AMDG Express Newsletter 5 Feburary 2008


5 Feburary 2008
Lent begins tomorrow. Apart from any other plans you make for this season, you might consider visiting Sacred Space each day and following the Ignatian prayer guides to the Lenten readings. If you prefer to work with hard copy, the Sacred Space for Lent booklet is available from The Messenger office or from the Jesuit Communication Centre. Editor

	Housing Minister visits JCFJ On Wednesday 30 January Mr Batt O’Keeffe TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Housing at the Department of the Environment, visited the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. Accompanied by officials from his department, the Minister met with Margaret Burns, Eoin Carroll, Peter McVerry SJ and Tony O’Riordan SJ. The Minister also met with some young people who are currently homeless and on the housing list which now runs to 43,000. The JCFJ stressed the need to improve aspects of emergency accommodation as well as the need to fundamentally revisit national housing policy. The new national strategy on homelessness will be published in coming weeks. For more details visit the website of the Centre of Faith and Justice.
GC35 looks at youth ministry For what seems to be the first time in the history of Jesuit General Congregations, apostolic activities for youth was the subject of discussion at the plenary sessions on 1-2 February. According to a report from the Press Office in Rome, the Congregation had been asked to focus on “the importance of youth in our faith and justice mission, to direct more of the Society’s apostolate toward youth, and to emphasize the characteristics of youth ministry in today’s context”. The commission appointed to consider this issue reported on their progress. They sought to identify the characteristics of youth, though their description was “occasionally contested” during the discussion. Summary of the commission’s report: 1. THE MAIN POINTS The main points were as follows: • ‘Youth’ extends beyond the traditional limits of juvenile age. • In many countries the traditional family structure is under heavy pressure. • The young look for guidance which is often not available from parents and teachers. Peers often assume that role. • Schools are more interested in providing skills than integral formation. • Young people are very critical of the Church; however, in some parts of the world a movement of “back to the Church” is visible. • The language of youth (both verbal and visual) is not easily understood by many Jesuits. • Young people are looking for experiences more than instructions. 2. OUR RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGES • Christ should be presented as liberating us from servitude to prevailing customs and consumerism. • New apostolic ventures (centers, networking, accompaniment) should be encouraged and supported. • Collaboration with world-wide movements in the Church and in diocesan programs is desirable • The Society’s engagement in educational, social and pastoral apostolates has the potential to help young people. 3. SUGGESTIONS • To establish a Youth secretariat in the Curia • To create a group of experts to study the problem • To announce a Jesuit Year for Youth
	Slow down this Lent! Manresa is holding a series of evenings of reflection this Lent, starting on Tuesday 5 February, from 7.30pm to 9.00pm. It’s about “Making time for God” during the busy weeks of the Lenten season and “Exploring God’s loving presence”. The series continues every Tuesday until the Tuesday of Holy Week (March 18), and it will be directed by Ciary Quirke SJ. People are invited to turn up for “any one evening, or all seven, as you wish”. For more details, email Manresa or phone 01-8331352.
	Movies that matter The Jesuit Communication Centre has organised a number of public events this month for Richard Leonard SJ, lecturer in cinema and theology. Richard’s recent book, Movies that Matter: reading film through the lens of faith, will be launched by Peter Sheridan on Wednesday 20 February at the Uí Chadhain Theatre in the Arts Building, Trinity College, at 7.30pm. On Tuesday 19, he will be a guest on the Ryan Tubridy show, which starts at 9.00am on RTÉ Radio 1. And on Tuesday evening at 7.30pm, he will be a guest of Slí Eile at one of their monthly debates. For more details about the Slí Eile event, contact Fernando Galligo at 086-1021490 or the Slí Eile office (01-8880606).
Clongowes students become teachers 12 students from Clongowes will be visiting JRS on Thursday 7 February. These 12 students have completed Teaching English as a Foreign Language accreditation. They will be participating in a workshop at JRS on Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Ireland. They will then observe Belvedere students tutoring asylum seekers and refugees in TEFL, as they do each Thursday morning. The Clongowes pilot group will be providing similar classes locally in Kildare, arranged through Sr Anne Horgan of JRS.
	Tertians take to the road The European Tertainship based at Manresa is on the move, with many of the tertians on placement in different centres in Ireland and abroad. Three of the group are involved in the Jesuit Congregation in Rome. Tertianmaster Jan Van De Pol is the delegate of his province (The Netherlands) to GC35 in Rome. Dominic Robinson of the British Province is also there, translating from Italian to English, and Vlastimil Dufka from Slovakia is responsible for the liturgy at GC35. To find out more about the Tertians at Manresa, check their website.
	Bob McGoran Centre opens in Galway Colaiste Iognaid’s new Bob McGoran Centre for special needs students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was officially launched recently. Dedicated to Bob McGoran SJ, a former headmaster who took a great interest in helping people with special needs, the new centre opened with two students. It is staffed by one full-time and one part-time teacher from the college and two special needs assistants. The goal is to integrate those with special needs into mainstream classes such as Religion, Art, Home Economics, and Physical Education. For these subjects, the students are accompanied by a special needs assistant. They also participate in extra curricular activities such as rugby, physical education, and swimming.
	Crescent past pupil ordained The ordination of a past pupil of the Crescent, Limerick, took place last week at Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Brian Kelly OSB, a Benedictine monk who graduated from the Crescent in 1976, was ordained by George Cardinal Pell, Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Australia. The occasion was noted by The Tablet, mainly on account of Cardinal Pell’s homily, in which he insisted that Christianity was not as post-Christian as is sometimes claimed. “But,” he continued, “the decisions to follow the rule of St Benedict as a monk and accept priestly ordination are now counter-cultural, a provocation to many of today’s opinion makers.”

We remember in our prayer Diarmuid Ó Peicín - ill in hospital George Fallon - ill in hospital