AMDG Express Newsletter 03 June 2008


3rd June 2008
The story of St. Aloysius Gonzaga in this week’s edition reminds us of the rocky road to holiness: it is rarely a divinely inspired, mystical or other-worldly, trouble-free existence. Often it is about finding God in the very human struggles of our lives - how to be compassionate under pressure, how to reach out when there is darkness within, how to transform situations of human suffering. Editor

	Ireland’s literary patron saint In the May issue of America Magazine, Irish Jesuit Tom Casey writes an incisive article on what we have to learn from Ireland’s unofficial, or literary, ‘patron saint’ - Leopold Bloom, protagonist of James Joyce’s Ullyses, who is commemorated annually on Bloomsday, 16 June. Fr Casey, who is Professor of Philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome, sees both Bloom and St Patrick as outsiders. Patrick was English and Bloom was the son of a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. In Leopold Bloom, according to Fr Casey, Joyce has created a generous imaginative space that present-day Ireland, a land of migration and alienation, could profitably enter. Read the full article here.
Full house for Modras in Galway Over 120 people turned up to hear Dr. Ronald Modras’ public lecture in Galway last Wednesday, 28 May. Organised by the Jesuit Centre for Spirituality there in combination with Manresa Spirituality Centre, it was a packed house at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart spirituality centre, Croí Nua on Taylor’s Hill. Most of the attendees had booked in advance but many still turned up on the night to swell numbers. Dr. Modras got a great reception and there was a very lively interaction with the audience.
	Benedict XVI and the media Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office and the head of Vatican Radio, spoke on 29 May 2008 at the Catholic Media Convention in Toronto. His address, entitled When the Pope Speaks to the World: Working With Modern Media, is made up mainly of personal reflections on working in communications at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI emerges from these reflections as a pontiff who truly holds, as he said at his inaugural Mass, that ours is not a religion of prohibitions but, rather, a religion based on the great ‘yes!’ of love. His norm in presenting the Christian proposition is to state the positive first. The full text of Fr Lombardi’s address is available at the Catholic News Service blog.
	Summer school covers Ignatian spirituality The middle week of the summer school run by the Milltown Institute this June includes the option of studying Ignatian spirituality. On each week of the course, the participants may choose between two options, and on the second week these are ‘Ignatian spirituality’ and ‘Issues in fundamental moral theology’. The overall title of the summer school is ‘Beginnings, journeys, endings’, and people may enroll either for the whole course or for one or two weeks of it. The school runs from Monday to Friday on each of the three weeks between 9 and 27 June. More details from the Milltown website or from the Summer School secretary, Helen Manning, at 01-2776 322.
	Rehab for St Aloysius The June issue of Reality magazine has an article seeking to ‘rehabilitate’ St. Aloysius Gonzaga SJ. The author, Thomas J. Craughwell, argues that the real value of the saint’s heritage lies in his very human struggle with holiness and religious life, not in his overly sentimentalised image of piety and self-mortification. It is because of this misrepresentation, Craughwell argues, that devotion to Gonzaga has virtually died out. The author looks for inspiration in his biography: “Saintliness did not come easily to Aloysius, and in that respect he was very much as we are now- striving to be good, hoping someday to be holy, and worried that we aren’t making much progress.”
Lesotho trek availability The Peter McVerry Trust (PMVT) has limited places available on their trek in Lesotho, one of Africa’s hidden gems, from 17-26 October 2008. Money raised from this fundraising challenge will go towards supporting young homeless people. For an information pack contact: (00353) 1 8230776, trek@pmvtrust.ie, www.pmvtrust.ie. Contact PMVT before June 6 to secure one of the last few remaining places. [Photo: Tom Claytor]
	Ballymun choir does gig for Simon The Ballymun Gospel Choir and Band is scheduled to perform at a special event to highlight the plight of homeless people and the work of the Dublin Simon Community. It will take place at St Anne’s Church, Dawson Street, on Saturday 14 June at 8.00pm. Dublin Simon offers homeless people a ‘continuum of care’, from soup runs and emergency shelter to transitional housing and resettlement. The Ballymun choir, managed by Slí Eile, regularly raise the roof at 7 o’clock Mass on Sundays in Shangan Road Church, Ballymun. Tickets for the Dawson Street event cost €10 and will be on sale on Sunday 1 and 8 June at the Gospel Choir Masses in Ballymun and Gardiner Street. Also from the Slí Eile office in Gardiner St and at Simon Community shops. For those interested, there will be a post-gig party at The Teachers Club, Parnell Square.
Cuddihy for Crescent Nicholas Cuddihy is the new principal of the Crescent Comprehensive, who takes over from Dermot Cowhey in the new academic year. Mr Cuddihy from Dublin has been principal of the all-girls school, St. Dominic’s in Cabra, for the last two years. He has a degree in theology and a masters in educational management and leadership, and began teaching Religion and English in Dublin’s Catholic University School. Talking to the Limerick Chronicle, he commented: “I have known about the school for a long time and I am very familiar with the work of the Jesuits…I am conscious of the huge responsibility that presents, and I will be working with that and nurturing that, but it is a great challenge.”
Slovene Pilgrimage to Ireland Glendalough, Clonmacnoise, Knock, Lough Derg, Ards Friary in Donegal, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, and the cathedral city of Armagh were the places visited by a Slovene parish this week on their pilgrimage around Ireland. The group of fifty pilgrims were led by Fr. Miran Zvanut SJ (pictured), who studied theology at Milltown Institute, Dublin, for several years. They were keen to explore the world of the early Irish missionaries, who played such a pivotal role in bringing Christianity to various parts of the Continent, including Slovenia. Brian MacCuarta SJ met the group in Armagh to explain its significance to them.
Founding Crescent teachers honoured A dinner was held in Limerick to mark the retirement of five teachers at Crescent College Comprehensive, four of whom have been there since the re-founding of the School as Crescent College Comprehensive in 1971 (1859 was the original foundation). Taken together, their years of service at the Crescent amount to 178 years. In September the school begins its Sesquicentennial (150th) Celebrations. [Photo: back row, Donal Lynch, Sean Hanley, John Hurley; seated, Terri Hurley and Hilary Hurley]

We remember in our prayer Fr Peter Hans Kolvenbach, recovering from a serious operation. Br George Fallon, who is recovering in hospital. Fr Tom McCarthy, who is recovering in hospital. Fr Tom McMahon, who is recuperating in Cherryfield.