IRISH FRANCISCAN MISSION MAGAZINE No.6 OCT/NOV 2008 €1.00

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SpiritandLife

2 St Anthony Brief

I think joy and sweetness and affectionare a spiritual path.

We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away

by the beauty and miracle of nature. You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play.You don't have time to carry grudges;

you don't have time to cling to the need to be right.

– Anne Lamott

SST ANTHONT ANTHONYY briefbrief4 From the Editor.

5 Francis and Jihad. FR PATRICK NOONAN, OFM, a missionary inSouth Africa, challenges us to look afresh at St Francis as Peacemaker.

8 The Struggle to Survive. FR BRENDAN FORDE, OFM, amissionary who lives with the indigenous peoples in Colombia, writeson a special tribunal of justice.

10 A Place of Peace and Love. BR PAULO CEZAR MAGALHAES,OFM, ministers in the Franciscan hospice in Thailand where the friarsjourney with those living with Aids.

12 Church Brief.

13 Crossing the Frontiers. FR RONAN BARRY, Director of the IrishMissionary Union, invites us to cross the frontiers of cultures andtraditions in the new Ireland.

14 Mission is a Question of Love. In his message for MissionSunday (19th October), POPE BENEDICT reminds us themissionary mandate is an absolute priority for all the baptised.

16 The Year of St Paul. FR FRANCIS COTTER, OFM, looks at howwe can live this Year of St Paul as a time of grace.

19 A Soul Thirsts for God.

20 An Irishman and Scholar. FR PAT CONLAN, OFM, honoursFr John Colgan the Franciscan who died 350 years ago this year.

22 News from Around the Franciscan World.

23 A Different Mission: Friars in Morocco. The friars in Moroccoshare what it means to be a humble, loving presence, true FriarsMinor, among a Muslim people.

24 Problems in Prayer. FR KIERAN CRONIN, OFM, offers somepractical pointers for when we encounter difficulties in prayer.

27 What Assisi Meant to Me. FR GEARÓID Ó CONAIRE, OFM,shares his pages with John Tiernan who reflects on his first visit toAssisi.

30 Mission Digest.

31 The Church is Young.

Volume 68 No.6

Missionary Magazine of the Irish Franciscans. Published bi-monthly by the Franciscan Missionary Union, 8 Merchants Quay, Dublin 8.

Editor: Fr Ulic Troy, OFM.

Production: Fr Francis Cotter, OFM.

Subscription & Distribution Secretary:Helen Doran. Tel: (01) 6777651.

Design, Layout & Printing:Corcoran Print & Design. Tel: (053) 9234760.

Subscription including Postage:Ireland – €12.00 per annum Britain – Stg£10.00 per annumOverseas – €15.00 per annum

Cover: Image of St Francis, Assisi.

Oct/Nov 2008 3

From the Editor…

Fr Ulic Troy

St Anthony Brief4

“FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY”On 4th October Franciscans, and many more men and women from all over the world, commemo-rate and celebrate the feast of St Francis of Assisi, often called the Poverello, or the little poorman. He was born in the small Umbrian city of Assisi in the year 1181 or 1182 of Pietro diBernardone, a wealthy textile merchant, and Pica, of a distinguished French family, probably fromPicardy. Francis’ wealth and love of life made him the leader of Assisi’s youth, and filled him withdreams of grandeur. In the intercity feuding between Assisi and Perugia he enlisted, entered thebattle of Collestrada, and was imprisoned when the soldiers of Assisi lost. After his release hereturned to Assisi, and turned his back on a military career, and on a promising profession in thebusiness world, in order to respond to the impulses of the Lord that moved mysteriously withinhim. A meeting with a leper and hearing a voice from the Cross of San Damiano resulted in hisconversion, the renunciation of possessions, and the building up of the Church of Christ that wasfalling into ruins. From the day he heard the words spoken from the crucifix in the church of SanDamiano, Francis of Assisi walked away from a particular form of slavery – attachment to posses-sions and wealth – he became a free man and a lover of poverty.

There are many qualities that can be admired in the life of Francis of Assisi – but his rejection andnon-attachment to material things is worth pondering on. We can learn from his example and askourselves to what extent are we responsible for the slavery of others, when we ourselves areenslaved to narrow self-interest with little sense of the consequences. This can happen when wefail to embrace spiritual values and settle purely for material things of no lasting value. Thewords: “You cannot serve two masters,” invites us to consider what really matters in our ownvalue system – both as individuals and as a society.

In the current economic downturn we should reflect on the words of Christ: “Do not be anxiousabout your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body what you shallput on. Is life not worth more than food and the body more than clothing?” During the years whenthe so-called Celtic Tiger was in full cry and there was plenty about, there was the particulartemptation abroad to measure everything in life purely in material terms, while overlooking ourother needs. Christianity would be the first to acknowledge that everyone has legitimate materialneeds that should be met. When we look at the word “clothing,” it reminds us and highlights theplight of abused workers in underdeveloped countries, who are exploited to satisfy the demandsof the well-off in order to get more for less. In a published report, it was alleged that as many as27 million men, women, and children endure brutal working conditions for no money, and liveunder the constant threat of beatings and other forms of torture.

Like Francis of Assisi, we can take the first step away from slavery and the misuse of materialthings, when we rediscover our own worth and the things that really matter in the Good News ofthe Gospel. We are constantly invited by Jesus to realise that our life “does not consist in theabundance of my possessions,” but in the fact that each one of us is uniquely precious to God andcared for by Him, who seeks freedom from all unnecessary anxiety and worry, and freedom to bethe best that we can be. It was Bertrand Russell who said: “It is preoccupation with possessionmore than anything else that prevents men from living freely and nobly.”

– Ulic Troy, OFM (ulic@eircom.net)

5Oct/Nov 2008

“I“In heaven I would want tomeet St Francis of Assisi” saidNobel prize winner Arch-

bishop Desmond Tutu.Who was St Francis? Have his follow-

ers successfully domesticated him?Have his scholars cleverly diminishedthis extraordinary 13th century holyman? Is there a Global South St Francis?Will the real St Francis please stand up?It’s not a cover-up. Nobody wants tohide anything. It’s just that they don’tknow anything better. How could they?They live in the North Atlantic region ofthe world, don’t they? In Europe andAmerica. That’s very much a world onits own. It tends to revolve arounditself. It’s a different world. It’s full ofgreat technology and declining faith.It’s affluent and its affluence pollutesthe whole world. They have few warsthese days although in the last centurytheir tribes fought two world wars andfinished the century with an ethnicfree-for-all after the break up ofYugoslavia. They study a lot. And mostof the great Church centres of educa-tion are located there. After the MiddleEast, it’s the ancient home of Christian-ity. All this gives a certain perspectiveon the Christian life. A certain angle on

Christianity, an angle emerging fromthat particular environment. It couldmake you smug about things, aboutlife, about priorities.

Eurocentric Story TellersTake for example the saints of Chris-tianity. The North has a monopoly onthe saints. Fair enough. Their hardwork, education, ambition, devotionand money help to get their Christianheroes immortalised. Unfortunatelythey seem to sanitise their saintsbefore hoisting them into their loftystained-glass windows. They put theirsaints out of reach. In the interests ofaesthetics they lose contact with them.A pity. We in the turbulent SouthernHemisphere look differently at oursaints. Happily we don’t have too manystained-glass windows to banish themto. We like saints who have strugglednot only with self-perfection (the Euro-peans) but those who lived like us andwere people of the soil. We needsaintly role models who lived disadvan-taged lives because many of us aredisadvantaged people who knowpoverty. It’s true we can relate to thosesaints from the North who facedpoverty and slavery and child abuse

such as Bernadette, Patrick and MariaGoretti. We understand them. Andthere were those saints who integratedpolitics, faith and spirituality in aunique way such as Simon the Zealot,Thomas More, Charles Lwanga, KingLouis of France and Francis Taylor thesixteenth century Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Not surprisingly, Francis of Assisi ishardly remembered by the North for hisextensive travelling in the cause ofpeacemaking and reconciliation.Perhaps this characteristic of Francis ofAssisi doesn’t feature too much in thelife experience of his recent biogra-phers. And when his official biographersremember the event at Damiettathey’re embarrassed! They’re not surewhat to say. They spin a yarn! Theypass on quickly. The following is areconstruction of an aspect of the lifeof the Bernadone son (Francis of Assisi)from a perspective of the SouthernHemisphere. It attempts to humanise StFrancis, to give him back to the peopleand indeed to recall him as the univer-sal figure he was intended to be.

Making PeaceAs he increasingly fell under the spellof Christ he was led to become a will-ing instrument in social peacemaking.“The Lord give you peace,” the ex-army man greeted all and sundry —pointedly — for there was little tribalharmony in his medieval world (modernday Italy) at the time. Indeed it was a

Francis and Jihad FR PATRICK NOONAN, OFM, a missionaryin South Africa, challenges us to look afresh at

St Francis as Peacemaker.

St Anthony Brief6

period of inter-city butchery. Kill, kill,kill was the war cry. He became acounter sign to the ethnic cleansing ofhis times. He clearly rejected hisformer military way of solving prob-lems.

JihadFrancis was in the Middle East withsome of his brothers. Early one humidTuesday morning — 9th July 1219 —during a year-long lull in the attack onthe Muslim forces in Egypt, FrancisBernadone made a spectacular peacemove. Startled, bleary-eyed Crusadertroops awoke that morning to therumour that Francis, who had followedthe army from Europe, had “wandered”into no-man’s-land and had been“captured” by the enemy, theSultan. “Whatmadness is this?”the Bishops,Archbishops,women-soldiersand mercenarycrusaders askedwhen they heardthe news. Some-body should havestopped him goingover there. Headswill roll, theyknew. What willthe Holy Father saywhen he hears ofthis treasonousbehaviour? DenyFrancis his plenaryindulgence (a wayto Paradise)promised to all decent, hard-working,God-fearing, Muslim-killing Crusaders!That was the religious and devotionalclimate of the time. For at the time StBernard of Clairvaux had inspired theCrusade with the words: “When theknight of Christ kills the malefactor, hisact is not homicide, but, if one can usethe expression “malecide;” he is in alland for all the agent of Christ’svengeance on those who commit evil.”

But you had to admire Francis’singular determination, even daring atthe coalface of international politics.Even military violence did not deterhim from doing what he believed wasright. His army training helped. Hisunderstanding of the Gospel as applied

to life was clearly different to that ofPope Innocent III, the man who placedEngland under interdict in 1208. ThisPope, incidentally, who was a sort ofexecutive president of all Europe,defined the doctrine of Transubstantia-tion, and decreed that Catholics mustconfess once a year and receive HolyCommunion at Easter without sin. ButInnocent had the discernment to under-stand the Francis phenomenon. Heaccepted Francis’ first Rule. He slowlybegan to see that Francis, from thebackwoods of Assisi, contradicted a wayof life in Europe that was built onwealth and power. Later historians wereto acknowledge that Francis’ group, theFranciscans, was a turning point in thehistory of the Church.

Malek Al-KamilThe military chaplains, especially thepompous and ostentatious CardinalPelagio Galvani accompanying theChristian army (an Innocentappointee), never talked to Francisafter that. Since the former playboynever wanted to be a priest theydidn’t miss him at their daily celebra-tions of Mass for the soldiers. It washumiliating to be upstaged by this non-entity. So they simply ignored himwhen he returned after two weekswith Sultan Malek al-Kamil. Butthrough third parties they were madeto find out what had transpired.

They were overwhelmed by hisrecent actions; his sheer audacity, hisstrange courage, his child-like daring,his amazing trust in God. Like having aprivate meeting with Stalin during theCold War. To his fellow Christians hehad just been to hell and back. ButFrancis didn’t see it like that. He feltcarried by something bigger thanhimself. It was mystical. And he felt itall over him. His new awareness, hisnew awakening arising from his star-tling intervention showed him that Godwas active in non-Christian faiths too.It astonished him that Muslims had 99names for God that they invoked allthe time. It deepened his praise ofGod even more. The Islamic (Sufi)

experience was amajor jolt toFrancis’ under-standing ofmission, of reli-gion and of theworld. Theencounterchanged him.Encounters dochange people.What possessedFrancis to soopenly ignorethe wishes ofthe Holy See inthis wholeepisode? Or washe simply goingfurther thanthe Church,

crossing new pastoral and religiousboundaries because he was inspired todo so. Perhaps we should briefly seehim in context. It will help us tounderstand the mind of the man.Francis was the first founder to sendmissionaries and to have it writteninto his book of rules. Because thiswas a new idea it worried some bish-ops. New untested ideas are worri-some. He was willing to learn fromheretics (Islam), a word which is notfound in his writings. Even his brothersbaulked at this. This was seriouslydangerous for the hierarchy. Had helost it? they questioned. And anothersmall cheeky incident comes to mindwhich shows the character of Francis.The Pope ordered that people shouldbow when the holy Eucharist passed.

Crossing no-man’s-land: Francis meets the Sultan

Oct/Nov 2008

Francis changed it to kneel so strongwas his reverence for the Eucharist!That was Francis the man with a mindof his own.

Franciscan ApproachOne must not forget that Francis hadsurvived life threatening situations afew times in his life. This would havealtered his outlook, his vision and hisperceptions of reality. It also wouldhave made him more fearless, moreassured, more confident and moreimpatient to achieve what today iscalled among Franciscans “fraternity inmission.” According to history, thisChristian “jihad” (holy war) of theCrusades alliance failed. I some-times wonder why western writ-ers on the life and times of StFrancis have deliberately toneddown this extraordinary periodwhen we see St Francisclearly decoding the politicaland social signs of the timesleading to many interven-tions in areas of conflict.Actually Francis was rethink-ing the Church’s teaching atthe time on war and peace.He found himself peacemakingwhen the Church was war-mongering. The Pope had sentthe Crusaders to war. The onlygood Muslim was a dead Muslim,he said. Francis said sorry. Not so.Not true. But he was nice about it.He wasn’t brazen about the Church’stheology of war. He just didn’t believeit. Remember he had an enormouslycreative mind. He was rethinking andreshaping the attitudes of his societytowards war, peace and security. Hewas initiating, creating a Franciscanapproach to peacemaking and intereli-gious dialogue.

The Crusaders were understandablyshocked with what Francis came upwith. He seemed to like the Muslims,they whispered. They thought he hadbeen brainwashed. He actually liked“the enemies of the Cross” (the Pope’swords). To put it in political perspectiveFrancis is caught up in a war machine.He is talking peace and love during awar — not after a war — as is usual. It’snever done. Peace-talks normally takeplace after a war. That’s how differentit is. It’s totally crazy in human terms.

7

respected other cultures and religionsfor the goodness found in them. A waythat built trust between peoples. Howoften this whole episode has been lostto the “distortions and stereotypeimage of the official biographers”(Rafael Bonanno, OFM). No less asource than Time magazine agrees thatFrancis’ unique dialogue approach“could be a useful paradigm for a frankand sincere dialogue in an ever turbu-lent religious world” (27th November2006). From that day forward the “holyman of Assisi” was seen among the mili-tary high command as a liability, apersona non grata. Indeed a loose

canon to be watched.In the light of global develop-

ments since the September 2001attack on America, would thatwe had a few more “loosecanons” of the Francis type todefuse political pressurepoints across the globe. The Damietta Initiative (franciscanpeace@yahoo.com)is a step in that direction.

Many of Francis’ loversare tempted to split hispersonality, to redefine him,to make him conform to theirown spirituality. They overlook

the fact that much of Francis’concerns were a direct reaction

to the Church or state failures,indisciplines and corruptions of his

times. Today there are new types offailures, indisciplines and corruptions

and evils in our world that call on thefollowers of St Francis to imagine newoptions, to contemplate new solutions,and to explore new choices. We forgetat our peril that Francis was a man ofthe Spirit, of an integrated spiritualitywhich thrust him across boundaries andborders. An uncontrollable, Spirit-ledagent of transformation wherever Godsent him! This is the live “Justice andPeace” nature of Francis. The sidewhich many of his followers through thecenturies have cringed at. The specialcharism, a cutting edge which Francisbrought to religious life. The side whichdisturbs the comfortable. The sidewhere the Spirit of surprises dwells.The radical side of Francis. The sidewhich invites us to disembark and, likeFrancis, walk to Jesus on churningwaters. ����

Five days later the Christians killed78,000 Muslims! That’s 78,000 plenaryindulgences for the Crusaders! MamaMia! Two years later the Crusadersabandoned Damietta!

ApologiesEight hundred years later — in 2004 —Pope John Paul apologised to Muslimsfor the bloody history of the Crusades.

So Francis of Assisi was right after all.Only that he was eight hundred yearsbefore his time. Or that Christianthinkers were eight hundred yearsbehind time! God protect us from suchleaders today. The Crusader soldierswere too fired up to understand thesignificance of Francis’ actions. Theywere soldiers after all, not theologiansor monks. Francis had just launched anew way of interfaith dialogue. A newway of evangelising. A way which

St Francis of the birdbath:his radical side is often

forgotten

St Anthony Brief8

FR BRENDAN FORDE, OFM,a missionary who lives with the indigenous peoples in Colombia,

writes on a special tribunal of justice.

THE STRUGGLETO SURVIVE

BBertrand Russell stated: "Only theindifferent are impartial." Lastmonth I was invited by the

National Indigenous Organisation ofColombia to a session of the People’s

Permanent Tribunal in thesmall town of Antanquez inthe Sierra Nevada of SantaMarta where the Kankuamopeople live. It is a non-

governmental organisa-tion. It has its origin inthe Russell Tribunalwhich was founded in1966 by BertrandRussell to judge crimesagainst humanitycommitted by the USAgovernment againstthe people of Vietnam.Its judgements arebased on internationalagreements and decla-rations and it functionsindependently of polit-ical, economic andgovernmental powers.It also works outsidethe judicial structuresof the different coun-tries and can be said to repre-sent in some way the ethicalconscience of the people’s ofthe world.

In Danger of Extinction It is an alternative instrument of justiceand extremely important in the search

for truth, justice and reparation forvictims. Since its foundation it hascarried out 33 sessions in differentcountries. Here in the Sierra Nevadathe presiding judge was a former

Bienvenido: Leader of the Uwa people

Rosalba of the Kankuamopeople

Mario and Juan of the Bari people

Oct/Nov 2008 9

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member of the Supreme Court ofFrance and was accompanied bypersons from Colombia and other coun-tries. The session was called to judgethe historical extermination of theIndigenous Peoples of Colombia. Personsfrom various ethnic groups spoke oftheir reality. There are 82 such groupsin Colombia, 18 of which are in dangerof extinction. One of the speakers hadinformed the two main TV stations ofthis fact and the reply he got from onewas: "That’s interesting but what’s thenews?"

Oil and WaterThere are about 1.4 million indigenousin Colombia, roughly 3% of the popula-tion. Colombia is rich in naturalresources and the multinationals aremoving in to exploit them. Oil ofcourse is the great idol and variousindigenous groups are being moved offtheir lands so that the companies canmove in to drill. Unpolluted water isanother huge resource and one that isbecoming more scarce and lucrative asit is being contaminated and wastedespecially in the developed countries.Latin America has 6% of the world’spopulation and 26% of its unpollutedwater. The multinationals see its greatpotential for making money. Bien-venido, one of the elders of the Uwa,people spoke with great passion. "Wehave always lived with the water longbefore the whiteman came. We havenot polluted it. We have kept it pure.Now they want us to pay for it."

Remembering the MartyrsOn the wall of the schoolyard wherethe Tribunal took place was a poster ofone of their murdered leaders, JoseGilberto Matato, along with his words:

"The indigenous, the trees and the water respect one another equally.

The trees respect the water and we the trees, and the water respects us.

We all respect one another equally."

The words of another of their murderedleaders were recalled by one of hiscompanions: "They kill us when we aresilent. It is better that we are talkingout when they kill us." Every man and

woman who testified remembered andnamed their martyrs who were killedin their struggle for survival. Thewords of Milan Kundera were very

much alive: "The struggle of peopleagainst power is the struggle ofmemory against forgetting." ����

The Assembly: examining a history of extermination

10

IIt has been a great privilege to workhere at Saint Clare’s Hospice inThailand since the beginning of

2002. We have been deeply touched byour daily contact with those who aredying of Aids. I like to call these ma-nyexperiences “drops,” because they arelike the billions of drops of water thatmake up the ocean, each of which isimportant to the completed whole. It islike the Gospel; if we live it with faithwe can concretise the grace of Godevery moment of our lives.

Embracing the OutcastsThe Hiv/Aids situation in Thailand isformidable. In this context we havecome in the name of the Order of FriarsMinor to proclaim the Gospel throughour lives and ministry and through ourFranciscan charism. We are alsoconcerned about implanting the Orderhere in Thailand. These tasks givemeaning to our lives. We are instru-ments of God called to walk the samepath as the Poverello of Assisi. Throughhis life as a poor man, he spoke to thedowntrodden of his day, especially tothe abandoned ones like the lepers.Francis forgot himself as he fixed hisgaze on the lepers, and was thus ableto embrace the outcasts of the societyof his time.

Not AloneIn the beginning of 2006, we receivedMr Chatri into our hospice, and tookresponsibility for his care. He camefrom Watchira Hospital in Bangkok, andwe welcomed him warmly. According tothe charts, he showed symptoms of thefinal stages of his battle with Aids. Wedid our best to care for him, accompa-nying him in his daily life, journeying

St Anthony Brief

Saint Clare’s Hospice is a place ofpeace, optimism, love and care. Towork here, one needs to be able toforget self, to be willing to sacrificeself for the sake of others, especiallyfor those dying of Aids. We have hadmany experiences with those who havepassed through the hospice, but I wouldlike to talk about one that touched usdeeply this past Christmas time.

A PLACE OF PEACE AND LOVE

Instruments of God:journeying with

the sick

BR PAULOCEZAR

MAGALHAES,OFM,

ministers in the Franciscanhospice in

Thailand wherethe friars journey with those livingwith Aids.

Not alone: the dignity of God’s children

11Oct/Nov 2008

with him, sympathising with him. Wewere in solidarity with his drama, de-pression and weakness. He was notalone, and we crossed the ocean ofhope together. For two months his eyesremained closed. Then the doctorprescribed anti-depressants, and weworked with Mr Chatri to overcome hisdepression. Improvement came faster

A New HeartAnd our mission continues with theother patients of Saint Clare’s Hospice.After the past few years spent in work-ing with people dying of Aids, I haverealised that we care not only for thebody, that we struggle not only againstthe virus, rather, the challenge weoffer to those who knock on our door isto change their lives, their behaviour,their lifestyle. Today it is possible tohelp control the spread of Hiv/Aidsthrough use of new medications andadvanced technologies. But we invitethose who come to us to go beyond, toheal old wounds and mend broken rela-tionships from the past, to learn how toforgive, to welcome the action andgrace of a merciful God in their lives.We encourage them to go beyond aconcern for only bodily healing and toseek the spiritual healing of their woun-ded inner selves.

Most of our patients are Buddhists,and they have the opportunity towitness our love as Catholic Christians.We work to provide a new heart, a newmentality, a new sense of how to carefor people. It is a care based on lovefor them as human beings who possessdignity as children of God. We workwith them to help rebuild their innerselves, that which Francis called the“inner Church.” ����

A PLACE OF PEACE AND LOVE

than we expected, and he began takinganti-retroviral drugs. Within a fewmonths he was able to return home.After spending some time with hisfamily in Chiangmai City, he enteredthe temple to become a Buddhistmonk. This reminded me that when hewas with us he used to say: “I am nowa new person.”

Healing old wounds:welcoming the grace of God

St Clare’s Hospice: a place of spiritual healing

Church BriefChurch Brief

St Anthony Brief

The Pope Meets BetancourtIn September the Pope met with IngridBetancourt, the former prisoner of theRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colom-bia (FARC). The French-Colombianpolitician was a candidate for theColombian presidency when she waskidnapped in 2002. Betancourt hadexpressed her wish to visit Benedict XVIsince being rescued from the FARC on2nd July. Fr Federico Lombardi, Vaticanspokesman, explained: "She wanted tothank him for his prayers, his closeness,for the various ways inwhich the Pope had mani-fested his thoughts and spir-itual support for all thehostages." He recounted howBetancourt read the Bibledaily during her imprison-ment, convinced that "onemust have a great spiritualitynot to slide into the abyss."Betancourt recounted whather feelings were when sheheard the voice of BenedictXVI mention her name duringher imprisonment: "While Iwas a prisoner in the jungleone day we undertook a veryhard and long march from themorning until the evening; wearrived very tired in the place wherethe camp was to be set up. I lay downin the hammock to rest with immensedespair and sadness, then the radiobroadcasted the Pope's voice whomentioned my name. I think it is diffi-cult to explain the psychological effecton a prisoner. It was like a light ofhope, and because of this, once free Iwanted to see him and embrace him assoon as possible." She added: "It is anextraordinary experience for a humanbeing to know a man of light like thePope." She also made a plea: "There aremany people who are angry with Godand don't want to believe, and manypeople who are ashamed to believe inGod. The only thing I can tell you isthat there is Someone who hears us andspeaks to us with words, and that if weunderstand how to speak to Him, Hewill help us."

are deeply religious. The study notedthat a great exception among the West-ern industrialised countries is theUnited States, where 54% of the youngadults polled said they consideredthemselves deeply religious. For youthin developing countries such as Nigeriaand Guatemala, 90% reported prayingat least once a day, and 75% of therespondents in countries such as India,Morocco and Turkey do likewise. Incontrast, daily prayer is no longer

common practice among youngEuropeans. In France, just 9% ofyoung adults pray daily, in Russiathe figure is 8%, and in Austriaonly around 7%. In the UnitedStates, 57% of young Americanssay they pray on a daily basis.

Launch of ContinentalMissionIn August the 3rd AmericanMissionary Congress was held inQuito, Ecuador. The Congressgathered more than 3,000missionaries from 25 countriesin the American continent andclose to 100 special guests fromall five continents. At the clos-ing Mass of the Congress, theGreat Continental Mission was

officially launched. The continentalmission was called for by the 5thGeneral Conference of the Bishops ofLatin America and the Caribbean, whichBenedict XVI opened near the shrine ofOur Lady of Aparecida in Brazil in May2007. The Mission aims to help Catholiccommunities throughout the continentto evangelise and strengthen their faith.

In his message the Pope encouragedthe faithful to be missionaries since"there is no greater richness than toenjoy friendship with Christ." Heencouraged them "to share this treasurewith others, as there is no greater rich-ness than to enjoy friendship withChrist and to walk beside Him. It isworthwhile to consecrate our bestenergies to this beautiful endeavour,knowing that divine grace precedes,sustains and accompanies us in itsfulfilment." ����

12

general. "The assumption that religiousbelief is dwindling continuously fromgeneration to generation is clearlyrefuted by our worldwide surveys -even in many industrialised nations,"said Dr Martin Rieger, project leader.There were cultural differences. Youngadults in Islamic states and developingcountries are deeply religious, whileyoung Christians in Europe are compar-atively unreligious. Among Catholics inparticular, the proportion of deeplyreligious Catholics in Europe is 25%,while outside Europe this figure is 68%.Most of the youth of Eastern Europeand Russia have not been baptised, andmost young people have no connectionat all to faith and the Church. Only 13%

A mother’s joy: Betancourtreunited with her children

Religion Among YouthA German research foundation reportsthat, contrary to popular belief,teenagers and young adults are inter-ested in religion. The German Bertels-mann Foundation announced that astudy on religion and religious practicesworldwide, which surveyed 21,000young people from 21 nations, foundthat 85% of young adults between 18and 29 are religious, and 44% aredeeply religious. Only 13% have noappreciation for God or faith in

Oct/Nov 2008 13

JJesus entrusted the mission ofbringing the Kingdom of the Reignof God to His community of disci-

ples and followers with the promise of

His abiding presence with them. “Goand tell… and I will be with you”(Matthew 28:20). As followers of Jesuswe still work today to carry out andrealise this mission. In a modern worldoften characterised by exclusion andindividualism, our lives lived as part offaith community is a powerful witnessto a more real model of community andtogetherness — rooted in Gospel values.Community is to be seen in the contextof a shared mission and shared faith. StPaul saw the Church as a communitywhich is a communion of believers,filled with the different gifts of theHoly Spirit (see 1Corinthians 12:4-7).As Christians we have co-opted manyvalues of the world in the name of

competence, carefulness and commonsense. We know that Jesus was notparticularly known for His management,efficiency or strategic planning, but for

His way of compassionate love and soli-darity which are the hallmarks of Hismission. These characteristics shouldalso be the hallmarks of our missiontoday.

As we come to grips with what ourcall to mission can be in 2008; theprophetic challenge of mission needs toprepare our Church for what Pope JohnPaul II called “globalisation withoutmarginalisation, globalisation in solidar-ity” (World Peace Day, 1999). This canonly happen if the People of God, thefollowers of Jesus, go out with themessage of love, compassion and soli-darity with the people on the marginswherever they are. How welcome is thestranger? As one commentator put it:

Missionaries exist at home and abroad. FR RONAN BARRYFR RONAN BARRY, Director of the Irish

Missionary Union, invites us to cross the frontiers of cultures and traditions in the new Ireland.

“Though mission today isn't necessarilygeographical, it still has everything todo with crossing frontiers.” Mission isthe call for everyone. Missionaries existat home and abroad.

Undeniably there are missionarychallenges that we face at home. Weare living in a society that has radicallychanged for lots pf people. We now livein a society where we have many estab-lished parish members from a non-Irishbackground with different experiencesof Church, integrating into our parishcommunities. Everywhere in Irelandtoday we are called to cross the fron-tier of cultures and traditions to fullyexperience the parish faith communityas the people of God.

Mission Sunday (19th October) alsogives us a chance to reflect on theChurch’s mission worldwide, especiallyin the Young Churches. There thespecific missionary challenges can bedifferent from our own. Challenges maycome from an oppressive government orfrom the poverty, disease, hunger ofthe people they serve, or from ethnicconflicts or lack of education, etc.When we hear of these political situa-tions we must remember that thesepeople are Mass-going people in need ofour voice and our help, people who aretrying to care for their families, ensur-ing that they can have the best lifepossible. As Christians we are called totransform our faith into action, to moveour belief into mission, to bringourselves into the reality where ourcompassion can affect not only those inour community but those in our globalfaith community as well.

As we reflect on the call to bemissionaries we remember that in 2008there are many ways to be missionariesand there are roles for us all. So if youthink you want to experience missionabroad, make a promise to yourself anddo it. Mission Sunday reminds us allthat we cannot be so absorbed in thechallenges that face us at home, thatwe can be indifferent to the challengesour brothers and sisters face elsewhere.For more information click onwww.imu.ie ����

Crossing the Frontiers

New Ireland: Meath Festival of Culture 2008

St Anthony Brief14

OOn the occasion of World MissionDay, I would like to invite youto reflect on the continuing

urgency to proclaim the Gospel in ourtimes. The missionary mandate contin-ues to be an absolute priority for allbaptised persons who are called to be"servants and apostles of Christ Jesus"at the beginning of this millennium.Pope Paul VI has stated: "Evangelising isin fact the grace and vocation proper tothe Church, her deepest identity." As amodel of this apostolic commitment, Iwould like to point to St Paul, the apos-tle of the nations, because this year weare celebrating a special Jubilee dedi-cated to him. It is the Pauline Yearwhich offers us the opportunity tobecome familiar with this famous apos-tle who received the vocation toproclaim the Gospel to the nations,according to what the Lord hadannounced to him: "Go, I shall send youfar away to the Gentiles". How can we

not take the opportunity that thisspecial Jubilee offers to the localChurches, the Christian communitiesand the individual faithful to propagatethe proclamation of the Gospel to theends of the world, the power of God forthe salvation of everyone who believes?

Humanity in Need of Liberation Humanity needs to be liberated andredeemed. Let us take a closer look atthe situation of today's world. While, onthe one hand, the internationalpanorama presents prospects forpromising economic and social develop-ment, on the other it brings some greatconcerns to our attention about thevery future of man. Violence, in manycases, marks the relations betweenpersons and peoples. Poverty oppressesmillions of inhabitants. Discriminationand sometimes even persecution forracial, cultural and religious reasonsdrive many people to flee from their

own countries in order to seek refugeand protection elsewhere. Technologi-cal progress, when it is not aimed atthe dignity and good of the humanperson or directed towards solidarity-based development, loses its potential-ity as a factor of hope. It runs the risk,on the contrary, of increasing alreadyexisting imbalances and injustices.There is, moreover, a constant threatregarding the human-environment rela-tion due to the indiscriminate use ofresources, with repercussions on thephysical and mental health of humanbeings. Man's future is also put at riskby the attempts on his life, which takeon various forms and means.

Before this scenario, buffetedbetween hope and anxiety andburdened down with uneasiness, withconcern we ask ourselves: What willbecome of humanity and creation? Isthere hope for the future, or rather, isthere a future for humanity? And what

Mission is a Question of Love

In his message for Mission Sunday (19th October), POPE BENEDICT remindsus the missionary mandate is an absolute priority for all the baptised.

Christ’s love in action: Sr Sylvia, a Sister of St Clare, with pupils of St Francis School, El Salvador

Oct/Nov 2008

will this future be like? The answer tothese questions comes to those of uswho believe from the Gospel. Christ isour future, and His Gospel is a life-changing communication that giveshope, throws open the dark door oftime and illuminates thefuture of humanity andthe universe. St Paul hadunderstood well that onlyin Christ can humanityfind redemption and hope.Therefore, he perceivedthat the mission waspressing and urgent toproclaim the promise oflife in Christ Jesus, ourhope, so that all peoplescould be co-heirs and co-partners in the promisethrough the Gospel. He wasaware that without Christhumanity is without hopeand without God in theworld — without hopebecause they were withoutGod. In fact, anyone whodoes not know God, eventhough he may entertain allkinds of hopes, is ultimatelywithout hope, without thegreat hope that sustains thewhole of life.

A Response to LoveIt is therefore an urgent dutyfor everyone to proclaimChrist and His savingmessage. St Paul said: "Woeto me if I do not preach theGospel!" On the way toDamascus he had experienced andunderstood that the redemption andthe mission are the work of God and Hislove. Love of Christ led him to travelover the roads of the Roman Empire asa herald, an apostle, a preacher and ateacher of the Gospel of which hedeclared himself to be an "ambassadorin chains." Divine charity made him "allthings to all, to save at least some." Bylooking at St Paul's experience, weunderstand that missionary activity is aresponse to the love with which Godloves us. His love redeems us and prodsus to mission to the nations. It is thespiritual energy that can make theharmony, justice and communion grow

among persons, races and peoples towhich everyone aspires. So it is God,who is Love, who leads the Churchtowards the frontiers of humanity andcalls the evangelisers to drink from theoriginal source, which is Jesus Christ,

from whose pierced heart flows thelove of God. Only from this source cancare, tenderness, compassion, hospital-ity, availability and interest in people'sproblems be drawn, as well as theother virtues necessary for the messen-gers of the Gospel to leave everythingand dedicate themselves completelyand unconditionally to spreading theperfume of Christ's charity around theworld.

15

Evangelise Always While the first evangelisation continuesto be necessary and urgent in manyregions of the world, today a shortageof clergy and a lack of vocations afflictvarious dioceses and institutes of conse-

crated life. It is impor-tant to reaffirm thateven in the presence ofgrowing difficulties,Christ's command toevangelise all peoplescontinues to be a prior-ity. No reason can justifyits slackening or stagna-tion because the task ofevangelising all peopleconstitutes the essentialmission of the Church.It is a mission that isstill only beginning andwe must commitourselves wholeheart-edly to its service. Howcan we not think hereof the Macedonian whoappeared to Paul in adream and cried: "Willyou come to Macedo-nia to help us?" Todaythere are countlesspeople who are wait-ing for the proclama-tion of the Gospel,those who are thirst-ing for hope and love.There are so manywho let themselves bequestioned deeply bythis request for aidthat rises up from

humanity, who leave everything forChrist and transmit faith and love forHim to people!

Dear Brothers and Sisters, duc inaltum — “put out into the deep!” Letus set sail in the vast sea of the worldand, following Jesus' invitation, let uscast our nets without fear, confident inHis constant aid. St Paul reminds usthat to preach the Gospel is no reasonto boast, but rather a duty and a joy.May the celebration of World MissionDay encourage everyone to takerenewed awareness of the urgent needto proclaim the Gospel. ����

Adapted version; for full text see www.vatican.va

National Office,

64 Lower Rathmines Road,

Dublin 6hope fo

r the earthvoice for the poor

MISSION SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER

The Society for the Propagation

of the Faith Collectionwww.missionsocieties.ie

GO and TELLGO and TELLMissionary Sr. Patricia Speight from Co. Antrim, FMSA, with Alice Achieng

Image: Noel Gavin / all pix

Love is a spiritual energy:Missionary Sr PatriciaSpeight, FMSA, from Co.Antrim, with Alice Achieng

SPIRITUALITYFOR LIFEThe Year of Saint Paul

St Anthony Brief16

FR FRANCIS COTTER, OFM, looks at how we can live this

YEAR OF ST PAUL as a time of grace.

Paul: Apostle and martyr

OOn the Eve of the Solemnity of the Apostles Peterand Paul, celebrated on June 28th 2007 at theBasilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls, Pope

Benedict said in his homily at Vespers: “ I am pleased toannounce officially that we shall be dedicating a specialJubilee Year to the Apostle Paul from 28th June 2008 to29th June 2009, on the occasion of the bimillenium of hisbirth, which historians have placed between the years 7and 10 AD. It will be possible to celebrate this ‘PaulineYear’ in a privileged way in Rome where the sarcophaguswhich, by the unanimous opinion of experts and an undis-puted tradition, holds the remains of the Apostle Paul,has been preserved beneath the Papal Altar of this basil-ica for 20 centuries.” In fact, Vatican officials had madean announcement in December 2006 after excavationshad been carried out in the basilica. It was stated thatseveral feet below the basilica’s main altar and behind asmaller altar, they had found a roughly cut marblesarcophagus beneath an inscription that reads “Paul Apos-tle Martyr.” The small altar was removed and a windowinserted so that pilgrims can see the sarcophagus.

So we are now in the Jubilee Year of St Paul — incase you didn’t know! I believe that this year presents uswith the opportunity to study, pray and celebrate thelife, inspired writing, spirituality and missionary spirit ofSt Paul. Her are some suggestions so that the grace ofthis year does not pass us by.

Read His WritingsAn obvious and important way to mark this year is toread, pray and study the Word of God that comes to usin the rich, Christ-centred letters of Paul. His lettersmake up a major part of the New Testament, and theyare for us a way of learning “the surpassing worth ofknowing Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:8). Pope John Paulwas constant in encouraging the prayerful reading of theScriptures: “The Word of God is the first source of allChristian spirituality. It gives rise to a personal relation-ship with the living God and with His saving and sanctify-ing will. It is for this reason that from the beginning theprayerful reading of Scripture has been held in the high-est regard. By means of it the Word of God is brought tobear on life; the Word projects on to our lives that lightof wisdom which is a gift of the Holy Spirit.” Paulhimself speaks of the enlightenment and consolation thatthe Spirit communicates through the Word. “For what-ever was written in former days was written for our

17Oct/Nov 2008

Share the MessagePaul was an untiring evangelist. Imaginehow he would have used satellite commu-nications, the internet and YouTube. Is itany surprise that Pope John Paul began hisencyclical on missionary activity, TheMission of the Redeemer, with a tribute toSt Paul? He wrote: “The mission of Christthe Redeemer, which is entrusted to theChurch is still very far from completion.An overall view of the human race showsthat this mission is still only beginning andthat we must commit ourselves whole-heartedly to its service. It is the Spiritwho impels us to proclaim the great worksof God: ‘For if I preach the Gospel, thatgives me no ground for boasting. Fornecessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if Ido not preach the Gospel!’ (1 Corinthians9:16). In the name of the whole Church, Isense an urgent duty to repeat this cry ofSt Paul.”

This year could be a time for renewingour missionary heart. In his boundlessenergy and athletic metaphors, St Paul’sexample encourages us to apply ourenthusiasm to spreading the Gospel of

instruction, that by steadfastness and bythe encouragement of the Scriptures wemight have hope” (Romans 15:4).

The Synod of Bishops takes place inRome from 5th — 26th October. Appro-priately, bishops from all over the worldwill reflect on the theme: The Word ofGod in the Life and Mission of theChurch. The preparatory documentstates: “Today, the People of God areincreasingly showing a hunger and thirstfor the Word of God. This vital factshould not be overlooked, because theLord Himself is prompting it. To helpthe faithful understand what the Bibleis, why it is there, how beneficial it isto faith and how to use it — this isalways a solemn duty of the Church.”Pope Benedict has high hopes for anyrenewal coming from such an encounterwith the Scriptures. “If it is effectivelypromoted, this prayerful pondering ofthe Word will bring to the Church — Iam convinced of it — a new spiritualspringtime. It should never be forgottenthat the Word of God is a lamp for ourfeet and a light for our path. A light weneed desperately in the Church andworld in our time!” St Paul exhorts:“Let the message of Christ dwell in yourichly” (Colossians 3:16). The medita-tive, prayerful reading of the writings ofPaul, like all meditation on the SacredScriptures, engages thought, imagina-tion, emotion and desire. This mobilisa-tion of our faculties, deepens ourconvictions of faith and strengthens ourwills to follow Christ.

Be Converted AnewAnother suggestion: reflect on Paul’sconversion. So important was Paul’sconversion experience on the road toDamascus that an account of it is givenin three places in the Acts of the Apos-tles: 9:1-19; 22:3-21; 26:4-23. So muchof the story of the early Church can betraced back to the contemplative andenthusiastic heart of St Paul ignited byhis intimacy with the Risen Lord. Butdon’t just read about it. Seek the graceof a deeper, personal conversion toChrist. The best way that we can cele-brate the Year of Saint Paul is to go tothe Risen Lord and ask Him about whatdeep and intimate conversion of life Heis calling us to, the area that now needsHis light and grace most of all. Ongoingconversion is the foundational key to theChristian life.

Paul could write: “It is no longer Iwho live but Christ who lives in me”(Galatians 2:20). He was aware of hisfaults, his intellectual and personalityshortcomings, his unnamed struggle with“a thorn in his flesh.” But his humbleawareness of these weaknesses onlymade him more reliant on Christ: “I cando all things in He who strengthens me”(Philippians 4:13). His understanding ofhis personal frailty drove him to open upever more to the presence and power ofChrist within him. We know from Paul’slife that at the heart of conversion is asurrender to the love of the Risen Lord.This love allows us to let go of the fearof giving ourselves completely to Christand to the purifying grace of His Spirit.This encounter is essential. RecentlyPope Benedict said bluntly: “Christianityis not a new philosophy or new morality.We are Christians only if we encounterChrist. We can touch Christ's heart andfeel Him touch ours. Only in thispersonal relationship with Christ, only inthis encounter with the Risen One do wereally become Christians.”

Word of God: the first source of all Christian spirituality

1818 St Anthony Brief

Christ. One of the goals of Pope Bene-dict, in proclaiming the Year of St Paul,is to have every Catholic hold up amirror to his or her life and to ask: AmI as determined and as energetic aboutspreading the Catholic faith as I shouldbe? Is spreading the faith, both by exam-ple and by my conversations, even aconcern for me? What am I doing, inparticular, to instil a love of Jesus andan understanding of our faith in thehearts and minds of our youth who arethe future of the Church? The Catholicfaith only grows when we consciouslyand conscientiously share it with others.

Of course, all such witness must bedone with love. Without love, the wordswe share are sterile. Pope Paul VIcaptured the heart of Paul: “That modelevangeliser, the Apostle Paul, wrotethese words to the Thessalonians, and

they are a programme for us all: ‘Withsuch yearning love we chose to impartto you not only the Gospel of God butour very selves, so dear had you becometo us’ (1Thessalonians 1:8). What is thislove? It is much more than that of ateacher; it is the love of a father; andagain, it is the love of a mother. It isthis love that the Lord expects fromevery witness to the Gospel, from everybuilder of the Church. A sign of love willbe the concern to give the truth and tobring people into unity. Another sign oflove will be a devotion to sharing thejoy of Jesus Christ, without reservationor turning back.” The hope is that thefire that the Holy Spirit cast into theheart of St Paul, which in turn lit up theearth, will inflame our hearts to bevibrant and effective missionaries in theYear of St Paul and throughout our lives.

A regular welcome guest: President Mary McAleese greets Sr Leo in the refectory of the Poor Clare monastery,Ennis. The President was with the Sisters to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of their foundation in the town. She revealed to reporters that each year since her election in 1997 she has stayed some days on retreat in themonastery. The President told the nuns: “You are great custodians of the traditions of Clare. You can’t takethe burden of sorrow from people and they do come in great sorrow, but you can go on a journey of light with

them and this matters so much; the courage, the faith, the hope that your prayers give them.”

There you have it: three suggestionson how to receive the grace of thisJubilee Year: Ponder the Word in Paul’sletter, seek a deeper conversion toChrist, and actively witness to yourfaith. When the Pope announced thisYear of St Paul, he said: “As in earlytimes, today too Christ needs apostlesready to sacrifice themselves. He needswitnesses and martyrs like St Paul.Paul, a former violent persecutor ofChristians, when he fell to the grounddazzled by the divine light on the roadto Damascus, did not hesitate tochange sides to the Crucified One andfollowed Him without second thoughts.Paul lived and worked for Christ, forChrist Paul suffered and died. Howtimely is his example today!” ��

fjcofm@yahoo.com

19Oct/Nov 2008 19

A Soul Thirsts for GodO God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 63

St Anthony Brief

IIt was just after Easter 1652. Fr JohnColgan took a deep breath beforeopening the letter. He recognised

the seal on the back as that of Fr PedroManero, Franciscan Minister General.The Irish friar took a moment to scanthe Latin text. Then he smiled as herealised that it was one more loadlifted from his back. It had started twoyears back when the Irish Provincial andhis Definitory had appointed Fr John asCommissary of the Irish Franciscancolleges in Leuven, Prague and Wielun.He was 58 years old and in poor health.Also his Guardian in Leuven, FrBonaventure Meehan, was opposed tothe appointment. Fr John had writtensaying that there was no way that hecould travel from Flanders to Polandand the far end of the Empire. At lastthe Minister General had acknowledgedreality and withdrew the appointment.Fr John returned to his desk, coveredwith neatly written sheets of paper. Hewas resolved to continue his researchon the Saints of Ireland. Nearly twentyyears before, on 8th November 1635, FrHugh Ward had died in the college. FrJohn had just returned from his yearsas a lecturer in several Franciscancolleges of the German Province ofCologne.

Another Fr Hugh, Hugh MacCaugh-well, had received John into the Fran-ciscans at Leuven on 26th April 1620. Ithas taken him twenty-two years to find

the College, of showing the intellectu-als that Ireland deserved its placeamong the cultures and traditions ofEurope. One way of doing this was byputting together a proper history ofIreland, both civil and ecclesiastical. Agroup of Jesuits were working inAntwerp on the lives of saints. Led byJean Bolland, they had a system ofediting older lives and publishing themin Latin according to the chronologyfound in the liturgical calendar of theChurch.

Scholarship in a Time of WarFr Hugh Ward gathered a team inLeuven and encouraged friars to checklibraries for texts during their travels.He sent Br Mícheál Ó Cléirigh back toIreland in search of manuscripts. Slowlythe material accumulated at SaintAnthony’s. Ward was busy as Guardianof the college in 1626-29 and as alecturer. He suffered from ill healthfrom 1630 and made a special effort togive a eulogy on the great friend of thefriars, Isabella, Princess of the Belgians,on 1st December 1633. Fr John’s returnfrom Germany filled the slot madevacant by the sick lecturer. The Dutchtook the opportunity of the death ofIsabella to strike for complete indepen-dence from Spain. Both Dutch andFrench armies invaded Flanders,captured Tienen and laid siege toLeuven on 24th June 1635. The Irish

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his way into following Saint Francis.Born at Pierstown near Carndonagh inthe heart of Inishowen, he had grownup during a time of war. The area hadnot been disturbed when O’Donnell andO’Neill rose against the English. Hecould recall the anxiety among thelocals when the English garrisonedDerry in 1600. That same garrison hadplayed their part in the devastation ofInishowen in 1608 when Sir CaherO’Doherty had rebelled against Englishrule. John was then in his teens. Theevents had turned his mind towardsstudy on the continent. He had studiedfor the priesthood, been ordained in1618 and qualified as a lecturer beforefinally deciding to become a Francis-can. He had lectured at Saint Anthony’sCollege, Leuven, before continuing hiscareer in the colleges in the Rhineland.

Fr Hugh MacCaughwell had intro-duced Fr John to the great Franciscantheologian, John Duns Scotus, andpersuaded him to base his lectures onthe teachings of Scotus. Fr Hugh hadbeen called to Rome in 1623 and diedthere only three months after hisconsecration as Archbishop of Armaghin 1626. Fr John had kept in contactwith Leuven and knew that Fr HughWard had taken over. He and John werefrom Donegal, born only a year apartand found their way to Saint Anthony’sCollege after ordination elsewhere.Both shared the vision, developing in

An Irishman and Scholar

FR PAT CONLAN,OFM, honoursFr John Colgan the Franciscan who died

350 years ago this year.

Cloister: the old friary in Donegal

Regiment of Preston was one of thefour defending the town and weremainly responsible for the successfuldefence of the town. The friars werechaplains to the regiment and shared inthe honours given to their countrymen.The main Spanish army raised the siegeon 3rd July. The stress of the siege didnothing for the health of Fr Hugh Wardand he died on 8th November 1635. TheGuardian, Fr Louis Dillon, invited FrJohn to take charge of the project topublish the lives of the Irish saints.

Fr John was in regular contact withJean Bolland in Antwerp and adoptedthe same plan — publish Latin editionsof lives of the saints as found in oldmanuscripts in the order of the liturgi-cal calendar. He got a worthy assistant,Fr Brendan O’Connor, who went in 1638to research libraries in France, Italy,England and Ireland. Br Mícheál ÓCléirigh had returned from Ireland in1637 with more manuscripts and thetext of his proposed history of Irelandor the Annals of the Kingdom ofIreland. Fr John continued his work onthe Irish saints. At the same time hesought funding for fresh publications bythe team at Saint Anthony’s. Br Mícheáldied in 1643 and was buried in thecloister of the college. Fr John medi-ated on his achievements and in 1645came up with the title of the Annals ofthe Four Masters for Br Mícheál’s majorwork.

Books PublishedThe manuscripts were piling up inLeuven but funds for publication weredrying up. War in Europe, civil war inEngland and the insurrection in Irelandmade benefactors think twice aboutspending. Fr John put his name to asolemn appeal by the Guardian, Vicarand lecturers for funds to print thelives of the Irish saints “to the greatgood and glory of our Church andCatholic countrymen. Hugh O’Reilly,Archbishop of Armagh, wrote fromKilkenny in December 1642 authorisingthe friars to use part of the fundsbelonging to Armagh and lodged inSaint Anthony’s in Leuven to publishsome of the books prepared by Fr John.Work pushed ahead and the firstvolume containing the lives of the Irish

21

saints for January, February and March(Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae) waspublished in Leuven in 1645. TheBollandists had published the firstvolume of their Acta Sanctorum cover-ing the month of January in 1643. TheFranciscan Archbishop of Dublin,Thomas Fleming, provided the means topublish the next volume, Triadis thau-maturgae (the three miracle workers,Patrick, Brigid and Columba), in Leuven1647. The third volume containing thelives of the Irish saints for April, Mayand June was ready for the printer in1649.

Oct/Nov 2008

theology and value of Scotus (Tractatusde Joannis Scoti Doctoris Subtilis …) inAntwerp in 1655. It made it clear thatthe Subtle Doctor, to give him hismedieval title, was Irish. We now knowthat he was born in Scotland.

Unfinished WorkFr John died in Saint Anthony’s Collegeon 15th January 1658, just threehundred and fifty years ago. Fr ThomasSheerin took responsibility for publica-tions in the college. The late Fr John’scabinets were loaded with material

Brigid of Kildare: Colgan published the lives of the Irish saints

The war situation was now critical andthe work remained unpublished. Eventhe Bollandists were having financialproblems. The second volume of theirActa Sanctorum with the lives forFebruary did not appear until 1658.

The arrival of Cromwell in Irelandand the resulting persecution brought aflood of friars seeking refuge in Leuven.Even the grants to keep the collegegoing were insufficient for the largercommunity. Despite his health and thelack of funds Fr John struggled on. Hereturned to his original interest inScotus. A stupid English Franciscan,Angelus Mason, had claimed that Scotuswas English. Our Irish friar published asmall volume on the fatherland, life,

ready for the printer. In addition to hiswork on the Irish saints and that of theFour Masters on Irish history, Fr Johnhad begun to write on the Irish in otherparts of Europe. One volume coveredthe general mission of the Irish outsideof Ireland with a list of saints (852pages of manuscript). The next dealtwith England, Brittany, the rest ofFrance and Belgium (1088 pages).Another covered Lotharingia, Burgundy,Germany on both banks of the Rhineand Italy (920 pages). But time hadmoved on. Despite the best efforts ofFr Thomas, the tremendous work of FrJohn Colgan remained unpublished untilthe Irish resurgence of the twentiethcentury. ��

REBUILD OUR WORLDPROJECT

Overall WinnerThe central body for the FranciscanFamily in Ireland, the FranciscansTogether, promoted a school’s project tocommemorate the eighth centenary of StFrancis’ experience before the Cross ofSan Damiano. The project aimed toinclude transition year students and wasentitled Rebuild Our World. Studentswere invited to participate by findingways in which they could respond toareas in our world that need rebuilding.Members of the Central Committee ofFranciscans Together unanimously agreedthat the overall winner of the RebuildOur World Project was Tullamore Collegewith their website Gemini Ireland. FrCaoimhín Ó Laoide, OFM, presented thetrophy, an engraved Newgrange Crystalplaque, and a cheque for €1,000 to theProject Manager, Eoin McEvoy. TheGemini Ireland website was set up toeffect change in the Developing World bymaking links between Irish schools andschools in the Developing World by aprocess of twinning; hence the name ofthe organisation: Gemini Ireland.

The team worked through Self Help,an organisation working for the develop-ment of rural communities in Africa. Sofar Self Help has found a number ofschools willing to participate. TheCentral Committee were particularlyimpressed with the skills of the manage-ment team and their ability to involvethe whole school through debates, talksand events such as cake sales, walk forwater and karaoke which involved theschool members and the teaching staff.Through working on the project the teamhave learned a great deal about develop-ing countries; they learned how to workthrough their difficulties, build upcommunication skills, teamwork skillsand how to motivate others. The projectis scheduled to run for five years andsubsequent transition year students areplanning to involve other schools inIreland to participate in the project.

Breaking the Poverty CycleSchools registered with Gemini Irelandand twinned so far:>> Tullamore College with Balowali

Secondary School, Uganda.>> Clara Vocational School twinned with

Sealdah Loreto Day School inCalcutta.

St Anthony Brief

Franciscan WorldNNeewwss ffrroomm aarroouunndd tthhee .. .. ..

22

>> Scoil Naomh Cormac, Kilcormac,twinned with Guardian Angels Comm-munity School, Zambia.

>> St Brendan’s Community School, Birr,have registered and are awaiting atwin school.

The students in Tullamore write: “Wesaw that our project is a drop in theocean, but that every drop counts.Gemini Ireland’s aims tie in with theaims of most humanitarian organisations.We are all striving for the betterment ofeducation in the Developing World,because it is widely known that educa-tion sets children free from the viciouscycle of poverty their families haveexperienced for centuries. Whileresearching, we discovered a quote fromRobert Orben that sums up GeminiIreland and the people who run it: ‘Wehave enough people who tell it like it is.

Now we need a few who tell it like itcan be.’” See www.tullamorecollege.ie/gemini-ireland.

Putting on a PlayIn addition, the Holy Family YouthGroup from Ballsgrove, Drogheda,received an award for their musical:Allow Us to Be Francis. The group wrotethe script themselves and under thedirection of Fr David Bradley, PP,produced the musical which ran in theparish church over three days. Many ofthe students from the local schoolsattended. Fr Liam Costello, Sr AnneRyan OSC and Sr Marie Coyle FMDMpresented the group with a cheque for€600 and a framed picture of the SanDamiano Cross. Copies of the Marvelbook Francis of Assisi Committed To Allwere presented to each member of theYouth Group. ��

Pictured at the presentation at Tullamore College L-R back row:Edward McEvoy (Principal); Fr Liam Costello OFM; Ita O Neill SFO;

Patsy Toland (Self Help); Shauna Keys (Web Maintenance); Lauren Coyne (Public Relations); Sr Anne Ryan OSC. Front row: Fr Caoimhín Ó Laoide OFM; Eoin McEvoy

(Project Manager); Sr Marie Coyle FMDM.

IIn the heart of the old Arab quarterof Meknes, Morocco, is located anafter-school centre for young Moroc-

cans called Saint Anthony Centre. Onthe front of the building, above theancient doorway of the building, can befound a stone crucifix. It is a vestige ofthe previous use of this place as animmigrant church. The words of StFrancis to those who go among theSaracens continue to resound, throughthe spirit of the friars, in this Muslimworld that surrounds the centre.

Francis says: “Do not promotedisputes or arguments, rather besubject to each human creature forGod’s sake and acknowledge that youare Christians. When you see that itpleases the Lord, then proclaim theWord of God.” Being a minority in thisMuslim world implies, first of all, thatall involved recognise that by beingChristian we ought to submit ourselveshumbly to those who receive andwelcome us. They are acting as ourspiritual hosts. This is not a subjugationbased upon being defeated and thenfeeling conquered. Rather it is basedupon the conviction that respect forothers is the thing that draws humanpersons to mutual understanding.

The Sap of FaithThe young students come and gounder this simple sign of our faith.The stone cross becomes a silentwitness of a relationship that growsdaily. As Francis often reminds hisfriars: “The Lord came to serve andnot to be served.” This is the way ofthe lesser brother, Friars Minor. Thedaily work of the brothers is a servicethat strengthens bonds with others,always searching for a sense of God-given equality.

Mustafa, Khadija, Mounir, Na-dia,Mariam, Redouan and so many otherstudents are people that have grownup being nourished by their owncreedal system. Their faith has devel-oped on the sap that has circulatedacross innumerable generations. Eventhough the same God that we knowprovides this sap, their faith is differ-ent from our own. Minority is accept-ing this faith and the brother orsister who professes it. It is acceptinghis or her pathway as valid, althoughdifferent from ours. Minority isaccepting that this faith leads thesebrothers and sisters to the same Godwho is offered and is shared each dayin our little chapel.

Oct/Nov 2008

Waiting PatientlyMinority is not always being able toproclaim the Word of God as we areaccustomed, with lively voice and withdetailed explanations. Minority is waitingpatiently for the right moment toproclaim this Word. Minority is, in themeantime, seeking to personify the Wordby way of one’s daily life, a thing theseyoung Muslims are able to read easily. Inthis way, opportunities begin to surface.The friars discover that minority is notabout being naïve but about being lesser.It is about being simple and always beingavailable to demonstrate who this God iswho lives within us — despite the factthat this witness is not always under-stood.

Days pass and the young Muslimscontinue crossing our threshold,convinced that we are not here in orderto change their faith, but simply to servethem. By means of the daily routine ofour lives, however, we continue learningabout one another as well. Minority isaccepting that we will not always see theimmediate fruit of our efforts, but thatone day another generation will savourthis fruit. Is this not perhaps what Fran-cis aspired to in his first encounter withthe sultan? ��

The friars in Morocco share whatit means to be a humble, lovingpresence, true Friars Minor, among a Muslim people.

A DifferentMission:Friars inMorocco

23

In Morocco: the witness of a Franciscan presence

THINKAGAIN

St Anthony Brief24

FR KIERAN CRONIN, OFM,offers some practical

pointers for when we encounter

difficulties in prayer.

Problems in PrayerThere are many factors which make

prayer difficult for the normal, non-saintly Christian. Some are to do withthe type of person we are, either interms of our psychological make-up orour upbringing. Thus, some people areby temperament restless, unable to sitstill, always having to be “on the go.”Others lack imagination and find it hardto focus on God. Ask them to meditateon a Gospel passage and they just can’tpicture it. Our religious upbringing mayhave implanted destructive images ofGod in our minds and hearts — thejudge, the policeman, the tax-man ormoral auditor — all of which can lead usto pray to a false god or idol rather thanthe loving Father of Jesus, the God whois, first and foremost, our Comforter.Sometimes the things that happen to usin life, the hard knocks and crosses,make us angry at God, or worse, indiffer-ent. However, instead of going into all ofthese issues I would like to focus onwhat frequently results from them whichis the common difficulty of distraction inprayer. This is surely one of the mostannoying things we experience when wetry to pray. After a few minutes our mindwanders and we find ourselves milesaway from our starting point as one idealeads to another and then to another, sothat when we eventually realise what ishappening we can wonder how on earthwe got to thinking about collecting ourdry cleaning when a few minutes ago wewere concentrating on the first joyfulmystery of the rosary!

Attention and IntentionThere is nothing quite like distractions inprayer to cause us to feel frustrated andguilty. And such discouragement whenpraying can tempt a person in two mainways — either to give up praying as adead loss or to go back to the beginning

FFor the ordinary believer in Goddaily prayer should be a joyfulprivilege, but often it turns out

to be a burdensome obligation, besetby all sorts of problems and difficul-ties. Instead of drawing us into aserene and peaceful relationship witha loving God, prayer can be full ofdistractions which may lead us to feelguilty and inadequate. Why is it that Ifeel so often that watching CoronationStreet or some other televisionprogramme is a much more attractiveoption than saying the rosary or justsitting in silence in the presence of myMaker? In my article this month I wouldlike to confront some of these issues inthe hope of helping those who struggleto pray to take their prayers seriouslywithout feeling unreasonable guilt. Inparticular, I want to highlight animportant distinction in the practice ofprayer between difficulties and imped-iments.

Oct/Nov 2008 25

of one’s prayer and start over again. Wecould overcome these temptations andmake prayer considerably less burden-some if we took to heart a distinctionmade by St Thomas Aquinas in his maindiscussion of prayer. He argues that whatis most important in prayer is our inten-tion to pray and that attention, thoughimportant, is not absolutely necessary.

This may sound rather surprisingsince many of us were brought up tothink that attention is the key to prayer.We must, as we pray, keep our mindsdirected on God or Mary or the saints. Tothink of other things, which is theessence of distraction, implies that wehave stopped praying, so that the wordswe have been mouthing since thedistractions began have been a waste oftime; hence the urge to start afresh. ButAquinas disagrees; the really importantthing is that when we began to pray weintended to converse with God, and aslong as we do not deliberately changethat intention we continue to pray, eventhough we are distracted. God sees ourintention and counts what we say asprayer even if we are thinking aboutsomething else, such as the footballmatch coming up on television in anhour’s time.

Intention is something that we format a particular moment, but it remainsoperative over time even when we arenot thinking of it consciously. So, whenwe decide to go shopping we willnormally intend to come home whenfinished, but that doesn’t mean that wemust be thinking of coming home everyminute we are choosing our groceries orwhen paying for them at the checkout orwhen talking to a neighbour we happento meet on the way home. Our originalintention carries us home without ourbeing attentive to it all the time.

Applying this to prayer, imagine thatyou decide to pray the rosary, that is,you intend to pray and all goes well for afew minutes until, without beingconscious of what is happening, you findthat you are thinking of the characters inCoronation Street — as long as you donot realise that you are distracted, yourintention remains the same and you arestill praying. Only if you recognise thatyou are thinking of the programmeinstead of praying, and deliberatelydecide to focus on that, does your inten-

tion change from praying to thinking oftelevision. But, of course, in most caseswhen we sense we are distracted we willcorrect ourselves, reaffirm our intentionand continue to pray. Just as your inten-tion to return home after shoppingcauses you to come home without alwaysbeing attentive to that plan, so too yourintention to pray causes you to pray evenif you are not always thinking of God.

God sees our intentions and is happywhen we intend to pray. No doubt beingattentive to God’s loving presence makesour prayers better over all and is morecomforting for us, but we should notforget that God understands our weak-ness in being open to distractions andaccepts our poor prayers so long as wedo not deliberately give in to thosedistractions. And one thing certainly

A child’s prayer: later prayer can become more difficult

26 St Anthony Brief

are not interested in what we pray for,why should God be? Or suppose we comecloser to home, to a prayer we feelobliged to offer in order to overcomesome bad personal fault. Imagine yourfault is being unforgiving and you prayfor the gift of forgiveness when you arereally quite content with your bitterheart. This is a bit like the story about StAugustine praying for the grace ofchastity but adding the condition: “notquite yet, Lord.” We should not besurprised at the degree of dishonestythat can enter into our relationship withGod, but He cannot be fooled. The Lord

follows from this, namely the admonitionnot to feel you have to go back over yourprayers because you were distractedthrough no fault of your own.

Impediments to PrayerI have suggested that difficulties inprayer, while frustrating, do not invali-date what we are doing. However,impediments to prayer are a more seri-ous matter as they undermine ourprayers completely. We may think we arepraying. We may use all the right wordsand phrases, but our prayer does noteven get off the ground! There are twomain examples of such impediments:lack of faith and lack of desire.

Faith is absolutely essential toprayer, especially in relation to prayer ofpetition. Somewhere in the Scripturesthere is a saying that if we believe wehave received something we will surelyget it. In other words, prayer requires anabsolute confidence that God can give uswhat we ask if it is His will to grant it.When we face some problem in life weshould never come to God as a lastresort, pleading apologetically: “Lord ifyou can do anything, please help me.” Ifyou can! Of course God can do anythingthat is logically possible for God to do.To suggest otherwise is to show absenceof faith in God’s absolute power andlove. The only condition we must includein our prayer is: “Lord if this is yourwill.” “Lord, I know you can do this forme, but I accept that in your providencewhat I may ask for is not the best thingfor me (or another) in the long run.” Topray without basic faith is not to pray atall in spite of impressive words. We arethen simply “babbling like the pagans”as Jesus mentions in the Gospel.

The second impediment to prayer islack of true desire for the object of ourprayer. This is related to the fact thatreal prayer must come from a sincereand passionate heart. How common it isfor people to pray for something out ofpoliteness? This happens quite a lot inpublic prayer where intercessions aremade which simply do not touch ourlives. The priest at Mass prays for peacein Iraq, say, but we couldn’t be botheredwith what happens in such a far awayplace. So, we politely murmur: “Lordgraciously hear us” in a less than half-hearted response. But is this reallyprayer, when our heart is not in it? If we

sees our hearts and will not recognise asprayer something that we do not reallywant. Get your heart in order first, Hesays, before you begin praying to me.Maybe we need to pray for the desire tobe able to forgive before asking to beable to forgive a specific person?

We should not be fatalistic about thepossibility of improving the quality of ourcommunication with God. Once werecognise the problems and admit ourpart in them, our powerfully loving Godwill send His Spirit into our hearts tohelp us to pray. Come Holy Spirit andchange our words into prayer. ��

Desire: the Lord looks to the heart

FAITH INACTION

27Oct/Nov 2008

Introduction by Gearóid…John Tiernan visited Assisi in June 2008and the story of Francis made a deepimpression on him. John is a teacher inthe Marist College, Athlone, and hasplayed senior county football forRoscommon. John was a member of theAthlone Fairtrade committee I workedwith while in Athlone in 2005/2006.After Athlone received the status of aFairtrade town, John went on to workwith another voluntary group ofcommitted people to achieve Fairtradestatus for Roscommon town. Theyachieved it earlier this year. He iscurrently a member of the Commissionfor Justice and Social Affairs of thedioceses of Ardagh and Clonmacnois

What Assisi Meant to MeIn this issue FR GEARÓID Ó CONAIRE, OFM, shares his pages with

John Tiernan who reflects on his first visit to Assisi.

and takes a special interest in theirplan to become a Fairtrade diocese. Hisappetite for social justice was whettedwhen he volunteered to work in anorphanage for a few months in 2005 inSantiago, Guatemala, near the famousLake Atitlan. He met local coffee farm-ers and poor indigenous people tryingto make a living making and sellingcrafts for tourists. He continues tosupport them by creating informalmarkets through a network of friendsand family in Ireland.

Summer Experience in RomeOut of the blue, John called me inRome and offered to come to help mefor a few weeks in the Justice, Peace

and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Officein Rome. I work for the JPIC Commis-sion of the leadership of men’s andwomen’s religious congregations(USG/UISG), many of whose headquar-ters are based in Rome. There are over1,800 women’s institutes and 400 men’sinstitutes with close on a millionmembers worldwide. The Rosminianbrothers kindly offered him hospitality.It was great to have John working withme for two weeks. Unfortunately, dueto unforeseen circumstances, he had tocut short his stay. He managed to beginthe process of analysing over 100responses to a survey, sent out by ouroffice, to religious around the worldworking for the integrity of creation.

28 St Anthony Brief

San Damiano: wealth is more than money

We want to know what religious aredoing to live in a more sustainable wayand to promote a greater appreciationof the integrity of creation. We wouldlike to put them in touch with oneanother. Religious will be able to findout who else is trying to do similarprojects and contact them directly. Thisis a model of what I would like to seehappening in many other areas of socialjustice. Generally, religious are some-what connected to members of theirown congregations but not necessarilyto members of other congregations. Wehope to share some very concrete expe-riences as a way of encouraging othersto try something similar.

One weekend I was invited toPistoia, in Tuscany, to address a groupof Catholic journalists, at a conferenceorganised by an NGO to help journalistsunderstand environmental issues. I

invited John along and on our way wevisited Assisi. John had no idea whatAssisi was like. I subsequently askedhim to share some of his impressions. Ithink it is appropriate in this month ofOctober during which we rememberand celebrate the life and commitmentof one of the greatest human beingsever to live, St Francis of Assisi. Thefollowing is what John wrote and senton to me, which he subsequentlyagreed to have published in St Anthonybrief…

John’s Reflections onAssisi…When Fr Gearóid asked me if I wishedto visit the town of Assisi, I was indif-ferent to the suggestion. I was far moreinterested in visiting the more touristtrodden cities of Florence, Pisa andVenice during my stay in Italy and

taking in gondola rides, the LeaningTower and the statue of David. But howpleasantly surprised I was when wefinally got off the bus and began towalk down the cobblestone streets tovisit the churches of St Francis and StClare. In Fr Gearóid I had an enthusias-tic tour guide who seemed to comealive here, as if it was his spiritualhome. He was like a lifelong Elvis fanwho had finally reached the gates ofGraceland! But his “Elvis” was a littleman called Francis. Coming fromAthlone in central Ireland, I was awareof the Franciscan way of life, of theirbrown habit and their devotion toprayer. But it was only when I arrived inAssisi that I learned that the Franciscanway of life is so much more. St Francishas inspired so many people in the last800 years to free themselves frompossessions, rejoice in everything

Fairtrade: John meets President McAleese at a Fairtrade event

stood for. In order for the world tobecome a more sustainable place tolive for all its peoples, it’s going torequire a “modern day Francis” to bebrave in the face of huge challenges, to

show unwavering love in the face ofhatred and ignorance, and to show theworld that we are essentially all thesame. God’s children sharing this beau-tiful earth for a short time. ����

29

provided by God on this earth and tolive the words of the Gospel. It is asimple lifestyle choice and yet it ismost profound.

The Search for HappinessListening to Francis’ life story and howhe discovered true happiness is inspir-ing. We search our whole lives lookingfor happiness but we simply look in thewrong places. I guess it is the world welive in today that would have us believewe need our possessions. Marketing andadvertising is big business nowadaysand it’s becoming harder and harder tohave the revelations that Francis had.

Oscar Wilde said that: “Routine isthe last refuge of the unimaginative.”Francis could have taken the easyoption and followed in his father’s foot-steps, but he was brave (ironicallybraver than any soldier) and decided toreject the easy life for one of poverty.

Upon leaving Assisi I felt I had beensomewhere very spiritual. To see FrGearóid enthuse at everything roundhim was like standing beside a modernday Francis! And rightly so; Franciscansacross the world have been inspired bythe simple ideology of the little manfrom Assisi and are committed to carry-ing his message throughout the world.

Application to LifeI now must take what I have learnedfrom my time with Fr Gearóid andapply this to my own life in Ireland. Iam an economics teacher by professionand have been preaching the merits ofcapitalism to my students for the pastfew years, thus fuelling the modern dayideology that “more is good” andwealth can only be measured in mone-tary terms. But as we enter an era ofradical realisation that the capitalistmodel is about to self-destruct, our oilis about to run out and our food supplyis decreasing even though our popula-tion is growing, we need to take a stepback and take a deep breath. I believethe answer to our ecological chal-lenges, our Third World challenges anda “cold war” developing between Chris-tianity and Islam lie at the heart ofFranciscan teaching. Francis is a char-acter that transcends boundaries. WhenI think of Francis I don’t see the man inthe brown habit, but rather what he

Oct/Nov 2008

WE ARE LOOKING FOR PROMOTERS OF OUR MONTHLY DRAWWe are looking for supporters of our mission who will take one book of tickets a month.

Please help us. Buy a book yourself. Write for a book to sell to your friends.Will you buy or sell for us:

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Please send me ............ Books for Next DrawName: ...............................................................................................Address:.....................................................................................................................................................................................................Phone No: ........................................................................................

St Anthony Brief

Mission DigestMission Digest

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CCCCeeeennnnttttrrrraaaallllAAAAmmmmeeeerrrriiiiccccaaaannnnSSSSnnnnaaaappppsssshhhhoooottttssss

Guatemala City: Br Michael Lenihan with Br Santiago.

Remembering the martyrs: Fr Ciaran O Nuanain with theSecretary at the Justice and Peace Office, San Salvador.

Srs Peter and Lucy: Sr Peter Coleman co-ordinates the El Salvador Awareness Office in Dublin.

Pastoral Sister: Sr Felipa on her rounds.

SSince my ordination in 1971 I kept closecontact with youth, to nourish themwith spiritual food in retreats, seminars

and pilgrimages. I have continued the workwith youth in Africa, since here young peoplemake up most of the Church. I guided voca-tion-camps and involved myself in the promo-tion of vocations. The Catholic Church inAfrica is still young and still needs spiritualinput and the witness to Christian values andvirtues. The most powerful way to influencethe youth is the institution of the YCS, theYoung Christian Students. The YCS exists inalmost each of the secondary schools inKenya. I was involved in establishing theCatholic Youth Centre Mji wa Furaha inNairobi in 1989. I like to work with the youthas they struggle towards adulthood and matu-rity in life. This work is most effective, influ-ential and sustainable.

In innumerable talks, I accompanied youngboys and girls towards a mature decisionconcerning a vocation for religious life, forthe priesthood and for married life. Becauseof the condition of poverty the chances foreducation in different forms are oftenlimited. To attend courses, classes and schoolscosts money — this is very often limited.Thanks to the generosity of donors, funds andresources are made available for the impor-tant areas of education and human develop-ment. Many young people from poor familieswere sponsored by well wishers.

To build up a functioning society theChurch has to play a positive role and be agood influence for a long time to come in allareas of the society. The real power of eman-cipation and liberation is the Lord Himself forthe betterment of all people in the society.The Church has to remain thoughtful, creativeand open to new horizons, to lift up frompoverty, to extinguish discrimination, to stopviolence of any kind at the grassroots. Theprocess of growth can only function in an envi-ronment of peace, justice and freedom. What Iwas taught by my parents and in the years ofmy schooling remains still very valuable as aninspiration in my life. I recall with gratitudethe healthy and successful education and guid-ance of my childhood in which all my relatives,family members, teachers and preachers wereinvolved.

I enjoyed the past 25 years of work in themissions. I see a growing self-awareness andself-esteem among the youth in all areas ofthe society and of public life. There areadvances in education, social awareness,participation in business, trade, politicaltasks, taking risks, being creative in sports,arts, public affairs. I see growth among theyouth in the solving of problems, followingvalues, avoiding idleness, showing qualities ofleadership, being aware of harming anddestructive influences. All this growth in spiteof an often limited framework and evenhostile environment. ����

The Church is Young

Kenya: the energy of the young

The Germanfriar, HERMANNBORG, OFM,reflects on hisministry inKenya, after 25 years as amissionary in Africa.

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