VOX April 2021

ISSUE 50 / APRIL - JUNE 2021

Celebrating

50 issues

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Please do help hungry Christians in desperate need. Many are already marginalised and rejected by their communities. Some are even denied food aid because of their faith Your gift can make a difference to lives Office 113, Russell Business Centre, 40-42 Lisburn Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland, BT9 6AA Email ireland@barnabasfund.org

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EDITORIAL

A Time to Weep

ave you ever had a day when you just wanted to crawl back under the duvet and shut out the world? Perhaps you’ve been tempted to say, “Stop the world... I want to get off!”

In recent months, it seems as if the news cycles have dished out an unrelenting barrage of negativity.

Jeremiah was given a tough calling to confront God’s people with the consequences of their sin and rebellion.

And while his message pointed to a future hope in our faithful and compassionate Lord, there was no avoiding the ugly truth. He is called the “weeping prophet” for a reason.

Preparing for our Easter issue of VOX magazine - this our 50th issue - I would have so loved to focus only on “happy, shiny” themes. Instead I’ve frequently found myself in tears conducting interviews and editing features. Like Jeremiah’s message, there is always hope because we worship a God of hope.

Yet as God’s people, there are times when we need to face some tough realities.

I never tire of quoting Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the subject of abuse (quoted in Parade Magazine, January 1998). “Denial doesn’t work.

H

It can never lead to forgiveness and reconciliation. Amnesia is no solution. If a nation is going to be healed, it has to come to grips with the past. We live in a moral universe. What’s right matters. What’s wrong matters. You may keep things hidden but they don’t disappear into the ether. They impregnate the atmosphere.”

So I hope you will bear with us as we consider some painful truths together including the legacy of abuse revealed in the reports into the Mother and Baby Homes (page 18), the impact of revelations about Ravi Zacharias (page 44) and the present day reality of racism that would seek to diminish those who should be honoured (page 52).

There is always hope of healing with Jehovah Rapha (our God who heals) but first we need to come to grips with the past and face the truth of our present.

“Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Psalm 30:5 (NLT)

If a nation is going to be healed, it has to come to grips with the past.

Ruth Garvey-Williams Editor (editor@vox.ie)

APR - JUN 2021 VOX.IE

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CONT ENTS

April - June 2021 Issue 50 ISSN: 2009-2253

EDITOR Ruth Garvey-Williams editor@vox.ie LAYOUT, ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION Jonny Lindsay jonny@vox.ie

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Features and Interviews

Celebrating our 50th issue and Digital VOX Special Report: Mother and Baby Homes Finding Faith 2021 What Now? Responding to the Mother and Baby Homes Reports My Story: Meet Glen Galvin A Pandemic of Silence: the ugly truth behind Ravi Zacharias’ global ministry The Covid-19 Vaccine - weighing the issues and improving acceptability among migrants Global Success for Irish Teens - the inspirational women behind the award-winning Memory Haven app A Listening Life - Ana Mullan continues her inspirational series Heart, Soul and Hands - Serve the City volunteers are still meeting needs in Dublin and Galway Meet the Young Humanitarian of the Year 2020 I was so brainwashed - a chance meeting led to months of involvement with a secretive cult for one university student

Regular Features VOX: Shorts VOX: World News Your VOX: Inbox Musings with Patrick Mitchell

38 69 72 76

Confessions of a Feint Saint Music Reviews Book Reviews VOX: PS with Seán Mullan APR - JUN 2021 VOX.IE

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VOX SHORTS

NORTHERN IRISH ‘FAMILY HYMN SING’ RECEIVES OVER 1 MILLION VIEWS

A ‘family hymn sing’ in Northern Ireland has received more than one million views in over 100 countries after going live on Facebook.

The ‘family hymn sing’ concept was conceived last year with the first episode going live on St. Patrick’s Day while the Gettys were in Nashville.

They then returned to Northern Ireland to be at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Gettys believe that the pandemic has provided an unprecedented opportunity to build new habits of worshiping God through song in the home. To be notified about future hymn sings and to download free music for your family to sing along visit www.gettymusic.com/hymnsing.

CELEBRATING ST. PATRICK’S DAY WITH A DIFFERENCE

Christians around Ireland found innovative ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year while respecting lockdown restrictions. Here VOX magazine highlights a few of those projects: St. Patrick’s display in the park - Dublin West Community Church Joan Singleton writes, “Some time ago I was watching Songs of Praise on BBC1 and they showed a church in England that put up things in a local park for the church people to read - a bit like a ‘walking church’. This created interest for people who were walking in the park and could read the notices. I thought, it would be great if we could do that as a church in our local park.

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VOX MAGAZINE

“As people could not have a St. Patrick’s Day Parade or other celebrations, I thought we could do this for St. Patrick’s Day so people could read about St. Patrick.

I chatted with the team in church who were enthusiastic. We got permission from the council and found out lots about St. Patrick. We decided to mainly use St. Patrick’s own words for the 12 display boards. By including interactive ‘fact or legend’ questions, we hoped to interest children as well as adults.

“It has been so encouraging to read of St. Patrick’s deep faith and trust in God and His love for us, the Irish people. We are praying for God to use this display as He chooses and would be happy to share these resources with other churches.”

St. Patrick’s Confession - Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh Diocese Without all of the parades and other events that usually take place for St. Patrick’s Day, young people from across the Church of Ireland diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh participated in a special project to celebrate our patron saint.

“There are lots of legends and misconceptions about who Patrick was and what his mission was. However, we are privileged to have the real Patrick preserved for us in his own words in two writings: his Confession (or Confessio) and his letter to Coroticus, both of which are readily accessible (www.confessio. ie),” writes Damian Shorten, the Youth and Children’s Worker for KEA Diocese. “To celebrate Patrick and the biblical Gospel he believed and preached, and also to make people — young and old — more familiar with the truth about him, over 30 young people from the majority of parishes in the Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh

recorded themselves reading a section of the Confession.”

Using the Royal Irish Academy translation of Patrick’s Confession, available on confessio.ie, with their permission, the final video is now available on YouTube and across the Diocesan social media channels.

“We hope that it will be an encouragement to all who watch it, and that they, like Patrick, will know personally the difference the Lord makes to those in difficult circumstances,” Damian added.

St. Patrick’s Testimony The Evangelical Catholic Initiative has published a readable version of St. Patrick’s Confession in conjunction with Wild Goose Publishing, a Pentecostal ministry based in Bray.

Wild Goose is the old Irish Celtic name for the Holy Spirit. There are eight Latin manuscripts of Patrick’s Confession in existence today. Written near the end of his life, the Confession gives Patrick’s own account of how the Lord changed his life and used him in a powerful way in Ireland. testimony His story is Christ-centered and Scripturally based. In fact, he quotes 70 different Scriptures including 22 from the Old Testament. The St. Patrick’s Testimony Pamphlet is available on the ECI website www.evancat.org/news. This version opens up (accordion style) into a full A1 sized paper and on the back is St. Patrick’s Breastplate, so it can be displayed as a poster.

St. Patrick’s

APR - JUN 2021 VOX.IE

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VOX SHORTS

CHRISTIAN CONFERENCES ONLINE

Organisers of popular Christian conferences in Ireland have had to make the tough decision to move online once again. Here are the latest updates.

SUMMER MADNESS 2021 YOUTH FESTIVAL John Kee shares, “It will come as no surprise that the camping element of the festival is off the table for 2021, however we will do our best to bring you some kind of event or events over the coming months, at a time and date that works for us all and keeps us all safe. We had a really big programme for this year planned around the theme of prayer and rather than squeeze that into a curtailed programme, we decided to hold that until 2022.”

Pete Grieg from 24/7 Prayer says, “It is sad news in a year of sad news about Summer Madness not being able to happen in person but I’m delighted to say that I’ve committed to being with you at Summer Madness 2022.”

Keep in touch at www. summermadness.co.uk.

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SLIGO21: NEW WINE IRELAND “We know that like us, you have been looking forward to joining together for our Sligo Summer Conference.

However, with the on-going situation and challenges relating to Covid-19, we have come to the very difficult but inevitable realisation that our Sligo Conference this July 2021 cannot go ahead. We have been planning for this eventuality and are currently bringing plans together for a New Wine Summer Conference Online.” David McClay, Simon Genoe and Hilary McClay Stay in touch via New Wine Ireland on social media or by visiting www. newwineireland.org.

NEW HORIZON 2021: PEOPLE OF PEACE Monday 9 to Friday 13 August.

The one certainty in these turbulent times is that apart from our Lord Himself everything is subject to change. This is also true for New Horizon 2021. We had hoped to organise a LIVE event but have now made the decision to livestream from behind closed doors.

This means there will be no public meetings in Coleraine.

While we are sad that our coming together physically is delayed, we are thrilled that NH2021 will provide an online programme of Bible Teaching, worship and prayer with our guest speakers Chris Wright (for the morning Bible Teaching) and Malcolm Duncan (for the Evening Celebrations).

Our minds are often anxious and fearful in times of uncertainty and change.

Our homes and churches can be places of tension instead of refuges of harmony. Our world is burdened with ill health, economic hardship and deep political divisions.

But, through Christ Jesus, the God of peace is making a people of peace.

Keep in touch with the latest news at www. newhorizon.org.uk.

VOX MAGAZINE

“COME LORD JESUS” INTERGENERATIONAL PRAYER RELAY

Christians across Ireland will take part in an international prayer relay in April as part of the “Come Lord Jesus” initiative that seeks to bring different generations together to pray. The Irish event will take place on Wednesday 21 April.

Ireland coordinator Richie Gardiner writes, “I remember in the 90’s doing prayer and faxing parties where a small group of children and teens together with their family would pray and hear God for a nation and share back the prayers, and any pictures, words they got from the Holy Spirit in prayer over fax! The prayer relay is an evolution of those prayer days from the 90s. Imagine children, young people and families across the globe rising up to pray for the nations.”

Prayer will focus on inviting Jesus to come into three areas: in my life, in the nation and to the world.

“Like a relay, the baton will be passed to us from South Africa who will be praying for us in Ireland on 20 April. In turn, we will pray for Tanzania on 21 April as a blessing to that nation for when they take over from us on 22 April,” Richie added.

“This event allows you and your children to be part of a global movement praying for the world. It will help them grow in intercession and connect with the church worldwide, praying for other nations, for the Gospel to go to the four corners of the earth and for Christ to return.”

Come Lord Jesus prayer resources are available on the website at www.cljprayer. com and from Ireland Coordinator Richie Gardiner richieg@outlook.ie.

NEW FONT FOR BETTER LEARNING

Ever struggled with memorising scripture? Well then, Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology might just have come to your rescue.

They have scientifically created a new font to help us all learn better. Sans Forgetica was specifically designed to be difficult to read. Using the font triggers a cognitive process in the brain that forces our minds to double their efforts to make sense of what is written. A direct consequence of this process is that you will remember the text better.

The font is a free download.

t I have come tha fe, they may have li e and have it to th - John 10:10 full.

APR - JUN 2021 VOX.IE

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WORLD NEWS

Over 200 Christians set free in Eritrea

Since July 2020, at least 205 Christians have been set free in a wave of releases across Eritrea. All had been arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned – without charge, trial or sentence – and the Eritrean government has given no reason for the releases.

Among those released in recent months were well-known, long-term prisoners Aklilu Desbele (left), Mussie Eyob (centre) and Twen Theodros (right).

Aklilu had been in prison since 2008, Mussie since 2011 and Twen since 2005.

Twen was a great friend and help to gospel singer Helen Berhane during her time in prison. Helen spoke movingly of Twen’s care for her following her release.

The wave of releases began with 22 Methodist prisoners last July followed by the release of 69 Evangelical and Pentecostal prisoners last Autumn. In January, 93 prisoners from Evangelical and Orthodox backgrounds were freed, while the most recent to be released was a group of 21 women who had been held in the notorious island prison of Nakura in the Dahlak Archipelago in the Red Sea. These women were released in late February and were the last female Christian prisoners held in Nakura

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prison, where 26 Christian men remain in captivity. One of the released women was 15 when she was arrested and is now 29; her parents have since divorced. Another one was 16 when imprisoned and is now 28; both of her parents died while she was in prison. Many of the released Christians need clothing, food and accommodation and are being helped by a Church in Chains partner organisation.

It is estimated that about 130 Christians remain in prison in Eritrea, including a group of leading pastors who have been held prisoner for the past 17 years.

Experienced observers suggest that the recent releases may have been ordered to curry favour with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, who is a Christian.

Eritrea has joined forces with Ethiopia in its fight against Tigrayan rebels in the north of Ethiopia. It is also believed that Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki is trying to change the narrative about Eritrea in the international arena, where there has been a lot of critical media coverage of Eritrea’s involvement in the conflict in Tigray. There have been many reports of Eritrean troops carrying out abuses in the region.

VOX MAGAZINE

Christians have suffered great persecution in Eritrea since 2002, when the Eritrean government banned all religious groups except the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches and Sunni Islam. Thousands of Christians have been arrested and imprisoned since then with most being held in extremely harsh conditions, including in shipping containers.

Many Christians have been tortured and offered release if they recanted their Christian faith. Others have been released to make way for new prisoners in the country’s overcrowded prisons.

Find out more at www.churchinchains.ie.

Ending child marriage in Dominican Republic

The International Justice Mission team in Dominican Republic has seen a historic victory against the practice of child marriage after leading a successful petition to make it illegal. On January 6 2021, President Abinader approved a bill that eliminates all legal ground for child marriage and safeguards the fundamental rights of children, particularly girls who had been vulnerable to this widespread practice.

Speaking on International women’s Day IJM Dominican Republic Associate Director Sonia Hernandez said, “In the face of so much injustice... I am inspired to leave a message that women have the potential to fight against broken systems that don’t protect the most vulnerable.

To strengthen systems so that they will respond with equity for all.”

The Dominican Republic has the

highest rates of child marriage in the Latin America and Caribbean Region.

“This harmful practice results in a lack of protection, inequality, lack of opportunities, and early pregnancy for girls. It also has a direct impact on the country’s economy,” explained Sonia.

Global experts agree it can also increase children’s vulnerability to sex trafficking.

The Executive Branch modified the Civil Code and other laws, clearly stating that “people under 18 years old will not be able to marry under any circumstances.” Prior to these changes, the law permitted children to be forced into marriage as long as there was parental consent and permission from a judge.

In addition to these changes, the president issued a new decree establishing a special cabinet, led by the Ministry for Women, to work toward a life free of violence for women and girls. Ending harmful practices like child marriage by 2030 is part of target 5.3 from the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals—and made all the more urgent in the pandemic. As the Dominican Republic is hit by a second wave of Covid-19, the enforcement of the new legislation will be key to protect thousands across the country.

“Through this law, a new stage begins in the country. Our girls and adolescents will be protected…and cannot be forced into marriage in their childhood or adolescence.” said Sonia.

IJM remains committed to collaborating with the public justice system and civil society groups to ensure children are protected and safe.

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YOUR VOX

Star Prize of VOX we In each issue of a €25 ize pr a d ar aw for our r he uc book vo r, email favourite lette ment. It m co e or onlin could be you!

UNACCEPTABLE?

I was asked a question the other day by a friend, “Why are you a Christian?” The question “Why?’ cuts right to the heart of motivation. I paused and considered my answer. I am a Christian because I am persuaded beyond all doubt that God is good. I know that God loves me. I believe that God wants a relationship with me, and that Jesus came to earth to ensure that that relationship could happen.

Jesus’ death was to atone for my sin and allow me to have a relationship with God. However, my entire Christian walk has been hampered by the way the church and more specifically “Christians” treat me. I am an unacceptable Christian.

It did not matter whether Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Christian Fellowship - they have all been the same. Perhaps you are asking “Why?” In the words of another friend I am a “rainbow person” - I belong to the LGBTQI community.

Don’t get me wrong; very few churches have let me know that I was completely unwelcome. But there is a great difference between being tolerated and being accepted. My entire life I have felt tolerated. I have been told that if I just prayed, I wouldn’t feel like this. Please believe me that I prayed enough to wipe out the entire LGBTQI community. I was

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informed that it was unconfessed sin in my life. But I felt like this since I was a very small child. What could I have done that was so sinful that I was condemned to feel like this?

I have been advised that if I didn’t practice an alternative lifestyle then it would be alright: live a life devoid of love, devoid of family, devoid of intimacy. I was admonished that, “It’s a choice.”

Who would willingly choose to endure rejection, degradation, shame, guilt, pain, fear, loneliness and hurt?

I would lie awake as a teenager unsure what was wrong with me but knowing that I did not feel like everyone else; praying to God that I could just be normal, just be like everyone else. I went to Christian camps as a youngster and as a leader, petrified that someone would figure out that I was different and reveal me as such.

I hated myself. I read books, prayed and talked to people. I spent years trying to fix myself but nothing changed. Every effort was in vain, the failure to ‘pray the strange away’ only added weight to the fact that I was wrong, a sinner destined for hell, one who was so unworthy that God couldn’t be bothered to intervene.

I was perplexed and so I researched and read, prayed and considered. I arrived at a place of personal peace. By that I mean

VOX MAGAZINE

I could live with myself. But the old feelings were never far away.

Throughout all of this, I continued to attend church, my involvement was always limited by my belonging to that small group of LGBTQI. In the church I currently attend, I am made to feel welcome. I have friends; some attended my wedding. But my involvement is limited, my strangeness prohibited, my talents unusable, my presence uncomfortable.

I have spent my entire life sitting in church hearing that ‘God is love’ whilst I have been treated as a second-class citizen, viewed as a problem, viewed with suspicion and disdain. I used to read Paul’s letters where he described himself as the ‘chief of sinners’. I mused “Was Paul gay?” because I was led to believe there was nothing worse.

I go to church now and it is excruciating; the pain of all those words, of all the years of being blamed. The feelings are stifling. Some days I arrive at church and I can hardly breathe. Some days I stand awkwardly trying to force myself to stay calm. Some days I leave unable to cope with the pain. Some days I sit and listen to words that hammer home my feelings of rejection, pain, shame, guilt, self-hatred and self-loathing. Some days I am so filled with anger that I want to stand up and shout, “What are you doing? This is not what Jesus meant.”

Recently, someone told me, “You must continue sharing normal life and your journey with Jesus with others in church.

It is the only thing that makes people really question their long-held beliefs.”

I understand the point they were making; people respond to [real life] stories. However, the sentence stopped

me cold. My life has been filled with pain, loneliness, guilt, fear, self-hatred, and self-loathing. The idea that I must continue to expand on how being excluded, being treated differently, being considered as “less than” makes me feel, is cruel. It is not my responsibility to help you work through your deep-seated prejudice.

Is it fair to ask me to sit and wait in pain, while you consider if I should be treated like everyone else? I am a person, not a project. I am a person, not a problem. I am a person, not perverse.

I cannot bear the thought of another person enduring what I have endured.

After I told my friend why I was a Christian, they asked, “Why do you want to teach?” I want to help people understand the simplicity and the beauty of the Gospel, to lose the religiosity that binds hearts and minds and be able to freely love and accept all as Jesus did. To have an end to the ungodly hierarchy that pitches men against women, white people against black, straight against LGBTQI, and to help usher in a kinder, more inclusive, more honest, good news for all.

In the words of Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, “Diversity is having a seat at the table, inclusion is having a voice, and belonging is having that voice be heard.”

The Church has grown far from its infancy as an outlawed faction following a young Jewish Rabbi. I would like to see a return to those days. The Church should be as diverse as the community it serves.

The Church should be inclusive of all. The Church should be the first place in society that all feel they belong, not the last.

Signed the Unacceptable Christian (name and address supplied to VOX magazine)

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO EDITOR@VOX.IE OR YOUR VOX, ULYSSES HOUSE, 22-24 FOLEY STREET, DUBLIN 1

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CAN YOU REMEMBER THE VERY FIRST VOX MAGAZINE IN JANUARY 2009? After 13 years and 50 issues of the magazine, we’re so grateful to look back and see God’s faithfulness, enabling us to share the stories of what God is doing on our island.

Highlights for us have included launching the popular Finding Faith Tour in 2013, our research projects including “Millennials 2015” and “Women and the Church 2018” and the hundreds of features we have published supporting Christians as we engage with one another and with the tough issues facing our communities.

Although a global pandemic is not the ideal time to create and distribute any publication, the VOX team has found creative ways to continue serving Christians in Ireland throughout this strange season.

The last year also provided us with opportunities to experiment with new ways of sharing and distributing high quality content. For this special 50th issue of the magazine, you’ll notice we’re trying out a new design, created to enable more people to access the magazine on digital devices (along with a smaller size print edition). We’re also working to bring you more content on our new-look website to help you keep up-to-date with what is happening across Ireland.

As we look to the future, we’d love to know what you think of these innovations and any suggestions you may have. Email editor@vox.ie to have your say or complete the short reader survey you will find on our website at WWW.VOX.IE/SURVEY.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Edna Abercrombie, Samuel Abraham, Daughter of Alice Addison, Donald Ainslie, Eleanor Allen, William Armstrong, Alexander Armstrong, John Armstrong, Daphne Armstrong, Daphine Atwool, N/A Ayers, Wilda Barrington, Gordon Barton, Patricia Bass, Female of Gladys Bates, Dennis Baugh, Michael Behan, Dorothy Bever, Robert Bible, Nellie (Nannie) Bingham, Patricia Birney, Infant Female Bleach, S/B of N/A Boles, Martin Bonny, David Brodie, Henry Bryant, Eileen Burnett, Douglas Burroghs, John Butler, Eric Carlew, Arthur Carr, S/B female of Mary Carroll, Michael Carroll, Muriel Carroll, James Carroll, Infant of Esther Carter, Lilian Carty, Norah Cassidy, Jane Cavanagh, Albert Chamney, Norman Cinnamond, Eva Clarke, Christopher Clifford, Edward Cobb, Clement Collins, Infant Male of Bridie Conway, Joan Conway, Margaret Cooper, Marjorie Coote, Derek Crampton, Elizabeth Crimmins, Paul Cullen, James Cully, John Cunningham, Pansey Curley, Isabella Davenport, Mary Deane, Michael Dempsey, Patrick Diegan, Henry Digan, Evelyn Dixon, William Dolan, Mary Donaldson, Mary Donaldson, Evelyn Donnelly, George Eager, Josephine Eager, Evelyn Eakins, John Elder, Dorothy Elliott, Derrick Exley, Iris Eyre, Agnes Florence Farran, Marjorie Farrelly, John Feeney, Stewart Ferguson, Infant Finlay, John Fitzpatrick, Albert Flanagan, David Flanagan, John Charles Flower, Rose Mary Flynn, Elizabeth Franklin, Ian D Fraser, Maurice Furlong, Herbert Furney, Edith Mabel (Adult) Galbraith, Ruth Galbraith, Daphne Gardiner, Michael Gauntley, George Geoghegan, Muriel Gerty, Hilda Gethings, George Robert Gibson, Arthur Gilbert, Noel Gill, Grace (Grave) Glover, Isabella Graham, Sybil Graham, Mary Patricia Grattan, Mary Bridget Grattan, Dorothy Gray, Kevin Gray (Grey), S/B of John Greer, Lucy Griffith, David Gunning, William Hadnet, Marjorie Hall, Albert Hanlon, Kathleen Hanna, William Hannon, Joseph Hargrave, Ruth Hawkins, Andrew Hayden, Muriel Hayes, Patrick Heaney, Charles Heffernan, Reginald Hendy, Margaret Hendy, William The names of all Henly (Healy), Philip Hingston, Charles Hogan, Violet Holt, Annie Huggard, Fredrick L Hughes, Mary Hunt, Rhona Hunt, Mervyn Hunter, babies who died Lilian Hurley, Cecil Hynes, Phobe Violet Hynes, Edwin Jennings, while at the Bethany Hynes, Lilian Johnston, Derek James Jones, Anthony Jones, Edward Judge, Anna Kavanagh, Philip Kavanagh, Infant Male of N/A Kearney, Gladys Kearney, Home in Dublin.

Patrick Kearney, Violet Kelly, Mary Kennedy, David Kennington, Kathleen Kerr (Kerris), Percy Stanley Kerris, Lilian Kertz, James Killeen, Alice Kilpedder, S/B male of Sarah Knight, Louisa Knight, Noel Knight, Rodrick (Fredrick) Knott, Michael Knox, S/B Male twin of Sarah Lambert, Jean Lang, David Lang, Patrick J Leavy, John Leehy, Christopher Leon, Laurence Lewis, Stephen Linton, Infant of N/A Lucas, Franklin MacBeth, Patrick Maguire, Mary Maguire, Mary Kathleen Manning, Herbert Mapstone, Cecil Martin, William Mason, Thomas Sydney Matthews, Elizabeth McAree, Olive McBride, Trevor McCaffery, Joan McClure, Daphne McCollum, Thomas McCullagh, Sylvia McCutcheon, Terence McDonald, Mary Kathleen McDonald, Ronnie McGovern, Roberta McGowan, Rebecca McGowan, Ann McGowan, Francis McHugh, Lily McKenna, Mary McKeogh, James McKillop, John McKillop, Margaret McKnight, Douglas McMahon, Ernest McMillan, George McWilliams, Mary Kathleen Mealey, Ethel Meredith, Fredrick Middleton, Sedgewick Frederick Middleton, John Miller, Ronald Minnock, Peter Moffat, Norman Montgomery, David Moran, Fred Moran, Ann Moran, David Morgan, Thomas Morris, Robert Morrow, John Morrow, Elizabeth Murphy, Marion Myler, Female Nathan, Stillborn Nathan, Stewart Neill, S/B Female of George Nelson, Rosabella Newland, Joseph Nolan, William Nolan, Marjorie Norris, Ramon O’Leary, Henry O’Malley, Joseph O’Neill, George Oakley, Valerie Overton, Ronald Owens, Sarah Parke, Helen Parker, Desmond Patterson, John Patterson, Robert Patterson, Rita Evelyn Payne, Vera Payne, James Percy, Elizabeth Phair, Casandra Philips, Eleanor Pollard, James Anthony Preston, David Reilly, Rebecca Robinson, Doris Roche, Dorothy Roche, Florence (Adult) Rochford, Norah Rountree, S/B of Margaret Russell, Gordon Ryan, Charles D Sargent, Infant male Scanlon, Herbert Scott, Mary Scott, Peter Shortt, James Smith, Audrey Smith, Male Infant Smith, Noel Edward Smith, Mary Sodden, June Spence, Joan Stacey, John Stenson, Robert Stevenson, Susan Sunderji, Rhoda (Rhods) Sweeney, Isobel Syms, Eugene Taffe, Elizabeth Margaret Taylor, William Teskey, Violet Thompson, Herbert Thompson, Eva Tilson, George Albert Tracey, Betty Traynor, George Turner, Doreen Twamloy, Annie Upton, Keith Valentine, S/B male of Anna Victory, Violet Walker, Eileen Walker, Alexander Wall, Alfred Warner, Annie Warren, Mabel Waugh, Samuel George Webster, S/born female of Matilda Welby, Phyllis Whittle, Herbert Williams, Pearl (Perl) Williamson, Bertrice Willis, S/B Wilson, Christopher Wilton, Norman J Winslow, Desmond Wynne

VOX MAGAZINE

Mother and Baby Homes What is the “Christian” Response?

T

he final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland was published in January 2021. Soon afterwards, Ulster University and Queen’s University jointly released a study of Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland commissioned by the Inter Departmental Working Group on Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Laundries and Historical Clerical Child Abuse. Taken together, the two reports chart the treatment of women, particularly unmarried mothers and their children, on the island of Ireland between the 1920s and the 1990s. They make for distressing reading.

Already drained by a year of lockdowns and restrictions, the public reaction, while understandably angry, seemed muted. An initial flurry of comment and opinion in the media has now subsided. For many it seems this chapter is now closed.

Others have scrambled to distance

themselves from the reports. Criticism has been levelled at the Catholic Church and the State (and by some at families and the wider society) without an acknowledgement that all major Christian denominations across the island were implicated. Shifting blame or denying responsibility has taken precedence over acknowledgement, repentance and reparation.

Have we become inured to the history of past wrongs on this island?

Are we suffering compassion fatigue or simply worn out by the seemingly unending revelations of abuse, especially by those who supposedly represent the faith we hold dear? In this issue of VOX magazine, we take a deeper look at the implications for Christians in Ireland and how these reports affect our witness today.

Wading through pages of dispassionate narrative is a daunting task. So here we begin with a summary of the key findings. What did the reports say?

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SPECIAL REPORT

COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION INTO MOTHER AND BABY HOMES IN IRELAND The Commission considered a number of Mother and Baby homes in Ireland including county homes run by local health authorities, those run by the Catholic church (mainly by religious orders) and the Bethany Home run by a Protestant evangelical group.

56,000 women and 57,000 children were resident in the homes investigated.

While Ireland was not unique, the proportion of unmarried mothers admitted to Mother and Baby Homes in 20th century Ireland was probably the highest in the world. 80% of the women were aged between 18 and 29; 11.4% were under 18. The women had become pregnant outside of marriage and most were destitute. The report noted that some had been raped, had mental health problems or had an intellectual disability. Although it concluded that women were not forced to enter the homes, it also states that they had no alternative.

According to the Commission, the primary mission of Mother and Baby

“Women who gave birth outside marriage were subject to particularly harsh treatment.”

Homes was “reform and repentance”.

Many women suffered emotional abuse and were subject to denigration and derogatory remarks. “It appears that there was little kindness shown to them

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and this was particularly the case when they were giving birth.” It was in an era when, “all women [in Ireland] suffered serious discrimination” but “women who gave birth outside marriage were subject to particularly harsh treatment.”

Living conditions varied from home to home although overcrowding was a feature in many. County homes were “appalling” with unmarried mothers having to squat on the floor to eat their meals. Many did not have adequate heating or running water. The conditions in Glenmaddy/Tuam and Kilrush were described as “dire”. Homes run by religious orders were institutional with large dormitories but at least had heating and running water.

HIGH INFANT MORTALITY

Nine thousand babies died in the homes and the report points to the exceptionally high infant mortality rate (almost twice the national average) as the most disquieting feature of these institutions. While the death rate among illegitimate children was always considerably higher than that of legitimate children, it was higher still in mother and baby homes. Entering a mother and baby home significantly reduced a baby’s chance of survival. By 1939, an inspector was already expressing concern at the high rate of infant mortality. In 1943, three out of every four children born in Bessborough and 62% of those born in Bethany Home died.

The Commission pointed to the lack of professional staff combined with “what must be acknowledged as a general indifference to the fate of the children who were born in mother and baby homes” as contributing to the

VOX MAGAZINE

appalling levels of infant mortality and cited Bethany Home as an example: “In October 1936, the Bethany matron informed the management committee that five infants had died in the previous month; four from heart failure. She went on to observe that the health of all was good except for one delicate baby.”

Many homes did not keep adequate death records or a register of burials.

Babies in several homes were buried

in unmarked graves and in the case of Tuam, they were buried “inappropriately” on the grounds of the home. Babies died from a variety of causes including infectious diseases and marasmus (malnutrition).

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHILDREN?

While some unmarried mothers returned home with their babies, for many this

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simply wasn’t an option. Before legal adoption was introduced in the 1950s, children were often boarded out to foster families with little concern for the needs of the child. Foster payments provided additional income for impoverished households and older children were a source of unpaid labour. Although some foster families took good care of the children, in other placements they were exploited, badly fed, kept out of school and hired out for employment.

In the 1950s and 1960s, adoption became the most common outcome. A significant percentage of children were also sent to other institutions such as children’s homes especially from Bethany Home. The question of consent for adoptions has been raised by a number of survivors. The Commission reported “no evidence” that consent was not given freely despite what it describes as the “inadequate” resources of the Adoption Board to supervise adoption agencies or examine consent during its first 15 years of operation. Many survivors dispute this finding.

MOTHER AND BABY HOMES AND MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES IN NORTHERN IRELAND

The report of research by Ulster University and Queen’s found that there was “a culture of stigma, shame and secrecy attached to unmarried mothers” in Northern Ireland. It is estimated that between 1922 and 1990 over 10,500 women entered

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mother and baby homes run by Catholic religious orders and by various Protestant groups and denominations including the Church of Ireland and Salvation Army.

Most who entered the homes had limited alternatives.

The youngest recorded admission was a 12 year-old girl and the oldest a 44-year-old woman. The majority of women were aged between 20 and 29 (58%). Another 33% were under 19 years of age. It is evident that Protestant and Catholic voluntary organisations and in

Entering a mother and baby home significantly reduced a baby’s chance of survival.

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particular clergy were actively involved in referring women to the homes.

Women often entered a mother and baby home when they were not in a position to marry. In religiously segregated Northern Ireland, religious differences were a common cause of opposition to a marriage. In other cases, the young age of a pregnant girl meant that marriage was not an option.

A number of young women entered mother and baby homes as the result of a sexual crime including incest, rape or “unlawful carnal knowledge”.

There were numerous testimonies recounting experiences that involved cleaning, polishing floors and domestic laundering, with no concession for women in their final trimester of pregnancy.

Most described the attitudes of staff as unsympathetic and sometimes cruel. Women provided vivid accounts of being made to feel ashamed about their pregnancy and suggested that the atmosphere was authoritarian and judgemental. A minority of testimonies offered a more positive assessment of life in the mother and baby homes.

The testimonies also reveal the vulnerability, particularly of the younger women and girls including details of predatory sexual behaviour and/ or malicious actions that they experienced.

children in Northern Irish Mother and Baby Homes was shorter than in the Republic. Around a quarter of babies left with their mother while a third were placed in institutional homes. A further 23% were recorded as adopted, with another 15% listed as going to foster parents.

Data assembled from the available records suggests that 4% of babies were either stillborn or died shortly after birth (across the entire period) but more detailed research would be needed to identify infant mortality rates because so many children were transferred to institutions. It is clear that death rates in some of the children’s homes were extremely high.

A number of women raised concern about the way adoptions were handled with “consent” being given in circumstances where they were given little or no alternative. There was also evidence of considerable cross-border movement of children, especially to Catholic-run children’s homes in Donegal.

Most described the attitudes of staff as unsympathetic and sometimes cruel.

SO WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?

In the following pages, you will find responses from Kevin Hargaden and Richard Carson along with “What Now?” - an opportunity for you and your church to explore practical actions.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHILDREN?

The length of stay for women and

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SPECIAL REPORT

Evangelicals and Church Abuse What the Mother and Baby Homes Report Reminds Us

BY KEVIN HARGADEN

P

aul preached a sermon for the people of Athens in Acts 17 which has been studied ceaselessly since. It is the definitive example of how important it is to, “know your audience.” On the hill which had, for centuries, hosted some of the greatest philosophical discourses in human history, Paul demonstrated his understanding and respect of their culture. It is a template evangelists have followed for millennia.

For those of us involved in ministry in Ireland today, appreciating the historical context of the place we serve remains absolutely essential. And the tragic fact is that right now, and for decades into the future, as soon as you

stand up to preach in Ireland, you step inside the shadow cast by the generations of abuse committed by Irish Christians throughout the 20th century.

This year began with the publishing of the government’s report into the Mother and Baby Homes. Over the last decade or so there have been reports into the abuses in the Magdalene Laundry system, the industrial schools, and various devastating reports into abuses in particular Catholic dioceses.

There is no Irish person unaware of this phenomenon. Any missional project that does not consider this context is bound to fail, defeating itself by ignoring the wisdom of the New Testament and the plain fact that God’s good news is deeply tied up with our abuse.

When I say our abuse, I mean it. This is not a problem that evangelicals can brush aside as some kind of “Catholic issue”.

The Mother and Baby Homes report includes many references to evangelical initiatives

The historical fact is clear: we conduct our mission today in the light of what Christians of all kinds did up until the last Mother and Baby home closed in 1998.

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VOX MAGAZINE

like the Bethany Home in south Dublin, where hundreds of babies were buried in unmarked graves. My own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, never legally ran these homes but prominent leaders within our congregations were deeply involved in their operation. They were joined by evangelicals from every conceivable tradition present in Ireland at the time. The historical fact is clear: we conduct our mission today in the light of what Christians of all kinds did up until the last Mother and Baby home closed in 1998.

I feel the temptation to read these reports and distance myself from them. I want to profess, “But, I’m not that kind of Christian!” Since Pontius Pilate, however, the option of washing our hands has not been available to us.

The instinct to parse the detail of legal culpability to avoid moral responsibility must be resisted. Those who ran these homes and laundries and schools and dioceses could say the creed, they prayed daily, they called Jesus Lord. Every single member of the Managing Committee of Bethany House had to sign an evangelical doctrinal commitment as rigorous as any I have encountered. No one will be convinced by our efforts to declare ourselves righteous!

To understand our mission in historical context means wrestling with the fact that when vulnerable young women were at their most fearful, Christians not just colluded but actively constructed and sustained a system that incarcerated them and then often dispatched their babies to foreign lands without consulting them. This is the

stuff of nightmares. And it is arguably at the benign end of the spectrum of abuse associated with the churches in our land.

Reading the Mother and Baby Homes Report feels like a gruelling test of our spiritual stamina. Page after page, atrocities are recorded in the cold and dispassionate tone of an official publication. One marvels at the strength of the women who rebuilt their lives after being so broken down like this.

One laments for the many who surely were crushed entirely. Remembering the historical context has contemporary consequences. The Irish churches once paid so little attention to women in their midst that they could shuffle them off into captivity and barely even notice.

This is a serious word for anyone with ears to hear: how are we different?

Lament is the biblical mode of worship most commonly neglected by the contemporary church. It is praise that begins in repentance. To appreciate the context for our mission is to begin in lament.

This is exhausting but it is the only path to liberation.

We preach a message we say

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is good news – that God took on human form and dwelt among us. He was born in a state of illegitimacy and shame, and farm animals were His first companions, along with His unwed mother and foster father. The entire message hinges around a young woman with the remarkable courage to stare into the abyss of social disgrace and yet still declare, “God’s will be done”. When we align the Mother and Baby Homes against the core of the

This is a serious word for anyone with ears to hear: how are we different?

Gospel message, we cannot fail to see how compromised our message is if we do not appreciate this historical context.

Such a perversion of the gospel, such a crime against God – and women and children – we inherit.

We must own this legacy and lament. Even if we think we can protest that our denomination or tradition or congregation were not implicated, our message is still heard in this setting.

And these abuses continue to have real world effects in the lives of the victims who are still with us, our colleagues and neighbours, and friends in church. That’s where our lament should lead us – back to care for those caught up by this system and forward to create cultures where such abuses will not be replicated.

Acts 17 does not record a mass conversion followed from Paul’s sensitive sermon. Wrestling seriously with how our gospel message has been bound up with heinous abuse is not a church growth strategy but an invitation to

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faithfulness and to the cultivation of communities of Christians where vulnerable people are safe and those scorned by society are welcomed.

But to understand our mission in historical context also shines light on our contemporary situation. The last Mother and Baby Home was still open years after the first Direct Provision Centre was established. These two coercive cultures overlapped. Where once we viewed pregnant women with scorn and suspicion, modern Ireland – which is still all too eager to pat itself on the back for what it sees as its moral progress – now views the foreigner the same way. Men, women, and children arrive at our shores having escaped war or persecution or torture and we put them in pseudoprisons and give them €21.60 a week and tell them to be grateful.

The Mother and Baby Homes Report – for all of its deficiencies – allows us to hear some of the voices that have gone unheard. It is thus essential reading for those want to get a hearing in contemporary Ireland. Paul paid attention. We must too.

Dr Kevin Hargaden leads the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, where he works as a social theologian. He is an elder for the Presbyterian Church in Lucan. His most recent book is entitled Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Denial, Apathy or Lament How will we respond to the Mother and Baby Homes Report?

BY RICHARD CARSON Richard Carson reflects on the report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission and the often-overlooked implications for Protestants and evangelicals.

M

y ministry has been shaped by two disorientating commutes. The first was in my early twenties when I took a bus from the leafy suburbs of south side Dublin, where I worked in a fee-paying boarding school into the inner city to work with families affected

by HIV and addiction. The second was over a decade later when I cycled from that same inner city community out to my young family in the slightly less leafy suburbs.

Each day I would pass a cemetery where over 200 children lay buried in an unmarked grave, their destiny fulfilled under the auspices of the same broad movement in which my inner city work was grounded - Irish evangelicalism.

While the first commute shook my understanding of advantage and the agency of God in mission, the second shook my foundation of faith and social action. Now, following a five-year

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investigation by the State, the legacy of Irish evangelicalism stands condemned and in the area where Jesus reserved some of His harshest words - the treatment of the child.

A well-known principle in safeguarding children is that the welfare of the child is paramount. The Mother and Baby Home report and its primary sources outline how, in multiple ways and on repeated occasions, the application of giving a cup of cold water in Jesus’s name compromised the welfare of the child. The physical condition and spiritual condition of children were divorced from each other, often in profoundly disturbing ways. Discipleship from a Protestant evangelical perspective was viewed as essential, even if this meant applying sectarian approaches to fostering, adoption and referral which compromised the child’s best interests.

State inspection was actively resisted and all to avoid a core problem - the false

VOX MAGAZINE

The memorial at Mount Jerome Cemetery in Harold’s Cross

belief that ‘illegitimacy’ itself conferred a fragility upon the lives of newborns such that the high mortality rate in the homes could be explained away.

There are two ways in which the readers of VOX from Protestant and evangelical traditions may be tempted to understand this story. One is that it is about just one small institution; an isolated case limited to the actions of a tiny few. This view is understandable given the fragmented nature of Protestant evangelicalism and its institutions, in contrast to Roman Catholicism. However, it would be a far from accurate analysis.

Those in governance of Bethany Home (one of three from a Protestant ethos investigated by the Commission) came from the leadership of Anglican, Presbyterian, Brethren, Baptist, Methodist and other churches. But the report does not just focus on the 18 investigated homes. It also highlights entry and exit points for the women and young children.

So around a hundred other institutions are named including around a dozen of Protestant evangelical ethos. Further to that, the report outlines the broader lives of the mothers in the homes. There are few venues of Protestant evangelical life in 20th century Dublin and Wicklow, which do not get at least a mention in the text.

At this point, one could easily focus the blame for what happened on a broader field of ‘society’ as some have done. The Taoiseach was criticised for this approach. Alternatively one may take a forensic approach and pick out particular homes for analysis of their governance structures. This is done while ignoring other homes or generalising the links to the homes as just involving one’s ‘members’ even though these members were actually senior leaders. This is the approach taken by the Church of Ireland and Irish Church Missions. Yet another approach is just to remain silent, allowing

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If the testimonies of survivors and the presence of infant cadavers cannot evoke lament among Christians, never mind words of repentance, then there is something very wrong. the fragmented nature of Protestant evangelicalism to hide one’s links to persons and places.

A second way one might be tempted to understand the story is as if the details only became known in January 2021. This is understandable given the recent media coverage but there is little new in the report. The story of Bethany Home broke over a decade ago in the national press (and was reported in VOX magazine in 2010). The research of Niall Meehan uncovered a litany of State complicity, child trafficking and inappropriate adoptions. The 1930s, 40s or 50s may be worthy of further investigation and analysis. But the silence of the 2010s demand no less scrutiny. If the testimonies of survivors and the presence of infant cadavers cannot evoke lament among Christians, never mind words of repentance, then there is something very wrong at the heart of Irish evangelicalism.

So what can be done? In some ways the answer is simple - turn up and tell the truth. God is still worthy of our worship, of our lament and of our prayers. Survivors of these homes are still alive. They can be contacted, they can be listened to and they can receive redress. Their records can be released, including those held by churches and individuals. While some of the governance lines have ended many of the

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buildings still stand, some still in use for Christian mission. Truth can be spoken there.

At the annual memorial service, in the Victorian Chapel of Mount Jerome Cemetery, the Bethany survivors select hymns and songs from their time in the home and as an expression of their own faith. Those who claimed the name of Jesus in their governance and leadership of the home cast the shadow, which drives the survivors’ activism. Yet still the words ring out “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” This is grace. The appropriate response to the story of Bethany is, as with all Christian mission, a response to grace.

It is the survivors who now offer the cup of cold water to those tasked with rendering the 20th century story of Irish evangelicalism. The question is, will it be accepted or will it continue to be ignored?

Richard Carson is the Chief Executive of ACET Ireland, which runs a range of projects improving health at the intersections of HIV, addiction, faith, sexuality, minority ethnic groups, poverty and more.

FAITH

VOX MAGAZINE

Finding Faith 2021

In the middle of the first lockdown, editor Ruth Garvey-Williams still managed to tour Ireland last May thanks to the power of technology. She “visited” 32 counties in 31 days hearing inspirational stories of faith, life and reality and discovering how churches across the island were responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As we face into our second year of restrictions, a VOX road trip will not be possible in 2021.

But we know many people look forward to the encouragement of our summer edition and we will once again use digital technology to “travel” around Ireland for the 2021 Finding Faith Tour in May. So here’s the challenge: tell us where you would like to go and who you would like us to interview and we’ll add those stories to our 2021 itinerary. Email editor@vox.ie or call 087 795 5401 with your requests.

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Musings...

on Doomism, Sentimentality and the Cross With Patrick Mitchel

T

he age of Information Technology has certainly lived up to its name; we have instantaneous access to information about pretty well anything we care to think of. Despite lockdown, the world remains at our fingertips – there’s no 5km limit if you have a broadband connection. One thing I’ve discovered over the last few months is joining live safaris in the African bush.

It’s been a wonderful way to ‘travel’, immerse yourself in another world and learn lots all at the same time. (I’m watching a leopard hunt impalas as I write this!)

But the net is also the gateway to all sorts of other information. There is little that we can’t read or see for ourselves about what’s going on in the world. Because billions of people now carry smartphones, photographs and videos are being taken daily on a vast scale. Even events that authoritarian governments try to hide tend to hit the news. Two examples as I’m writing are the abduction, imprisonment and now disappearance of Princess Latifa in Dubai (only made known through secret videos she took) and ethnic cleansing being

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carried out by the Chinese government against the Uighur population in Xinjiang (despite denials satellite pictures and videos are damning). But to these we could add countless others.

And then there’s information hidden away for so long but now exposed to the light of day. In this edition of VOX are stories about injustices experienced by children in Irish mother and baby homes and revelations about Ravi Zacharias exploiting and using women for his own sexual gratification. And this is even before mentioning social media and billions of individuals sharing their lives and opinions on everything from funny cat videos to #FreeBritney to saving the planet from environmental destruction.

Such a vast amount of information has never been available to any human beings before. I wonder sometimes do we know too much? We’ve always known that the world was broken, but now we can watch it unfold livestreamed.

I’ve been musing about this new world - what it does to us and how are disciples of Jesus best to navigate its unfamiliar terrain. It seems to me that there are at least two dead-ends we

can go down. One is ‘doomism’. All too easily, we can become news junkies, overwhelmed with bad news and in a constant state of fear or depression about our world and where it’s going.

Another is ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ – we literally switch off, close our eyes and ears and pretend the world isn’t like it is. We just retreat into a safe bubble of sentimental optimism.

A Christian form of this sort of denial is to celebrate the love, forgiveness and presence of God while rarely, if ever, talking about the reality and power of sin and evil (including our own).

But Easter speaks of a third, deeper, and more mysterious way of understanding our world. The way of the cross is neither ‘doomism’ nor optimistic sentimentality, it is, rather, the way of ‘hopeful realism’.

By ‘realism’ I mean that Christians should be the last people to be surprised by bad news, even the bad news of a Christian leader being unmasked. This is because the Bible has a stark diagnosis of what’s wrong with this world. It is Sin with a capital ‘S’. This is not just your wrong actions and mine (personal sins), though it includes them for sure. But Sin as a malign, destructive power that

leads to death. A power that we have no way of overcoming on our own: not through better education, or self-esteem, or economics, or human ingenuity, or scientific progress, or more information, or good life choices.

Humanly speaking, we have absolutely no grounds for optimism about ourselves or our world.

By ‘hopeful’ I mean that our hope is God alone – and that is a great, big, wondrous sort of hope. This is the mystery of Easter.

The stronger our understanding of Sin, the deeper is the good news of the cross. The cross “is the scene of God’s climatic battle against the power of a malignant and implacable enemy” (Fleming Rutledge). No human has the ability to break the power of Sin and death – only God can. And, out of love, He has done just that.

All too easily, we can become news junkies, overwhelmed with bad news and in a constant state of fear or depression about our world

Dr. Patrick Mitchel is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute. You can follow his blog at www.faithinireland.wordpress.com.

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What

SPECIAL REPORT

Now?

Responding as individuals and churches to the Mother and Baby Homes reports

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VOX MAGAZINE

K

evin and Richard have already suggested key steps that can be taken for individual Christians and churches to respond to the Mother and Baby Home reports.

1. FACING THE FACTS

This is not a time to ignore, dismiss or avoid the ugly truth. You’ve made a start by reading this special report. You could go deeper still by downloading and reading the executive summary of the two official reports.

2. LAMENT

Throughout scripture we see examples of when the people of God recognised that they had done wrong and turned to the Lord in repentance. Even those who were not personally responsible (see Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9) were still willing to humble themselves and confess the sins of the past. Why not use the prayer resources available from 24/7 Prayer and Praxis (www.praxismovement.ie)?

3. TELLING THE TRUTH

Acknowledging (confessing) sin is a necessary step in spiritual restoration.

The apostle John calls it “walking in the light” (1 John 1: 5 - 10). Cover up and denial are hallmarks of darkness. This is a time for courageous honesty.

4. CAMPAIGNING FOR REDRESS

Our prayers of lament and expressions of repentance should lead to action on behalf of the survivors. James Gallen

is a researcher who has spent the last five years working on the legacy of Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland. He has drafted letters for Christian leaders and for TDs calling for a swift and comprehensive response. These examples are available to download from the VOX website (www.vox.ie/motherandbaby) and can be used as a template to help you to campaign for redress. Here, we have reproduced parts of his letter to Church Leaders.

LETTER TO LEADERS OF RELIGIOUS ORDERS, CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS BODIES

Like many other people, I am appalled at the contents of the recently published Mother and Baby Homes Commission Report and at the treatment of survivors both historically and in the past few months. I write as a Christian, a follower of Jesus, and urge you to reflect on the need for your organisation to contribute spiritually, financially and practically to addressing the abuses suffered by women and children in Mother and Baby Homes.

I was appalled to learn of the unusually high mortality rates that led to such a high number of deaths of infants in these institutions. I was ashamed to learn of how pregnant women and children were treated by our ancestors in Christ. No one is illegitimate in the eyes of God. Every human being is and always was beloved.

It angers me to see the limited response historically to these deaths, discriminations and mistreatment within the institutions,

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our communities and society. I am also conscious that contrary to the report’s findings, survivors maintain that there was a widespread practice of coercive and forced adoptions. I have no reason not to believe those who have come forward, and urge you to do the same.

It is upsetting and frustrating to me that survivors that have been historically marginalised harmed and shamed are today experiencing difficulties in having their voices meaningfully heard and in playing a significant role in shaping the response of churches, religious orders and organisations to the abusive elements of our past.

The response of the churches and religious organisations to date has been decidedly worldly. They have engaged their lawyers, denied and minimised liability and sought to settle cases to avoid scandal. To date the Catholic church and associated religious orders have paid 13% of the Bill for industrial school victims, nothing to Magdalene laundry survivors, nor mother and baby home residents. It has fought and settled civil actions for sex abuse, and refused to give families access to their adoption records to learn the truth of their loved ones. Other Christian institutions have engaged in similar tactics, perhaps fearful above all of the financial implications of admitting wrongdoing.

As a person of faith, I have been lamenting what happened to vulnerable women and children. I have reflected on the inadequacy of Christian charity that caused

so much suffering and death. I welcome the apologies given by some churches, religious orders and organisations. I appreciate the leadership shown in providing a response to the Commission’s report. I hope they are the start of attempts to address the past and not the end. An apology without material consequences risks becoming mere empty rhetoric.

I believe as Christian communities and churches we are not called to adopt a defensive and confrontational posture towards the abusive parts of our past.

Instead, we are called to follow Christ and forego what power and privilege remain in our churches and organisations, and to situate ourselves where we would expect to find Jesus: with the least among us, those who have suffered loss, who were forgotten and neglected, those who are angry and hurt at what was done to them in the name of Christianity.

As a leader of a Christian organisation, I invite you to reflect on the need for Christians to repent of the abusive elements of our past. In Matthew’s Gospel, the root of the word repentance is the Greek word poina meaning “pain”. It relates to other words that should guide our responses as Christians to our past wrongdoing. Repentance relates to poine meaning legal compensation, expiation and punishment. I urge your Christian organisation to publicly and meaningfully make a financial contribution to the government’s intended scheme of redress and reparation to victim-survivors of Mother and Baby Homes.

Churches and religious organisations

An apology without material consequences risks becoming mere empty rhetoric.

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can adopt a posture towards survivors that does not deny their opportunity to access justice and in particular access to their own personal information in the cases of adoption and “boarding out.” Survivors are entitled to the truth and to pursue accountability where possible. Their access to records, some of which may be held privately by your organisation, is key. I urge you to cooperate with the State’s efforts to consolidate and centralise all records of institutional abuse and adoption and consider depositing a copy of your records in the State’s National Archives, which have ample procedures to ensure adequate protection of confidentiality and anonymity.

Christians have long called others to repent. Perhaps it is time for own institutions to reflect on our need for absolution.

Mother and Baby homes reflect part of a broader system of social control that was pervasive in 20th century Ireland. This was informed by law, politics, social pressures – but also theology. Shame is a word that is ever present in survivors’ account of their experience of historical abuses and institutions. I urge your organisation to pray and reflect on the spiritual implications of the report – how did our theology inform these institutions and their practices? In what way do we continue to preach a gospel that creates feelings of shame in others, or seeks to control the salvation and moral and spiritual flourishing of those who seek a place at the table of communion.

I appreciate this letter may be a challenge for you to read. It is written in love and a deep hope in all the good that church and the Christian faith can be in the world.

I believe that love and good requires justice be done.

Yours in Christ, James Gallen

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CONFESSIONS OF A FEINT SAINT

Are we nearly there yet?

By Annmarie Miles

“Their time of waiting and wandering came to an end. Ours will too.”

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wonder if I am starting to get insight into how God’s people felt when they were wandering in the desert. Doing the same thing, seeing the same people, eating the same food and going around in circles. The sameness of lockdown is starting to get to me. I am grateful to have a home and food and people who love me. But some days I feel like these four walls are closing in. I know I’m not alone. A friend, who has been working from home for over a year, told me they felt they were starting to fray around the edges.

An older lady in our church has been saying to God, “I don’t have many seasons left on this earth Lord, how many more of them will I spend stuck in this house?” She has become acutely aware of the promise from God that our times are in His hands. (Psalm 31:15) And what are we doing in the meantime? Have you completed a 5k?

Hands up if you’ve redecorated. Who has mastered a new language or sorted out neglected cupboards? Not me! What has this year achieved for those of us who haven’t been baking sourdough bread? Yes, there is an end in sight, praise God, but it’s small on the horizon and it will take time before we can all live our lives as we used to. We’re not at the end of our journey yet.

Of course for some, this past year has not just been a time of waiting. It has been a time of worrying and grieving as friends and loved ones have succumbed to the virus. If this season has given us more time, let’s commit to praying for those who have been most affected.

God’s timing rarely matches ours but one thing we do know from the story of those 40 years is that God’s people were not left in the desert forever. Their time of waiting and wandering came to an end. Ours will too. And in the meantime, there is provision for the people of God. Keep praying. Keep trusting. We’re nearly there.

Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght and now lives in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. As well as VOX articles, she writes short stories, and is working on a book about her journey with food, weight gain, weight loss and God. Visit her blog at www.auntyamo.com. On Twitter she is @amowriting.

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MY STORY “My Story” is an opportunity for ordinary people living in Ireland to talk about their journey to faith or the impact God has in their daily lives.

MEET GLEN GALVIN The best year of Glen Galvin’s life was followed by the worst. But those two years laid the foundation for a friendship with Jesus that has transformed his life. Glen shared his story with VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams.

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ELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

I grew up in the Irish community in London. I went to a Catholic School and always knew about Jesus. But like many people, I went my own way when I hit my teens. Faith was always there but I didn’t want anything to do with it. I was in a band and that was a huge part of my life. I wouldn’t admit to believing in God; it was not cool.

My life prior to getting married was very colourful. I was involved in rock bands, and toured a lot, playing guitar.

I got to a place, when I had just turned 30 and I felt like I was at the end of something. I had moved back to Ireland and was living in Macra in Cork.

One night, I found myself praying.

I felt desperate. Within ten days I met

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Fiona in extraordinary circumstances.

We were married within six months and things started falling into place.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES?

I’m bald and my wife is a hairdresser and we met in a salon! The day I met her, she wasn’t even supposed to be at work.

Beforehand I would have said this is fate but Fiona explained to me about her faith in God and that was a big eye opener. I believe now that it was meant to be.

We went for an Indian meal on our first date and Fiona asked, “Do you have any faith or do you believe in God? Because I should tell you that my faith is very important to me.” She didn’t shy away from it. That was just awe inspiring

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to me. She was so brave to tell me on the first night out.

YOU SAY THAT WAS THE BEST YEAR OF YOUR LIFE BUT IT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE WORST. WHAT HAPPENED?

I think it was God’s intention that my mum got to see me happy and married but the following year she passed away.

She had a strong faith but she went through so many troubles in her life. I realise growing up there was always faith in the house but it was never spoken about; faith was a private thing.

After my mum died, I went through all the stages of bereavement. I felt a lot of guilt about not being a very good son. I found life hard. My wife and my motherin-law kept praying for me but I felt that they did not understand.

WHEN DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR FAITH CAME ALIVE?

In 2015, we got a dog and much to my disgruntlement, I ended up walking the dog every day. During those early morning walks, I would find myself praying. One day in particular, I was walking and I felt I could not forgive myself for the things I had done. I became overwhelmed with emotion and I started crying. At that moment, I realised

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that Jesus forgave me. I could hardly believe it. I knew that Jesus was there because I was actually experiencing His forgiveness. I went from just praying to really talking with Jesus. Instead of being mad for what I had lost, I started thanking Him. I started having a different outlook.

Some people can sit down and pray. I’ve never been able to do that. But I find walking and praying really helps me and it is a great way to start my day.

To me, Jesus is like a really good mate who never lets me down. It might be out of line to say it like that but I know whenever things are hard, I can just go to Him and it will be all right again.

When I think about what Jesus went through, I know I can put up with a little bit of unsettlement. He is my Saviour but most of all He’s my friend. I find myself driving and just chatting away to Him, giving Him whatever’s on my mind.

Sometimes I look around and it seems that Jesus is the best-kept secret.

Those who know about Him don’t want to talk about Him. But I think faith should be shared. When I think about the old me, I can’t believe that I didn’t really know about Jesus. I feel like I’ve wasted so much of my life not knowing Him.

like it was time for me to repay God and to be involved with something. I was praying about it and I didn’t know what I was going to do. My wife noticed that I needed a Christian community and she encouraged me to go along to Grace Church.

I had been going there for a few weeks when I saw an announcement in the newsletter about Street Pastors. I was blown away by the amount of training they provide. It is a tough role but it has taught me a lot about real Christianity. There is no judgement or agenda; it is purely about God’s grace. As a former drinker, to be on the other side of the nightlife is a real assault on your senses.

The last year has been the most memorable and not for the right reasons.

It is hard to see the city so lonely and desolate and to know that so many livelihoods have been affected. I see the former me in so many people I meet. Whether I’m doing first aid or just talking to people, there is always something to keep you on your toes. And there is always something you can do, even if it is just a word!

YOU’VE BECOME A VOLUNTEER WITH CORK STREET PASTORS. TELL US ABOUT THAT.

First and foremost I’ve realised the importance of prayer. I’ve seen the difference in a day that doesn’t start with prayer. I don’t intend to ever let it happen but we are all guilty of saying I

I SPENT 15 YEARS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, TRYING TO BE LIKED AND TRYING TO BE COOL BUT I ENDED UP WITH NOTHING.

After a few months of getting into the habit of praying every morning, I felt

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WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES YOUR FAITH MAKE IN YOUR DAY-TO-DAY LIFE?

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need that extra hour in bed. But when your prayer time suffers, your day is all upside down. Getting my head around life and death has been something I’ve really had to struggle with. Being in touch with God has made it more understandable. It sounds like a cliché but it is God’s will. I’ve realised, “Who am I to question God and to think that I’m owed an explanation?” Before I tried to control things and I put so much pressure on myself. I would handle it all by drinking excessively or doing something stupid. Now I try to give things to God instead.

I work with Acquired Brain Injury Ireland - assisting people who have had a brain injury. When people come out of hospital, they need a lot of support as they work out the next steps for their life.

Obviously at work, I need to be careful, especially as I’m working with people who have been dealt a tough hand. It is not appropriate to thrust our beliefs at people but in those situations even my smile can make a difference (or with face coverings I’ve learnt to wave at people or make hand gestures).

I’ve kept working through the pandemic so it has been a lot easier for me but my wife is a hairdresser and she has her own salon, so she has had to shut everything down. We make a habit of trying to

have a quick prayer together before I go to work. We acknowledge that as hard as things are, we are not in hospital, we haven’t got a loved one in hospital and so we are doing alright.

MUSIC WAS SUCH A HUGE PART OF YOUR LIFE BEFORE YOU CAME TO FAITH. WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT?

I spent 15 years in the music industry, trying to be liked and trying to be cool but I ended up with nothing. But no one can take the gift of music away from me. I still write and record music but now my songs are faith inspired. They are not worship songs but they are more just testimony. I suppose previously everything I wrote was materialistic or cynical. It’s been difficult to find people to work with, especially when they hear about the faith thing.

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FAITH

A Pandemic of Silence

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The ugly truth behind Ravi Zacharias’ global ministry. How well are we listening?

BY KAREN HUBER

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he shock was, quite literally, heard around the world.

When Ravi Zacharias died in May 2020, Christian leaders, pastors, and theologians grieved openly and with genuine affection. For decades, Zacharias had been their teacher, a trusted apologetic source for defending the faith, and a brother in Christ. He travelled around the world to speak at our churches and our ministry conferences. He was that heady mix of both spiritual authority and Christian celebrity.

And he was an abuser. A thief. A scoundrel. And a liar.

We may never know the true nature of Ravi Zacharias but an independent investigation into Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) – the organisation he founded – confirms what some suspected even before his passing.

Zacharias used his spiritual authority to sexually abuse, harass, and perhaps even traffic vulnerable women. Furthermore, Zacharias funnelled large funds earmarked for humanitarian ministry to facilitate his abuse.

In a statement following the report’s

release in February 2021, RZIM finally admitted to believing “not only the women who made their allegations public but also additional women who had not previously made public allegations against Ravi but whose identities and stories were uncovered during the investigation.” These allegations included instances of “sexting, unwanted touching, spiritual abuse, and rape.”

Since the release of the investigation, many of those Christian leaders who praised him so vociferously have redacted their support. “I was wrong,” starts one pastor’s letter to a large, multicongregational church in the US where Zacharias often went on speaking tours.

These leaders and teachers say they were as taken in as anyone would be, fooled by his charisma and intelligence, the wool pulled over their eyes so as not to see the wolf he really was.

These statements betray the fact that women began to speak up before Ravi’s death—women who were shushed, figuratively and literally. Women bound by non-disclosure agreements that continue to hold them to silence beyond the grave. Women in his own

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FAITH

Here in Ireland, we continue to bear witness to the deep pain endured by so many at the hands of ‘the Church’ for far too long.

organisation who questioned his travel with a personal masseuse or his need for multiple mobile phones. Women who were ignored, belittled, and litigated

by RZIM and a Christian culture which places the word of a man (particularly men in power) as sturdier than that of a woman.

Christianity Today first reported on allegations against Ravi Zacharias in 2017, when Lori Anne Thompson came forward, alleging six years of Zacharias soliciting nude photos and sexting.

Thompson and her husband were vilified and countersued. “I knew the world to be an unsafe place before I met Ravi Zacharias,” Thompson wrote in a statement. “[B]ut I yet had hope that there were some safe and sacred spaces.

I no longer live with that hope. I trusted him. I trusted Christendom. That trust is irreparably and catastrophically shattered.”

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Women spoke up, but we drowned out their voices with loyalty and submission to a man who claimed to speak for God. In the cruellest of examples, Zacharias told an employee he had raped that she was his ‘reward’ for living a life of service to God... She said he warned her not ever to speak out against him or she would be responsible for the ‘millions of souls’ whose salvation would be lost if his reputation was damaged.

Who can stand against that?

“It was too easy to give him a pass based on his gifting,” says Sam Allberry, a pastor and former speaker for RZIM UK. “That’s something we need to learn something very serious from. Gifting is not a reason to think someone doesn’t need the same spiritual discipline as a means of grace that the Bible says all of us need.”

In recent months and years, moral failings and abuses by those in spiritual authority have been revealed with such speed and devastating force, it could take your breath away. From America to Australia, from youth leaders to megachurch pastors, men held in high spiritual regard have abused their authority particularly over women and children. Here in Ireland, we continue to bear witness to the deep pain endured by so many at the hands of ‘the Church’ for far too long. It is a never-ending cycle of terrible news, further shocks, guilty verdicts, and State apologies.

Investigations, reports, and apologies often come decades too late, when buried physical, emotional and spiritual wounds can’t help but traumatise generation after generation.

“Mistakes were made,” we admit.

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But we made them.

“We did not know,” we say.

But we know now.

“We will do better,” we promise.

But will we?

Even now, many of our leaders remain silent, perhaps too embarrassed to admit they bought into the lie. Karen Garland, a lawyer working in Northern Ireland, says the silence from churches in Ireland and the UK on Zacharias’s crimes has been deafening. “[It] directly affects how easy or difficult it is for someone who has suffered abuse to feel safe and understood in a church community. Churches and faith-based organisations have a moral duty to respond in some manner to this story and others like it. The absence of a response tacitly communicates that abuse is tolerated, that abusive leaders can act with impunity and that faith settings are ultimately unsafe and unsupportive environments for abuse victims of any age.”

The truth behind Zacharias’s façade should light a fire under all Christians to hold our teachers, our churches, and even our doctrines accountable.

We should test the actions of those in authority against the standards set in Scripture, and we must pay heed to the spirit of discernment.

Churches and faithbased organisations have a moral duty to respond in some manner to this story and others like it.

May we heed the warning: Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

- Amos 5:22-24 Let justice roll on like a river, and may the truly righteous – the humble, the gentle, the peacemaker, the truth speaker – flow like a never-failing stream.

Karen Huber is a freelance writer focusing on faith, culture, and justice.

Originally from Kansas, USA, she lives in Lucan, Co Dublin with her husband Matthew and their three children.

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LIFE

The Covid-19 Weighing the issues and improving acceptability among migrants

BY YVON LUKY

As the Faith Communities Coordinator for ACET Ireland, Yvon Luky has been working with the HSE to address faith inequalities for people from migrant backgrounds in Ireland including responses to the pandemic. The project engages with both leaders of migrant faith-based groups and community organisations.

Here he opens a dialogue about the Covid-19 vaccine and considers why some people may be reluctant to be vaccinated. While focused on migrant communities, what he writes has relevance for all Christians in Ireland.

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or some time, vaccine hesitancy (or sometimes clear resistance) has been reported among people from a migrant background. Because of pre-existing health inequalities, people from migrant backgrounds have been more exposed to or significantly affected

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by Covid-19. At the same time, migrants seem to be a target of choice for those who oppose Covid-19 vaccines.

WHY THE RESISTANCE TO THE VACCINE?

Even though resistance to the vaccine has various causes, some of them are more frequently mentioned.

• The legacy of some past abuses: stories of minorities being used as guinea pigs during human trials for new products.

• Misinformation: information about the vaccines can be truncated, manipulated, edited or presented in such a way as to provoke a rejection.

Misinformation campaigns use easyto-digest short videos, actively circulated through social media, which seem to be a powerful resource.

People are encouraged to share what

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they received with their friends so news spreads quickly discouraging vaccination.

• Conspiracy theories: these attempt to establish a link between independent or coincidental facts and present them as concerted efforts to deceive people or achieve a hidden malign agenda. For instance, Covid-19 is presented as the result of human manipulations for the purpose of imposing, through high death tolls and fear, the limitation of freedom, paving the way to a global government.

• Fiction and reality entwined: things that are conceivable in theory are presented as certitudes; the dividing line between fiction and reality is blurred.

• Fear of the unknown: the suggestion of not enough data about the long-term effects.

• Prophetic interpretations: the Covid-19 pandemic is said to be an event of the end-times, and the vaccine presented as the means by which the devil is seeking to control populations and subject human beings.

Accepting the vaccine is therefore considered as a way of falling into the trap of the devil.

Simply said, people are misled to believe that there are lots of hidden things about Covid-19 and that what is happening is a pre-planned agenda that will eventually harm us.

If we do not understand the factors underpinning the vaccine resistance or rejection, it will be difficult to increase vaccine take-up. Even though some of the causes of resistance or rejection are due to ignorance, others may be legitimate concerns that need to be addressed in a

sensitive way by knowledgeable people who are trusted by community members.

An open dialogue is necessary.

For instance, one way of debunking conspiracy theories is to explain that there are currently more than ten vaccine candidates that have been or are being tested; some are already approved.

These vaccines are produced by different (often competing) laboratories, with different technologies, funded by different countries (also competing and sometimes rivals), making unlikely the possibility of collusion of producers to alter their respective vaccines to achieve hidden goals.

To avoid being misled, people should be encouraged to seek information from trusted sources only, to do fact-checks and refrain from sharing any material linked to the misinformation campaigns.

WHAT DO WE CURRENTLY KNOW?

Contrary to what some think, there is no a single Covid-19 vaccine. Instead, there are many vaccines with various working mechanisms. The race to discover a vaccine has resulted in a number of potentially effective vaccines produced in different countries.

To date, there are three approved vaccines in Ireland: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Astra-Zeneca. All approved Covid-19 vaccines are declared to be safe and effective. Other vaccines might be approved in the near future. A number of vaccines have also been produced outside Europe including Johnson and Johnson (US), Sputnik V (Russia), CoronaVac (China), and Covax (WHO). So far, globally, more than 235 million doses have already been administered.

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“Over and above these considerations, Christians also refer to the Bible to ensure that their decision is in line with their faith and according to their conscience.”

VACCINES, HUMAN CELLS AND ABORTION

For many Christians, one of the most serious concerns about the Covid-19 vaccines is the widely circulated story that cells from an aborted foetus were used in their production or even that the vaccines contain aborted cells.

Most of current the Covid-19 vaccines approved for use in Ireland do not use human cell lines in their production. For example, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna use mRNA technology; they are synthetic vaccines.

However some vaccines are made using fetal human cell lines. That is the case for a number of traditional vaccines including the MMR vaccine and hepatitis A vaccine. Over the decades, the same fetal cells obtained from the early 1960s have been cloned and replicated, many times; they have continued to grow in the laboratory and are used to make modern vaccines. No further sources of fetal cells are needed to make these vaccines.

The fetal cells are used to grow vaccine viruses but the vaccines themselves do not contain these cells. Currently there are no approved Covid-19 vaccine that contain cells from aborted fetuses.

The Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca in collaboration with Oxford University has generated the most debate. AstraZeneca does use a cell strain taken from a foetus aborted in 1973 (the fetus was aborted legally at the time and not for the purposes of vac-

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cine research). Over the decades, these cells have been cloned and replicated and have now been used to propagate the AstraZeneca virus for the vaccine but these cells do not make it into the final product.

Some Christians have chosen not to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, while others have weighed the ethics and chosen to be vaccinated. A quote from Belfast-based pastor and theologian, Rev Malcolm Duncan is helpful. “We must each make a choice that does not violate our sense of Christian teaching or our sense of Christian conscience. It is, however, possible, to accept that two people, with equally passionate views of the dignity of life might reach different conclusions on the receipt of a Covid-19 vaccine without having to suggest that either have violated a commitment to the dignity of life.”

MAKING YOUR OWN DECISION

In Ireland, Covid-19 vaccines are free.

They are not mandatory but are highly recommended in the absence of an effective treatment, because the virus spreads through the normal interaction of daily life, because the restrictions imposed are difficult to bear in the long term, because Covid-19 infection can lead to serious, life-threatening illness for vulnerable people, the vaccines are among the only effective protective tools available.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), “The Covid-19

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vaccines produce protection against the disease as a result of developing an immune response to the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Developing immunity through vaccination means there is a reduced risk of developing the illness and its consequences. This immunity helps you fight the virus if exposed. Getting vaccinated may also protect people around you, because if you are protected from getting infected and from disease, you are less likely to infect someone else. This is particularly important to protect people at increased risk for severe illness from Covid-19, such as healthcare providers, older adults, and people with other medical conditions.’’

When it comes to vaccination, a number of factors can help you make the decision. These could include: • Your own interest (the desire to be in good health) • Whether or not you are particularly vulnerable to the disease (e.g. old age, underlying health conditions, compromised immunity etc.)

• Consideration for the health of your relatives, friends and the wider community; does your decision expose others to harm?

• What you know about the vaccine (effectiveness, safety, side-effects, potential risks, etc.)

• Recommendation from health professionals, health authorities, etc.

• The example of role models Over and above these considerations, Christians also refer to the Bible to ensure that their decision is in line with their faith and according to their conscience.

While there is no mention of vaccines in the Scriptures, you can find principles that could underpin your decision:

We are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27): every human life is valuable and precious.

Do not harm or destroy your body (1 Corinthians 3:17): Covid-19 can be deadly; do not knowingly or recklessly expose your body to a risk of serious harm or destruction.

Loving your neighbour as yourself (Matthew 19:19): Protect yourself to protect others, as a sign of your love for them.

Whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them (Luke 6:31): If you expect other people to take all measures or precautions so that they will not infect you with Covid-19, then do the same for them.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?

The Covid-19 vaccine is being rolled-out.

You will be contacted by you GP offering you to get vaccinated. It is available for free. The recommendation of health authorities in clear: get the vaccine. My own belief is that will be good for you, your family, your community, your country and the world.

The decision is yours.

Pastor Yvon Luky is originally from DR Congo. He is the senior pastor of LA GRACE Christian Assembly in Dublin and is the Coordinator of the Platform of French Speaking Churches in Ireland [PEFI].

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LIFE

GLOBAL SUCCESS

FOR IRISH TEENS The inspirational women behind the award-winning Memory Haven App

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hree Irish teenagers won the top prize in a prestigious global technology competition last year with an app designed to help people impacted by dementia. Supported by their mentor, Evelyn Nomayo, these young women overcame setbacks, obstacles and abuse with vision, tenacity and faith. VOX magazine editor Ruth Garvey-Williams spoke with Evelyn to find out more.

Evelyn Nomayo is a PhD research fellow at Trinity College Dublin and an IT consultant and developer who completed her Masters in Computer Science at UCD. She is also a woman of faith and pours hours of time and energy into her non-profit organisation Phase Innovate, dedicated to encouraging young women into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields.

“My motivation comes from being in the tech space where there are so few women. You encounter prejudice being a female in STEM fields, while studying

or in the workplace,” Evelyn said. “One of my psychology professors commented that when there are very few [women] in a particular field then it looks odd or strange; when you have more, then it becomes normal and the prejudice begins to disappear.”

Looking for ways to encourage more women to get involved, Evelyn began a mentoring programme to help young women between the ages of 11 and 18. “It puts a smile on my face when I see the girls I work with and see how their lives are transformed. I’m passionate about this and it gives me joy. A number of years ago I had a brain haemorrhage and I was in hospital. When I recovered, I knew God had a purpose for my life. He is my rock!” she said. “Every year, I recruit new girls to prepare them for the Technovation competition.”

The international contest challenges teams of young people from across the world to identify a social problem and to develop an app to address

“IT PUTS A SMILE ON MY FACE WHEN I SEE THE GIRLS I WORK WITH AND SEE HOW THEIR LIVES ARE TRANSFORMED.”

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the problem. Six of Evelyn’s teams entered the 2020 competition and the “Memory Haven” team won first prize at the Technovation World Summit.

MEMORY HAVEN

Choosing to enter the 2020 competition took courage and faith for Rachael Akano (15), Margaret Akano (17) and Joy Njekwe (17) from Drogheda.

“I remember when we first got involved with Technovation, this particular team put in a lot of work but did not get shortlisted. When I called them for a second time and invited them to enter, I know it took a lot for them to try again,” Evelyn said. “They did not give up because they know we are not doing this on our own. We want to change the world and because these girls are Christians, they know they can do that through the power of God. They know who they are in Christ.”

The competition involves hours of work from research and developing a business plan to creating and testing an app. Inspired by the death of Evelyn’s beloved mother with dementia, Rachel, Margaret and Joy considered how technology could help address some of the challenges faced by dementia sufferers and their families.

“Memory Haven includes a face recognition feature which allows people to identify their friends and families

using artificial intelligence, voice and face recognition technology. There are settings to upload, receive and share photos that can be played back as a slide show, a reminder alert that allows you to set tasks for the day and an alarm to remind care givers of such task (for example medication time),” the young women explained.

The app allows a client’s contacts to be centrally located in case of emergency and also includes fun puzzle games to improve cognitive abilities and delay the effects of dementia. One unique feature is a playlist function.

“We discovered that musical memories are undamaged by dementia.

The right playlist can penetrate the deepest form of dementia, bringing comfort,” Evelyn explained.

Using facial recognition, the app can detect the person’s mood and play music for them. For example, if the person is feeling sad, the app will play music to cheer them up.

For the 2020 Technovation competition, 5,400 students from 62 countries created more than 1,500 mobile apps addressing problems ranging from Covid-19 to climate change. Eventually, the entrants were whittled down to just 10 regional winners – five in the senior division and five in the junior division.

As the only European team shortlisted, the Memory Haven team won the top

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“WE HAD WORKED SO HARD AND TO HAVE PEOPLE TRASH US, NOT BECAUSE OF THE APP BUT BECAUSE OF THE COLOUR OF OUR SKIN, WAS A SHOCK.” prize in the senior division, beating strong contenders from New Zealand, America and Brazil.

THEY DIDN’T GIVE UP

In the aftermath to their outstanding success, the Irish-Nigerian girls received messages of congratulations from across the country as people celebrated their win for Ireland. But they were also subjected to a barrage of racial abuse on social media.

“We had worked so hard and to have people trash us, not because of the app but because of the colour of our skin, was a shock,” one of the girls said.

“Personally it was the first time I had ever experienced anything like this and it surprised me that people would even be thinking this way. At the same time, I felt sad for them that they put so much effort into insulting teenagers on the Internet.”

While these resilient young women have had to learn to ignore the hate that

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was directed at them, Evelyn believes it is vital for the Christian community to speak up. “When it comes to racism, I feel a lot of Christians stay quiet but this is not the way things should be. We cannot just accept the status quo. If you see something that is wrong, then you should speak out.

“Thankfully the girls are Christians and their parents are strong believers as well. That helped them not to get down when people were being racist towards them. That is what being a woman of faith empowers you to do - to see the bright side of things. They didn’t give up,” Evelyn said.

Now in the final stage of refinement, the Memory Haven app will be launched later this year. “For the competition, we had to create a viable product but since then it has gone through a lot of testing with potential users. We’ve been working with doctors and hospitals to see how they can use the app and we hope to announce the release very soon.”

Recently marking the anniversary of her mum’s death, Evelyn knows how essential it is to create time for what is important. “My lasting memory of my mum is her dancing,” Evelyn smiled.

“She was a very strong woman. She didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth. She inspired me because of her tenacity. When we discovered that she had dementia, it was painful. I wish she were still around to make use of the app.

“We are all busy. But we can all make time to build someone else up. It will put a smile on your own face too,” she said.

Find out more about Phase Innovate at www.phaseinnovate.com.

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LIFE

A Listening Life

I

BY ANA MULLAN

grew up in a non-religious home and at age 18, I decided to consider more seriously the person of Jesus.

Having been raised by parents who had a difficult marriage, my own relationship with them was functional but not close. To share how I felt about certain issues or the difficulties I was facing was not something I would do very often.

In the church I was attending, there was a couple who loved music and were very good musicians. The husband was the organist in the church and though he was Argentinian he was of African extraction, something unusual in those days in Buenos Aires. His wife was American and together they encouraged all the young people in the church to form a choir. Those were precious times as we rehearsed, laughed and sang together.

But the thing that I remembered the most about them and especially the husband was how he could see that I was an unhappy young adult. He would chat with me and ask me questions that led me to think. Every time I shared something about my life and my issues, I felt I was being listened to. Even when at times I was not walking in the “right” direction, he was willing to walk with me. What I shared was taken seriously; it mattered to somebody; I felt valued.

On the other hand I did experience

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(and I am sure I have done the same to others), people who with the best of intentions, told me that I shouldn’t feel down, fearful or angry, because I was a Christian. Of course a statement like that led me to feel not only down but also guilty. In my head I was saying to myself, “I should be better at following Jesus. I must try harder.”

Time has passed and I have come to realise that, had I followed the advice I was given, I would have been more like a Buddhist than a follower of Jesus, trying to suppress any emotions or desires.

Sadly, for many people here in Ireland, Christianity is a religion of negativity and control; a religion that takes from people the freedom to be themselves.

However, if we read the gospels carefully, we would find a different story.

We see a God who, in the person of Jesus, loves people by giving them the space to turn Him down and decide for themselves what they are looking for in life. We see a God who is respectful and doesn’t impose Himself on anybody,

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WE SEE A GOD WHO LISTENS ATTENTIVELY TO OUR FEARS, DISAPPOINTMENTS, ANGER AND FRUSTRATIONS. who asks questions like: “What do you want me to do for you?” or “Do you want to get well?” We see a God who listens attentively to our fears, disappointments, anger and frustrations.

There is a story in the gospels of two followers of Jesus. After Jesus is crucified in Jerusalem they decide to leave the city and to make their way to a nearby town called Emmaus.

They are basically running away; they are going in the wrong direction. They walk and talk and share their disappointment, grief and fear with each other. They had thought that Jesus was going to bring freedom to the nation and it hadn’t turned out that way.

Along comes a stranger who asks them what had happened and they tell Him. The stranger turns out to be Jesus. Though He knew very well what had happened, He lets the two people talk and process their feelings. He walks with them even when they go in the wrong direction. Jesus shows them the hospitality of God the Father by walking and listening to them. And then He

explains to them why things happened as they happened; He gives them time, space and company.

2020 and 2021 will be years that none of us will forget. We can identify with the two disciples, with their disappointment, grief and fear because so much has changed so suddenly.

To have those feelings is not being a bad Jesus follower but a human being.

What matters is what we do with those feelings.

Jesus still walks with us and He is eager to listen to whatever is going on inside us. He desires to help us see things more clearly. The best gift we can give to others at this time is the gift of listening; of walking with them even if they are not walking in the direction that seems right to us. Listening without judging, without trying to fix anybody, but just being there and being a companion on the road.

My friend from church passed away several years ago but the gift that he gave me is still with me.

Ana Mullan is from Argentina but has lived in Ireland for 35 years, the last 18 in Dublin. She is an artist, a spiritual director, retreat facilitator and an enthusiastic grandmother.

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HEART, SOUL AND HANDS

Serve the City volunteers are still meeting needs in Dublin and Galway

A

team of volunteers were hard at work washing walls in a local school in preparation for painting work to be done. During the tea break, one parent became tearful, “I went to this school and it wasn’t a happy experience. But somehow washing these walls, I can feel something happening within me.” She had come along out of a sense of responsibility but she went away feeling more at peace.

These are the golden moments, according to Alan McElwee who helped to launch Serve the City Ireland (STC) 16 years ago. Finding themselves in a “fallow” season in the early 2000s, Alan and his wife Sheryl had been asking God about how they could be part of His kingdom work. “In that period of reflection, I got to hear about Serve the City, which was started in Brussels by a Christian faith community called The Well,” Alan said.

“Serve the City is a global

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movement of volunteers showing kindness in practical ways to people in need with the motto “Cross the Line.” We know people by their needs but what if we knew them by name? Volunteers are welcomed from all faith perspectives and worldviews, united by our core values of humility, compassion, respect, courage, love and hope.”

“Starting out, we kept it really simple.

It was about mobilising volunteers to help marginalised and vulnerable people. At first I thought this would be temporary until I could get involved in church ministry but now I’m convinced it was what God was calling me to give my heart, soul and hands to!”

At various times, branches have operated in Dublin, Galway, Cork and Limerick. Working closely through community partnerships STC identifies needs at the grassroots. Whether helping elderly people with gardening or painting walls, supporting refugees and asylum seekers or caring for those who are lonely

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or isolated, hundreds of people volunteer with STC every year.

“Volunteers give up their time, skills and energy to serve someone and they often find the experience to be transformational. It can be a surprise to encounter deep levels of marginalisation and poverty on your doorstep and it helps us all to take a lot less for granted,” Alan explained.

“Volunteers might say: ‘I’m learning to be more grateful for what I have. I’m more compassionate towards people.

I never realised what it was like for someone with mobility needs.’”

“In STC we try to serve both volunteers and clients equally. And one of the ways we do that is by giving time to listen and allowing people to reflect on our mission, vision, values and approach. Through this I have had conversations about faith with people,” Alan shared.

“I met Paul when we were on a volunteer project, painting an older person’s house. Paul was a soft-spoken Donegal man and I let him chat. He kept coming back and eventually he shared his story while we were having a cup of tea. He was really reflecting on his life and his brother Seamus, who is a pastor, has clearly been an influence.” Finding a space to talk helped Paul on his journey to faith in Jesus and today he has become one of the directors of STC. Another volunteer team met a young woman on her way to a party.

After spending some time together, all of a sudden she said, “I prefer hanging out with you guys.”

Instead of going to her party, she stayed with them all evening and then began volunteering. Her faith journey also began with that connection.

“WE TRY TO SERVE BOTH VOLUNTEERS AND CLIENTS EQUALLY.”

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FOR SUCH AS TIME AS THIS

Like every other organisation, the pandemic brought new challenges but STC was uniquely placed to respond.

After going through a strategic review in 2019, the leaders had been taking stock.

“In February 2020, we gathered with a number of our city leaders. Then March hit and the penny dropped that the world was going to change. It was easy to pivot because we were already in that frame of mind and it felt that this was a time God had called us to. Suddenly the work we had been doing had become ‘essential’ work.

“We are good at volunteer engagement and leadership so we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in to providing care and support: delivering meals, shopping for those who were cocooning, dropping off library books, setting up an emergency food bank and supporting domestic violence refuges. By the end of the summer, STC went from 600 to 1,300 volunteers working across Dublin and Galway. The food bank alone helped 2,100 families over 12 weeks. It was a super busy period and we were grateful to be able to make the most of the opportunity.”

Responding to the needs of the city also created heartache as the team at STC saw how the most vulnerable and marginalised were even more impacted by the pandemic. “For several years we’ve been engaging with our refugee friends in direct provision centres,” Alan said. “During the lockdowns and outbreaks they were very restricted in their movements and unable to go out.

Many people experienced anxiety. We couldn’t provide much support and they were unable to get out to volunteer

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and interact with others. However, we were able to provide care packages and essential items through partnerships with others.”

Towards the end of 2020, STC applied for funding to create a three-year programme called Cairdeas (friendship) building on their experience of working with their refugee friends.

“I certainly thought it was a long shot,” Alan admitted, “One thing we had going for us, is that one of our project leaders lives in direct provision and we prepared the proposal with him, based on direct insights.”

Shortly before Christmas they heard that their application had been successful.

“Cairdeas will be a great way for us to love our neighbours. As direct provision

centres are phased out, refugees and asylum seekers will be embedded within the community providing more opportunity to build real friendships,” Alan added.

There will be many opportunities for volunteers to get involved as Cairdeas develops in both Dublin and Galway. STC is now looking for an individual, couple or team to re-start the work of Serve the City in Cork with a view to launching the Cairdeas project there in 2022 as there are nine direct provision centres across the county. More details are available by emailing cairdeas@servethecity.ie To find out more about STC Ireland, visit www.servethecity.ie. To learn more about STC International including their podcast series on Covid Kindness visit www.servethecity.net.

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Meet the

Young Humanitarian

of the Year 2020

Irish Red Cross honours Jay for his work with Tiglin and The Lighthouse Café

J

ay Bobinac was homeless and sleeping rough in Dublin when he first arrived at The Lighthouse.

Today the 24-year-old manages the soup kitchen and oversees community employment opportunities with Dublin Christian Mission and Tiglin. He shared his story with VOX magazine: Every country in the world has the Red Cross. It was a really high honour to win the Young Humanitarian of the Year for Ireland. I’m glad to be the face but it is a testament to the whole team and what we do here.

I am community employment supervisor

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with Tiglin and with Dublin Christian Mission. At the moment we serve around 200 - 250 meals per day at the Lighthouse Café in Pearse Street and we also provide clothes and refer people to other services. We’ve been doing that for a year now throughout the pandemic.

Our community employment programme helps to prepare people for employment.

The vast majority come from addiction background. They might work with us for six months or stay for as long as two years working in the soup kitchen and gaining experience.

I grew up on a rural island in Croatia.

It was a very different society. I left at the age of 19 and was homeless in Dublin.

During that time, I connected with The Lighthouse. I was sleeping rough in St Stephen’s Green and Phoenix Park. The city was my house and the Lighthouse was like my living room. It was more than just a place to eat. I met Joe Murphy (from The Lighthouse) and Aubrey McCarthy (from Tiglin) and they helped me a lot. I wasn’t the most sociable person but a lot of people engaged with me. One thing I noticed was that they

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focused on doing things rather than preaching - it was about deeds not words.

I think there is a saying, whoever gives a cup of cold water will surely be rewarded. I have received much more than a just cup of water!

The turning point came in 2016. I got a room with transitional housing from Dublin Christian Mission with a reasonable rent and thanks to the range of programme supports from Tiglin and The Lighthouse, I was able to begin studying. I continued volunteering with them while I completed my degree in Social Care and I am now studying for my Masters.

Today, I have come full circle and I am managing the place where I came in as a service user. I often meet people who are destitute and vulnerable. They need more than food. They need a connection.

It is easier for me to help others because I was the one that was helped. I have an in-depth understanding. You need somebody to be there for you.

The people who come back over

and over again don’t come for food, they come for friendship. There is not a big differentiation between the client and the person working. They are on the same plane; everybody is treated equally. I have many friendships with the guys out there. Without relationship, you won’t ever be able to help people to change. That is what makes it happen.

You see somebody for who they are.

People crave that sense of community and belonging. That is the key element.

People who come in to volunteer or through community employment may have never had a family environment in their lives. They are vulnerable but the way things are structured here means that everybody finds a sense of belonging.

With the Christen ethos, there is a time of prayer for 30 minutes before work begins. Everybody joins in and they pray for anybody who needs support. For example, today the mother of one of the volunteers was sick, so everybody was praying for her.

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“I was so Brainwashed” A ‘chance’ meeting with the friend of a friend led Zoe* to months of involvement with a secretive cult during her time at university in Dublin.

Now Zoe and her mother Carol* are keen to warn others of the dangers of Shincheonji and their tactics. They shared their story with VOX magazine. (*names changed)

I

n the summer of 2019, Zoe was doing an internship at a Dublin university. Part of a close and loving Christian family and an active member of the university Christian Union, Zoe is an intelligent young woman who is keen to go deeper in her faith.

“I was in the city one evening and I bumped into a girl who was friendly with a close friend of mine. When she asked to go for coffee with me, I was a bit surprised but I thought she was just

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being really friendly,” Zoe said.

After the coffee, the young woman suggested meeting again but this time to study the Bible. The following week, they met in a local park. The young woman asked if Zoe had questions about the Bible. Afterwards, she messaged to say she had met a man who could answer Zoe’s questions.

Although initially cautious, Zoe says, “because I knew her, I agreed to meet up with them both. [This man] seemed to know the Bible really well and the

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“THEY TOLD ME I HAD NEVER REALLY UNDERSTOOD THE BIBLE BEFORE THIS AND THAT MY LIFE WAS SO MUCH BETTER NOW THAT I WAS PART OF THE GROUP.” three of us began meeting two or three times a week to study. He would jump from place to place [in the Bible] and it impressed me that he was able to do that. I was amazed at his knowledge.”

Eventually Zoe was invited to take part in an intensive six-month Bible study programme and she agreed.

“They began saying how you should not tell anyone and used Micah 7:5 to back it up. The other girl was very sure that she would not tell her family so I did not tell anyone either,” Zoe said.

“In October, I began the lessons. There were six of us. I didn’t realise then but there was always one who was learning and one who had brought them along (a recruiter like the girl who brought me).

“Eventually, I started to have lessons on my own. I was told that I was learning quicker than the others. The man was very respectful; it wasn’t dangerous in that sense but it was very important that I was never late and if I was, they were really annoyed. I couldn’t miss a single session and they wanted to know everything I was doing. I wasn’t able to go home as much and I had to lie to my parents.”

KEEPING SECRETS

Zoe was told that she needed to make sure she was learning without

interference. “To be able to go to the main meetings twice a week you had to ‘pass over’ from darkness into light. They also used the Passover from Exodus to justify this. After my Passover, I realised that many of those who I thought were learning were already SCJ members.

After this there was the graduation ceremony in London, which was called the light graduation and celebrated the many people who had come to know the ‘truth.’” Attending the graduation meant travelling to London (a trip that Zoe was to keep completely secret from her family even though it meant missing a family event).

There was increasing pressure to attend meetings and give money to the group. Whenever anyone asked a question, the leaders always had a verse from the Bible and an assurance that Zoe would learn in time. “They did not want us to ask questions. I think I was brought on quicker because I didn’t question [so much]. In hindsight, I wish I had!” Zoe said.

Back at home, mum Carol became increasingly concerned that Zoe didn’t seem to want to visit anymore but the family still had no idea about what was going on.

There was more pressure to attend studies and meetings even to the

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detriment of Zoe’s university degree.

“They laughed when I talked about college grades and said they are not important. They told me I had never really understood the Bible before this and that my life was so much better now that I was part of the group,” Zoe explained. “I didn’t see the people I loved and I had to stop meeting with friends but they really make you believe that your family will be going to heaven because of you. That was a big motivation. I wanted the best for my family. I thought if I didn’t do that

able to unlock the true meaning of the Bible.”

Zoe discovered that the girl who had recruited her into the group was called a ‘harvester’ - the original invitation to coffee was a deliberate attempt to draw her into the group.

“The man I was meeting in Ireland was from Austria. He had been ordered by the group to move to Ireland with only two days’ notice to become a ‘harvester’ and a teacher for Shincheonji.

There was a lot of importance placed on me becoming a harvester too - going out to find people who were potential new recruits. We would stand on Grafton Street and ask people questions. We had to figure out if people might be suitable and write a report,” she added.

The group would target young men and women in Dublin churches or Christian Union meetings, befriending them and then persuading them to come along to Shincheonji meetings, in the same way Zoe had been recruited.

Everything finally came to a head in February 2020. The whole family had been invited to a party but Zoe told them she could not go.

“We were out for a walk and I told her, ‘Surely you can miss one week’ but she kept making up excuses,” Carol said.

“I kept pushing her until eventually she said, ‘you will think I’m crazy.’”

Zoe’s father reassured her, gently and patiently encouraging her to tell them the truth about what had been happening.

“Whenever I was trying to tell my parents, it was so hard. I felt guilty telling them because I was told I wasn’t supposed to. Telling them was such a

“YOU WILL THINK I’M CRAZY.” I would be making my family lose out on eternal life. I hate lying but I kept on going with it.”

The group expected Zoe to be at a meeting on Christmas Eve and told her to lie to her parents about where she was going, something they described as ‘wisdom’. Carol begged Zoe not to go back to Dublin. “I told her, ‘I want you here for Christmas Eve’ but she went anyway. I could not understand it. I thought, ‘This is not Zoe.’” The meetings Zoe attended were all presented from the Shincheonji ‘church’ in South Korea and everything was translated. “We had to wear black trousers and a white shirt and we all sat on the floor. You had to bow your head when the leader, Lee Man Hee came on.

This man thought he was the new ‘John’ that it talks about in Revelation. He also referred to himself as the ‘advocate’ - and said he was the only person who could interpret scripture and that he alone was

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relief but I was so brainwashed at the time. Thankfully they stayed calm and didn’t overreact,” Zoe said.

Carol and her husband could tell something was seriously wrong and suggested that Zoe should talk to their church minister. After months of manipulation and repetition of the same ideas, it wasn’t easy to get through to Zoe. “I think the key issue was that they were telling her to lie to her parents. They depended on secrecy but it was quite easy to show Zoe that this is disobeying one of the Ten Commandments (honour your father and mother),” the minister said.

Gradually he was able to show how the group had been misusing scripture and to highlight how the claims they were making were not right. “It was evident that these teachings were destructive. They manipulated the deep love she has for her family. Telling Zoe that her grandparents’ salvation depended on her obedience to the group was a complete twisting of the word of God.” Although there appeared to be a breakthrough, Carol was still concerned.

“I was so afraid to let Zoe go back to Dublin. If she had met with the wrong person, they would have pulled her right back in.”

Together with their minister, Carol and her husband supported Zoe as she left the group. They encouraged her to re-connect with friends and also began to search the Internet to find out more about Shincheonji. What they discovered was an alarming pattern of manipulation and spiritual abuse.

“We’ve learnt about other students from all over Ireland and Northern

ABOUT SHINCHEONJI (SCJ) The group originates in South Korea and has been operating in Ireland since November 2018. It typically recruits young Christian students through cold contact 1-2-1 interviews on university campuses or by acting under the guise of Alpha, with the aim to take the person for a coffee. (Since Covid they’ve also used social media). The group refers to a method of “unlocking the secrets” of the Bible. It is controlling, secretive, teaches a false gospel and requires high levels of commitment and engagement. They operated in a similar fashion beforehand in the UK and Nicky Gumbel shared about them on Premier Christian News. You can read a testimony of someone previously involved to get a flavour of how and why someone gets involved and the progressive nature of the cult, The NY times also ran a piece on them at the start of the pandemic when the SCJ ‘church’ became a Covid super-spreader.

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Ireland who’ve got involved with the cult.

These were intelligent young women and men with a real desire to know God’s word. In most cases, they came from loving Christian homes. They were deliberately targeted. Some of them have not been able to get free.”

At this point, the pandemic was beginning to hit and Zoe returned home for the remainder of her degree course. “Being at home was really helpful,” she said. “It was important to cut connections until they knew they would not be able to pull me back in. I got back in touch with my own church and reconnected with friends from the Christian Union.”

Today Zoe feels she is fortunate to have escaped because she sees the impact on others who have been unable to break free and has realised how she was being taken away from her family and all her friends.

“Like other cults Shincheonji take texts out of context,” Zoe’s minister added. “The way that they teach is controlling and manipulative and add to that all the secrecy, they are putting people into bondage.

“What is alarming is the number of dedicated young Christians who have been allured into this group without the knowledge of their families. I contacted the head of Christian Unions Ireland (CUI) to alert them to the danger of Shincheonji and also spoke to church leaders in Louth, Dublin, Wicklow, Down and Antrim - the pastors of people Zoe had met in the group. In each instance, none of the families were aware of their child’s involvement with Shincheonji.

“I genuinely believe that we must be able to engage with our committed

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young adult Christians who have a great desire to grow in grace through sound teaching and doctrine. We need to ask some serious questions of ourselves in Church leadership about how we are equipping our people to face the challenges of a secular world but one in which false teachers are preying on our most committed young Christians with enticements to false teaching which distorts the Gospel.”

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN FRIENDS OR YOUR SON/DAUGHTER

• They become vague about where they are going or who they are meeting • Cancel plans to meet with friends • Stop going to the Christian events they would usually go to • Less time to go home to family • Home late and up and away early • Not so keen to talk about faith anymore • Late to events • Making up excuses which they would not normally

MUSIC REVIEWS

Fighting for us MICHAEL FARREN

It is quite astonishing that Fighting For Us is technically the debut album of Michael Farren. I say, astonishing because Michael Farren has had an enormous impact on Christian music for many years now as a songwriter and producer. There are few if any of the big names in Christian music who cannot count some of Michael’s songs in their catalogue. I have loved Michael Farren’s music for a very long time, and eagerly awaited this new album.

I was not disappointed. Fighting For Us is one of the best albums you are likely to hear this year.

This pandemic has been a time of crisis for many. It has been a time when many of us questioned the whys of life and faith. It has also been a time of doubt and questioning for Michael Farren.

Raised the son of a Baptist pastor who in turn was the son of a Baptist preacher, Michael Farren never thought he would hit a low point in his life or faith but that is precisely what happened. He says, “I’m a pretty solid guy, I’ve been around church my whole life and yet I am shocked that I have asked some of the questions that I’ve asked of God in the last couple of years. Things I would never have imagined I would wrestle with. And that is kind of the whole point of this album. It is giving people permission to ask the hard questions.”

So, to the album itself. It opens with I belong to Jesus. I love the Psalm-like

quality of this song in which Farren cries out to the Lord in praise and worship even in these troubled times. He is speaking Jesus’ promises into his own situation.

Despite all that is going on in our lives, we can rejoice in belonging to Jesus through His sacrifice.

Praise The King attributes every promise God has kept to the resurrected Christ. The curse of sin is broken, the darkness runs from light, we stand here forgiven, because Jesus is alive. A brilliant song full of hope and assurance.

In the title track, Farren declares that the God who fights for us has unimaginable power. This song leaves us in no doubt that His love and loyalty to us is unconditional. There are 11 tracks in all on this brilliant album. Fighting for us by Michael Farren is a must-listen-to album and not just during these pandemic times.

Jubilee

MAVERICK CITY MUSIC Who is Maverick City? Well the website describes them as a praise and worship music collective that started out of a dream to make space for folk that would otherwise live in their own separate worlds; to break the unspoken rules that exist in the Gospel World but more importantly to be a megaphone for a community of creatives that had been pushed to the margins of the church music industry. They came together out of recognition that now more than ever, this world needs a plurality of strong diverse

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voices carrying messages that can help reshape it.

The sound that hits you in the face the first time you press play is the beautiful harmony of long lost family. I came across their music with the release of their chart-topping song Man of your word, and I cannot get enough of them now.

Their album Jubilee is currently riding high in the Christian music charts and is the perfect antidote to any isolation you might be feeling from the restrictions on corporate worship in these Covid times.

Each track is like an individual praise and worship session, and whether you just dip in and enjoy a track or two, or give yourself a real treat and listen to the album in its entirety, I have no doubt whatsoever that you will find the listening experience both uplifting and satisfying.

If I was to single out one track for special mention it would be the Hymn Medley that clocks in at 16 minutes and 22 seconds.

It is beautiful. Jubilee by Maverick City is a must-listen-to album for those of you looking for something a little deeper and more worshipful.

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly PAT BARRETT

If Maverick City’s Jubilee album contains a mere seven tracks, albeit long ones, Pat Barrett’s new album Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly, contains a staggering 17. So, has quality been sacrificed at the expense of quantity? Absolutely not. Barrett who

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is best known as the primary songwriter and vocalist for popular Christian rock ensemble Housefires and the writer of the 2015 chart-topping song Good Good Father, has crafted a collection of songs that call us back to the heart of our faith.

Indeed, the title track brings us back to basics and what God truly desires from us – to love and serve Him, care for others and do what we can to live in a way that reflects our Saviour here on earth.

It would be hard to single out any one track for special mention. Indeed if I were to write about all 17, my editor would be having a hissy fit. [Ed note: hissy fit?!]

Having said that however, there are a few that merit comment: As For Me is a stunningly beautiful song of praise and worship that features Chris Tomlin on vocals. No Weapon assures us that nothing can separate us from the love and sheltering arms of God, welcome assurance when many feel embattled and isolated. To Have And To Hold is a beautiful, stripped-back, acoustic song that paints a picture of the kind of love story that God intended. I have been playing this one repeatedly and am always left with a feeling of intimacy and closeness to Jesus.

My own personal favourite is Canvas and Clay, which was released last year as a single. I think this song is every bit as good as Good Good Father.

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly is an album of impeccable quality. There is something here for everyone.

Almond Eyes BRANDON LAKE

Regular readers will know that I am not a huge fan of mega worship groups but

having said that, occasionally some solo material has emerged that has blown me away.

Brandon Lake has been leading worship with the Bethel juggernaut for a while now and currently has a live album complete with all the bells and whistles in the Christian music charts. It’s not this album however I want to highlight, but a little solo effort comprising of five beautiful songs that he wrote to surprise his wife for their tenth anniversary. It’s called Almond Eyes, and is just gorgeous. When Christians write songs about love, they are generally about our love for Jesus, and rightly so. But what about our love for each other? The love between a Christian couple when Christ is at the centre of such a relationship. We should celebrate it more in song. Almond Eyes is a beautiful EP and the title track

merits repeat playing. I loved it. Give it a listen.

Before I finish, could I just reiterate my desire to promote home-based Christian artists both here in VOX and on my radio programme on UCB Ireland, so if you have something you’d like me to take a listen to, please drop me an email to vincent@ ucbradio.ie.

Albums reviewed by UCB Ireland Radio producer/ presenter Vincent Hughes.

Listen to his programme 124pm Monday to Friday and 11am-3pm on Saturdays on Virgin Media Channel 918, on Sky Channel 0214 or via the smartphone app. You can contact Vincent at vincent@ucbradio.ie | www.ucbireland.com.

Hear by Wired Worship Sadly, no Irish releases to write about but I would like to mention that Wired Worship, that brilliant music collective from Donegal and Derry, completed their two-part album recording right at the end of 2020, and the whole album Hear is now available. The album was recorded in two stages during an incredibly difficult year for musicians, and the result is a collection of self-penned and beautifully produced songs that reflect our Irish Christian culture. It comprises 12 worship songs that would easily find a home in any Church service. Give it a listen and support this wonderful group of musicians who are working so hard and passionately to produce an indigenous Irish worship sound. Hear by Wired Worship is available on all streaming platforms right now.

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BOOK REVIEWS

Healing through creativity

by Fiona Horrobin

I have waited impatiently for the completion of this book but it was well worth it. It is in a large format, beautifully presented and fit for the proverbial coffee table. I was surprised at the variety of beautiful images contained inside but then it is a book about creativity.

It is the culmination of the Healing Retreats of Ellel Ministries since 1986, and more specifically of their Healing Through Creativity courses. They discovered that creativity forms a bridge between the head and the heart. Knowing God as a head exercise is so different to having a heart relationship with Him. Creative expression breaks through subconscious barriers, facilitating God’s healing of our innermost beings.

This is a book of two parts, and both parts are spiritual and practical. The first part explains the principles of healing through creativity, and how our identity is linked to and set free by creative expression.

The second part explores the practical outworking of these principles. It soon becomes clear that creativity does not necessitate being artistic. But God uses many different creative elements to minister healing. Here is just one example: “Making a greeting card prompts holding another person in mind and facilitates God’s healing in the area of bonding with another through giving something of oneself.”

The teaching is illustrated by relevant anecdotes of healing. In particular, Sarah’s story is woven through the narrative. God used many forms of creativity to bring her through to freedom from a place of extreme brokenness.

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Pregnancy and Abortion Lead author Dr Mark Houghton

We are all too aware that unintended pregnancies in the past led to Mother and Baby Homes. But since the 2018 Referendum, the outcome has often been abortion. I’m delighted that this title which I reviewed here previously has now been completely updated, with much additional material. It is written “for pregnant women, men, counsellors, pastors, schools and policymakers” so it will help anyone who may meet a woman in crisis pregnancy. The lead author describes it as a femaledriven team effort by co-writers, researchers and world-class experts. The dedication sums up their approach: “Before making decisions, check out your hopes, dreams, risks and options. You have more options than you think.”

These book reviews by Julie Carvill of christianbooks. ie, from where you can order these and other inspiring titles: info@christianbooks.ie or +353 (0)86 839 1870

VOX MAGAZINE

tPt – the Passion translation

Celery Brown and the courts of heaven

I reviewed tPt – the Passion translation here when the New Testament with Psalms, Proverbs and Song of Songs was completed.

But I was immediately asked for larger print by many, and for a smaller edition by many others. At last the range is complete, with something to suit everyone. There are six embossed faux leather large print colours, and five embossed faux leather compact editions. The standard size comes in six embossed faux leather colours, three hardbacks, and two fabric covered hardbacks, my favourite being Berry Blossoms.

In addition Genesis – Firstfruits, and Isaiah – the Vision are now available as single volumes. Joshua, Judges and Ruth – Courage to conquer is now being translate

Books on prayer, especially on the courts of heaven are popular. They put words on ways that many have prayed for years, and they share real life testimonies. But I am blessed to read books for all ages. I really enjoyed this teen storybook, and it inspired me to avail more of the courts of heaven in personal prayer.

Celery Brown is the main character. Her best friend Ivy has moved to America for her Dad’s job, and neither Celery nor Ivy are happy about that.

But Ivy asked Jesus to let her see the heavenly book of her life, and she saw a map of England in her future. So Ivy suggests that they go to the courts of heaven about this for 40 days. She explains, “I’ve never actually been there… But Jesus can teach us, can’t He? We can imagine stepping into heaven and visiting the court room and seeing what Jesus shows us once we’re there.”

That’s exactly what they do, and gradually they move from trying to change God’s mind, to discovering how He feels. They check in with each other by video call, and are amazed that God is showing them the same things. I won’t tell you the outcome. But alongside the courts, Celery feels lonely now that Ivy has gone, her older sister is jealous. But she bravely prays for healing when another girl is injured on the netball court.

For 9 - 12 years.

by Karen R Ingerslev

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BOOK REVIEWS

Finally Free

By Stephanie McKittrick Finally Free is an autobiography telling the story of Belfast native Stephanie McKittrick. It is her story of redemption and deliverance through the truth of the gospel and the love of Christ. Growing up in war-torn Belfast, she experienced abuse from an early age at the hands of her father who would beat his children and then go out and tell people about the love of Jesus. Not surprisingly, this presented Stephanie with a confusing view of who Jesus is. She spent many years running from Him, turning instead to drugs and alcohol to deal with her pain. It was only when her life reached a low-point that she discovered that Jesus was the one she needed to run to; the only one who could save, heal and restore her life.

This book offers hope for all who struggle and shows that there is a way out from your hardships through what Jesus has done for you on the cross. It is a story of resilience, fight, determination, courage and strength.

Finally Free will remind you that you are never alone on this journey called life.

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Travel: In Tandem With God’s Heart

By Peter Grier

While we are currently stuck in lockdown, we can still dream of the days when we will be able to travel again. So how does something like travel connect you to God? What does God say about travel? Shouldn’t we instead be doing evangelism? Where is the clear missionary purpose in all this?

Travel: In Tandem With God’s Heart brings us along on author Peter Grier’s travels as he applies the Bible’s teaching to the subject of travel. This book combines a lovely mix of travel stories and biblical reflections, which helps the reader connect to their own travel experiences and life.

From Morocco to China, the Arctic to the Pacific and other destinations along the way this fun, interesting and travel-focused book will surely interest people who travel a lot or those who dream of travelling. At the end of each chapter there are questions and a prayer, which will help you reflect on the contents of the chapter. Why not check out this very worthwhile read

by Irish author Peter Grier.

VOX MAGAZINE

Suicidal Christians

By Nita Tarr

Originally from South Africa, Nita Tarr now calls West Cork her home. She is a survivor of rape, abuse, kidnap, chronic illness, poverty and many suicide attempts. Many people believe that it is not ‘Christian’ to be depressed or feel suicidal.

Yet, the reality is that many Christians struggle with negative and suicidal thoughts, resulting in feelings of failure and isolation. In her book Suicidal Christians, Nita speaks honestly of her own struggles and discusses these difficult topics, and the reality of God’s steadfast love throughout. With chapters titled “How can I call myself Christian?” and “I don’t know how to pray”, Nita writes about parts of life that Christians often shy away from. An excerpt from her first chapter says, “Even though the word depression does not appear in the Bible, there are many examples of people who have experienced it. David the psalmist wrote: “I am laid low in the dust,” Elijah tells God: “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life.”

Then there’s Jonah, Jeremiah and Paul, all who felt the shroud of depression descend over them.”

This book will be a source of help and encouragement to Christians who have gone through, or who are going through turmoil and hardships in their lives. Suicidal Christians is a tapestry of gripping, graphic personal stories, poignant allegories, prayers and inspired practical advice.

These book reviews by Ireland’s newest online Christian bookshop Teach Solas. To purchase these and other great Christian titles go to www. teachsolas.ie or phone John on 089 454 0427.

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LO OKING UP IN LO CKD OWN

BY SEÁN MULLAN

W

hat do a singer songwriter from Belfast and a philosopher from Los Angeles have in common?

Maybe many things but in the 5k circle of my lockdown life they have this in common, they have become my close companions. One has accompanied me as I sanded, painted, scrubbed and repaired the cafe space where I work and that in normal times houses a thriving social business. The other has kept me company on early morning strolls “all along the banks of the Royal Canal” – yes, all within the 5k statute of limitations.

Van “the Man” Morrison is the singer who energises my efforts at sanding skirting boards and scrubbing dark kitchen corners, especially his album “Hymns to the Silence.” It is 30 years old I was horrified to discover but is a piece of melodic craft that has worn well. It contains his musical musings on childhood experiences and some of his formative influences, from Jelly Roll Morton to Debussy. And

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permeating all the reminiscences is an awareness of something bigger going on, what he refers to as light, as silence and as grace.

My other companion is the late Dallas Willard, an academic philosopher by profession, who also gave a lot of time to teaching ordinary people how contemporary life might be lived following Jesus of Nazareth. It’s these talks rather than any lectures on philosophy that I listen to on my canal walks. I wouldn’t want you to have an over-inflated view of my intellectual capabilities.

Willard had great intellectual capacity but also the ability to make complex truths easily understandable. And here’s where he and Van have connected in my limited lockdown life. They can both sing or talk about big things but root them in the ordinary and the everyday, in quiet city walks and floors that need scrubbing.

In “Hymns to the Silence” Van sings of the ordinary places of his youth, of Hyndfort Street and Orangefield, of North Road Bridge and Mrs Kelly’s lamp. And he sings of ordinary days

VOX MAGAZINE

THEY CAN BOTH SING OR TALK ABOUT BIG THINGS BUT ROOT THEM IN THE ORDINARY AND THE EVERYDAY, IN QUIET CITY WALKS AND FLOORS THAT NEED SCRUBBING.

and times. But all of this ordinariness is suffused with a sense of wonder. He sings of “early morning when contemplation was at its best”, of living where “dusk had meaning” and of late summer nights when “we sank into restful slumber in silence and carried on dreaming in God.” All of life is sacred in these lyrics, every place holy.

Dallas would agree. I have no idea if he ever listened to a Van Morrison album or if Van ever attended one of Dallas’s talks but I like to think they would have had a lot to chat about. I think Dallas would chat about the idea that grace was at work in those times of silence and light Van sang about. Grace, Dallas used to say, is God acting in our life to achieve what we cannot achieve on our own. It is the activity of God in the course of the everyday to which we can learn to pay attention. “Ah yes, learning to feel the silence,” I could imagine the Belfast man respond.

They could certainly have had an interesting conversation about Jesus. He is the smartest person ever to live, Dallas would assert. The person who chooses to follow Him is choosing the good life, learning from Him to live a life free from fear and anger and a life of becoming all that we are intended to be. Van might draw Dallas’s attention to the old hymn lyrics included on this album: “Just a closer walk with thee, grant it Jesus if you please. I’ll be satisfied as long, as I walk dear Lord close to thee.”

And finding more common ground in their love of old hymns they might well have gone on to listen together to Van’s recording of “Be thou my vision” with those musical maestros, The Chieftains providing a magnificent interlude that would set an atheist’s heart soaring.

And the old philosopher might offer his definition of beauty as God’s goodness made manifest to the senses. Van’s album, in my limited musical opinion, provides a resounding affirmation of the definition.

One of Dallas Willard’s most treasured themes was the “Kingdom of God.” It is, he would say, the range of God’s effective will and the natural home of the soul. It is immediately and directly accessible to us through Jesus of Nazareth. As I wrote this piece I realised that the only time I ever met Dallas Willard was in Belfast.

He was there to speak at a conference but I imagine him also taking time to stroll the streets of Van’s Morrison’s Belfast childhood with his Walkman and headphones and “Hymns to the silence.”

I like to think he might have walked Hyndfort Street and that, as he did, the Los Angeles philosopher listened to the grainy tones of the Belfast minstrel singing “You’ve got to try for the kingdom on high, by His grace.”

Seán Mullan has been working in church leadership for many years. He has developed a project in Dublin City Centre called “Third Space”.

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