SSTT AANNTTHHOONNYY bbrriieeff IRISH FRANCISCAN MISSION MAGAZINE No.3 APR/MAY 2007 €1.00 CCrryyiinngg OOuutt tthhee GGoossppeell WWiitthh MMyy LLiiffee

RReelliiggiioonn iinn tthhee CCrroosssshhaaiirrss LLiivviinngg LLiiffee oonn tthhee EEddggee TThhee TThhrreeee LLaawwss ooff tthhee UUnniivveerrssee On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.

– Douglas Horton Spirit and Life

2 St Anthony Brief SSTT ANTHONANTHONYY briefbrief 4 From the Editor. Crying Out the Gospel with My Life. ANALENA TONELLI, an 5 Italian lay missionary, gives her extraordinary testimony of serving those most in need in Africa for many years.

Living Life on the Edge. SR BOZENA STENCEL, FMM, chose 8 to live with those on the margins of society in Manaus, Brazil.

The Light Shines Out in the Darkness. What has been taking 10 place in the Franciscan parish of Medjugorje has been the source of much discussion. FR THOMAS RUSSELL, OFM, believes the hand of God is there. 12 Church Brief. Prophets of Peace. JEAN VANIER, founder of L’Arche 13 Community, sees the way to peace marked out by the simple and humble.

Religion in the Crosshairs. FR JOHN FLYNN looks at recent 14 attacks on religious belief.

Religion is Good for You. FR FRANCIS COTTER, OFM, looks at 16 the benefits of authentic religion. 19 Pope John Paul on Mary’s Easter Joy. A Franciscan Treasure. Fr PAT CONLAN, OFM, continues the 20 story of St Anthony’s College, Louvain. 22 News from Around the Franciscan World. The Franciscan Contribution to Ireland’s Story. The Taoiseach, 23 BERTIE AHERN, praises the great contributions Franciscans have Volume 67 No.3 made to Irish culture and scholarship. Missionary Magazine of the Irish Franciscans. Published bi-monthly by the Franciscan Missionary Union, The Greatness of Silence. FR KIERAN CRONIN, OFM, reflects 8 Merchants Quay, Dublin 8. 24 on the richness of silence. Cover: Sr Paul, Poor Clare community, Cork. Editor: Fr Ulic Troy, OFM. The Three Laws of the Universe. FR GEARÓID Ó CONAIRE, Production: Fr Francis Cotter, OFM. 27 OFM, sees the need for a new vision of our place in the world. Subscription & Distribution Secretary: Helen Doran. Tel: (01) 6777651. Design, Layout & Printing: Mission Digest. Corcoran Print & Design. Tel: (053) 9234760. 30 Subscription including Postage: God and the Poor. FR ANDREAS MULLER, OFM, reflects on how Ireland – €12.00 per annum 31 the Christian response to the poor comes from our understanding of God. Britain – Stg£10.00 per annum Overseas – €15.00 per annum

April/May 2007 3 From the Editor…

SUFFERING SERVANT Lent is a special time in the life of a Christian and in the life of the Church. It is a time to be with Christ in a special way. It is a time to pray, to fast, and to follow Him on His way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death. It is a time when we make a conscious effort to stop listening to those voices that speak about prestige, success, glamour, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. It is a time when we strive to follow and choose the narrow road. Lent is also a time when we try to reach out to other people, to those who are sick and to those who are burdened with one trouble or another. On Holy Thursday we have the marvel- lous example of Christ Himself, at the Last Supper, taking a towel and washing the feet of Fr Ulic Troy His own disciples. In this simple act of washing their feet, He was pointing out the way and telling His disciples in very clear terms – men who at that time were wondering and arguing among themselves as to who would be the greatest in His kingdom – that this was the road to follow. The road of service was the correct, true and only road. On that Holy Thursday night when Jesus took a towel and started washing the disciples’ feet, He deliberately demonstrated humility (service) to be the mark of both the individual who followed Him, and of the Church that He established. There could be no room for arrogance or pride. He pointed out that there could be no ministry of reconciliation where arrogance is manifested, and there could be no ministry of healing possible if those seeking to be channels of God’s power lacked humility. Arrogance, whether encountered in a politician, preacher or any crusading group, is simply unacceptable. Some weeks back I visited our missionary friars who are ministering in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Lusaka (Zambia). Here, at first hand, I witnessed men who are ministering and collaborating with other religious sisters – Franciscan, Mercy, Charity and committed lay people, in bringing Good News to people who are suffering in one form or another. In the places that I visited, I witnessed people who are suffering from Hiv/Aids and other diseases receiving medical care and attention. I witnessed young orphans being cared for and educated. I saw, at first hand, how young mothers were being trained in different skills, in order to provide some form of income for themselves and their children. I looked at plans, in the making, to provide housing for people who cannot afford it. I witnessed the formation of young Franciscan men and Poor Clare sisters in the religious and priestly way of life, who will carry the message of Sts Francis and Clare to their own people. But above all else, I witnessed people receiving food, care, support, so that they could live. Sadly, many of these people are living in conditions and situations brought about by selfishness, arrogance and pride. All of those friars, sisters and lay people had simply one request to make. They asked that I would convey their sincere thanks to you, and to all who support their work by prayer and financial contributions. They are deeply conscious that the work they do could not take place without your help and support. In this issue of St Anthony brief I thank all of you for your financial and prayerful support of these men and women who are reaching out and who “wash the feet” of so many people. I thank you for your wonderful generosity and pray that the Lord will bless and reward you in many ways. – Ulic Troy, OFM

Our cover photo: Sr Paul, a member of the Poor Clare community in Cork. It was sent by Sr Colette-Marie. Sr Paul is from Portumna, Co Galway. She joined the Poor Clares in 1940. A diamond jubilarian, she is still going strong! Our thanks to all those who sent photographs for this issue’s cover.

4 St Anthony Brief Crying Out The Gospel With My Life

ANALENA TONELLI, an Italian lay missionary, gives her extraordinary testimony of SOMALIA serving those most in need in Africa for many years.

y name is Analena Tonelli. I was born in Forli, Italy, on 2nd April MM1943. I left Italy in January 1969. Since then I have lived serving Somalis. These have been years of shar- ing. I have almost always lived with the Somalis, first with the Somalis of north- west Kenya, and then with the Somalis of Somalia. I decided to be for other people — the poor, the suffering, the abandoned, the unloved — when I was a little girl and this is what I have been and will continue to be until the end of my life. I wanted to follow only Jesus Christ. Nothing else interested me so strongly: He and the poor in Him. For Him, I chose radical poverty. I live at the service of others without a name, without the security of a religious order, without belonging to any organisation, without pension payments being paid on my behalf for when I am old. I did not marry because this is what I chose with joy to do when I was young. I wanted all of myself to be for God. I have friends in Italy and elsewhere who have helped me and my people all these years. Everything that I have done I

April/May 2007 5 have been able to do thanks to them. made my life a heaven on earth during six months. I decided to invite the The needs are great. I thank God for my 17 years in the desert, left me after nomads to come to a piece of the having given such friends to me and for I was forced to leave Kenya. That was in desert in front of the Rehabilitation continuing to give them to me. 1984. The government of Kenya tried to Centre for the Disabled. We called it TB commit genocide against a tribe of Mamyatta. For six months the adminis- An Unconquerable Passion nomads who lived in the desert. They tration of the medicines was absolutely I left Italy after six years of service to wanted to exterminate 50,000 people; regular — something that was almost a the poor in one of the slums of my city they managed to kill 1,000. I of birth: the children of the local managed to prevent the foundling hospital, the mentally handi- massacre from being carried capped children and the victims of to its completion. For this major traumas in a family home, and reason, I was deported a year the poor from the Third World. I later. Some 16 years have thought that I could not give of myself gone by and the government totally if I stayed in my own country: of Kenya has publicly admit- the boundaries of my action seemed to ted its responsibility, has me so tight, so suffocating. I soon asked for forgiveness, and has understood that one can serve and love promised compensation for everywhere, but by now I was in Africa the families of the victims. and I felt that God had brought me At the time of the there and there I stayed with joy and massacre I was arrested and gratitude. brought before a military I left committed to “crying out the court. The authorities, all of Gospel with my life,” following on from them non-Somalis, all Chris- Charles de Foucauld, who had ignited tians, told me that they had my existence. Many years later I cry out arranged two ambushes which the Gospel with my life alone and burn I providentially avoided, but with the desire to continue to cry it out that I would not have escaped until the end. This is my basic motiva- another. Then one of them, a tion, together with an unconquerable Christian, asked me what had passion, which I have always had, for led me to behave in that way. those who are wounded and reduced I replied that I did it for Jesus without deserving such a fate, beyond Christ who asks us to give our considerations of race, culture and lives for our friends. faith. I try to live with extreme respect for those that the Lord has given me. Tuberculosis Where possible I have adopted their I live deeply immersed style of life. I live a very modest life in amongst the poor, the sick, my housing, my food, my means of and those whom nobody transport, and my clothes. I sponta- loves. I am largely concerned neously abandoned Western habits. I with the control and treatment of miracle for Africa. At the end of six have looked for dialogue with other tuberculosis. Tuberculosis was wide- months the camels arrived and the people. I have given care, love, loyalty spread in Somalia for centuries. It is whole caravan returned to the desert. and passion. I hope the Lord will forgive thought that almost the whole of the This programme has since become me if the words I have spoken are on population was infected. Those with the world policy of the WHO for the too great a scale. tuberculosis are put in a ward for hope- control of tuberculosis in the world, and less cases. I immediately began to study is one of the best instruments by which A Muslim World and to observe, and every day I passed to guarantee the compliance of the sick I live in a world that is rigidly Muslim. I with them, I served them on my knees. person with the treatment. TB Mamy- lived for 15 years in Boorama in the In 1976 I was asked to become the atta was a great adventure of love, a extreme northwest of the country on head of a project of the World Health gift of God. the border with Ethiopia and Djibouti. Organisation (WHO) to deal with tuber- Two times a year, at Christmas and culosis in the nomad population, a pilot The Spread of Aids Easter, the bishops of Djibouti came to project for the whole of Africa. I was Just think that in Boorama, a centre say Mass for me and with me. I live asked to invent a system to ensure that which has 50,000 inhabitants, we have alone because the companions of my sick people received the anti-tuberculo- diagnosed and treated 1,500 people journey, who together with the poor sis treatment every day for a period of suffering from tuberculosis each year,

6 St Anthony Brief almost all of whom had positive sputum, sioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for our despised by the Somalis — they work in above all during the early years. We people, a laboratory built by the United iron, in leather, are barbers, and are now have the problem of Aids. For three Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hunters of small game. They have never years now we have been seeing people and almost 100 huts for those sick people sent their children to school. They are with TB and Aids, but the problem is who cannot find a place in their own ghettoised, their girls do not marry boys spreading. We got down to 800 cases village — some come from far away. from other clans and their boys do not last year, but the presence of Hiv is marry girls from other clans. They are A School in rebellion against God and men In the TB Centre we have opened because of their status of being the schools for the patients and their rejected, the despised and the margin- friends. Also, thanks to two alised. They are great workers. Many of obstetric nurses on my staff and them were ill with TB and thus they had two sheiks, we are engaging in a the opportunity to go to the school in campaign in the region to eradi- the TB Centre, and thus it was sponta- cate the mutilation of female neous for them to ask us to agree to genitals and infibulation. And it is educate their children. also thanks to our staff that we It then happened that some intellec- have an eye camp twice a year. A tuals and then some rich people came team of eye specialists, friends of to beseech us to accept their children many years standing, come to the in our school because it is a serious centre. Over a period of four days school and there is discipline, and our they operate on an average of 330 teachers are committed, love teaching, blind people, who suffer for the love children, and are well trained. And most part from cataracts. During we decided to accept them. Today the the last camp, which was held in school is a wonderful mixture of chil- August, they surpassed them- dren from every background, with all selves. They restored sight to 450 kinds of personal histories, of every kind blind people. The people are infi- of capability. nitely grateful for this service. A school for deaf children had Hundred Fold never been opened, nor one for I have given a lot to the Somalis. I have blind children or mentally handi- received a lot from the Somalis. The capped children. University profes- greatest value that they have given sors did not believe that it was me, a value that I am still not able to possible to educate a deaf child live out, is that of an extended family, until they saw our school. Nobody as a result of which, at least within the thought it was possible. In the clan, everything is shared. But the meantime, people spoke increas- most extraordinary gift, the gift for ingly about us, about the miracles which I thank God and them forever that were occurring in our school. and for always, is the gift of my rapidly on the increase. In a country And thus it was that the High Commis- nomads in the desert. They are Muslims like Somalia, in which tuberculosis is sioner for Refugees offered to build a and they have taught me to do every- endemic, tuberculosis is the first oppor- real school for us. thing, to work completely in the name tunistic illness developed by people In 1998 we built four classrooms, an of God. And then life has taught me suffering from Aids. office for the teachers, a small store- that my faith without love is useless. We are working very intensely to room, and bathrooms. Then our friends Jesus Christ never spoke about results. ensure that the population becomes of Forlì built two other classrooms, and He spoke only about loving us, about aware of the problem and fights both some English Protestant friends built washing each other's feet, and about internally and externally to make sure three classrooms and two bathrooms, and always forgiving. The poor are waiting that patterns of behaviour change, and then once again our friends from Forlì for us. The ways of serving are infinite that the spread of Aids is checked. I built another classroom. On the piece of and left to the imagination of each one began five years ago with 30 beds and land that the community gave us there is of us. an increasing number of huts for the still room for another classroom. seriously ill who could not obtain a bed Analena’s powerful testimony appears in a ward, until I had more than 200. A Good Mix in full on the website of the Pontifical Today I have 200 beds, eight wards built Over the last two years we have taken Council for Health Care Ministry: by the United Nations High Commis- in 30 children belonging to a clan www.healthpastoral.org I

April/May 2007 7 Living Life on the Edge

atin America in the last decade has been living through a SR BOZENA STENCEL, FMM, along with LLphenomenon of intense rural four other Franciscan sisters, chose to live exodus, resulting in the rapid and disor- ganised growth of cities. According to with those on the margins of society in the statistics, the urban population of the country is now 78%. Manaus, Brazil. Manaus, capital of Amazonas State in northern Brazil, has also been faced In the year 2003 we began to visit tions and housing are very precarious: with this situation. In 1970 the city held the missionary area of Taruma, one of lack of electricity, water, paved streets, 312,160 inhabitants but the numbered the peripheries that was being organ- and means of transportation. Most of had doubled by 1980. Today the Manaus ised. The territory is immense, divided the houses are built with a mixture of population is thought to have risen to into ten communities. The living condi- bricks, pieces of wood and plastic. The two million people. Many are immi- grants from the interior of Amazonas, from other Brazilian states, and from the neighbouring countries, Colombia Sr Terezinha visits a and Peru. They come in search of family employment, housing, the right to health and education — in short, look- ing for a better and more dignified life. For many, this dream is not easily achieved.

Missionary Enthusiasm Recent pastoral assemblies of the Manaus archdiocese have shown concern about the outlying sections of the city that grow day by day due to lack of policy for housing. We FMM sisters also feel this as a challenge. We had some experience of pastoral work on the outskirts, living and travelling there several days each week. Now the situation has worsened. We are fewer and more limited, but this has not quenched our missionary enthusiasm.

8 St Anthony Brief families who have settled on plots of land have no ownership title. Many families live without fixed employment, and children and youth are without schooling. Also lacking are health clin- ics for the sick. With our small resources and possibilities, what could we do faced with these situations?

New Missionary Areas Five sisters of the Manaus communities decided to take up this challenge, committing ourselves to the “Sister Communities Project.” It is an arch- diocesan project carried out in collabo- ration with religious of other congrega- tions and committed lay people. The better organised parishes help new Srs Terezinha and Bozena at the construction site of one of missionary areas. We sisters divided ourselves among different communities the community centres for the work. At the beginning every- thing was very simple: home visits, their homes. Among these is Auxili- esis, etc. Taruma missionary zone conversation, listening in order to know adora, mother of three small children already relies on the presence of reli- the people and be able to understand with haemophilia living in a canvas hut. gious communities established here. In their situation better. Little by little Also Dilma who cares for her paralysed the years that the projects have contin- other challenges arose such as help in mother and three children and main- ued, some things have improved and preparation for Sunday celebrations, tains the family by selling crocheted others still have to change. For us initiation into baptismal catechesis, tablecloths. A man obtained permanent sisters it is a very valid experience of Bible circles in the homes, etc. By employment, guaranteeing the liveli- collaboration, sharing and communion. January 2004, it was already possible to hood of his wife and five children. He is We feel we are a living part of the soci- hold the first Pastoral Assembly of the also very committed to the task of ety and Church of Manaus. We seek to missionary area, which chose the community co-ordination. continue our option for the poor, espe- following priorities: organisation of The formation school, begun by a cially those on the margins. communities, human and pastoral team to which I belong, continues I formation. working in the areas of liturgy, catech- - from Meeting Space Our presence is not limited to solely pastoral work. We also support an organisation to claim basic rights. It is a joy to see people in the community, threatened with having to leave their lands, obtain ownership titles. There have been difficult situations at the family level also: illnesses, deaths caused by violence, unemployment, family crises, etc. In some of these situations we managed to help; in others we felt powerless.

Things are Changing Today several things have changed. The children of St Peter’s Park Community already have a school. In another place a chapel has been built or rather the walls and roof. Little by little the construction will be completed. With the assistance of the FMM Srs Conceicao and Catalina at a community gathering projects, some families are improving

April/May 2007 9 TThhee LLiigghhtt SShhiinneess OOuutt iinn tthhee DDaarrkknneessss

associate Knock and Medjugorje with dense opaque darkness. Irish of Peace speaking Croatian. Many people would Catholics in the 19th century lived in a world where they had no see “the short word in gold” — MIR (peace) painted IIrights, no votes, no land tenure, no freedom, no education, no across the sky. Yet dark days were about hope. They were scourged with rackrents and tithes. Successive to dawn in the Balkans as epidemics led on to the famine that killed over a million of them. Yugoslavia broke apart. Then one wet August evening in 1879, a bright light shone on the gable end of the Knock church in County Mayo. “Bhí gile neamh- choitianta timpeall ar bhinn ar tséipéil” as visionary Bridget Trench put it. A light from heaven had pierced the gloom. Mary had come to console God’s people. Medjugorje in Herzogovina had been afflicted by 400 years of Turkish rule. The Muslims allowed small coastal enclaves like Dubrovnik to exist. A heavy annual tax in gold was the price. Franciscans could serve people as the Turks had known these “men in sandals” in the Holy Land. The friars would merge with the rugged Connemara-like landscape. But the Croatians then faced two world wars and long years of communist dictator- ship. Again, in 1981, a light shone from The Way above and has not been quenched yet. As visionary Vicka put it: “Our Lady of the Cross: descends in the midst of immensely pilgrims come in beautiful light.” Mary came to the people as a kind, courteous, appreciative Queen their millions

10 St Anthony Brief Apparition Hill: What has been Queen of Peace taking place in the pray for us Franciscan parish of Medjugorje has been the source of much discussion. FR THOMAS RUSSELL, OFM, believes the hand of God is there.

Days Filled With Prayer It is fair to mention the awesome figure A New Enquiry The parishioners have been heroic in of Fr Slavko Barberic, OFM. He came as “A little bit of heaven fell from out the continuing with the prayer programme spiritual director to the young visionaries skies one day.” It seems so true in asked for by the Gospa, Our Lady. The and went on to be an inspiring pastoral Medjugorje. The hand of God is here. parish church of St James remains the presence in the parish. His interviews and The local Bishop of Mostar has had centre of activities as Masses, rosaries books in many languages helped spread the some problems discerning the ongoing and adoration times fill the day. One message. He began the Children’s Village situation. It was good then that a new can hardly describe the atmosphere at for war orphans of the Bosnian conflict. He commission of enquiry was set up in the evening holy hour as people of all found an old army shooting range and 2006 to help examine every aspect of countries are lost in adoration. This turned it into a peace park, St Francis’ this event, now past its silver jubilee. atmosphere of prayer and faith spills Garden. His grave is a place of peace and The enquiry invites our prayers. over into the town and activities such pilgrimage, his stature ever-increasing. His “And why would Our Lady come to as climbing the Apparition Hill confrere, Fr Jozo Zovko, OFM, was parish visit you in Knock?” (Podbrdo) or Cross Mountain (Krizevac). priest at the time the apparitions began in “And why wouldn’t she? Weren’t The parish had erected this huge cross May 1981, and continues to work with great we of all people the most to be enclosing a relic of the true cross sent energy in the region. pitied!” I by Pope Pius XI back in 1933. You may have never been to Medju- gorje but you may have gathered that it is famous as a place for going to confession. Every language group is catered for and visiting priests can help out for three or more hours each day. As confessions mean conversion you will have gathered that lives are turned around here. It is a place of mercy and hope as, for example, one sees in the Cenacolo community where young addicts are guided into freedom.

Shining Lights The six visionaries (Ivanka, Mirjana, Vicka, Ivan, Marija, and Jakov) are shin- ing lights. They are now in their 30s and married with families. They come and go, meet and pray with the pilgrims, talk and discuss, answer ques- tions and intercede for the pilgrims. Their quiet mystery is their daily or ongoing meetings with the gracious Gospa. St James’s Church: the centre of prayer and conversion

April/May 2007 11 ChurchChurch BriefBrief

Proclaiming Christ in the The situation of sects in the Amazon good action, but not enough. The govern- Amazon is a concern as it is in the rest of Brazil. ment intends to build roads, drains and Sergio Eduardo Castriani, 52, is no I think that in the Amazon their presence supply water and electricity for the stranger to the jungle. He is the bishop is less compared to other areas of Brazil. people. To do this it will have to demolish of the Tefe Prelature, which extends Although many have abandoned the some homes which will give rise to over an area the size of mainland Italy Church, not all have; they are not the protests. It will have to consider the rights and is located in the heart of the Brazil- majority. Moreover, our communities and of the slum dwellers in general and those ian Amazon region. In general, the popu- churches are full; we have much work in of individuals. Most important it will have lation lives on the banks of the rivers the Amazon, the Church is very alive, to offer alternative homes for people who that flood during the rainy season. They with many young people, many guides; are forced out of their huts to make room are descendants of the rubber workers people want to study, to learn, to partic- for a road or electricity.” and chestnut sellers. About three-quar- ipate. There is also a vocational move- To support Nairobi slum dwellers’ rights ters of the 215,000 inhabitants are ment that is beginning to work very well. to land and homes and call for the cancel- Catholic, served by 14 priests. lation of the foreign debt of Kenya with According to Bishop Castriani: “Virtu- Italy, the Campaign WNairobiW organisa- ally all the native groups already have tion has been started to co-ordinate or have had for centuries contact with missionaries and Italian and other associa- the Church; that is, the Church is not tions, Christian communities in Kenya just arriving there now. With very rare flanked by AfrikaSi, an association working exceptions, these native groups, includ- in several Nairobi slums. ing the nomads, who are also the most Started in 2004, the campaign has isolated, have already had contact with already obtained the suspension of the the Church. This contact has come about forced eviction of 300,000 slum dwellers in through an evangelisation which at Nairobi. Now it is working for the cancella- times has been a bit hasty, through tion of the foreign debt with Italy in order sacramentalisation and through devo- to “improve living conditions of the most tions. Because of this, the majority of vulnerable people in the capital of Kenya,” the native groups are Catholic in the a statement reads. sense that they have been baptised. They have Catholic devotions and feel School in “Refuse Collectors” themselves part of the Church. A work District of Cairo of evangelisation is being carried out A school opened by Comboni Fr Luciano with them, taking into account their Verdoscia for children in the Mansheya identity and history. It is the endeavour “refuse collectors” district of Cairo is of evangelisation to deepen the faith, giving rise to other similar projects. One that is, belief in Jesus Christ, and at the A child in the Amazon region of the reasons why Fr Luciano decided to same time to continue to be natives, plays a traditional game. open a school to promote education in the preserving their culture.” Mansheyit Nasser district in 2003 was the “It is different with those who still It is a paradoxical situation, in the sense absence at the time of a similar project have their traditional religion. They are that there is an invasion of these reli- not only in this district but in the whole of groups in which people approach the gious sects but there is also a great Cairo. There were plans for other projects Church with respect but with an atti- rebirth in the Catholic Church. for the promotion of women’s employment tude of dialogue. And dialogue presup- and a project to improve the overall poses that I am truly very convinced of Alleviating the Suffering in conditions in the “refuse collectors” what I believe, but that I respect that Nairobi Slums district of Cairo. But the Comboni project which the other believes. It is, in the “In Nairobi, Kenya, the problem of was the first of its kind. Today other simi- first place, a dialogue of life, that is, homeless people is serious. The welcome lar projects have been launched. The of coexistence, of humanly respecting rain which has come at last is a curse for programme aims to involve people of one another and then, little by little, slum dwellers” says Italian Consolata different religions, cultures and ethnic of revealing their own interior, creed, missionary Fr Eugenio Ferrari. “Thanks to origin in helping some of these unfortu- and of not having papers written ahead pressure from public opinion and reli- nate children to live a cleaner, healthier of time. Only God knows where gious organisations, including Catholic and brighter life. There is a centre where dialogue will end, and it is He who ones, the eviction order for 300,000 slum they can study and receive assistance and knows how much time will be neces- dwellers in the capital has been with- have better opportunities for work and sary.” drawn” the missionary said. “This was a also to promote tolerance and peace. I

12 St Anthony Brief Prophets ooff PPeeaaccee

JEAN VANIER, founder of L’Arche Community, sees the way to peace marked out by the simple and humble.

recently received a letter from greet the group, recognising Philip Kearney of L’Arche, who was their own. The joy that these IIin Jerusalem for a sabbatical, meetings give to those who telling me about a group of eight men approach is quite visible. Up who have severe intellectual and physi- until today this is the only cal disabilities. Two are Palestinian group that I have met with Muslims, three are Palestinian Chris- representatives of the three great reli- the gold medal in the 100-metre race. tians, and three are Israeli Jews. They gions of this land not only living The race began, and he made a good are quite happy to be together and to together day by day, but also walking start, but moments later the young man meet together and talk with each other. hand in hand in the streets of in the next lane slipped and fell. The They radiate a peace that is not found Jerusalem together.” young man who had been so anxious to in those in the larger community. They are prophets of peace, show- win immediately stopped, gave his hand Philip writes: “Once a week I go for ing the way to peace. Their cry for love to the fallen man, and pulled him up. a walk with this strange and wonderful can bring together men and women of Both continued to run, and both came group in the streets and parks… It’s different faith traditions and cultural in last! Our world would be a better quite an experience. Palestinians who backgrounds. They break down preju- place if we could all listen to this young have known them for many years come dice and call forth what is deepest in man and discover that compassion and up and greet them by putting their us. fellowship are more important than hands on their heads in a sort of A few years ago a young man with strength or winning or power. gesture of welcome and blessing. Then disabilities participated in the Special a little further on Israelis come up and Olympics. He wanted so much to win – Taken from Finding Peace I

Jerusalem – a city divided Jean Vanier with a friend

April/May 2007 13 RReelliiggiioonn iinn tthhee CCrroosssshhaaiirrss

FR JOHN FLYNN looks at recent attacks on religious belief.

rganised religion is coming in data which, she argued, showed that hates Judaism because it leads to for harsh criticism in many "in nearly all prosperous liberal democ- Christianity. His negative view of Chris- OOparts. English singer Elton John racies, atheism is strong." Bone tianity is well known, particularly after said religion turns people into "hateful accused religion of being "directly his infamous attacks on Mother Teresa lemmings." He also accused it of lack- responsible for countless world of Calcutta in the 1990s. In the midst ing compassion. The aging pop star's conflicts, resulting in the loss of of declaring his multiple hatreds, criticisms were sparked off by the millions of human lives." Religion is Hitchens declared: "I am absolutely matter of how religion deals with still a danger today, she contended: convinced that the main source of homosexuality. "I think religion has "The truth is that it is now too danger- hatred in the world is religion." always tried to turn hatred towards ous for religion to be given the special gay people," he said. status it has always had." Bone added: Anti-religious Books He is far from being alone in this "The best hope for a less religious and During the Toronto address, Hitchens view. In the United States, talk-show thus safer world is for religion — all gave some details of his forthcoming host Rosie O'Donnell likened Christian- religion — to be open to rational and book, God Is Not Great. The book, he ity to radical Islam. Her attack, in a stringent examination and criticism, said, is "a general case against reli- nationally broadcast programme in and yes, to ridicule." gion." Anti-religious books are in fash- October, was not well received. A Meanwhile, in Canada, author ion these days. American author Sam nationwide survey found that although Christopher Hitchens recently Harris has just published a brief few Americans would challenge O'Don- explained why he "hates religion." sequel to his 2004 book, The End of nell's right to make such statements, Speaking at the University of Toronto, Faith. At a recent presentation at the just as few share her point of view. Hitchens declared he hates Islam New York Public Library, Harris because it exhibits a "horrible trio of condemned the God of the Old Testa- Hating Religion self-hatred, self-righteousness and ment, in addition to the New Testa- Across the Pacific, Pamela Bone, an self-pity," while making a "cult of ment, "likening the story of Jesus to a Australian journalist, rejoiced over death, suicide and murder." He also fairy tale." For good measure, Harris

14 St Anthony Brief also attacked the Koran, calling it "a Richard Dawkins: manifesto for religious divisiveness." According to the Washington Post, a militant atheist The End of Faith has sold more than 270,000 copies. In that book, Harris described religion as "a desperate marriage of hope and ignorance." He also slammed religion for promoting intolerance. Nor was his argument limited to extremist groups. "One of the central themes of this book," Harris declared in the opening chapter, "is that religious moderates are them- selves the bearers of a terrible dogma." In a curious use of religious termi- nology, Harris concludes the book by describing faith as "the devil's master- piece." The book also appeals for a sustained campaign against religion, and faith in general: "We must find our way to a time when faith, without evidence, disgraces anyone who would claim it." of many speakers about what consti- Moreover, even though the bishops Atheist and High Priest tuted religion in general and Catholi- need to warn against the evils around British author Richard Dawkins also cism and Christianity in particular," Fr us, "we must correct the idea that recently published a book decrying Twomey noted. “So many things that Catholicism is merely a collection of religion, The God Delusion. Dawkins is are taken for granted today — educa- prohibitions,” Pope Benedict said. In well known for his hostility to religion. tion, hospitals, the very notion of a order to do that Catholic teaching "The celebrated atheist and high priest person, the distinction between sacred must be formulated in such a way of popular science" is how a review of and secular — owe their origin to that it communicates "the liberating the book in the Observer newspaper Christian inspiration. Cultural amnesia power of the Gospel." described him. Dawkins is not limiting is a dangerous condition for any soci- The Gospel is good for society, himself to publishing. The Sunday ety," he observed. the Pope argued in his address to the Times reported that he plans to set up new German ambassador to the Holy a charity that will subsidise the publi- Bring Forth Treasure See. Commenting on the favourable cation of educational materials for While not referring to these recent reception by the German people to distribution in schools. His organisa- attacks specifically, Benedict XVI his pastoral visit last year, he noted: tion, according to the article, will also recently addressed the issue of how "Wherever society is growing and attempt to divert donations from the religion is portrayed as a negative people are strengthened in good, hands of "missionaries" and church- force. "So often the Church's counter- thanks to the message of faith, this based charities. His foundation, which cultural witness is misunderstood as also benefits social coexistence, and is in the process of seeking registration something backward and negative in the readiness of citizens to assume in the United Kingdom and the United today's society," he commented to responsibility for the common good States, will have a database of chari- visiting Irish bishops in October. What is reinforced." ties free of "church contamination." the Church needs to do in these This message is not imposed by Dawkins and other critics of reli- circumstances, the Pope recom- the Church, and therefore faith gion have often come under fire for mended, is to act like the wise house- exists in the context of tolerance. their superficial view of religion. This holder who brings forth from his trea- "Tolerance, however, must never be was repeated recently by Fr Vincent sure "what is new and what is old" confused with indifferentism, for any Twomey, a retired professor of moral (Matthew 13:52). In this way the faith- form of indifference is radically theology at St Patrick's College, ful will be able to discern what society opposed to the deep Christian Maynooth, Ireland. He took part offers them today. "Help them to concern for the human person and recently in a debate at the College recognise the inability of the secular, for his salvation," the Pope pointed Historical Society in Trinity College materialist culture to bring true satis- out. A concern that means the Dublin, on the topic: "That Religion Is a faction and joy," the Holy Father Church will not allow itself to be Block to Progress." continued. "Be bold in speaking to intimidated by those who wish it to "Apart from the crass vulgarity of them of the joy that comes from remain silent. some student speakers, what shocked following Christ and living according to me most was the apparent ignorance his commandments." – Adapted from www.zenit.org I

April/May 2007 15 SPIRITUALITY Religion is Good for You FOR LIFE

eligion often gets a bad press. Of course, the FR FRANCIS COTTER, OFM, image of religion of any sort has not been Rhelped by Islamist suicide bombers shouting looks at the “God is great” as they kill themselves and others. Nor has the cause of Christianity been furthered by benefits of the “troubles” in Northern Ireland, often inter- preted internationally as a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. In a secular, at times authentic hostile, environment those people who practise their religion can feel the odd ones out. They can religion. be challenged as to why they persist in their reli- gious practice when the “liberated ones” have moved on. But there is much data that tells us that genuine religion is good both for the individual and for society. In these few pages I simply want to peruse some of the information available to us on the topic.

Psychology and Religion Some strands of psychology have recognised the positive, indeed essential, contribution made by religious experience. Carl Jung, a younger colleague of Sigmund Freud, saw religion as a primordial need of the human person. He wrote: “In thirty years I have treated many patients in the second half of life. Every one of them became ill because he or she had lost that which living reli- gions in every age have given their followers (i.e. religious experience) and none of them was fully healed who did not regain his religious outlook.” Victor Frankl, who himself survived the concentra- tion camps, held that contemporary western culture with its lack of prayerful religious experi- ence has left people in a vacuum, an emptiness at the centre of their lives. This resulted, he believed, in an existential frustration, “the unrewarded long- ing and groping of man for an ultimate meaning to his life.” Freud believed that religious experience was a sign of neurosis. But the psychologist Abraham Maslow held that his research indicated that, far from being a neurosis, it was a sign of psycho-spiri- tual health. It was not simply a case that such experiences helped to strengthen a sense of well- being and harmony. The power of prayerful peak- experiences “could permanently affect one’s atti-

16 St Anthony Brief Prayer contributes to well-being and harmony

tude to life… It is my strong suspicion and spirituality can contribute to heal- “Being religious or spiritual certainly that one such experience might be able ing and a sense of well-being, and can seems to contribute to one's sense of to prevent suicide and perhaps many help people cope when confronted with psychological well-being,” says Alexan- varieties of low self-destruction such as illness or death. Reviews of the der Astin, co-principal investigator for alcoholism, drug addiction, and addic- medical, psychological and social this study of 3,680 third-year college tion to violence.” So religion cannot be science literature have shown that students. The study was released by the dismissed as a source of psychological people who are motivated by spiritual Higher Education Research Institute at difficulties; in fact, the lack of religious factors have lower rates of cardiovascu- the University of California, Los Ange- experience can be psychologically lar disease, hypertension, obesity, les. A high degree of spirituality corre- damaging. As Fr Pat Collins puts it: depression, anxiety and gastrointestinal lates with high self-esteem and feeling “When people’s spirits are deprived of distress. Studies specifically evaluating good about the way life is headed. The the oxygen of meaning their psyches the impact of religion (rather than study defines spirituality as desiring to become disorientated and they suffer broader spirituality) show that in integrate spirituality into one's life, neurotic problems.” general people who are more religious believing that we are all spiritual have less psychological distress, depres- beings, believing in the sacredness of Medical Research sion, suicide, illicit drug use, alcohol life and having spiritual experiences. Now science is confirming that religion abuse, delinquency and divorce. Those who participate in religious activ- and spirituality can have demonstrable ities also are less likely to feel over- health benefits. Spirituality is defined College Students and Religion whelmed during college. in these studies as encompassing the College students who participate in ways people find meaning, hope, religious activities are more likely to Old Age and Sickness purpose, a sense of internal peace and have better emotional and mental Most organised religions offer connec- a connection to things greater than health than students with no religious tion with a supportive religious commu- themselves. Even with the fall off in involvement, according to a national nity. In a long-term Yale University religious practice in some Western study in USA of students at 46 wide- study of almost 3,000 older adults, countries, it is still true that the vast ranging colleges and universities. In attendance at community religious majority of the world’s population find addition, students who don't participate services and events predicted better spirituality through the beliefs and in religious activities are more than physical functioning and less disability traditions of organised religion. twice as likely to report poor mental over the ensuing eight to twelve years. Research shows that the comfort and health or depression than students who This type of social connectedness has strength gained from religious prayer attend religious services frequently. been identified as one of the strongest

April/May 2007 17 indications of longevity and physical phy can be helpful to people seeking ences every aspect of their everyday and mental functioning. Between the sense in the midst of illness. This lives. They give time to regular prayer years 1987 and 1995 a survey was contrasts with medicine’s limited that is personal and focused on the conducted of 21,204 adults in America. spectrum of meaning that views illness person and will of God. People live It was found that the average age of only from a negative standpoint. religion in this way usually after expe- death for non-churchgoers was 75.3 Trusting in God’s providence and riencing a religious awakening, whether years as compared to 81.9 years for understanding how the sufferings of that awakening came in a dramatic churchgoers. life are not without purpose, the “conversion” or more usually in a slow Research has shown that religious believer has a deeper perspective that dawning of grace. “Having embraced a commitment that gives hope is a can bring serenity of soul and thus aid creed, the individual endeavours to powerful antidepressant and can help healing. internalise it and follow it fully. It is in this sense that he lives his religion.” Religion that is internalised through intimate prayer is the faith that makes the real difference. Frei- drich Heiler, in his classic book Prayer, wrote: “Without prayer faith remains a theoretical conviction; worship is only an external and formal act; moral action is without spiritual depth; people remain at a distance from God; an abyss yawns between the finite and the Infi- nite.” Such a religious faith does not impact on life. As society becomes more and more secularised and as, for exam- ple, in Ireland the social environ- ment that used to support religious practice disappears, believers will need to root their religious practices and beliefs in a heartfelt faith that has an experiential underpinning. Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote: “A dogmatic faith unsupported by personal experience remains empty. But mere personal experience unre- lated to the faith of the Church remains blind.” Karl Rahner, one of the great theologians of the last century, writ- ing in 1970s could say: “The Christ- Religion provides meaning and hope ian of the future will be a mystic or he or she will not exist at all, if by mysti- in the cure of illnesses such as heart From the Heart cism we mean… a genuine experience disease and cancer. Now researchers In this reflection the distinction of God emerging from the very heart of have shown that spirituality and the between intrinsic and extrinsic religion our existence.” Precisely because of practice of religion may help slow the is important. This distinction was made the arid rationalism of our western progression of Alzheimer's disease as by Gordon Allport in his studies. Those culture this mystical dimension is all well. "We learned that the patients whose religion is extrinsic “are the more essential. Rahner believed: with higher levels of spirituality or disposed to use religion for their own “The spirituality of the future… will higher levels of religiosity may have a ends… The embraced creed is lightly have to live much more clearly than significantly slower progression of held or else selectively shaped to fit hitherto out of a solitary, immediate cognitive decline," said study author more primary needs. In theological experience of God and His Spirit in the Yakir Kaufman, of the Baycrest Centre terms the extrinsic type turns to God, individual.” Religion is indeed good for for Geriatric Care in Toronto. but without turning away from self.” us, primarily the sort that is personal Many religions teach that even Those people who have intrinsic reli- and comes from the heart. I painful and difficult events can have a gion are those who have internalised [email protected] transcendental purpose. This philoso- their faith in such a way that it influ-

18 St Anthony Brief ejoice, Mary, rejoice, Mother! You bore His body in your virginal womb, you bore RRwithin you the God-man. And when you brought Him forth on the night of Bethlehem, you bore Him in your arms as a child. You bore Him into the temple on the day of His presentation. Your eyes — more than the eyes of anyone else — saw the Incarnate Word. Your ears heard Him, from His very first words. Your hands touched the PopePope Word of life. "He whom you bore has risen." You bore Him, even more than in your arms, in your heart. Particu- larly during those last hours, when you had to stand beneath the cross, at the feet of the divine JohnJohn PaulPaul condemned One. Your heart was pierced by the sword of sorrow, in accordance with the words of the aged Simeon.

And you shared the sorrow as you associated your- on Mary’s self, within your maternal soul, in the sacrifice of on Mary’s your Son. O Mother! You consented to the immola- tion of the victim whom you had borne. You lovingly consented, with that love which He planted in your heart, with that love which is stronger than death and stronger than sin, in the EasterEaster JoyJoy whole history of man on earth. And then, when He had breathed His last and they had taken Him down from the cross, He rested once more in your arms as He rested so many times before as a child. And then, they laid Him in the tomb. They took Him from your loving arms and gave Him back to the earth; they closed the tomb with a stone. And behold, now the stone has been rolled away, the tomb is empty. "Christ, whom you bore, is risen, alleluia!" We all share in your glory, O Mother. Everyone, the whole Church of your Son, the whole Church of the Incarnate Word.

Christ, whom you bore is risen! Pray for us! You who were present in the deepest possible way in the mystery of Christ. The whole Church looks to you, O Mary. Even though we do not see you among the people about whom the Easter accounts tell, we all look to you. We look to your heart. Could any narrative record the moment of the resurrection of the Son in the heart of His mother? The whole Church shares in your Easter joy. Pray for us! Be present along all the paths of the People of God, paths upon which shines the light of Christ. Let this light never leave anyone, this light of the new life which is He Himself, the Risen One!

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen, as He said, alleluia. Pray for us to God, alleluia. I

April/May 2007 19 A Franciscan Treasure

FR PAT CONLAN, OFM, continues the story of St Anthony’s College, Louvain, on its 400th anniversary year. The first instalment appeared in our last issue. A place of learning: the College from the garden

fter the friars founded the college those that are descended of the English tion of the college. It was the first book in 1607, finance became a prob- race, and those that are mere Irish, in a ever printed in the old cló gaelach that AAlem. The royal grant was not league of friendship and concurrence was in use up to fifty years ago. The always paid in time and donations under against your majesty and the true reli- book began with the creed in the form of the indulgence on the Feast of Saint gion, now professed in your kingdom.” a poem. Each chapter of the catechism Anthony were small. The friars got The effort to reconcile two traditions was a commentary on part of the poem, permission to undertake a quest in within the country still has echoes today. making it very easy to remember. It Belgium in 1608. The Irish regiments in proved extremely popular and was re- the Spanish Army in Flanders helped Publications printed in Louvain in 1614. finance the friars. Many became chap- Friars have a hunger for people and soon The friars had brought the type from lains. As early as 1605, Fr Hugh became involved in pastoral work. The Antwerp and got permission from Arch- MacCaughwell, who succeeded Mooney Council of Trent had introduced the duke Albert and his wife Isabella to set as Guardian in 1609, was a preacher and Catholic catechism. Fr Florence Conry up their own printing press in the later chief chaplain to the Regiment of had prepared a catechism in Irish as college. A third edition appeared in O’Neill. It was not just the officers who early as 1593. It was circulated in manu- Rome in 1707. The book was still contributed. The Company of James script form. One of the first friars in recalled in the oral tradition in Ireland in Gearnon in the Regiment of O’Neill gave Louvain, Bonaventure O’Hussey, had the early twentieth century. Other spiri- 850 crowns to the friars in 1616. Only a studied in Douai before moving to the tual books in Irish followed. As one of quarter came from the officers. In addi- Franciscans in Louvain. He was inspired the friars wrote, they wished to teach tion to looking after Irish soldiers in to write a catechism in Irish, An Teagasg people about sorrow for sin, not about Europe, a small group of Irish friars from Críosdaidhe, that was printed in Antwerp the Irish language. Conry’s Desiderius Louvain went to bolster Catholic life in in 1611, just four years after the founda- appeared in 1616. Aodh Mac Aingil’s the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Life was difficult there. The friars were arrested and expelled several times. They managed to retain some sort of mission there from 1619 to 1647. The friars were in the Low Countries to receive a proper education in the theology of the Council of Trent. In the first ten years, about twenty-five new priests returned to Ireland from Louvain. In the words of an English spy reporting to James I in 1615: “The perfidious, Machiavellian friars at Louvain seek by all means to reconcile their countrymen in their affections, and to combine both The doorway and entrance to the College

20 St Anthony Brief Scáthán Shacramuinte na hAithridhe Louvain in 1617, was going to Rome with their own tongues. It was almost followed two years later. A Third Order Fr Hugh MacCaughwell. They met inevitable that the Franciscans would get handbook in Irish with an Irish transla- another friar, Fr Hugh Ward, in Paris. sucked in to this movement as part of tion of the Rule came out in 1641. The They talked with Thomas Messingham, their effort to show that Irish had its next book was Anthony Gearnon’s Rector of the Irish College, who had a place among the best in Europe. The Parrthas an Anma in 1645. book on the Irish saints nearly ready for first effort to write a modern Irish gram- publication. Fleming and Ward agreed to mar was probably made by Bonaventure Intellectual Pursuits help him. Fleming returned to Louvain O’Hussey in his Rudimenta grammaticae The friars at Louvain were keen to show after doing a little research and wrote a hibernicae. It circulated widely in manu- their European contemporaries that the life of St Columbanus and some other script form. Several friars prepared Irish Irish were not behind in intellectual Irish saints, Collectanea sacra, that was dictionaries. Only one made it into print, endeavour. Conry was a well-known eventually published in 1667. Fleming Br Micheál Ó Cleirigh’s Focloir, Nó theologian particularly in the area of went on to found the new college in Sanasan Nua, in 1643. Jansenism. On a practical level they Prague but was killed by heretics in This tremendous collection of manu- reached agreement in 1619 with the 1631. Ward headed for Louvain where he script material remained in Louvain until Province of Cologne that the Germans would accept some students from Saint Anthony’s on condition that the Irish provided lecturers. The first two friars, Anthony Hickey and Thomas Fleming, taught initially in Aachen and later in Cologne itself. They were but the harbin- gers of a flood of Irish Franciscan lectur- ers in many parts of Europe. One of the friars lecturing in Louvain, Fr Hugh MacCaughwell, based his courses around the teaching of the great medieval Fran- ciscan theologian, Blessed John Duns Scotus. At the time it was believed that he was Irish but we now know that he was Scottish. Almost single-handedly Left: The oldest known drawing of St Anthony’s College dates to the MacCaughwell revived the Scotist tradi- mid 17th century. It is included in a collection at Leuven City Museum. tion within the Order. One of his pupils Right: Florence Conry, founder of St Anthony’s College, Louvain. in Louvain, Anthony Hickey, also studied Scotus and spent most of his life at the had been appointed lecturer in philoso- the house was seized at the start of the Franciscan house, St Isidore’s College, in phy. He was appointed Guardian in 1625 French Revolution. Part of the material Rome editing the first printed edition of and set about getting a team of friars then went to the equivalent of the the works of Scotus. dedicated to working on Irish history. He National Library in Brussels. Most of the One way of showing that Ireland was made sure that Fleming returned from remainder found its way to Saint worthy of a place of honour among the Rome and sent another friar, Br Micheál Isidore’s College in Rome. A small part, nations of Europe was by making others Ó Cleirigh, back to Ireland. He would including many books, was taken to aware of its history. Religious history and transcribe old manuscript lives of the Wexford friary. The material in Rome was hagiography were then areas of intense Irish saints and send them back to taken back to Adam & Eve’s friary, interest. Baronius had published his Louvain. But, in addition, his labours Dublin, at the time of the Unification of Annales ecclesiastici in 1597 in reply to back in Ireland would produce the Italy because of fears that it might be the Protestant Ecclesiastica historica of history of Ireland, the famous Annals of seized by the government. Several 1559. Not far from Louvain the Bollan- the Four Masters. Ward’s health declined researchers realised the value of the dists were working on the lives of the and he only wrote Vita S. Rumoldi, a life manuscripts during the nineteenth saints. Down at St Isidore’s in Rome Luke of Saint Rumold, first bishop of Mechlin, century. Several appeared in print for Wadding was writing the Annales Mino- before his death in 1635. It was eventu- the first time, e.g. the Annals of the rum, a history of the Franciscans from ally published in 1662. Mechlin or Four Masters in 1851. The material in the time of Saint Francis to 1540. The Malines is the diocese covering Louvain Dublin and Wexford was eventually re- first volume appeared in 1625. Wadding and Brussels. united when the Franciscan House of was also thinking about an annals of the Studies opened in Killiney in 1945. Some Irish church. Several unsatisfactory histo- Grammar and Manuscripts items have recently gone to U.C.D. for ries of Ireland had appeared while One of the Louvain friars clearly stated conservation. Irish history and philology several learned Irish Protestants were that they wanted to promote religion, would be much poorer without the engaged in historical research. not the Irish language. Yet, at this efforts of the friars at Saint Anthony’s Something had to be done. Fr Patrick period, continental grammarians were College in Louvain four hundred years Fleming, who had joined the friars in laying out the structures and contexts of ago. I

April/May 2007 Theology on Tap The search4church is a forum for young adults hosted by the Franciscans in News from Galway. Last year they organised discussion of various religious topics at around the . . . the Cuba nightclub, some chaired by the comedian Tommy Tiernan. This Lent it was Theology on Tap! A Franciscan World “six-pack” series of talks and conversa- tions took place on the Wednesdays in Lent at the King’s Head, a city-centre pub. The goal of Theology on Tap speaker series was to provide a venue for young adults to gather and discuss fulfilling spiritual topics in a relaxed and casual atmosphere. All were welcome, especially those who may not be currently practising their faith, as well as those who were seeking deeper meaning in their lives. Topics included Catholics, Sex and Guilt, Women in the Church, Catholic Myths and Mysteries, Prayer: How and Why, Catholics and Global Warming.

Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land Back to School: The recently elected Provincials and Custos from The “Franciscan Foundation for the around the world gathered at our Curia in Rome for a period of Holy Land” was created in 1994. It was reflection and training as they take up their leadership roles. in response to the request of the Custos and has the aim of reducing the Christ- planned. In this context, the Custody to the generosity of Christians through- ian exodus from the Holy Land. There has made the decision to erect a out the world. A bronze plaque, with the are barely 150,000 Christians in the “Memorial Hall” in thanksgiving to the name of a loved person or of the bene- Holy Land, a mere 2% of the total popu- people who help the Holy Land. The factor, will be placed a few paces from lation in the midst of 5.2 million Jews Memorial will be built close to the the Grotto of the Nativity as a perma- and 3.8 million Muslims. To support the entry to the Basilica of the Nativity in nent memorial to the generosity of the I Christian presence, the Custody of the Bethlehem as a perpetual remembrance donors. Visit the site: www.ffhl.org Holy Land and the Foundation promote the development of scholastic educa- Gone to the dogs: Fr Hugh McKenna presents a Galway Crystal trophy tion in different Franciscan colleges. to the owner of the winner of the Franciscan Invalid Fund race at the The Custody also offers diverse oppor- Galway Greyhound Track. Funds were collected to bring invalids from tunities for work. The “Centre for the the Galway area on the Franciscan Lourdes pilgrimage in September. Franciscan Family” has promoted a programme for the creation of work: Many young people (almost 65%), gradu- ates from our colleges, have thus been able to find employment. A great number pursue their studies in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. The Franciscan Custody, in collabo- ration with the Foundation for the Holy Land, has already built more than two hundred apartments in the city of Jerusalem. The objective is to build another 120 apartments on the Mount of Olives and 60 others in Bethlehem. The construction of numerous resi- dences in the city of Nazareth is also

22 St Anthony Brief The Franciscan Contribution to Ireland’s Story

The Taoiseach, BERTIE AHERN, praised the great contributions Franciscans have made to Irish culture and scholarship. He was speaking at Government Buildings at the launch of the national commemorative programme in respect of the anniversaries of Fr Luke Wadding, OFM, St Anthony’s College, Louvain, and the Flight of the Earls.

am very pleased that you could join gratified to know that the Irish link and St Anthony's quickly acquired a reputa- me to mark the launch of the official interest is recognised and will be tion for learning and scholarship. Its signif- IIprogramme to commemorate a honoured in the arrangements under icance in an Irish context relates particu- number of inter-linked anniversaries which St Isidore's is becoming a centre of larly to the publication of texts in the Irish which, individually and together, repre- scholarship for the history of the Francis- language. Linked to this was, of course, sent significant influences on the shape can Order, a project in which we have a the tradition of historical research which of modern Ireland… supportive interest. Luke Wadding was was established at St Anthony's. The finest also, of course, a principal founder of the expression of this was, of course, the Luke Wadding Irish College in Annals of the Four Masters, completed in I am pleased that we can provide modest Rome, which 1636 by Micheál Ó Cleirigh, a Franciscan support to commemorative efforts that continues and is lay-brother from a family of historians who recall significant events and personalities thriving to this had served the O'Donnells for over 100 in the story of Ireland and all its tradi- day in buildings, years, and three Franciscan collaborators. tions. The anniversaries which we recall the 80th It is no exaggeration to say that this today certainly merit remembering. Fr anniversary of particular work of scholarship, and the Luke Wadding was a major European as whose opening Louvain tradition of Irish historical well as an Irish figure. As a diplomat, a will be cele- research, contributed hugely to the sense scholar, a historian and a theologian, he brated this year. of national consciousness in Ireland. became one of the significant European The tradition of learning and scholar- figures of his time. He shaped in a ship continued until the College was substantial way the framework within effectively suppressed in 1796. Its which European society understood the Stamps issued to revival in the last century renewed Ireland of his day. He also shaped the commemorate the the direct Franciscan connection to environment into which many thousands 400th anniversary that period of extraordinary effort of Irish men and women were received of the founding of and achievement. The success of when they turned to Europe to find St Anthony’s Louvain was such that provision was refuge, education and careers. This College and the made for the overflow of students in famous son of Waterford was responsible 350th anniversary Rome and also in the famous Irish for ensuring the honouring of St Patrick of the death of Franciscan foundation in Prague. With in the universal calendar of the saints Luke Wadding the generous co-operation of the Irish and, in that alone, did much to ensure Franciscans, St Anthony's College now the international reach of the story of St Anthony’s College houses the Institute for Ireland in Europe, Ireland. The second anniversary which we cele- which provides a physical and intellectual Like Columbanus and John Scotus brate is that of the founding of St base for students, researchers and policy Eriugena in earlier periods, Wadding Anthony's College in Louvain. This makers engaging with the modern Euro- linked the Irish tradition of learning and anniversary, linked to that of Wadding, pean project. Given that this initiative spirituality to the wider European tradi- marks yet another dimension of the enjoys support from the authorities North tion of scholarship, especially through Franciscan contribution to Irish life and and South of the border, it is a particularly his service to the Franciscan Order, Irish scholarship. Louvain was, of course, appropriate service which St Anthony's which in turn did so much to secure the one of the foremost centres of learning offers to present and future generations… language, history and literary traditions in Europe when St Anthony's was founded It is right that these great events and of this country. Luke Wadding is, of in 1607. Its founder, Fr Florence Conroy, personalities should be marked. I salute course, buried in Rome in his beloved was the Irish Franciscan Provincial and those who have engaged in detailed plan- Saint Isidore's. The Government was he had been a chaplain with the Spanish ning of events at home and abroad, espe- pleased to fund necessary refurbishment Army at Kinsale, returning to Spain with cially the very ambitious Leuven 400 of the library at Saint Isidore's. We are Red Hugh O'Donnell after the defeat. Programme. I

April/May 2007 23 THINK The Greatness of Silence AGAIN

times found it hard to sleep in country FFRR KKIIEERRAANN CCRROONNIINN,, OOFFMM,, friaries where these normal sounds are absent. The gradual acceptance of such reflects on the richness noise can be strangely comforting, yet dangerous to the life of the spirit. For many people today, silence is of silence. almost painful, and so there is a common tendency to fill their lives with sound at every moment, starting with n the past few months a most enter the enclosure and to reveal this the alarm clock in the early morning, unusual film was screened in the mysterious life to the general public. listening to the news on radio and Irish Film Centre in Dublin. Entitled The film received very good reviews in I watching breakfast TV. People listen to Into the Great Silence, it is a documen- the media and was well attended music on their earphones on the way to tary about the daily life of a community during its run in Dublin. work. The music follows them into lifts of Carthusian monks in their remote and assaults their ears in the supermar- monastery in a mountainous region of The Value of Silence ket. We happily chat to the people we France. The Carthusian Order, founded It is surely significant that the makers know, while straining to make small over a thousand years ago by St Bruno, of the documentary decided on this talk about the weather with strangers. remains one of the strictest and most particular title with its reference to Embarrassing silences, when conversa- austere of the contemplative orders in great or grand silence. Of all the forms tion dries up, must be avoided at all the Church. The monks follow a routine of austerity and discipline embraced by costs. How painful those moments are? that has not changed significantly in these monks — fasting, solitude, being For many of our contemporaries the centuries. Although they live in a cut off from family, long hours of idea that “silence is golden” makes no monastic enclosure, each monk has his prayer, etc. — it was the silence of sense at all. own separate hermitage where he their life which made the deepest spends most of his day in prayer, study, impression. And perhaps this is Silence as a Means work and, above all, in silence. Once a because silence is so difficult to endure Spiritual writers often encourage us to week, the community come together in modern life, especially in urban or value silence as a means of deepening for a common meal and for recreation city life. our relationship with God. If we are — the only time the monks can speak to If you live in a city or town as I do, surrounded by noise and chatter, the one another freely. you can become accustomed to the argument goes, we will find it hard to The film is quite remarkable, lasting background noise, especially the hum listen to the still, soft voice of God as over two and a half hours, with hardly of traffic day and night. At different it addresses us. We are reminded of the any dialogue, emulating the silent life times of the week the bell ringers of famous story in the life of the prophet of the monks as they move from season the nearby Christchurch Cathedral prac- Elijah (I Kings 19:11-13) when he was to season, largely cut tise their art, but at this stage I hardly brought to a mountain where the Lord off from our contem- hear them. Even the sirens promised to reveal Himself. Elijah porary world. For of ambulances and fire thought that God was present in a many years the brigades cause me only strong wind, then in an earthquake and request of the film minor annoyance. finally in a fire, but the Lord was not in makers to make this Indeed, I have some- any of these; instead He revealed documentary from Himself in a “still, small voice” — inside the monastery something very easy to miss. was rejected, so it Silence is necessary if we are to was a remarkable perfect the art of listening, whether it privilege to eventually be listening to God, or to our neighbour gain permission to

24 St Anthony Brief Silence: a prerequisite for listening to God

in need. Quite apart from religious often end up muttering a few incoher- witness of two great figures of the Old views which stress silence as the ent words. It may be a comfort to Testament, Moses and Elijah, speaking prerequisite for attentiveness to God, realise that often the words said don’t with Jesus. Again, what is said by them we need silence to be receptive to the matter as much as our presence. is not as important as their presence cares and worries of those around us as Indeed, a tendency on the part of some affirming our Lord’s mission. they “cry” out to us. In the story of people to say too much on such occa- The contribution that Peter makes Martha and Mary in the Gospel it is sions is deeply inappropriate and on this occasion does not do him much surely Mary who values the silence that reveals something of the discomfort felt credit. While James and John say noth- enables her to listen to Jesus, while when confronted by the mysteries of ing, Peter blurts out a silly offer to Martha’s busy, fussy nature disables her life and death. build tents for Jesus, Elijah and Moses. from hearing what Jesus wants — a This is typical of Peter. He thinks that listening ear and heart. Transfiguration and Silence as chief apostle he must show his lead- If we carefully examine the Gospel ership qualities. If something is to be Silence as an Effect accounts of the transfiguration of Jesus organised, he needs to be in charge. Another dimension of silence is less in the presence of his three compan- But such an intervention, on such an often remarked on. This involves the ions, Peter, James and John, we will occasion as this, is totally inappropri- notion that being silent can be an notice that silence is the most fitting ate. Peter is being silly and Luke is not effect or consequence of drawing closer response to this awesome experience afraid to say so, commenting about his to God. When people experience the (Mark 9:2-10; Matthew 17:1-9; Luke suggestion, “He did not know what he deeper aspects of human life they are 9:28-36). In fact, on reading the text, was saying.” In the presence of the often struck dumb. The birth of a one gets the impression that words are divine, reverential silence is the order much-longed for child is not a time for not really that important. St Luke tells of the day. James and John got it right, long speeches, but for cries of joy, us that Jesus went up the mountain while Peter joins the ranks of the mixed with tears. The parents of the with his disciples to pray, but we are Marthas of this world. (I suppose if new-born baby look on in awe at the not told what he said. Indeed, Jesus is Martha had been present she would miraculous life they have co-created. mostly silent in the account, until the have offered tea and sandwiches!) At the other end of life, when we expe- end when he returns to his normal rience the death of someone we love, state. Then he tells the three friends Silence and Closeness to God again no words can express the pain of not to be afraid and recommends I have suggested in this discussion of loss. Typically, we weep or remain in silence about what has just gone on, at the value of silence that it can be shocked silence. Difficulties with words least until after his resurrection. useful as a means to the end of paying extend to the problems many have in The important aspect of the story is attention to the voice of God, whose offering sympathy to a grieving person that the divinity of Jesus shines through call may be drowned out by the noise at a funeral. What can you say? We his humanity. And, linked to this, is the of the world around us. But I am also

April/May 2007 25 suggesting that silence is an important holy men, sign of our response to God’s closeness. silence does As we grow in prayerfulness, for not involve a ST AANNTTHHOONNYY bbrriieeff instance, it is often the case that we huge effort — ST €1.00 rely less and less on words (vocal it is something IRISH FRANCISCAN MISSION MAGAZINE prayer) and move into the realm of they have Get St Anthony brief delivered to what some mystics call “the prayer of grown into your door or give the gift of an quiet.” Even in human relationships, over time and annual subscription to a loved people who love each other deeply something one or friend. over many years can be together, quite natural Support the Irish Franciscans saying little, yet being quite comfort- and sponta- who have left their country for able with the situation. Why shouldn’t neous, given the sake of the Gospel. a similar process occur as we grow in their closeness our love of God? Peter’s unnecessary to God. (6 issues). Please send me a one-year subscription to St Anthony brief words in the transfiguration scene may Most of us €15.00 Ireland - €12.00 Britain - Stg£10.00 Overseas - be a sign of his spiritual immaturity. who are Christ- [ ] Payment enclosed [ ] Please bill me His discomfort in the presence of the ian believers divine reality leads him to do what are not called Name: ...... many people do when there is an to this grand Address: ...... embarrassing silence — they blurt out silence. Even ...... the first thing that comes into their Jesus had to If giving the subscription as a gift please write the name and address heads. But often this only makes return to the of the recipient: matters worse, causing still further world of the Name: ...... embarrassment. everyday after Address: ......

The silence of the Carthusians his transfigura- ...... mentioned at the beginning is truly tion. In that Requested by: ...... “great,” not because it lasts for a long remarkable Post to: Franciscan Missionary Union, 8 Merchants’ Quay, Dublin 8. time — day and night, year in year out. scene it is as if The monks are not involved in some God has opened sort of physical endurance test, like a window on the world of the divine to happens, take note of the example of someone trying to create a record for give us a tantalising glimpse of ulti- St Peter and don’t imitate him. Stay the Guinness Book of Records. It is the mate reality, and then closed it again. with the silence. The quality of the quality of their silence that matters, It is possible for God to do this in our silence in our lives is one important not the quantity. Presumably, for these lives on special occasions. When this sign of how close we are to God. I

The human spirit needs times of silence

26 St Anthony Brief The Three Laws

FAITH IN of the Universe ACTION

any of you are probably deeply GEARÓIDGEARÓID ÓÓ CONAIRE,CONAIRE, OFM,OFM, troubled by the information MMreleased in the 4th Report of the sees the need for a new vision International Panel on Climate Change in February 2007. It makes shocking reading. of our place in the world. Last year I wrote about climate change in this column, sharing some data and insights from the previous report. I participated in the November 2006 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Nairobi. The objective of this annual meeting is to oversee the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol and to establish consensus for further and more significant agreements to cut greenhouse gas emis- sions. Government delegates were presented with most of the data just released. This information is not news to the governments of the world, yet many of them, even in the light of such shock- ing revelations, refuse to either support Kyoto or to increase its clout to demand more cuts in emissions. Ireland is signed up to Kyoto, but our emissions are getting out of control, in the region of 23% above 1990 levels. It is clear from the report that once the global temperature increases beyond 20C, we enter a danger zone. We have a window of opportunity of about two decades to act. I am sure you have heard that global warming will lead to increased drought, flooding, melting of glaciers, rising sea level and the spread of disease. It will have negative consequences for food security and water availability. All of this will cause distress and pain for millions, especially the poor, not to mention the impact it will have on other creatures. What can we do? There are all sorts of practical things that we can do. However, in this article, I will focus on the need to develop a new vision; a new

April/May 2007 27 way of looking at the world and our 1. DIFFERENTIATION 2. INTERIORITY place in it, as a crucial step in the No two people or creatures are The second tendency suggests that process of finding solutions for this exactly the same. Nellie McLaughlin each individual is not only different most deadly of crises. Richard points out in her book, Out of from every other being in the Hawkins, an Oxford scientist, recently Wonder, “to be is to be differenti- universe, but possesses its “own called for a war on climate change, ated,” and that “differentiation is the unique spontaneities.” Most destruc- rather than a war on terror. We need process through which the universe tive tendencies in people arise from a to change our mentality and seek, sustains life.” refusal to recognise the fact that each what John Paul II called an “ecological A creative energy promotes and and every creature has subjectivity conversion,” because the crisis is sustains this evolutionary process. It is and possess their own “inner author- fundamentally a spiritual and moral expressed in the urge “to give birth, ity.” Cultures before the Scientific and one. To help us re-discover our place to pass something on, to let go… so Industrial Revolutions, and indeed in the universe it might be helpful to that the project can be born.” There indigenous peoples today, possessed remind ourselves that we are part of a is a discernible progression in the the capacity to see deeply into the bigger picture. I have found it helpful story of the universe, a movement inner reality of every creature. This to reflect on the so-called “three laws towards increased complexity and awareness was particularly apparent of the Universe.” greater consciousness. It is in a in their relationship with animals. In continuous process of becoming. The the Unexpected Universe, Loren Easily The Universe Story creative energy of the universe wrote: “One does not meet oneself Many people are not aware that their becomes a reality in the human when until one catches the reflection from story is part of a much greater story, our consciousness moves from being an eye other than human.” that is, the story of the universe. Our “human-centred to creation-centred.” “Obedience” is a value that has own story cannot be fully understood Depending on how we open ourselves the potential to counterbalance our or appreciated apart from many other to this creative energy we either take apparent “autism” — our separation stories, including those of our family, the road towards mysticism, which from ourselves and from other life ethnic group, nation, race, species counteracts the strong anthropomor- forms. Obedience derives from the and world. We have emerged as a phism, that is, an exclusive focus on Latin word ab-audire, which means species very late in the day, thirteen the human, in our western vision, or “to listen to.” It is a fundamental billion years after the Big Bang, but towards neurosis and other mental and quality needed in order to establish nevertheless an integral part of the physical illnesses. Otto Rank, who right relations with “the other,” overall story of the universe. The worked with Freud, wrote: “When including with God, with ourselves, great story can be summarised in four religion lost the cosmos, [humankind] with others and with all creatures. phases: the galactic story, the earth became neurotic and invented According to Thomas Berry, the story, the life story, and the human psychology.” destruction of any life form is ulti- story. All earth creatures also have a Diversity is vital for sustainability. mately a removal of one of the ways story to tell which, for the most part, Woody Bartlett, in his book, Living by that the divinity is manifested to us. goes unnoticed in modern life. The Surprise, tells us that “diversity in To silence any voice “is tantamount to challenge is to see each and every human populations can exist only silencing the divine.” story as a sacred story. For too long within a world of respect and appreci- For Franciscan Scholastic theolo- we have been alienated from the ation for other human cultures and gians, Christ is the model on which all universe, stuck in a human centred ways. It works the same for nature. creation is moulded. This is why world. The universe story can help us The web of life is built on a complex Hopkins could write: “The world is overcome this alienation. “We are the pyramid of diverse beings. No one charged with the grandeur of God…” universe and the universe is us; we knows when the decrease in diversity In his poems, all things are literally intimately embrace the world and the will lead to a great collapse of the doing themselves; they are “them- cosmos.” system.” It is impossible to predict at selves.” This is the Scotistic notion of There are three basic laws or what point beyond which the forced haecceitas or “thisness”, being that patterns in the universe: differentia- disappearance of so many species particular thing and not that other tion, subjectivity or interiority, and might have an irreversible and nega- thing that looks exactly like it. All communion. They are “like the back- tive impact. creatures and elements are God-like bone or bloodstream of the universe and thus deserve a deep reverence shaping reality and shaping the course and respect. From the Christian of life.” Let’s look at these laws. perspective, whatever is is because of Christ.

The “oneness” of the earth is clear from outer space

28 St Anthony Brief Ask your politicians about our greenhouse gas emissions

Woody Bartlett keeps the hope The system is more than the sum thing into relationship with everything before us that justice for all species of its parts. The relationship between else. Through communion and compas- will be a reality in what Thomas Berry the parts is also important. When the sion we participate with a process that is and Brian Swimme call the Ecozoic astronauts sent back the first photos ongoing and as Thomas Merton said when era, “that there will be respect for of earth from outer space it started to talking about the illusion of separation: the place and contribution of each, dawn on humanity that there existed a “What we have to be is what we already and a desire of the whole to preserve “oneness” about the earth as a are.” One of the important tasks of our the constituent parts. Now that system. A machine-like understanding time is to promote relationships and to humanity can think for the whole, of creation shattered the communion heal divisions at every level. there is no avoiding the responsibility with the cosmos that St Francis took of humans to establish justice for the for granted as attested to in his Canti- Some Practical Things to Do whole.” cle of the Creatures. According to this There will be a general election called worldview when something goes within the next few months. When the 3. COMMUNION/INTERCOMMUNION wrong, it is removed from the system, politicians call to your door, why not ask “The acceptance of variety and fixed and then replaced. Since them about their environmental poli- diversity and the celebration of both Einstein’s theory of relativity, “all cies. Ask them what they intend to do are key to our fitting into the matter must be thought of as bound about our greenhouse gas emissions. Are universe.” This reflects the third and condensed energy.” In some way you comfortable with paying fines of law of the universe. The universe is the “new science” begins to restore hundreds of millions of euro because we “bonded together” in such a way the vision of the cosmos as interde- have not complied with our interna- that each and every individual is felt pendent again. It is a single system tional obligations? Ask them about their by every other and each one impacts and the distinction between subject transport policies. Do they intend to on the whole. As David Toolan states and object is not as clear cut as it was continue to spend more on road infra- in his book, At Home in the Cosmos: in the past. We now know that the structure than on public transport, in “All beings in the great sea of energy universe is expanding and that energy the light of scarce and more expensive released by the big bang are interre- and matter are one and the same, fossil fuels? What sort of grants are they lated, just as all living organisms are which has significant consequences for willing to give to encourage transition descended from common ancestors our understanding of how each partic- to a different energy economy and to and thus effectively kin to each ular part relates to every other part individual and families willing to invest other… The constituents of every- within the whole. in alternative energy sources? Are they thing in the cosmos — molecules, James Conlon in his book Earth willing to introduce carbon tax mecha- atoms, and subatomic particles — Story Sacred Story makes a link nisms to encourage more sustainable are single systems in a state of between communion and compassion. lifestyles? So, get your lists ready and constant motion, linking up with He believes within the universe there read up on all this stuff over the coming each other and with everything in exists a bonding akin to a “compas- months!! I the cosmos.” sionate embrace” that brings every- [email protected]

April/May 2007 29 MissionMission DigestDigest

A quiet moment: Fr Liam McCarthy pauses before Come all ye faithful: the People of God gather. the long celebration in Shona. THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST AT GLEN NORAH, HARARE

Bring on the dancing girls: the dancers lead the entrance procession. A full house: an overflowing church.

30 St Anthony Brief FR ANDREAS MULLER, OFM, reflects on how the Christian response to the poor comes from our understanding of God.

GODGOD ANDAND THETHE POORPOOR

he Christian’s love and affection trace of the Divine. God identifies Himself with towards the poor, the disinherited and those who hunger for justice, who are deprived TTthe exploited is largely determined by of their due. And through this God wants to the image Christians form of God. The God of tell us that He is the God of Life who desires the Bible is no abstract being enthroned that people may live and receive justice. beyond the clouds, but He is the One that is forever bound up with the fate of humankind. Francis and the Leper He is not something divorced from history but Francis had understood that, perhaps more He can only be experienced through His rela- than any other. It was the fate-determining tionship with us. He is not to be identified encounter with the leper that opened his eyes. with the world, but nor is He to be separated It was the tortured face of the Crucified One from all that makes this world of ours, at one that he saw on that day. That was the deci- and the same time, both beautiful and terri- sive—turning-point in his life – with momentous ble. Jesus is the God who is Man, of His people and lasting consequences. He wrote: “What and among His people. He is Refugee, a seemed to me to be bitter was transformed Stranger, a Victim of persecution and torture. into sweetness (dolcezza) of soul and body.” There is hardly any one adequate transla- Imitation of Christ tion for the Italian word dolcezza. It can mean If “imitation of Christ” can be said to be the tenderness, as well as empathy, sympathy, soli- equivalent of being a Christian, then what that darity. A new world opens up before Francis, means is that we should be like the God-made- the world of love of neighbour. The world he man in that we are among our kind, we are had known up to then collapses, the world people who resist injustice, just as Jesus did, divided between the lords and masters above that we are totally involved with the problems and the servants and slaves below. He recog- of the hungry and the sick, that we are yearn- nises that this cannot be the true world, could ing to be with all the poor and despised people not be the world that God intended. as their brothers and their sisters. What God He discovers the Gospel as an alternative. wants is that we should be His image here on There is a world reconciled, in which the value earth, His physical projection, His representa- of a human person does not depend on that tive. person’s achievements or merits, a world That is true of every human being, even if where we are simply allowed to use the that person appears bruised and battered, resources that God has placed at our disposal bears no great name and ekes out a miserable in His creation. It is a world where the poor existence in a slum. This is so even if it may themselves can also have a share in the full- seem to us that this person has absolutely no ness of life. I We invite you to join us… living a Spiritual Life the Franciscan Way

Contact: Friar Pat Lynch, OFM Franciscan Vocations Office (Centre for Vocational Discernment) Franciscan Friary, Killarney, Co. Kerry. Tel: 064-31334/31066. Mobile: 087.1346267. Email: [email protected] Check out our website: www.franciscans.ie