Desmond Cardinal Connell R.I.P.  (1926 – 2017)

The Basilica of San Silvestro in Capite, Rome was entrusted to our Society of the Catholic Apostolate by Pope Leo XIII in 1885 and our Pallottine priests and brothers have served here since 1887. It was during a General Chapter held at San Silvestro in 1909 that the Society was divided into Provinces, including the Irish Province. This Church dates back to 761 when Paul 1 was Pope. Titular Cardinals have been appointed to the Basilica since 1517. The late Cardinal Basil Hume former Archbishop of Westminster, London was Cardinal Priest of San Silvestro from 1976 until his death in 1999. In 2001 Pope John Paul 11 appointed Archbishop Desmond Connell as Cardinal with the title of Cardinal Priest of San Silvestro. In taking possession of his Titular Church a Cardinal celebrates a profoundly symbolic act that expresses his special communion with the Pope as the Bishop of Rome.

During his homily at the Mass on the occasion of his taking possession of San Silvestro he stated: “The centuries – long presence here of a Poor Clare community has particular significance for me because the first appointment I received as a young priest was a Chaplaincy with the Poor Clare community in Donnybrook”. We were privileged as the Pallottine community of San Silvestro to have had the late Cardinal as our Titular Cardinal. He was absolutely delighted to be assigned San Silvestro since we Pallottines were ministering in two Parishes in the Archdiocese of Dublin, namely St. Patrick’s Corduff in Blanchardstown and St. Anne’s in Shankill.  He paid many visits to San Silvestro over the past 16 years. He took a great interest in the Church and its long history and shortly after his appointment as Cardinal he commissioned a history of the Church to be written and entrusted the project to Dr. Eileen Kane, the distinguished historian of art, who published the first edition in 2005. Dr. Kane had the opportunity of presenting the second edition in person to the Cardinal in February of last year.  It was appropriate that Dr. Eileen led the prayers of intercession at his funeral Mass in the Pro Cathedral on February 25^th.

He loved meeting the immigrant communities from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and other countries who frequent San Silvestro …the Link Community as they are called. He loved their music and song and they loved him and made him feel very welcome and at home among them.

His last visit to Rome was for the canonization of Pope John XXII and Pope John Paul 11 three years ago. We shared a meal with him at that time. He wrote to me on his return to Ireland to say that he would not be able to visit Rome again due to his declining health. On March 24^th of last year, we phoned him on his 90^thBirthday and sang ‘Happy Birthday to you’ over the phone. He appreciated this very much. He never failed to call us each year on 31^st. December, the Feast of St. Sylvester to wish us a joyful celebration and to assure us of his closeness to us and his love for San Silvestro.

I posted a card and letter to him on the day he died which was the Anniversary of his nomination as Titular Cardinal, 22^nd. February. His motto was ‘Secundum Verbum Tuum’ – according to your Word. He was always faithful to that Word and to the Eucharist in the humble, sincere and compassionate way in which he lived his priestly life. My predecessor as Rector, Fr. Denis O’Brien, who was Rector when Archbishop Connell was nominated Cardinal, on learning of his death wrote: ‘It was a great privilege to have known him’.

We will celebrate the Month’s Mind Mass here at San Silvestro on Wednesday 22^nd. March at 7 p.m.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis. Requiescat in Pace.

Fr. John Fitzpatrick SAC

Rector, Basilica di San Silvestro in Capite

Third Sunday of Lent – John 4:5-42 

“Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well.” Here we witness one of the most human moments in the life of Jesus. In His tiredness and His thirst, He is one with us and represents all the weariness and thirst of our lives.

The first word that He speaks in this gospel reading is, “give me a drink!” So, before we go looking for anything from Him, we focus on what we can give Him. In what way, can you quench the thirst of Jesus? What does His thirst mean to you?

Later in Lent we will hear Him cry from the Cross, “I thirst!” It’s not just water He needs. He thirsts for you, longs for you to come closer to Him.

You want to come close to Jesus but there are obstacles in the way and His desire is to remove the obstacles, to bring you through them and beyond them.

In the first reading the people were “tormented by thirst”, a very strong expression that also is not just about the thirst for water; it is about the deepest yearnings of the human person, our deepest desires.

We are often tormented by our desire, tempted by the longings that stir in our bodies and souls, and we can be made utterly helpless in the face of these desires. There are temptations that we are able to resist or overcome but there are also temptations that lead us into sin time and time again.

The only thing to do with them is bring them to Jesus in prayer, to speak honestly about them, allow Him to address them in the way He addresses the sin in the life of the Samaritan woman.

What is interesting about Jesus is how He can tell a person the truth about their life – how He can do this without hurting the person but does it in a way that sets them free.

The Samaritan woman is delighted and liberated by the way Jesus speaks to her. “The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people. ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?’”

This is the joy and freedom He offers to us when we allow Him to speak truthfully, lovingly to the sin in our lives. The liberation does not always take place at once or completely because it is a journey, a life-long process in many cases. But it begins when we honestly place our desires and our sins at the feet of His truth and Love and the outpouring of His Mercy that is without limit.

Eamonn Monson SAC

Taste awakens memories from the past and brings us back to specific times and experiences. Blackberry jam brings me back to the Castlegar fields on the edge of Galway city where we picked bags of blackberries in the autumn; back to the kitchen where my mother made the jam in a big saucepan; jam jars being filled with the hot new jam. And, when it cooled and set, the taste of it on fresh bread. Nothing compares with that taste and it is a blessed memory that speaks of home life at its best, with its own unique flavour and atmosphere.

The Word of God has the power to awaken memory in a particularly powerful way. A phrase or a single word can revive in us an experience of God that has some meaning for the present.

When I read the readings for today, the seventh Sunday, my mind initially went off in the direction of loving enemies, turning the other cheek, forgiveness and living in harmony with one another. It seemed the obvious way to go and yet something in me felt weary about this.

So, I closed my eyes for a while and into the silence this phrase presented itself with great clarity – “Be holy for I the Lord your God am Holy!” (Leviticus 19:2)

And it took me back to the Cathedral in Thurles when I was a young student. Sitting there in the hush and half-light of a Saturday evening waiting to go to confession. At that time my heart was on fire with that call in Leviticus – “Be holy for I am Holy.” Be holy, since it is the Holy One who has called you!

I understood this, not so much at the level of thought but, in the depth of my soul where it resonated and made perfect sense. The holiness of God is the beginning of everything. He is in essence Holy and what a joy it is to be called to share in this holiness, to have all of one’s life flow from it – all my thoughts, actions, desires, gestures and words.

The youth in me hungered and thirsted for this and I would give my whole life to the search for it – the search for the Holy One who was already within, without, behind and before me. The phrase, “Be holy for I am Holy” became a focal point on the horizon of my life as I steered my boat towards its destination.

That was part of the reality that waited in the quiet of Saturday nights in the Cathedral. The other part was my struggle with sin – the part of me that kicked against the holiness of God, a struggle that meets with Mercy time and time again; the ongoing struggle of the pilgrim life.

What we discover in our journey through life is that the very effort of living day-to-day can swallow us up and consume us to the extent that we lose sight of the goal, the horizon, the essence of the call. And this is where our Word or phrase of scripture can bring us back into focus.

The call to holiness is not just for the few. It is for every single one of us. God told Moses, “speak to the whole community…and say to them ‘be holy for the Lord your God is Holy.’” It is expressed differently in everyone’s life but it has the same meaning, the goal is the same, the source is the same.

To be holy is to become like God in every aspect of life. St. John says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

Be holy is also expressed in the Bible in terms such as, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect; be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate.

A lovely expression of the holiness of our lives is given by St. Paul, “Didn’t you realise that you were God’s temple and that the Spirit of God was living among you… the temple of God is sacred; and you are that temple.” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

The life of holiness is one that puts God first, recognizing that He is in fact the beginning and the centre of all existence. It is a life of profound reverence for God who is revealed definitively in the person of Jesus Christ. It has become a counter cultural life in a time that does not reverence the sacred, that sees God as one who can be manipulated and used in any way we choose.

The life of holiness must also be one that reflects itself in love of neighbour, ‘“You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’ (Leviticus 19:17-18).

It must also express itself in love of enemies, as Jesus says, “But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ (Matthew 5:38-48)

For anyone wanting to experience a more profound spiritual life it is worth taking time in silence to wait for God to give a Word that will be the focal point on the horizon of our journey. Then, no matter how caught up we become in the mill of life, no matter how many mountains we have to climb or rivers to cross, we will have the grace to pause, look up and focus again at the essence of what it is to be truly human –  to be Holy as God is Holy.

Eamonn Monson sac

February 19, 2017

Life is a pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage is an important part of spiritual life for Christians. Christians see life as a journey, coming from God and returning to God. The pilgrim seeks to separate himself from the everyday concerns of the world, and to spend time in the presence of God as he travels to a place of special meaning.

In Argentina we have over 12 places of pilgrimage (mostly all dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary). For the past 36 years, on the first Saturday of October over one million youth make their annual pilgrimage by foot to our national shrine  in honor of Our Lady of Lujan. It is amazing that so many young people respond so generously to this invitation to visit Lujan. Pope John Paul 11 had challenged young people to join him on a particular pilgrimage to different parts of the world every two years.

The monastery of Taize (France) offers a pilgrimage of simplicity and prayer which  thousands  of young people make every year, sacrificing much to come to meet other young people from different denominations around the world. World youth days, Knock, Walsingham (UK), Rome, Medjugorje, Nnamugongo (Africa), Lujan (Argentina) and many other local pilgrimages demonstrate that young people are captivated by these pilgrimages which somehow help them in a dramatic way at a particular time on their faith journey.

Whatever the initial motivation to make these journeys, it cannot be underestimated what a profound effect they have on them. It has not been uncommon for young people on a youth pilgrimage to make life choices or to be gently nudged by The Holy Spirit in a particular direction. It is clearly shown in the life of Jesus how important pilgrimage is.

Jesus made pilgrimage when he was growing up and the climax of salvation happened whilst on pilgrimage. The Holy Spirit came with great power on the apostles whilst people from many nations gathered in Jerusalem for the pilgrimage at Pentecost.

In the fourth century Christians rediscovered pilgrimage as part of their heritage. Prior to this there was a move away from jewish practices. Basilicas were built in Jerusalem on key places associated with Jesus. These quickly became centers of pilgrimage. Martyrs´ tombs also became places which Christians would make a prayerful journey to. The golden era of pilgrimage was, unsurprisingly, the middle ages, Rome. Cologne, Santiago de Compostela (Spain),Canterbury and Walsingham are but a few of the places which were not only key places of pilgrimage, but also cultural and economic centers. During the reformation many pilgrimage centers were destroyed, yet the idea of pilgrimage remained strong in the minds of many Christians.

In the 1800`s to this day pilgrimage had a massive revival. There is no doubt that somehow Christians need these times to take stock, to be with other like-minded people and to draw closer to God.

A pilgrim wanders through life, often limping, sometimes bewildered, at times quite lost; and the pilgrim is searching, often quite unconsciously, for something or someone to make sense of life, and certainly to make sense of death. He or she may discover that God has spoken in many ways but most emphatically through a Son, whom to see is to have seen The Father Himself.

In Argentina preparations are well underway for the 2010 youth pilgrimage to Lujan on Oct.2nd. This year it will coincide with the celebrations for the 200 years of independence of Argentina from Spain. The organizers are expecting 2 million young people who will walk the 68.8 klms from Buenos Aires to the Shrine of “Our Lady”. The motto for 2010 is “Mother Mary” –“We want a nation where everyone in included” In 2009 over 8 million pilgrims visited “The shrine. 14.340 and 283 weddings were officiated  during the year.

An authentic pilgrimage means the pilgrimage begins many months before the day of departure. The time of preparation is all part of of our journey.

Preparation helps us to focus on our theme for the year. It helps us ask the questions “why am I going (again)? and helps to see our need for spiritual renewal, to thank God for something, to offer something back and to seek real forgiveness. The youth pilgrimage is tiring and demanding on many levels and yet it should help us to be active Catholics, more apostolic in our everyday life and more willing to serve the needs of the people we make the journey with.

We all like to go on a pilgrimage and we should be aware that it’s a unique opportunity for us to experience real Community, service that does not count the hours or days and prayer which comes from what is deepest inside us. The way is ofen rough for a pilgrim and hard going but pilgrims must keep going resolutely and courageously.

We are lost if we stop looking for the right way to reach our destination. But there is ONE who is on the look-out to guide us; it is the Son of God who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Through Him we derive the inspiration and the strength to keep going on our pilgrim way.

Our Lady of Lujan pray for us!!!

I was born in Thurles in October 1935 in the old St. Mary`s Hospital. As was common practice then I was baptised at 2 days old in the Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles. I was raised in a rural community in the parish of Drombane about 8 miles from the town of Thurles. I attended a National School in Newtown, Drombane parish. When I concluded my primary education I attended Thurles CBS. Back in those days there was no free transport so we travelled on bicycles in all weathers.

Many boys and girls at that time and for years afterwards entered convents and Junior Seminaries at a young age. I joined the Society of the Catholic Apostolate (Pallottine Fathers) as a postulant in 1950. We used to go  to the CBS Secondary for our daily classes. Fortunately I enjoyed sports and I played hurling and gaelic football with various teams. I was lucky to win Dr. Harty Cup, Dean Ryan Cup, Croke Cup and Rice Cup finals with the famous school. Tipperary had great minor hurling teams in those days. They won the All Ireland hurling finals in 1952, `53, `55, `56 and `57. They were beaten in the 1954 final. I was lucky to win All Ireland medals in 1953 and 1954.

Our novitiate was in Cabra – about two miles outside Thurles in those years. I entered the Novitiate in September 1953. Fr. Tom Phelan, who was a avid Tipperary supported allowed me to leave the novitiate and head for the big city of Dublin and play against Dublin in the All Ireland final.  Having completed the novitiate I transferred to our college in Thurles and from there I attended daily lectures in the local St. Patrick`s College. This is no longer a seminary; it is now the equivalent of a university.

After finishing 1^st. philosophy and spending a couple of days on retreat in Mt. St. Joseph`s Monastery, Roscrea I made the decision that the priesthood was not for me. People in Ireland were fairly poor at that time and jobs were scarce. There was great emigration in the 1940`s, `50`s and 60`s to Britain and the US. I obtained temporary employment in Thurles Sugar Factory and later on with the ESB.

When I left the seminary I made a decision to never enter any seminary again. I had cousins home from London on holidays and they assured me that they would find employment for me in the big city of London. I worked in an office for a Kerry man – J. Murphy and Sons – and the pay was £7 each week. In those far away days you could get an excellent meal for 5 shillings in the old money. I kept up the hurling and I played for a team in Kilburn, West London. There was no trouble carrying a hurley on London transport at that time.  I bet it might be considered a dangerous weapon now.  I moved from Murphy`s to work for a subsidiary of ICI.

During my time in London I became very active in the Legion of Mary. Initially I was a member of a parish praesidium. The parish was between two prisons, Holloway and Pentonville.  I joined the men`s prison presidium in the parish and I became an official prison visitor to Pentonville Men`s Prison. I became the treasurer and later the president of Islington  Curia and at that time there were 23 praesidia in the curia. I lived a very full social life and at that time there many Irish dance halls throughout London and I learned to dance with the best of them, although I would have to confess that I was no Fred Astaire.  I dated a girl, who was a native of Bruree and after a couple of years we became engaged to be married.  Back in those days couples didn`t live together unless they were married to each other. Sometime in 1960 we decided that we would emigrate to America.  I would go first and later on she would follow me.  I was sponsored by my sister and brother in law in Syracuse, New York State. I obtained employment in a bank – working as a cashier.  My job description then could never lead me to be a part of the ongoing chaos in banking. 

The wall in Berlin was built in June 1961 and America was afraid of a war starting between themselves and Russia. I was called to register for draft, although I wasn`t a US citizen. I was classified 1A and I was given the choice to join the army or leave the country. I had hoped to work at banking in the military but Providence led me to qualify to be a Chaplain`s Assistant.  When I was fully trained I was assigned to the Post Chapel at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonia, Texas.

One day I said to myself, “I was once in God`s Army and here I am now stuck in Man`s Army”.  Although I was still engaged to be married I began to think about entering a seminary again, but not the Pallottines. I was living in the US and I considered entering some Religious Order over there, but I couldn`t decide which one.  The Catholic Chaplain encouraged me to enter a seminary. I had an uncle at that time, who was a priest in San Diego Diocese and he asked me to join his diocese. I said “no”; I wanted to join some Religious Order.

I still could not make up my mind.  I went to have breakfast on the Broadway, San Antonia with my army chaplain boss and another soldier.  On the way in I purchased a daily paper and going through the pages I found myself transfixed looking at a picture of Blessed Vincent Pallotti, who was about to be canonised at that time in Rome. This was in January 1963. My mind was made up as I felt Jesus; the great High Priest was directing me back to my first love as a future Pallottine.

I applied for readmission and I was accepted. I entered the Pallottines for the second time in September 1963. Of course I had to break off my engagement to a wonderful Irish Catholic girl. In time she married a former English seminarian and I often visited them in their home in Ealing parish, London.  They have 3 sons and over the years 2 of them played rugby with London Irish.      

Fr. Phil Barry SCA