sport.

In his book, In the Name of the Game, J.J. Barrett, a former Kerry footballer and son of Joe Barrett, winner of six All-Ireland medals, outlined the horror of the Civil War. "The depths to which men dredged during the Civil War in Kerry, if not in Ireland, yielded an even grimmer harvest in savagery and damage to Irish society than that of the preceding War of Independence, for it was to linger and haunt,''

he wrote. "The British were gone, the Irish had to live with each other."

Barrett noted that a county could ever unite again under a single flag, not to mind a football jersey, was a lasting tribute to the people who stood up to be counted in the face of great physical danger and the risk of intense public opprobrium.

"Had the uniting force of Gaelic football not been present as a distraction and common bond in the Kingdom in the twenties and thirties, it is debatable as to where the post-Civil War years would have led," Barrett wrote. "Clearly, the residual bitterness would have lingered for much longer with a significant section of the population."

The Covid pandemic meant the suspension of sporting fixtures, which were then played to empty terraces when they resumed. The resumption of competitive sport raised national morale at a difficult time.

Sport leads to good-natured rivalry, passion, pride and fierce loyalties. Long live all sports and long live the craic in the terraces, in front of the television screen, and on social media.

A proud Kerryman, Michael O’Regan is former parliamentary correspondent of The Irish Times.

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UNDERSTANDING

PRAYER

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T H E KE Y TO A HEALTHY, ACTIVE PA R T I C I PAT I O N IN THE LITURGY AND A HEALTHY PERSONAL PR AYER LIFE IS A PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF EACH

BY MARIA HALL

"Prayer

is an aspiration of the heart," said St Teresa of Calcutta. "It is a simple glance directed to heaven." St John Chrysostom said that "prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness." And the Catechism reminds us that "the prayer of the Church and personal prayer nourish hope in us."

priorities. ("I don't get anything out of it, so I won't bother.") But that's missing such a big point, and there are huge misunderstandings about what it means to go to church.

Everyone is concerned about global issues like war, famine, poverty, abuse and inequality.

We all want a fair and peaceful world, but that is, in fact, what communal prayer is all about! It concerns itself with the salvation of the world, so the best thing we can do is gather together to pray. When we gather

When we gather together for liturgy, we create a force bigger than the sum of the parts. We are the mystical Body of Christ TWO KINDS OF PRAYER In our modern, self-centred world, the concept of sacrificing some individuality for the common good is a challenge. Going to church is low down many people's list of REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

together for liturgy, we create a force bigger than the sum of the parts. We are the mystical Body of Christ.

Of course, we also need that personal connection with God. Personal prayer allows us to express our faith in our own way. But if we're not careful, we can end up doing both (the liturgical and personal) badly. The key to a healthy, active participation in the liturgy and a healthy personal prayer life is a proper understanding of what each is about.

LITURGICAL PRAYER In his classic book The Spirit of the Liturgy, Romano Guardini speaks at length about the

LI T U R GY

individual's unique role in liturgical worship and how it must be carefully distinguished from personal prayer and devotion. He writes: "The primary and exclusive aim of the liturgy is not the expression of the individual's reverence and worship for God. It is not even concerned with the awakening, formation, and sanctification of the individual soul as such."

Nor does liturgical action rely on individuals or groups of people. Liturgy exists and relies on the entire body, the church. Its aim is the glorification of God and the people's sanctification. This may come as a shock to some. It goes against our modern psyche.

Guardini suggests we must be humble in our approach to the Mass, adopting a communal approach to prayer, praying with others, "standing in the ranks" and putting the needs of others before our own. In Mystici Corporis, Pope Pius II said that "individual members do not live for themselves" but for the "common comfort" of all.

This is most obviously expressed in the Prayer of the Faithful and the intercessions in the Eucharistic Prayer, but the entire Mass is the prayer of Christ for the salvation of the whole world, not just the church.

So how should we see the Mass? * The Eucharist is chiefly the action of Christ in which we, the Mystical Body, take part. * It is through the liturgy that the church is visible. Liturgy makes the church present!

(CCC 1071). * The Mass is not a private function but an action of God's people united (Sacrosanctum Concillium 26). * Through our baptism, we have a right to take an active part in the liturgy (SC 14). But that means we must attempt to understand it. * When we are sent forth at the end of Mass, we are acting for Christ in the world.

No pressure!

Pope Benedict says that the best catechesis on the Mass is the Mass. Our first step to

PRACTICAL TIPS At home Encourage spontaneous prayer – before a journey, a holiday, a trip to the dentist. It needn't be long and fancy. The words just need to be honest and heartfelt.

Take a fresh look at the Mass through 'Mystical Body' eyes. Watch the short videos produced by The Liturgical Institute called 'Elements of the Catholic Mass.'

In the parish Keep church a prayerful place. Preparing for Mass in a quiet, peaceful, prayerful atmosphere links the liturgical and the personal. Develop catechesis for everyone, not just for the enthusiastic few.

At school The Word of God should always be at the heart of prayer. We have a duty to pass on the prayer tradition of the church. But composing prayers is a big part of school life. One good tip is to avoid beginning a prayer with 'Dear.' It's not a letter! We can use many adjectives and titles to address God – Almighty, Everlasting, Merciful, Loving, etc.

There are different categories of prayer. We tend to ask for things rather a lot. But there are also prayers of praise, thanksgiving and contrition.

Use artwork, videos and photos to inspire young people.

Young people need to see that prayer is relevant, focusing on issues that mean something to them and the world they live in.

praying the Mass well is for the Mass to be done well.

The Prayer of the Church (the divine office) is another liturgical expression of the entire body. It's wonderful to think that any time of the day or night, religious communities around the world are praying this perpetual prayer while the busy world goes about its business. But any person, maybe housebound or living in a remote area, in the privacy of their own home, can make the same prayer and is still part of that universal, public expression of faith.

St John Vianney spoke about the power of liturgical prayer: "Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: if you set it on fire, it makes a lot of flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that."

So it has the power to achieve great things, but some effort is required to reap the rewards of public prayer. Even back in the

23

LIT U RGY

Quiet, deeply personal moments are of immense value too – silence, meditation, sharing thoughts with the Lord

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days of Isaiah, God warned of the dangers of reciting prayers without paying attention to their meaning: "This people draws near with words only and honours me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me and their reverence for me has become routine observance." (Is 29:13) Seeing the church as the mystical Body of Christ was the driving focus of 20th-century reformers and Vatican II. We can make an effort to understand our role as members and how we contribute to the mystical Body of Christ, and we must do our best to help others. That is the challenge.

PERSONAL PRAYER "Personal prayer helps to make our religion more genuine, more personal, more deeply rooted. It favours our union with God. It comes to our aid in the little pinpricks of daily life as well as in temptations and trials which can never be totally excluded during our earthly pilgrimage." (Cardinal Francis Arinze) The church is blessed with an abundance of inspired prayers and writings. We may favour the Rosary, Angelus, novenas, litanies, Lectio Divina, quiet meditation or intercession through a particular saint, as well as by offering up our work or sufferings. In stressful times, prayers can be useful because the words are there waiting for us – the morning offering, Hail Mary, Our Father – all these and so many more have the words we may be unable to express ourselves. St Teresa of Calcutta reminds us that sometimes only a few words are needed: "Much more is accomplished by a single word of the Our Father, now and then, from our heart, than by a whole prayer repeated many times in haste and without attention."

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

Cardinal Arinze draws attention to extemporaneous prayer and says, "There are occasions when a prayer composed on the spot to suit the people present is to be advised." We are great at reciting the words of saints like Thomas Aquinas and Teresa of Avila, but we aren't good at composing prayer spontaneously. There are many opportunities outside the liturgy to bring God into our daily lives in our own words. We shouldn't be afraid to share these thoughts and prayers with others.

But quiet, deeply personal moments are of immense value too–silence, meditation, sharing thoughts with the Lord. The most important thing is that we are honest and true and that we speak from the heart.

The Catechism says, "According to scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain."

St Ignatius of Loyola advises us to "speak to God as a friend speaks to his friend, servant to his master; now asking some favour; now acknowledging our faults, and communicating to him all that concerns us, our thoughts, our fears, our projects, our desires, and in all things, seeking his counsel."

One of the wonders of prayer is that we all speak to God in different ways. Individual prayer allows us to become intimately close to God in a way that suits us. But sometimes, the challenge is praying at all. Some of the most inspirational saints struggled. St Teresa of Calcutta and St Therese of Lisieux both documented struggles with their faith, which surely gives us hope.

Resources https://www.mariahall.org/prayer-resources (Includes ways to start a prayer and prayers for different ages) Elements of the Mass (series of short videos,) available on YouTube and Liturgicalinstitute.org The Spirit of the Liturgy, by Roman Guardini Mystical body, Mystical Voice. Encountering Christ in the Words of the Mass, by Christopher Carstens A Devotional Journey through the Mass, by Christopher Carstens.

Maria Hall is music director at St Wilfrid's Church, Preston, England. A qualified teacher, she has a Master’s from the Liturgy Centre, Maynooth and is a consultant on matters liturgical for schools and parishes. www.mariahall.org

F E AT U R E

ECHOES OF CATHOLICISM IN ANNE ENRIGHT'S THE GATHERING

ANNE ENRIGHT'S AWARD-WINNING NOVEL IS MORE THAN JUST A GREAT LITERARY ACHIEVEMENT; IT ALSO HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANT ROLE CATHOLICISM CONTINUES TO PLAY FOR MANY IRISH PEOPLE IN TIMES OF GRIEF

BY EAMON MAHER

I

think it's fair to say that not many people would suspect one of Ireland's foremost fiction writers, Anne Enright, of being overly concerned with Catholicism. She is of a different generation to Heaney, McGahern and the irrepressible Edna O'Brien.

All of them lived in an Ireland dominated by a religiosity that extended to every facet of people's lives. When Enright's novel The Gathering was published in 2007 and won the prestigious Man Booker Prize, it was noticeable that at a time when the Celtic Tiger was still raging, and the forces of secularism were taking a firm hold in Irish society, there was so much 'Catholic' content in the book. After all, many commentators spoke of Ireland as a post-Catholic country, as if that phrase somehow indicated that Catholicism had disappeared

altogether, which is far from being the case.

The Athlone novelist John Broderick explained in an interview with RTÉ broadcaster David Hanly shortly before his death in 1989 the permanent hold his Catholic upbringing had on him: "Anyone who is reared in a Catholic atmosphere first of all takes in that Catholic atmosphere more or less through their pores."

That phrase has always resonated with me. Even though people may stray from the church's teachings and decide to ignore many of the tenets imparted to us at home and in school, Catholicism remains in our 'pores', ready to resurface at any moment.

I am not suggesting that Anne Enright somehow rediscovered Catholicism when she was writing The Gathering, but rather that the novel could only have been

25 written by someone with a Catholic sensibility. The narrative reveals the extent to which tragic events (suicide, in this case) can revive past traumas and uncover secrets that may have lain dormant for many years.

The narrator is a 39-year-old woman, Veronica (née Hegarty), who was brought up in a family of 12 children and was closest to her alcoholic sibling Liam, who, we discover in the opening pages, was fished from the sea at Brighton after deciding that life was no longer worth living. The 'gathering' of the title refers to the wake the family organises for Liam in Dublin, which is the trigger for a discussion about the source of their dead brother's problems. Veronica knows his issues dated from the abuse he was subjected to by Lamb Nugent, a sinister character who controlled their grandmother Ada after her

husband's death and his friend, Charlie, a hapless, inept man who left his family in penury. Nugent seized the opportunity to gain ownership of the family home, where he was a regular visitor and a malevolent presence.

As a young girl, Veronica entered the 'good' room in Ada's house, where she found her brother and Nugent engaged in a disturbing sexual act. Nugent looked up and saw her at the door, but the look he gave did not betray panic at being disturbed. He merely told her to leave, knowing that she could never speak to anyone of what she had seen. After Liam's death, she relives the episode in her mind and remarks: "It is the struggle in Lamb Nugent's face that is unbearable, between the man who does not approve of this pleasure, and the one who is weak to it." She also remembers the terrified look on

F E AT U R E

her brother's face and feels guilty that she did nothing to save him.

UNCONSCIONABLE At a time when there is far more public awareness of paedophilia and sexual abuse generally, the notion that a man could so blatantly engage in illegal and lewd acts with a minor and get away with it seems unconscionable. Yet, up until relatively recently in Ireland, such issues were rarely discussed or even thought possible. Veronica realises that Liam's fate was sealed by what he suffered at the hands of Nugent, but equally, she knows that the social reality at that time was very different: "Of course no one knew how these things worked at the time. We looked at the likes of Liam and had a whole different story for it, a different set of words. Pup, gurrier,

REALITY MAY 2021

monkey, thug, hopeless, useless, mad, messer'. No one thought to ask why Liam behaved in the manner he did. In the circumstances, it is understandable that Veronica chose to banish the memory of what she witnessed that day. Subsequently, she is struck by the contrast between the public and private Nugent.

Ostensibly a devoted husband and father, he was nevertheless having an affair with Ada and abusing her grandson: He was at the Pro-Cathedral that morning, for early Mass.

He walked in a line with other men for Holy Communion. The look on their faces was as hungry as poor men queuing for soup.

And when he got up from his knees, he did so like a decent man: slow in the haunches, heavy with the weight of his life

on this earth, sad for the people he loved. Brave.

The reality couldn't have been more different, as is clear from his actions. But Nugent isn't the only one leading a double life. Veronica thinks of how her own parents also

time, I never saw his lips move. I never heard him pray aloud, or even saw him bend his head, or do anything that might be considered remarkable were he sitting on the top deck of a bus.

Veronica's parents represent

Anyone who is reared in a Catholic atmosphere first of all takes in that Catholic atmosphere more or less through their pores John Broderick engaged in a devout and unthinking observance of their Catholic duties: Of course Mammy is a Catholic, in the way that Mammys are, but for fourteen years or so I sat by or behind my father, on a wooden church bench every Sunday morning and in all that

swathes of Irish couples from a few decades ago who would never dream of missing Mass but who often had nothing other than a superficial grasp of their faith.

Religion was habitual for them, just as it became normal for Veronica to cease attending Mass once she

left home. She describes how her daughter Rebecca is going through what she describes as "a pious phase," which she suspects may well be an effort to annoy her mother.

Veronica has a brother, Ernest, who was ordained a priest, but who has long since left the fold, although nobody tells their mother what has happened: indeed, she asks to be blessed by him on his return from South America for Liam's funeral, a task he is quite willing to perform.

REAL SKILL Enright's real skill as a novelist is her ability to get inside the head of her main protagonist, Veronica, who, despite having an attractive and attentive husband and two lovely daughters, a comfortable home and good standard of living, is nevertheless dissatisfied with her life. In addition, she has a somewhat conflicted attitude to sex, which may result from her having also been abused as a child

by Nugent and then occluding the traumatic memory of what happened. Whatever the reason, she is damaged and fragile. When all the Hegartys assemble to say farewell to their brother Liam, Veronica once more entertains morose thoughts: Now I know that look in Liam's eye was the look of someone who knows they are alone.

Because the world will never know what has happened to you, and what you carry around as a result of it. Even your sister – your saviour in a way, the girl who stands in the light of the hall – even she does not hold or remember the thing she saw. Because, by that stage, I think I had forgotten it entirely.

It was only when the revelations began

to appear in the Irish media about what had happened in industrial schools, Magdalene laundries, mother and baby homes, or the findings of the various reports on clerical sex abuse, that Veronica came to see that others had suffered a similar fate to Liam. Looking at her brother's corpse and reflecting on what she knew of his life, she cannot help feeling responsible for what happened to him. Some hope for the family is provided by the discovery that Liam and his former girlfriend Sarah had a son, Rowan, whose close resemblance to his father makes them think that their brother will live on in this fresh new life (Rowan is three). And although the slow procession to Liam's grave is painful – Veronica says that "being part of a family is the most excruciating way to be alive" – there is still the chance that some good can emerge from this tragedy. There is no reconciliation with her religion for Veronica, but the funeral ceremony, the waking of the corpse in their mother's house, the shaking of hands with those who come to pay their respects, the Mass and burial, all combine to bring finality and dignity to the life of her brother. Rowan is almost like a gift from God: they lose o n e

person, only to have him replaced by another. The Irish do funerals exceptionally well, and this is imputable to the skill and compassion of priests, the beauty of the ceremonies and how communities come together to console the bereaved and celebrate the life that has just ended.

Anne Enright's award-winning novel is, therefore, more than just a great literary

Eamon Maher's latest book, co-edited with Eugene O'Brien, is Reimagining Irish Studies for the Twenty-First Century, published by Peter Lang.

achievement; it also shows that Catholicism still plays an important role for many Irish people in times of grief. Veronica, in particular, needs healing because of what she witnessed all those years previously.

As she says in the last lines of the novel: "I have been falling into my own life, for months. And I am about to hit it now." It is at this crucial point that religion has the capacity to be an indispensable source of consolation.

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Anne Enright

CHASTITY AND SEXUALITY

WHAT DOES ADAM AND EVE'S SHAME AT THEIR NAKEDNESS IN THE GARDEN TELL US ABOUT OUR ATTITUDE TO SEXUALITY AND THE VOW OF CHASTITY?

BY COLM MEANEY CSsR

It's 28

seldom that a homily on the religious vows produces guffaws of laughter, but that's what happened to me.

I was giving a sermon on the vows to a group of nuns, some of whom were celebrating their silver anniversary of profession, and I wondered if there might be any connection between the vows and the Our Father. I was trying to emphasise that the vows are not imposed as burdens, but are ways of thinking and acting which liberate; that living according to the patterns suggested by the vows can set us free from common human failures to live fruitfully, the vows being the three oaths that religious (sisters, brothers, priests) profess when they join their respective congregations: poverty, obedience and chastity.

I started by saying that poverty links up with "give us this day our daily bread," as it reminds us that life is a gift to be joyfully accepted, not a struggle to accumulate more and more. It further reminds us to seek the simple things in life – bread and its equivalents – and not to be constantly striving for luxuries. This vow teaches us the discipline needed to exit from any rat race which would seduce us into accumulating more and more, of always wanting the latest gadget, of 'keeping up with the Joneses', all largely futile, often expensive, habits.

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

Then I said that obedience, far from implying a blind docility to what my superior says or demands, is really my superior and myself, and/or the community, listening together to try and discern how God's will (or the Gospel) might be lived in this particular situation, and that the link to the Our Father is "your will be done." Obedience sets us free from a tiring insistence on always doing "my will." It liberates us from a hopeless and often destructive ego trip.

I noted that the two other times in the gospels (apart from the Our Father) when the words "your will be done" are used are

by Mary at the Annunciation when she was "greatly disturbed" by the angel's message and by Jesus in Gethsemane when he was "greatly distressed." So this serves to remind us that, even though the vows are not best thought of as impositions, they still present their own onerous demands.

So far so good! I hadn't thought out how to link celibacy with a phrase from the Our Father. So I said out loud, "What might be the link between the vow of celibacy and the Our Father?" One of the nuns said immediately, "Lead us not into temptation!" Well, we all roared laughing. It was a nice change from my rather serious homily, and I'm sure the good Lord wasn't put out by our rather raucous

laughter during Mass. Yet I thought that her comment seemed to still give the impression that the vows were a kind of obstacle course to be negotiated, or a trial to be overcome, whereas I was trying to suggest that they are gifts given, charisms bestowed, naturally with accompanying challenges, due to our human frailty.

But I considered her quick and instinctive link between celibacy and temptation to be thought-provoking and revealing of a widespread mentality: that celibacy is a locus of temptation in ways that poverty and obedience may not be. I think this is mistaken.

Surely, the desire to always get my own way, to be always 'in the right', is succumbing to a temptation to self-importance or a petulant stance of anti-authority (against obedience).

And surely the incessant wanting always to acquire more, always to have the latest device or possession, is falling prey to a similar lure of aggrandisement (against the vow of poverty).

Still, while all three vows concern us as embodied individuals, there seems no doubt that the vow of celibacy intersects with us at a more visceral level, probably because of its link with the very perdurance of the human species. It seems that the inability to conform flourishingly with this particular vow is judged more severely than failures regarding the other two. Our sexuality touches rawer

nerves than our discerning how to respond in different, challenging circumstances (obedience) or our relationship to the world of 'things' (poverty).

Further on the issue of sexuality, I was studying Genesis 2 and 3 recently. In the famous garden of Eden scene, I was struck by the connection between Adam and Eve's shame and their nakedness. I wondered: why would their nakedness be a source of shame?

I mean, if it were me, I'd be more ashamed at being outwitted by a cunning serpent, or by going against the only limitation given by the Creator in an otherwise blessing of abundance ("you may eat from all of the trees, apart from this one Tree of Life"). But

Adam said they were ashamed because they were naked. Why might that be? All parts of our bodies are God-given. And why would these parts of the body (the loins) be more problematic than the others?

Clearly, it was the case that even back then (whenever Genesis was composed), sexuality was already problematic. We know that certain relations between the sexes were seen as “an abomination" in ancient Israelite society. But this text says that at the supposed outset of human history, before the reality of personal (sexual) relations, the mere fact of certain parts of the body being visible is a source of shame, regardless of any relations. Indeed, none are even hinted at in the text.

All parts of our bodies are Godgiven. And why would these parts of the body (the loins) be more problematic than the others?

Recently, I came across an intriguing connection between the loincloths in Eden and others used in ancient Israelite society, specifically those used by the priests. You may not be familiar with the details of the Old Testament rules for the priests when they were officiating in the Temple (or earlier in the Tabernacle, which was carried during the 40 years of the desert wandering after the Exodus from Egypt). It specifies that the officiating priest, beneath his attire for worship, had to wear undergarments so as to hide any "shameful" parts of the body, which may have become visible as he ascended the altar to offer the sacrifice.

It seems that part of the reason for this was the practice of other ancient pagan priests who officiated at their sacrifices completely naked, in fact, often in a somewhat erotic bearing. So from earliest human times (at least according to the book of Genesis), and apart from fulminating against pagan erotic worship practice, the loins were a source of shame or protection or suspicion or awe (all probably connected), precisely, I would surmise, because of the link to the continuation of the species through procreation.

A native of Limerick city, Fr Colm Meaney first went to the Philippines as a student and has spent most of his priestly life there.

29

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COM M E N T FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS CARMEL WYNNE

UNDERSTANDING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

WHEN TALKING ABOUT PROBLEMS MAKES THEM WORSE RATHER THAN BETTER, IT'S PROBABLY DUE TO THE UNSPOKEN EXPECTATIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS COUPLES HAVE OF EACH OTHER Kevin and Anna were a volatile couple who were deeply in love but fought almost every day. Rows over silly things were a constant feature of their relationship. An hour after a fight, neither of them could say what exactly they fought about.

Still, the tension between them was damaging their relationship.

An avid reader of self-help books, Anna believed that talking about issues and sharing their feelings should bring them closer. She and Kevin talked a lot but talking about their feelings and their problems didn’t bring them closer. Often it made things worse rather than better.

Anna admitted that when she felt stressed and worried about their financial situation, it put both of them on edge and they were likely to quarrel. She had empathy for Kevin when something went wrong in his work and he was irritable. She was sensitive to his moods and careful not to annoy him. Anna recognised that when he was cranky, anything could start a row. It might be a letter from the bank telling him he was overdrawn or something she forgot to do. Her perception was that she was always quick to offer a heartfelt apology whenever she upset him.

Kevin had a very different perception. He found it surprising that Anna never seemed to apologise. It was hard for him to stay patient when she said she would do something and then forgot. He was offended that she

teased him for being too serious the one time she forgot to pay an important bill.

Anna felt hurt that Kevin never appreciated the effort she put into looking nice for him or creating a romantic setting when she prepared a special meal. He rarely expressed the gratitude she expected for the work she put into special occasions.

The global pandemic had unexpected consequences that neither of them could have predicted. In the first two weeks of lockdown, Kevin and Anna had an unproductive cycle of fights. Their disagreements started to escalate into angry rows. It was understandable that, locked down in a small, onebedroom apartment, tempers would flare.

When they got married, the couple agreed they would never let the sun set on a disagreement without making up. The night that Anna stormed off to bed in silence without saying 'Goodnight' was a wake-up call for them both.

Before lockdown, when Kevin was angry, he would walk away.

But it was a shock when Anna did the same. He sat alone, brooding on what had just happened. It was not in Anna's nature to deliberately hurt his feelings.

It was most disappointing that he couldn't trust her to keep an agreement. Her forgetfulness and irresponsible behaviour were what frequently put him in a bad mood.

He loved her passionately. He loved that they could talk freely and openly in the morning.

He loved that they shared the same values. He expected her to understand how she hurt his feelings. The breaking of an agreement was a breach of trust, something he would never have expected of her.

While brooding, Kevin had a big revelation that shocked him to his core. Unconsciously, he had assumed that she should be aware of his expectations and live up to them because Anna loved him. The betrayal he felt at the perceived breaking of agreements was unfair to Anna.

Beautiful and positive changes happened when Kevin shared his shattering revelation with his wife. Anna admitted that alone in her bed, she felt hurt, angry and heart sore. She also felt betrayed that he broke his promise when he didn't follow her in to say 'Goodnight.'

She was astonished that he was not turning out to be the perfect husband she wanted him to be. In many ways, he was a wonderful man – funny, kind, generous to a fault – but she never expected that he would take her for granted or forget to say 'Thank you.'

They discovered that most of their fights were about the perceived breaking of trust when no actual agreement had been made. Fewer rows occurred when Kevin recognised how they were breaking their

psychological contract. The concept of the psychological contract emerged in the early 1960s. It refers to an unwritten set of beliefs, values, perceptions and ambitions employers and employees have of each other.

As the expectations and assumptions are not directly communicated or verbalised, it is covert, imprecise and implicit.

When talking about problems makes matters worse rather than better, it's highly probable that it’s because of the unspoken expectations and assumptions couples have of each other.

Misund erst anding s , hur t feelings and erosions of trust are inevitable when expectations are not directly communicated and verbalised.

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

31

F R AT E LLI T UT TI

DIALOGUE AND FRIENDSHIP IN SOCIETY IN CHAPTER SIX OF FRATELLI TUTTI, POPE FRANCIS ARGUES THAT AUTHENTIC SOCIAL DIALOGUE INVOLVES THE ABILITY TO RESPECT THE OTHER'S POINT OF VIEW AND TO ADMIT IT MAY INCLUDE LEGITIMATE CONVICTIONS AND CONCERNS

BY MICHAEL DALEY

When

32

I first heard the news, I hoped it didn't involve the Catholic Church. Let some other denomination be at the centre of the story this time. Please. The headline read that the remains of 215 children had been found in unmarked graves at a former church-run school in Canada. Upon further examination, unfortunately, it was confirmed that the Catholic Church was central to the event.

Located in southern British Columbia, Kamloops Indian Residential School was the place where the remains were discovered. Part of a national network, it opened in 1893 with the stated goal of assimilating and "civilising" Indigenous children into Canadian society. The cost of this integration was severe and included removal from families, loss of tribal languages and customs, and physical, even sexual, abuse.

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

(The last of the residential schools closed in 1996.)

Upon hearing the news, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to those traumatised by the news and urged healing and reconciliation.

He added: "These difficult times are a strong call for everyone to turn away from the colonial model and also from the ideological colonisations of the present, and walk side by side in dialogue, mutual respect and recognition of the rights and cultural values of all the daughters and sons of Canada."

For Francis, "ideological colonisation" happens when respect for cultural and religious differences frays. Richer and more powerful nations and people impose their values on those who are poorer and weaker. In the end, various perspectives and peoples are silenced and cast aside as worthless.

The remedy to this present standoff "between selfish indifference and

violent protest," as Pope Francis spells out more clearly in Chapter Six of Fratelli Tutti ('On Fraternity and Social Friendship'), is dialogue. This dialogue is by no means easy to achieve and doesn't happen overnight. It is patient, persistent, courageous, and often overlooked.

A NEW CULTURE OF DIALOGUE Pope Francis begins the chapter by noting the paradox, at times, of social media. Some people, fleeing from reality, use it to take refuge in their own little world, compromising the social component. Others manipulatively express multiple forms of hatred, violence, and falsehood, impeding the communication of truth. As a result, the promise of dialogue is betrayed by "the media's noisy potpourri of facts and opinions," which find expression in competing monologues.

Unfortunately, this creates a climate where cynicism and doubt toward engaging in conversation–"What's the point?"–becomes the norm rather than the exception. This lack of dialogue leads Pope Francis to lament that "in these individual sectors people are concerned not for the common good, but for the benefits of power or, at best, for ways to impose their own ideas. Round tables thus become mere negotiating sessions, in which individuals attempt to seize every possible advantage, rather than cooperating in pursuit of the common good" (#200).

Admittedly, dialogue isn't going to result in 100 per cent agreement.

Rarely does that happen, even amongst the closest of friends.

What it does, though, is create an openness to others and possibilities for encounter and solidarity. As Pope Francis suggests, "Authentic social dialogue involves the ability to respect the other's point of view and to

admit that it may include legitimate convictions and concerns. Based on their identity and experience, others have a contribution to make, and it is desirable that they should articulate their positions for the sake of a more fruitful public debate" (#203).

and engage in consensus building in the service of truth. But this doesn't mean that truth is up for grabs or that it can be defined as one sees fit.

Francis is adamant that if dialogue is to bear fruit, "it must respect the truth of our human dignity and

Once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the ways ideas are discussed and compared Echoing Pope Francis, Dr Suzanne Mulligan, lecturer in theology at Maynooth College, emphasises that "we ought to dialogue in a way that is respectful of people, their ideas, their traditions. There needs to be more fruitful public debate, not based on fear or caricatures, but based on genuine dialogue and openness to others. There also needs to be interdisciplinary dialogue–the world's problems will not be solved in isolation or by any one faith, profession, or nation."

CONSENSUS OR RELATIVISM Pope Francis admits that today's world is marked by a plurality of diverse ways of living and believing.

Rather than run to our silos of certitude and absolutism, Francis encourages us to encounter the other

submit to that truth" (#207). He goes on to say that "dialogue needs to be enriched and illumined by clear thinking, rational arguments, a variety of perspectives and the contribution of different fields of knowledge and points of view" (#211). Under these guidelines, one can see that relativism is not the result of "an ethical rigidity nor does it lead to the imposition of any one moral system, since fundamental and universally valid moral principles can be embodied in different practical rules. Thus, room for dialogue will always exist" (#214).

Likewise, Mulligan observes that "respecting differences does not mean we believe everything is equally valid. The reality is that our world is a globalised, pluralist world, and we either decide to engage with others or we decide to withdraw. We can

engage with confidence in our Gospel message while respectfully listening to those with other worldviews.

"And we can respectfully listen while not agreeing. Dialogue does not mean we condone or support everything. But sometimes dialogue (even with our enemies) is the only way to achieve a higher goal."

A NEW CULTURE OF ENCOUNTER AND KINDNESS To help us better consider what "a culture of encounter capable of transcending our differences and divisions" is, Pope Francis offers us the image of a polyhedron.

Perhaps it comes from his scientific background before entering studies for the priesthood. For Francis, the polyhedron–a solid with multiple flat surfaces–"can represent a society where differences coexist, complementing, enriching and reciprocally illuminating one another, even amid disagreements and reservations" (#215).

Naturally, this culture of encounter does not occur instantaneously. It takes time. Frustratingly, it is often a process only partially realised. Yet, Pope Francis wants us to reach out in faith to others, seeking points of contact, building bridges, and planning projects. This will allow for the creation of a social covenant of unity while, at the same time,

"recognising other people's right to be themselves and to be different."

When in doubt in the midst of dialogue, Francis proposes the sage advice of kindness or, as my grandmother used to say, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Sadly, however, recent years have seen a coarsening of culture. But Pope Francis holds out hope that the virtue of kindness will be recovered: "Precisely because it entails esteem and respect for others, once kindness becomes a culture within society it transforms lifestyles, relationships and the ways ideas are discussed and compared. Kindness facilitates the quest for consensus; it opens new paths where hostility and conflict would burn all bridges."

Herein lies a challenge and invitation for the church both internally and externally. "If what Pope Francis says in Fratelli Tutti about dialogue," Mulligan remarks, "is to have a real impact on politics, on social life, on economics, etc., then surely it must have some impact on how we as church, as the entire People of God, conduct ourselves also."

Michael Daley is a teacher and writer from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lives with his wife June and their three children. His latest book, co-authored with scripture scholar, Sr Diane Bergant, is Take and Read: Christian Writers Reflect on Life’s Most Influential Books (Apocryphile Press).

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Dante’s

TIMELESS MESSAGE OF HOPE THIS YEAR MARKS THE 700TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF DANTE, ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FIGURES OF MEDIEVAL LITERATURE. HIS DIVINE COMEDY OFFERS A TIMELESS REFLECTION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF HOPE

BY RICHARD REID CSsR

As

a student at the University of Kent in Canterbury, I had the privilege of studying the great poet and medieval philosopher Dante Alighieri. This year we mark 700 years since the death of this enormous figure, known by many as the ‘Father of the Italian language.’ My degree was in Theology, but I was allowed to study one module in any other faculty of my choice. Dante’s Divine Comedy, Divina Commedia was being offered by the Italian faculty, and so began a lasting relationship between Dante and myself.

I hope to shed Dantesque light on something we all need but are often lacking – and that is hope. Dante knew this, and his perception of the theological virtue of hope is as valid today as it was in medieval Italy. Dante's Divina Commedia bridges a gap between the scholarly tomes of the theologians and the layperson in the street. Dante had much to say on hope in the early 1300s. Availing himself of every possible philosophy, from the great thinkers of antiquity to the theologians of his day, Dante formulated his own theory and permeated the Commedia with it.

There are three sections to be negotiated in reading the Divine Comedy. One begins in Hell – Inferno, then progresses to Purgatory – Purgatorio, before finally arriving in Heaven – Paradiso. As we make our way through the Divina Commedia, I will introduce you to some characters and themes encountered en route.

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HOPE Hope is introduced to the reader from the very REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

beginning. Virgil, the guide, informs Dante, the confused pilgrim, about what they will encounter on their journey. "I will be your guide, and lead you through an eternal place, where you will hear despairing shrills, you shall see the ancient spirits in pain, so that each one calls for a second death; then you will see those who are happy in the fire: for they hope to come when ever that be, amongst the blessed."

So hopeless is this place of hell that its residents blaspheme God and their parents, the place, the time and the origin of their seed, and their birth.

They realise that it would have been better never to have been born than to end up in this Godforsaken place.

Probably the most famous line from the whole Commedia is "Abandon hope all you that enter here."

The absence of hope in hell is a central theme to which Dante will return time and again. He desperately wants his readers to fully appreciate the consequences that will inevitably accompany a sinful, unrepented life. The moral is that no amount of illicit pleasure or gain is worth an eternity of suffering in a hopeless realm.

THE LOST IN INFERNO Paolo and Francesca have lost all hope, yet continue to be consumed with desire; a lustful desire. Dante has seen fit to portray lust as being among the least sinful of the vices. He himself was a sensual man, often controlled by his baser appetites. He would therefore have an understanding of the difficulties

F E AT U R E

in controlling these appetites, hence guidance. Dante makes the journey his lenient stance. to meet his love, and only after he has He reverses this order in the met her can he be led to the ultimate Purgatorio, where pride is the first, love, God. and arguably, worst sin encountered, This character which Dante leaving lust as the last condition to be introduces seems so good and purged, a purgation obligatory for all virtuous that the reader has difficulty the souls, however brief, in purgatory. deciding whether she is an invention Dante is all too aware that lust can or a real woman. I have no doubt destroy our spiritual endeavours. she was a real woman who had a The first penalty of the sensual life is profound effect on Dante. darkness. This natural symbol of evil The Commedia ends with Dante pervades the whole of the Inferno. sharing in the vision of God, who is Dante is describing a special darkness Domenico di Michelino's 1465 fresco of Dante's Divine Comedy. It includes the love. By the time Dante reaches the that is the product of sensual sin. By entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence end of this journey, Beatrice has so concentrating the whole nature on instructed him that when he beholds the flesh, reason itself is destroyed, the feelings are with the knowledge that they have been sinners, God, he does not even notice that his "beloved" hardened, and the very capacity for spiritual vision enables the souls to begin their journey towards Beatrice has left him; she has gone to re-take her is lost. "I came into a place silent of every light." This God. However, they know they are not worthy to place in Paradiso. one short phrase sums it all up. The senses have stand in the presence of God and enjoy the Beatific For a long time, Dante had been unsure of his run amok, confusion reigns, the aural and visual Vision; justice demands that they be purified. The "way." He had lost hope. Only the rediscovery of combine, resulting in nothingness and darkness. souls eagerly embrace this opportunity, that they Beatrice restored his vision. Perhaps Dante was If one possesses hope, no amount of physical may be, ultimately, one with God. following St Augustine's famous adage, "O Lord, fettering or slavery can rob one of interior freedom.

The journey up Mount Purgatory is a process our souls are restless until they find their home in In hell, that interior freedom is snatched away as whereby the soul will become worthy to enter you." Just like St Augustine, Dante has found his the soul knows it can never regain hope. No solace paradise. In a sense, they are to return to their salvation through a woman. We may agree that is gained from happy memories. As Francesca baptismal innocence when they were deemed both men came to God through the efforts of good laments, "There is no greater pain than to remember good and worthy. Now they must be redeemed. women, who were examples of virtue; St Monica a happy time in wretchedness." Paolo and Francesca Their ascent towards their final goal would be futile for Augustine and Beatrice for Dante. are deprived even of the luxury of solitude. They and impossible if they did not possess hope. Faith The divine is to be found in corporeal forms had desired each other so much in life that now and love propel them upwards, but the journey if only we have eyes to see and faith to believe. they are fused together for all eternity. They can could never begin without the hope of attaining Through other people, we are able to see the divine never hope to be Paolo or Francesca again; forever, union with God. potential which is dormant in us all. Dante, the they will be Paolo and Francesca.

Purgatorio is the realm of hope, whereas, as already Florentine man, was all too aware of the power of other people over an individual and the power of seen, Inferno is the place of despair.

THE HOPEFUL IN PURGATORIO love to transform. In Beatrice, he saw a channel of We can make a convincing case that purgatory BEATRICE, ONE OF THE GUIDES grace and, at much cost, followed her light, which bears a closer relationship to our own experience Much has been written about Beatrice, the love brought him to God. than either hell or heaven. The former presents a of Dante's life, whose influence permeates the While scholars and theologians may continue to picture of unbearable and horrendous torment, whole of the Commedia. Dante's initially erotic argue and speculate, everyone else can safely lay while the latter conjures up contentment and love for Beatrice has developed and, finally, in claim to Dante. He purposely wrote in Italian rather ineffable peace. Whilst we may glimpse, or Paradiso turned into the all-consuming love of God. than the conventional Latin so that he would be periodically experience, 'hellish' conditions or Without Beatrice's early influence, one wonders accessible to all. The Commedia bears testimony celestial happiness in our earthly lives, for the if Dante would ever have been able to direct his to the power of Faith, Hope and Love amid the most part, we are conscious of brokenness and total affection and love to God. Beatrice points battle and strife of life. The Divina Commedia has the frailty of our human condition. Our personal the way; she leads and guides. In the Commedia, it perennial value and will continue to inspire hope inadequacies are brought to the fore continuously. is Beatrice who is Dante's hope of salvation. That for generations to come.

In the Purgatorio, these souls are fully aware of their a woman should lead a man to God is a concept Fr Richard Reid CSsR is a member of the London Province and is sinfulness and inability to be complete without for which neither Thomism, Franciscanism, or currently the Provincial Superior. At present he is in residence God, their Creator. This recognition, coupled Augustinianism can furnish Dante with theological in the Clapham community, London.

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ME AND MY GOD A series where contributors reflect on their understanding of God and how it has evolved

“I HAVE COME TO BELIEVE IN FOUR PATHS THAT BRING ME INTO THE DIVINE – INTEGRITY, KINDNESS, BEAUTY AND STILLNESS”

BY NÓIRIN LYNCH

When 36

I think about how my images of God have changed and grown, my mind goes back to my time as a member of a school retreat team in the 1990s. Back then, we would ask second-year students to draw a picture of their image(s) of God. I have lovely memories of them sitting in circles, concentrating and laughing as they painted responses, identifying in art what they could not say in words.

Around that same time, some of us were asked to assist a parish with street meetings in advance of a local novena. People were invited to two informal house meetings – for a discussion on the church and on God. I remember being confident that I, who got 14-year-olds to think about God, would surely be able to facilitate the same discussion among willing adults. The conversation on church flowed and was intense, passionate and challenging. But the conversation about God reduced the adults to silence.

Frustrated, one lovely man hit his hand on a table and said loudly, "Look, it doesn't matter what I believe as long as my children believe it." I think that was the moment I realised I wanted to do parish work rather than youth work – to minister across the generations. I wanted adults to have access to the same freedom the teenagers had, the freedom to put into words that which was hard to say.

So, to return to the question, what is my image of God now as an adult? In short, one word: love.

My one consistent understanding of the divine is love. I think that's why we want that divine connection, even if we can't put words on why REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

it matters so much to us. As St Augustine said in his Confessions: "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you."

An tAthair Micheál de Liostuin has a lovely piece about the Trinity. He talks of how the Son – out of deep love for his Father – goes out to bring everyone into the circle of love they knew in heaven. Jesus wants "to bring Joseph and Mary, Peter and Paul, and everyone into the Muinteareas." This outward spiralling love has informed my understanding of God and how I live my faith today.

CHILDHOOD FAITH As a young adult, I had to let go of the lovely safe childhood faith my parents had given me in order to choose my own spiritual path. I was lucky to discover the friendship of Muinteareas Íosa, a Limerick youth apostolate that kept the three fires of Fáilte, Foghlaim agus Guí alive (welcome, learning and prayer). Here I found a happy community that showed me that faith was not a separate matter from public life. It was a way of bringing friendship and faith, with mutual accountability, together. The circle began to widen from family and close friends to the wider community.

Since the early 90s, I have always worked or studied in the Catholic Church in some way. I knew that my call was to delight in the people of God so that they would know their own baptismal calling as good and true, which is a fancy way of saying that I wanted people to run their own parishes through parish pastoral

councils, ministry groups, prayer and other services. (People includes clergy, yes). I dedicated over 20 years of my life to that dream, working in parishes and dioceses as invited. At heart was my conviction that people who build their own faith communities are free, loving and open. In every community I felt that spiral of love widen to include all the baptised and friends of the baptised into the divine Muinteareas. Love that could, or would, not welcome the gifts of all who wish to serve or be served became way too small for my God. CHANGE OF ROLE As I approached my 50s, a change of role beckoned, and I moved from pastoral development to running a spirituality centre. I felt I could best support people now by offering space for reflection and nourishment rather than training. I was lucky to get the opportunity to work with the Holy Faith sisters in Glasnevin in Dublin. People asked if I found Dublin too urban, but the location has tremendous natural beauty.

I discovered that Laudato Si' began to speak to me in a deep and personal way. Walking under the magnificent Irish oaks, I began to see the divine revealed in nature as well as humanity, in ways that called to my heart. In this beautiful

FA I T H

encyclical, Pope Francis writes: "It cannot be emphasised enough how everything is interconnected…Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it."

I realised that my fears, anxiousness, and worries were separating me from the world and God. Instead of just fixing the world for God, I began to believe that I could let myself experience God in the unfolding universe, just as it is right now. Like all beautiful insights, the bliss wasn't permanent, but this precious insight has opened wide my

Every flower is evidence of God's love, and we humans are the ones blessed with the ability to experience this beauty consciously I remembered that many medieval monasteries were established in places of beauty and quiet, where it was easier to notice the daily divine.

One evening, as dusk approached, I watched a dandelion close for the night and saw that, in this folding and unfolding universe, we humans are born out of, not into, the world and that the whole world is holy.

I understood that the Muinteareas welcome of Jesus encircles the whole of creation. Every carbon atom and water molecule is part of the cosmic Body of Christ. Every flower is evidence of God's love, and we humans are the ones blessed with the ability to experience this beauty consciously.

understanding of and conversations about God. I came to see that some of my plans for immediate change came from a place of fear or ego, and that love purifies intention. Christ is a lamp for my feet, my guide and companion, but I must walk that path with love.

I realised that any claims of love that do not include the gifted and the wounded are too small for God. No amount of theological jargon or institutional permissions would make that better.

Justice is what love looks like in public, as the philosopher Cornel West says, and God is love.

I have come to believe in four paths that bring me into the divine – integrity, kindness, beauty and stillness. If I can hold onto these, I am

connected to God as God is always connected to me. Some days it's easy. Most days it is not.

However, there isn't a day when I wish I hadn't experienced the love of God, which leaves my heart restless and listening for the daily divine.

It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.

(Mary Oliver, 'Prayer')

Nóirin Lynch spent over 25 years in parish and diocesan ministry in Ireland and Germany. She has just completed three years with the Holy Faith Sisters in Glasnevin. This month she takes up the role of director of the FCJ Spirituality House in Spanish Point, Co Clare. Her CDs Echotones and In her own Time are available from noirin.lynch@gmail.com or https://nirinlynch.bandcamp. com. A Limerick native, Nóirin lives in Co Clare.

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THE CHURCH AND THE IRISH REVOLUTION WHEN IT CAME TO THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, THE IRISH BISHOPS WERE NOT AMBIVALENT. NOR DID THEY REMAIN ON THE SIDELINES

BY KIERAN WALDRON

38 The

chance discovery in Tuam diocesan archives of a long-forgotten statement on the Irish revolution from the Irish bishops in 1920 has created much interest. It deals with a troubled time in our history, not least for church leaders. There were many denunciations of outrages by priests and bishops in the newspapers of the time, so an impression may exist that they opposed everything about the revolution. Naturally, bishops and priests could not excuse or ignore wilful murder, but, in truth, the church, as well as civil society, was divided. Despite the denunciations, several young priests were arrested for their alleged support of the 'movement,' as they called it.

Some had even acted as judges in the very successful Sinn Féin courts, which were a powerful, non-military challenge to the ruling government.

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

In the ten years after 1913, Ireland had undergone many changes in its allegiance. The Ulster Volunteers, founded to resist Home Rule, were soon followed by the Irish Volunteers, set up to promote it. The latter organisation split into two factions on the outbreak of war in 1914 and, responding to the Irish Parliamentary Party's appeal, at least 132,000 Irish 'National Volunteers' enlisted for the British forces.

The 1916 Rising in Dublin, however, changed everything.

The revolt might have abated but for the revulsion against the executions of the leaders the '16 dead men.' So, by 1918, a national campaign against conscription, organised largely by the bishops through their parishes, and supported by all political parties and the trade unions, was a spectacular success and a notification of where Ireland now stood.

POLITICAL CHALLENGE In the general election of that year, the old Parliamentary Party was routed by Sinn Féin. The newly elected refused to go to Westminster. Instead, they set up the first Dáil Éireann on January 21, 1919 – a peaceful revolution.

Unfortunately, on the same day, two Irish policemen were killed unofficially in Tipperary. For the next three years of the War of Independence, politics and warfare continued in parallel.

Nobody has the whole stor y about the War of Independence. So the advice of the Department of Culture and Heritage is worthy of note: "Commemorations should not ignore differences and divisions, ensuring as far as possible that the commemoration does not re-ignite old tensions." For us, a century later, it is difficult to realise just how momentous was this political challenge to the mighty British Empire, an empire

that stretched from Australia to India, to half of Africa and all of Canada. The uprising came from a veritable backwater on its doorstep – part of the island of Ireland.

The determination of the British Government to crush the revolution by whatever means necessary raged throughout the country. A programme of repression became the relentless policy of the British authorities through the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries, which became embedded in the RIC. Such a militant policy had been heralded in an unguarded speech by a Colonel Smyth addressing assembled constables in Listowel, Co Kerry, on June 17, 1920 when he stated: "The more you shoot, the better I will like you, and I assure you that no policeman will get into trouble for shooting any man.… inquests are to be made illegal so that, in future, no policeman

F E AT U R E

Archbishop Patrick Clune of Perth

will be asked to give evidence at inquests.” Constable Jeremiah Mee from Galway, one of those present, promptly resigned from the force and published a verbatim account of the speech.

TRENCHANT STATEMENT In response to the reign of terror by Crown forces, the 28 Irish Bishops issued and signed a trenchant statement on October 19,1920 in the document mentioned above. Their full statement, running to over 2,000 words, is due to be reproduced soon in the academic journal Archivium Hibernicum 1921.

In the document, they said: "On a scale truly appalling have to be reckoned countless indiscriminate raids and arrests in the darkness of night; the burning of houses, town halls, factories, creameries and crops… by men maddened with plundered drink and bent on loot, the flogging

and massacre of civilians, all perpetrated by forces of the Crown, who have established a reign of frightfulness which has a parallel only in the outrages attributed to the Red Army of Bolshevist Russia…. It is the indiscriminate vengeance of savages, deliberately wreaked on a whole town or countryside, without any proof of its complicity in crime, by those who ostensibly are employed by the British Government to protect the lives and property of the people and restore order in Ireland."

Coming from such a source, normally so cautious, it was an extraordinary pronouncement.

In their June 1921 meeting, the Irish bishops again denounced the intransigence of the Government. "Unless repression ceases," they said, "and the right of Ireland to choose her own form of government is recognised, there is no prospect

Archbishop Thomas Gilmartin of Tuam

Patrick Moylett

that peace will reign amongst us or that the reconciliation which His Holiness the Pope so ardently desires will be accomplished."

BRUTAL WAR Atrocities were not on one side, of course. All war is brutal and guerrilla war, waged mostly by civilians in plain clothes, was especially brutal. Many people were killed unnecessarily in ambushes, to be followed by reprisals on the other side. For two years, the real failure was that the British continued to ignore the national mandate achieved by Sinn Fein in the general election of 1918 and the establishment of Dáil Éireann.

Efforts to establish a truce at government level occurred in late 1920, by Archbishop Clune of Perth, dealing with Prime Minister Lloyd George, Archbishop Thomas Gilmartin of Tuam in correspondence with Winston Churchill, and Patrick

Moylett, a Mayo businessman, acting on behalf of Arthur Griffith. All were to no avail. Six months later, when the Truce was finally declared, over 1,000 more had died.

It can be argued that it was embarrassment within the British Government in the face of negative worldwide publicity for their tactics, rather than military victory on either side, which in the end led to the peace conference in July 1921 and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921.

Certainly, concerning the Irish Revolution, the Irish bishops were not ambivalent. Nor were they bystanders.

Fr Kieran Waldron, a retired parish priest of Tuam Archdiocese, has published a number of books on diocesan and local history.

39

A Redemptorist Pilgrimage Visiting the sites associated with St. Alphonsus & St. Gerard in Southern Italy Saturday May 14th to Saturday May21st 2022.

Based at the Caravel Hotel in Sant’Agnello, Sorrento (Half Board) Cost: €1,120.00 per person sharing.

Places are limited so early booking is advised.

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

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I'd like to say…

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CULT OF VIRGINITY TO CHAMPION VIRGINITY SEEMS NOT ONLY SEXIST BUT ALSO TO CLAIM IT AS THE IDEAL STATE OVER AND ABOVE ALL OTHERS

BY GERARD MOLONEY CSsR

I

have a problem with the virginity of Mary. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I'm questioning the virgin birth at all. What bothers me is the extraordinary emphasis the church places on her virginity.

The belief that Mary was a virgin at the time she conceived Jesus is a core article of faith.

Her virginity has been celebrated in Christian tradition and the prayers of the church from its very beginning. Countless hymns have been composed to honour the virgin.

All well and good. But I wonder why the church has to insist about it so much, as if the words Mary and virgin, like love and marriage, cannot be separated. The church's liturgy almost always refers to the mother of Jesus as Virgin Mary or Blessed Virgin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church and other teaching documents do the same. Mary has been accorded many wonderful titles – Mother of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Victories, Queen of Heaven, Star of the Sea – but Blessed Virgin easily trumps them all.

Even when the Gospels mention Jesus' brothers and sisters, suggesting she had other children after his birth, the church has insisted not only on Mary's virginity but on her perpetual virginity.

For many people, this obsession with virginity is off-putting. It's as if the church is stating that sex is bad and virginity is what all of us should be aspiring to, if it's not too late.

The cult of virginity doesn't stop with Mary. It extends to female saints, too.

In the liturgical calendar, which lists the feast days of the church's year, a striking distinction exists between almost all the female saints and their male counterparts. With few exceptions, female saints are described as virgins.

The great St Catherine of Siena is described first as Virgin and only secondly as Doctor of the Church, even though this is the highest accolade a saint can receive. St Agatha is listed as Virgin and only secondly as Martyr, even though martyrdom ranks in the top category of saint. St Scholastica is listed simply as Virgin.

In each case, whether she was religious or lay, the saint's virginity is considered more important than her martyrdom, or zeal, or even her status as church doctor, at least according to the liturgical calendar.

NOT SO THE MEN The same doesn't apply to men. Nowhere in the liturgical calendar is a male saint labelled a virgin. He is listed as Priest or Bishop or Pope or Martyr or Religious or Missionary or Apostle or Doctor of the Church, or a combination of these, but never as Virgin. Even if he was chaste and celibate all his life, he is never called virgin.

Of course, this may be because the word virgin has traditionally been applied to women who haven't had sex.

It's true, too, that the veneration of virginity is not a church invention. It goes back to ancient Rome and the cult of the vestal virgin. Mankind

– a better word here than humankind – has always placed virgins on pedestals.

I don't think it's appropriate for the church of today to have a similar obsession. To champion virginity – as opposed, say, to chastity, which is a different thing – seems not only sexist but also to claim it as the ideal state over and above all others.

What does this say to women (and men) who are not virgins? What does it say to married women and widows and divorced, and all those who have experienced sexual intimacy at the deepest level?

What does it say about the church and its relationship with sex?

Virginity is fine for those who choose it, and purity is wonderful and consecrated chastity is a noble calling too, but so equally is the married state, and parenthood, and the single life.

Christians honour Mary, the mother of Jesus, not because of her perpetual virginity but because of the singular role she played in the story of salvation. Her 'yes' to God's plan for her is incalculably more important than whether she ever had sex.

So also with the other women saints. How they lived the Gospel is what makes them saints. Their fidelity to their baptismal promises is what makes them saints.

Good for them if they were virgins at the same time. But far more important is that they were faithful followers of Jesus.

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A

42

generous nation SUPPORT OF IRISH PEOPLE HELPED TRÓCAIRE TO ASSIST 2.7 MILLION PEOPLE IN 25 COUNTRIES LAST YEAR

BY DAVID O'HARE

Trócaire

has thanked the people of Ireland, particularly parishioners and clergy across the country, for their essential support, which helped the charity assist 2.7 million people in 25 of the poorest countries across the world last year.

The figures were released recently in Trócaire's Annual Report, which showed that the aid agency raised €73 million in 2020/21 during one of the toughest years in living memory due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. The money came from both the public and from institutional donors, including Irish Aid. The report details an increase of 15 per cent on funds raised from the previous year, with the total being the highest income raised in three years.

Of the 2.7 million people the organisation supported in 2020/2021, 2.1 million received humanitarian support, while over 600,000

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were supported through Trócaire's longterm development work. This work includes agricultural support, women's empowerment projects and support for human rights defenders.

In 2020, Irish Aid contributed €22 million to Trócaire's work. As a result of this funding, Trócaire was able to reach 426,383 individuals with support to mitigate the risks of COVID-19, including secondary impacts such as food insecurity and violence against women.

COVID MASK-MAKING PROJECT Twenty-three-year-old Wubit Abelo in Ethiopia is among those who received support. She was supported through a Covid mask-making project with local Trócaire partner Timret Lehiwoh. When coronavirus reached Ethiopia, Wubit began to despair. Access to basic household items was reduced, transport shut down, and the

was previously unavailable – mask-making – plus training and sewing machines to use, gave Wubit and her family a glimmer of hope.

The mask-making project has become a modest but vital source of income to Wubit.

Her dreams for the future are firmly set: to have her own business making cultural dresses by her own hand, to make sure her son can have a good education, and to provide for her family. "There is a better day tomorrow," she says. Wubit embodies this positive mantra, even in the hardest of times, like so many of the resilient and hardworking people supported by Trócaire's women's empowerment projects in Ethiopia. ability to buy and sell changed dramatically as local markets closed. She lived in fear of the health risks to her three-year-old son Anania and what might happen if her family was left with no income. There was no government support for them.

Then in this time of worry came an unexpected opportunity. A new market that

UN TREATY Among the charity's key advocacy priorities in 2020/21 were investment in Ireland's overseas aid budget and the advancement of the campaign for Ireland to support a binding UN Treaty on Business and Human Rights.

The solidarity shown to the world's poorest by people in Ireland during the pandemic was humbling, according to Trócaire's CEO, Caoimhe de Barra.

"I am immensely grateful for – and humbled by – the response of our staff, partners, supporters, governing body members and donors. All of these individuals and organisations worked extremely hard to help Trócaire respond in support of those most affected by this global pandemic. In 2020/21, despite all of the challenges presented by the pandemic, we supported 2.7million people in 25 countries."

"This level of impact would not be possible without the commitment of our teams, partners and supporters in Ireland. People here at home should be very proud of the positive and lasting change they have created."

You can see Trócaire's Annual Report here: www.trocaire.org

Turas ar an Naomh Shacraimint Lenár Linn

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Almost 300 years ago St Alphonsus Liguori published his Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, which became, and remains, a classic of devotional writing.

An Irish-language edition of Visits to the Blessed Sacrament for the 21st Century is offered in continuity with the spirit of that great work.

Translated from the English by Fr Clem McManus and with additional material, it contains 32 visits – reflections and prayers – that draw us ever deeper into the mystery of God and God’s love for humanity, plus an Irish-English glossary.

It is a wonderful companion for all Irish-speakers who take part in Eucharistic Devotion and for those who like to make the occasional visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Beautifully presented in full colour throughout, this is a devotional gem you will treasure for years

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CO M M E N T REALITY CHECK PETER McVERRY SJ

THE SCANDAL OF INEQUALITY

ONCE COVID-19 IS ELIMINATED, OUR TASK MUST BE TO ELIMINATE GLOBAL POVERTY AND INEQUALITY

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am worth €4,000, according to my most recent bank statement, and getting poorer by the month. Kim Kardashian is worth £1,000,000,000, according to Forbes magazine, and getting richer by the month. It's not fair.

But I'm not complaining. I am rich compared to many people in Ireland who don't even have a bank account because they have nothing to put in it. The biggest request for money that I get is for €3 bus fare, or €5 to get a prescription out of the pharmacy, or €10 or €20 to get their electricity back on, or to buy a heavy jacket in the local charity shop. Others need €60 to see a doctor, because they may not have a secure address to which a medical card can be issued, or €100 to get a painful tooth extracted because the few dentists who now accept medical cards often have long waiting lists, or €40 to bring their best – and often only – friend to the vet.

I have a heavy jacket and don't have to worry about the electricity running out. One young man living in a bedsit, after paying rent and maintenance for his two children, has

REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

€130 left from his welfare payment to pay for his food, heating, electricity, bus fares, and second-hand clothes.

Recently, he was fined €800 because he couldn't afford to pay €160 for his TV licencse. He will probably go to jail for a week or two because he cannot afford to pay the fine and may lose his little bedsit and return to homelessness. Meanwhile, his landlord, who has six other bedsits in the building – bedsits have been illegal since 2013! – is earning about €5,000 per month in rents, some of it paid by the Government under the Housing Assistance Payment subsidy. In addition to this income, the landlord insists on a 'top-up' payment of €125 per month from this tenant who has €130 per week to live on. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

THE BILLIONAIRES And many people in the world are much richer than Kim Kardashian.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos earns $9,000,000 per hour, according to Business Insider. There are now 2,755 billionaires in the world, 660 more

than last year. Someone was able to buy a 1962 Ferrari at auction in 2018 for $48,000,000. The crown prince of Saudi Arabia bought a disputed Leonardo Da Vinci painting, Salvador Mundi, for $450,000,000 in 2017. The most expensive yacht in the world, reportedly owned by a Malaysian billionaire, is worth $4,800,000,000.

COVID-19 shone an X-ray on our world to reveal the stark inequality that exists. While wealthy countries have had the resources to buy enough vaccines in 2021 to vaccinate their populations many times over, many in poorer countries will die, waiting years for the vaccines to arrive.

Millions of people worldwide depend on the gig economy for their paltry income. When the economy shut down, they faced the choice of dying from starvation or risk dying from COVID-19. Meanwhile, a widely accepted estimate of the amount of wealth hidden in offshore accounts, some of it legal, much of it illegal, is in the region of €7,500 billion.

A fraction of that money would provide everyone in the world with healthcare (between €100 and 250

billion), food (€260 billion), and education (€26 billion).

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME The world is waiting to 'get back to normal' after COVID-19 has been eliminated. But getting back to normal is not a desirable outcome.

Reducing inequality should be the focus. Two Gospel-inspired steps in that direction would be: * A universal basic income, which protects the dignity of every person by ensuring they are not pawns in an uncaring economy but are protected from hunger, ill-health and lack of education, even when unable to work. * Debt forgiveness. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive others" is a prayer we frequently say at Jesus' request. We are called to do just that by forgiving the debts of poorer nations whose economies have been ravaged by COVID-19.

For more information or to support the Peter McVerry Trust: www.pmvtrust.ie info@pmvtrust.ie +353 (0)1 823 0776

GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH A TRANSFORMING TOUCH Jesus has left the holy land of Israel and is travelling in Gentile territory. He has returned from Tyre 23RD SUNDAY IN via Sidon, which were ORDINARY TIME two cities in Phoenicia (now part of modern Lebanon), and travels through non-Jewish territory known as the Decapolis. The name Decapolis comes from the Greek words déka ('ten') and pólis ('city') and refers to a group of ten cities that were Greek and Roman in culture and language. Nine of the cities were located in what is today modern Jordan, while one of them (Beth Shean) is located in modern Israel.

According to the Synoptic evangelists, the Decapolis was one of the few Gentile regions in which Jesus travelled and ministered.

It is on this trip through the Decapolis that he heals the man who has both a hearing and

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speech impediment. Mark gives the details about Jesus’ travels in order to remind his readers (and us) that the man who is healed is a Gentile, as are those who bring him to Jesus.

Jesus takes the man aside and performs a series of physical actions. He puts his fingers in the man’s ears. He touches the man’s tongue with his own spittle. Finally, speaking in Aramaic, he gives the command ephphata! (“be opened!”).

To those witnessing Jesus’ actions, it must seem like some kind of magic spell. But Jesus is no magician. Rather, he summons up God’s power and uses his own authority to command the healing of the hearing and speech impediment.

The result of Jesus’ actions is immediate.

The man can speak clearly. The miracle is done in private and Jesus asks those who brought the man to him to keep it so. This again highlights Jesus’ caution about overenthusiastic responses to his miracles that miss the point of his mission.

If Jesus hopes they will listen to him, it is in vain. They are “absolutely overwhelmed” by the miracle and tell the story everywhere and acclaim that “he has done all things well; he made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”

This is an allusion to Isaiah 35:5-6. This text speaks of a time when Israel’s Messiah would bring healing and freedom for God’s people.

Mark is proclaiming clearly that the time of the Messiah has arrived with Jesus who will offer healing and freedom not just to the Jewish people, but to Gentiles as well. More than that, Mark is also suggesting that it is the Gentiles who first publicly recognise who and what Jesus might be, albeit in a limited way.

Today’s Readings Is 35:4-7; Ps 145; Jm 2:1-5; Mk 7:31-37

God’s Word continues on page 46

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GOD’S WORD THIS MONTH THE CRUCIAL QUESTION Today, Mark’s Gospel moves from the section dealing with Jesus’ ministry in Galilee to 24TH SUNDAY IN that dealing with his ORDINARY TIME journey to Jerusalem. But before he heads south to Jerusalem, Jesus travels north to the villages surrounding Caesarea Philippi.

On the way, he puts a key question to his disciples: “Who do people say that I am?”

From the very beginning of his Gospel, Mark has identified Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. The disciples have struggled to recognise Jesus’ true identity, as have the people of Galilee. Now, before the journey to Jerusalem and the fate that awaits him there, Jesus attempts to get the disciples to acknowledge who he really is.

In response, they list what people are saying about him. He is John the Baptiser returned from the dead. He is Elijah returned from

heaven. He is a prophet. Now he asks them directly: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter seems to give the correct answer: “You are the Christ (or Messiah).” It sounds right. The only problem is that Peter is identifying Jesus with the royal, conventional and powerful Messiah of Jewish expectation. Peter still cannot recognise Jesus as the Suffering Messiah.

Now Jesus begins to talk about what lies ahead of him in Jerusalem. He is trying to get the disciples to see that he is not a powerful and glorious Messiah, but one who will suffer and die. In response, Peter “remonstrates” with Jesus. The Greek text reads that Peter “took hold” of Jesus. This earns him the sharpest rebuke ever given

by Jesus to anyone. Jesus calls Peter “Satan.”

There may well be a play on the Hebrew word sātān, which means a 'stumbling block'. If Peter causes Jesus to stumble in fulfilling God’s plan, then he will play into the hands of Satan. What Jesus wants is that Peter and the

other disciples “get behind” him to support and follow him – not get in his way.

A terrible fate awaits Jesus. Similarly, a difficult future lies in store for those who follow him as disciples. Jesus sets out the conditions for being a disciple. It involves “denying oneself” and “taking up the cross” and following Jesus. Denial of self doesn’t mean small, simple Lenten penances. It means putting discipleship above everything else in one’s life. “Taking up the cross” means a willingness to follow Jesus in the midst of suffering and even to the point of death.

WHO IS THE GREATEST? SEPTEMBER Jesus and his disciples are journeying through Galilee towards Jerusalem. This is a 25TH SUNDAY IN journey on which Jesus ORDINARY TIME will try to get them to understand what true discipleship means. Jesus is clear about his fate. He will be handed over to others who will kill him and three days later he will rise again.

The disciples do not understand what he is saying and are “afraid to ask him about it.” The disciples still think of Jesus as the conventional and powerful Jewish Messiah.

They simply cannot accept him as he describes himself, God’s Suffering Messiah.

They arrive at Capernaum and enter a house. Suddenly we realise that they had been arguing among themselves as they journeyed along. When Jesus asks what they were arguing about, he is met with sullen

silence. They had been discussing who among them was the greatest. Still thinking in terms of the conventional Jewish Messiah, they were arguing as to who would have status and power in the new messianic kingdom.

Their mentality is completely at odds with what Jesus was trying to teach them on the road.

Jesus now sits down. He calls the Twelve to him and offers an instruction in two parts.

The first part sets out Jesus’ understanding of the leadership that is to be exercised in his kingdom. The person who desires to be first must be last and servant of the others. The Twelve think Jesus will be a glorious Messiah.

He tells them he will be a Suffering Messiah.

The Twelve think in terms of powerful and prestigious positions in the messianic kingdom. He tells them that being last and servant of all is what counts. The cross that awaits them in Jerusalem reverses all human measurements of success and reveals the true values of Jesus’ kingdom. Jesus then

offers the second part of his instruction in a dramatic fashion. He sets a child in front of them. He wraps his arms around the child and identifies the child with himself. The one that welcomes the child welcomes Jesus and the one that welcomes Jesus welcomes the Father. Children at that time had no status, power or value. If an adult were to “welcome” a child (as an equal) it would mean turning social and cultural values upside down. It would mean putting aside any ideas of selfimportance or adult status. But this is what Jesus requires of the Twelve. They must be ready to be the servants of all, as Jesus is, even to the point of giving his life for others.

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REALITY SEPTEMBER 2021

Today’s Readings Is 50:5-9; Ps 114; Jm 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35

Today’s Readings Ws 2:12.17-20; Ps 53; Jm 3:16-4:3; Mk 9:30-37

THE REALITY CROSSWORD NUMBER � SEPTEMBER ����

CALLED TO ROOT OUT SIN If you take Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel literally, they make for astonishing listening. Jesus uses violent imagery to describe the steps the Christian must take to avoid sin. “If your hand – or your 26TH SUNDAY IN foot – should cause you to sin,” Jesus says, “cut it ORDINARY TIME off. And if your eye should cause you to sin, pluck it out.” Rough language, indeed.

But it would be a mistake to take these words of Jesus absolutely literally. Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation, or that we remove perfectly healthy body parts so as to increase our chances of gaining eternal life.

That is not the point of the passage. Jesus deliberately uses colourful, vivid, exaggerated language in order to get his message across. And his message is this: The Christian must be ruthless about cutting out anything that comes between him or her and God. Whatever it is that causes us to sin, whatever obstacle hinders our journey to God, whatever takes over from God in our lives, we must rid ourselves of it. We must root it out, we must let it go, whatever the cost.

For the Christian, nothing – absolutely nothing – must come before Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

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SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD No. 5 ACROSS: 1. Daniel, 5. Cleave, 10. Patella, 11. Phoenix, 12. Rook, 13. Canis, 15. Save, 17. Sec, 19.

Abhors, 21. August, 22. Baptism, 23. Pulpit, 25. Serape, 28. Gnu, 30. Laud, 31. Crept, 32. Used, 35.

Abdomen, 36. Iguanas, 37. Astray, 38. Yahweh.

DOWN: 2. Antioch, 3. Idle, 4. Llamas, 5. Coptic, 6. Ebon, 7. Vanuatu, 8. Sparta, 9. Expert, 14.

Neptune, 16. Orbit, 18. Lumen, 20. Sat, 21. Ass, 23. Pillar, 24. Lourdes, 26. Absence, 27. Eldest, 28.

Granny, 29. Uppity, 33. Emir, 34. Bush.

Winner of Crossword No. 5 Eileen MacGuill, Dublin 11.

ACROSS 1. A casual or isolated piece of work. (3-3) 5. A person who lends money at very high rate of interest. (6) 10. A situation that is thought to be shocking and immoral. (7) 11. Priests. (7) 12. Take your ease. (4) 13. The supreme spirit of evil; Satan. (5) 15. Neat Sicilian volcano. (4) 17. Air mover. (3) 19. Jewish salutation. (6) 21. Cut out, erase a passage in a text. (6) 22. Landlocked South American country. (7) 23. Behind or toward the rear of a ship. (6) 25. A small picturesque cave, sometimes artificial. (6) 28. A temporary fashion. (3) 30. Slightly wet. (4) 31. Biblical character who got swallowed by a whale. (5) 32. Guns for wildebeests. (4) 35. Long, thin choux filled with cream and topped with chocolate. (7) 36. Thrust oneself in with invitation or welcome. (7) 37. A very unpleasant and prolonged experience. (6) 38. Fell behind in movement or development. (6)

DOWN 2. Salt lake between Israel and Jordan. (4,3) 3. The patron saint of lost causes. (4) 4. An opinion or conviction. (6) 5. A young child who is poorly or raggedly dressed. (6) 6. Something that was owned, worn or utilised by someone before another. (4) 7. Letter from an Apostle. (7) 8. Egyptian god of the afterlife. (6) 9. All the assets owned by a person, especially at death. (6) 14. This city state has an ATM with instructions in Latin. (7) 16. A type of venomous snake. (5) 18. Facial hair below a moustache. (5) 20. A short day. (3) 21. An archaeological excavation site. (3) 23. Apostle who was the brother of Saint Peter.

(6) 24. These knight were closely tied to the Crusades. (7) 26. Haircut for a monk. (7) 27. Bivalve mollusc farmed for food and pearl. (6) 28. Pre-historic stone impression of a plant or animal. (6) 29. He entered the lion's den. (6) 33. A long walk or walking tour. (4) 34. An adult male deer. (4)

Entry Form for Crossword No.7, September 2021 Name:

Today’s Readings Nb 11:25-29; Ps 18; Jm 5:1-6; Mk 9:38-43.45.47-48

Address: Telephone:

All entries must reach us by Thursday September 30, 2021 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.7, Redemptorist Communications, St Joseph's Monastery, Dundalk, County Louth A91 F3FC