Happy Christmas!
Posted on 21. Dec, 2012 by John Coughlan in Uncategorized
A very happy Christmas to all our website visitors from the community of the Irish College, Rome .
Le gach dea ghuí agus beannacht don Nollaig agus don Athbhliain.
Buon Natale!
‘If God does not also have power over matter, then he simply is not God. But he does have this power, and through the conception and resurrection of Jesus Christ he has ushered in a new creation. So as the Creator he is also our Redeemer. Hence the conception and birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary is a fundamental element of our faith and a radiant sign of hope.’
– Joseph Ratzinger – Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth; The Infancy Narratives. Philip J. Whitmore, trans. New York: Image, 2012, p.57.
Irish College Advent Carol Service 2012
Posted on 12. Dec, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The annual Service of Readings and Carols followed by festivities and refreshments will take place at the Irish College, Rome on Sunday, 16th December at 17.00. All warmly invited.
Ordinations 2012
Posted on 19. Jun, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Ordinations to the Priesthood 2012
You are asked to remember the students of the Irish College who will be ordained to the priesthood this summer which include:
Roberto Corongiu of the diocese of Lanusei who will be ordained to the priesthood by His Excellency Mons Antioco Piseddu, Bishop of Lanusei on Saturday 29 June 2012 at the parish Church of Perdasdefogu;
Ryan McAleer of the archdiocese of Armagh who will be ordained to the priesthood by His Eminence Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh on Sunday 1 July, 2012 at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh;
Patrick Lagan of the diocese of Derry who will be ordained to the priesthood by Most Revd Francis Lagan, Retired Auxiliary Bishop of Derry on Sunday 8 July 2012 at St Patrick’s Church, Glen, Maghera, Co. Derry;
Conor McGrath of the diocese of Down and Connor who will be ordained to the priesthood by Most Revd Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor on Sunday 8 July, 2012 at Saint Benard’s Church, Glengormley, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim;
Daniele de Angelis of the diocese of Ascoli Piceno who will be ordained to the priesthood by His Excellency Mons. Silvano Montevecchi, Bishop of Ascoli Piceno on Sunday 11 August 2012 at 18.30 at the Cathedral;
John Harris of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore who will be ordained to the priesthood by Most Revd William Lee, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore on Sunday 2 September 2012 at St Nicholas’ Church, Ballyduff, Kilmeaden, Co Waterford.
Ordinations to the Diaconate 2012
Three Irish College seminarians were ordained to the diaconate on Easter Monday, 9 April 2012. The ceremony took place in the Basilica di San Marco Evangelista al Campidoglio and the ordaining prelate was Most Revd Liam MacDaid Bishop of Clogher. The new deacons are Raymond Donnelly, Diocese of Clogher, Micheál McGavigan, Diocese of Derry and Paul Murphy, Archdiocese of Armagh. You are kindly asked to remember them in your prayers.
During the Mass, Bishop MacDaid addressed the following words to the new deacons and to the congregation.
Fellow priests and dear friends,
When the three disciples went up the mountain with the Lord and saw him transfigured, they exclaimed, “It is good for us to be here.” I think we can echo those sentiments this morning. It is a privilege for us all to be gathered here in this historical city, which has had a central role in the history of civilisation and in the life of the Christian community since the time of its founder.
In a beautifully crafted foreword to our booklet, Fr Ciaran O’Carroll, Rector of the Pontifical Irish College inRome, has welcomed us here and we have all felt and appreciated the warmth of that welcome. We say thank you to him, to Fr Albert McDonnell, Vice-Rector, to Fr Chris Hayden, Spiritual Director and Fr Billy Swan, Director of Formation. The Irish Church has entrusted the care of these three young men and others to your hands. We do not feel it an exaggeration to say that their progress, under the guidance of God’s grace, is an advertisement for the quality of help and direction which they received.
Most of you here present are family, friends and mentors of the three ordinands. I congratulate and compliment above all others the parents. You have had the central role in witnessing to the love of God in bringing up your children. You have clearly been for them a living inspiration in how they chose to use the life God gave them through you. Family members, friends and mentors, you bring to St Mark’s Basilica today your own experiences and memories of your relationship and friendship. Your thoughts and prayers will bring a special significance to this ordination.
Today is above all a defining one in the lives of Raymond, Micheál, and Paul. You have made a courageous decision to offer your lives in selfless service to the people of God. In so doing, you have God’s own pledge of support and you have the love and encouragement of all present, as well as of many others who could not be here. You have tested your calling and now decision time has arrived. After much thought, prayer and advice you have decided to accept the demands of this life of service in a spirit of self-denial, for the sake of what can be given and received. It is with an overflowing sense of affection and encouragement that we ask God to bless your lives and ministry. We are aware of what you are undertaking in becoming official ministers of the Church and in entering the last stage of preparation for priesthood. May God pour out his Spirit on you, may you be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, and in loving others as Christ loved you may your life and ministry bear much fruit. Amen.
MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER
FOR THE 49th WORLD DAY
OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
29 APRIL 2012 FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Theme: Vocations, the Gift of the Love of God
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The 49th World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which will be celebrated on 29 April 2012, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, prompts us to meditate on the theme: Vocations, the Gift of the Love of God.
The source of every perfect gift is God who is Love – Deus caritas est: “Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Sacred Scripture tells the story of this original bond between God and man, which precedes creation itself. Writing to the Christians of the city of Ephesus, Saint Paul raises a hymn of gratitude and praise to the Father who, with infinite benevolence, in the course of the centuries accomplishes his universal plan of salvation, which is a plan of love. In his Son Jesus – Paul states – “he chose us, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him in love” (Eph 1:4). We are loved by God even “before” we come into existence! Moved solely by his unconditional love, he created us “not … out of existing things” (cf. 2 Macc 7:28), to bring us into full communion with Him.
In great wonderment before the work of God’s providence, the Psalmist exclaims: “When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:3-4). The profound truth of our existence is thus contained in this surprising mystery: every creature, and in particular every human person, is the fruit of God’s thought and an act of his love, a love that is boundless, faithful and everlasting (cf. Jer 31:3). The discovery of this reality is what truly and profoundly changes our lives. In a famous page of the Confessions, Saint Augustine expresses with great force his discovery of God, supreme beauty and supreme love, a God who was always close to him, and to whom he at last opened his mind and heart to be transformed: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.” (X, 27.38). With these images, the Saint of Hippo seeks to describe the ineffable mystery of his encounter with God, with God’s love that transforms all of life.
It is a love that is limitless and that precedes us, sustains us and calls us along the path of life, a love rooted in an absolutely free gift of God. Speaking particularly of the ministerial priesthood, my predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, stated that “every ministerial action – while it leads to loving and serving the Church – provides an incentive to grow in ever greater love and service of Jesus Christ the head, shepherd and spouse of the Church, a love which is always a response to the free and unsolicited love of God in Christ” (Pastores Dabo Vobis, 25). Every specific vocation is in fact born of the initiative of God; it is a gift of the Love of God! He is the One who takes the “first step”, and not because he has found something good in us, but because of the presence of his own love “poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5).
In every age, the source of the divine call is to be found in the initiative of the infinite love of God, who reveals himself fully in Jesus Christ. As I wrote in my first Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, “God is indeed visible in a number of ways. In the love-story recounted by the Bible, he comes towards us, he seeks to win our hearts, all the way to the Last Supper, to the piercing of his heart on the Cross, to his appearances after the Resurrection and to the great deeds by which, through the activity of the Apostles, he guided the nascent Church along its path. Nor has the Lord been absent from subsequent Church history: he encounters us ever anew, in the men and women who reflect his presence, in his word, in the sacraments, and especially in the Eucharist” (No. 17).
The love of God is everlasting; he is faithful to himself, to the “word that he commanded for a thousand generations” (Ps 105:8). Yet the appealing beauty of this divine love, which precedes and accompanies us, needs to be proclaimed ever anew, especially to younger generations. This divine love is the hidden impulse, the motivation which never fails, even in the most difficult circumstances.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to open our lives to this love. It is to the perfection of the Father’s love (cf. Mt 5:48) that Jesus Christ calls us every day! The high standard of the Christian life consists in loving “as” God loves; with a love that is shown in the total, faithful and fruitful gift of self. Saint John of the Cross, writing to the Prioress of the Monastery of Segovia who was pained by the terrible circumstances surrounding his suspension, responded by urging her to act as God does: “Think nothing else but that God ordains all, and where there is no love, put love, and there you will draw out love” (Letters, 26).
It is in this soil of self-offering and openness to the love of God, and as the fruit of that love, that all vocations are born and grow. By drawing from this wellspring through prayer, constant recourse to God’s word and to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, it becomes possible to live a life of love for our neighbours, in whom we come to perceive the face of Christ the Lord (cf. Mt 25:31-46). To express the inseparable bond that links these “two loves” – love of God and love of neighbour – both of which flow from the same divine source and return to it, Pope Saint Gregory the Great uses the metaphor of the seedling: “In the soil of our heart God first planted the root of love for him; from this, like the leaf, sprouts love for one another.” (Moralium Libri, sive expositio in Librum B. Job, Lib. VII, Ch. 24, 28; PL 75, 780D).
These two expressions of the one divine love must be lived with a particular intensity and purity of heart by those who have decided to set out on the path of vocation discernment towards the ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life; they are its distinguishing mark. Love of God, which priests and consecrated persons are called to mirror, however imperfectly, is the motivation for answering the Lord’s call to special consecration through priestly ordination or the profession of the evangelical counsels. Saint Peter’s vehement reply to the Divine Master: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” (Jn 21:15) contains the secret of a life fully given and lived out, and thus one which is deeply joyful.
The other practical expression of love, that towards our neighbour, and especially those who suffer and are in greatest need, is the decisive impulse that leads the priest and the consecrated person to be a builder of communion between people and a sower of hope. The relationship of consecrated persons, and especially of the priest, to the Christian community is vital and becomes a fundamental dimension of their affectivity. The Curé of Ars was fond of saying: “Priests are not priests for themselves, but for you” (Le cure d’Ars. Sa pensée – Son cœur, Foi Vivante, 1966, p. 100).
Dear brother bishops, dear priests, deacons, consecrated men and women, catechists, pastoral workers and all of you who are engaged in the field of educating young people: I fervently exhort you to pay close attention to those members of parish communities, associations and ecclesial movements who sense a call to the priesthood or to a special consecration. It is important for the Church to create the conditions that will permit many young people to say “yes” in generous response to God’s loving call.
The task of fostering vocations will be to provide helpful guidance and direction along the way. Central to this should be love of God’s word nourished by a growing familiarity with sacred Scripture, and attentive and unceasing prayer, both personal and in community; this will make it possible to hear God’s call amid all the voices of daily life. But above all, the Eucharist should be the heart of every vocational journey: it is here that the love of God touches us in Christ’s sacrifice, the perfect expression of love, and it is here that we learn ever anew how to live according to the “high standard” of God’s love. Scripture, prayer and the Eucharist are the precious treasure enabling us to grasp the beauty of a life spent fully in service of the Kingdom.
It is my hope that the local Churches and all the various groups within them, will become places where vocations are carefully discerned and their authenticity tested, places where young men and women are offered wise and strong spiritual direction. In this way, the Christian community itself becomes a manifestation of the Love of God in which every calling is contained. As a response to the demands of the new commandment of Jesus, this can find eloquent and particular realization in Christian families, whose love is an expression of the love of Christ who gave himself for his Church (cf. Eph 5:32). Within the family, “a community of life and love” (Gaudium et Spes, 48), young people can have a wonderful experience of this self-giving love. Indeed, families are not only the privileged place for human and Christian formation; they can also be “the primary and most excellent seed-bed of vocations to a life of consecration to the Kingdom of God” (Familiaris Consortio, 53), by helping their members to see, precisely within the family, the beauty and the importance of the priesthood and the consecrated life. May pastors and all the lay faithful always cooperate so that in the Church these “homes and schools of communion” may multiply, modelled on the Holy Family of Nazareth, the harmonious reflection on earth of the life of the Most Holy Trinity.
With this prayerful hope, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing to all of you: my brother bishops, priests, deacons, religious men and women and all lay faithful, and especially those young men and women who strive to listen with a docile heart to God’s voice and are ready to respond generously and faithfully.
From the Vatican, 18 October 2011
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
50th International Eucharistic Congress
Posted on 04. Jun, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The opening Mass of the 2012 International Eucharistic Congress
Dublin hosted the 50th International Eucharistic Congress from June 10th – 17th 2012. Most of the events were being held in the RDS complex where the sanctuary for the celebration of the Eucharist and other liturgies was modelled on the sanctuary of the Pontifical Irish College. The Irish College sanctuary was designed and executed in mosaic by Fr Marko Rupnik SJ and his colleagues in the Centro Aletti in Rome. At the centre of the mosaic is Christ in glory who is surrounded by Mary, His mother, John the Baptist, Saints Patrick, Brigid and other Irish Saints.
The speakers at the Eucharistic Congress included the Irish College rector Monsignor Ciaran O’Carroll who delevered talk entitled ‘ Changing Models of Living the Eucharist in the History of the Church in Ireland’ on Wednesday 13 June at 10.00. Monsignor O’Carroll was also a member the mission that accompanied Papal Legate, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Pope Benedict’s representative at the Congress.
The faculty of theology of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth hosted an international symposium from Wednesday 6 June until Saturday 9 June 2012. The speakers included Fr Billy Swan, the Director of Formation at the Pontifical Irish College who addressed the topic of ‘The Eucharist, Communion and Formation’.
The Irish College was included in the Eucharistic Congress Bell pilgrimage.
Ministry of Lector and Acolyte
Posted on 30. May, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Two Irish College seminarians, Stephen Duffy, Clogher and Marius O Reilly, Cork & Ross were insititued as lectors during Mass celerated by Most Revd Patrick Walsh, Bishop Emeritus of Down & Connor in the College chapel on Tuesday 29 May 2012. During the same liturgy three members of the College community Liam Boyle, Raphoe, Brian Fitzpatrick, Dromore and Dominic McGrattan, Down and Connor were instituted as acolytes.
During his homily, Bishop Walsh described of the ministry of the diocesan priest as lived in the midst of the people and centred on their needs. He also spoke of the importance of developing a spirituality which is appropiate to parochial ministry.
The ministry of Lector focuses on the proclamation of the word of God. During the liturgy the Bishop offered this prayer for the new lectors:
‘Lord God, source of all goodness and light, you sent your only Son, the Word of life, to reveal to mankind the mystery of your love. Bless our brothers who have been chosen for the ministry of lector. Grant that as they meditate constantly on your word they may grow in its wisdom and faithfully proclaim it to your people.We ask this through Christ our Lord.
The ministry of acolyte is centred on the Eucharist. During the rite of institution of acolytes, the Bishop handed the canditates the bread and wine to be used for the celebration of Mass while saying the following words:
‘Take this vessel with bread (wine) for the celebration of the eucharist. Make your life worthy of your service at the table of the Lord and of his Church.’
Confirmation and First Holy Communion 2012
Posted on 30. Apr, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Eight members of the Irish College Sacramental Preparation class will receive the sacrament of Confirmation, while five others will receive their First Holy Communion during Sunday Mass at the College on 27 May 2012. Most Revd Patrick Walsh, Bishop Emeritus of Down and Connor will preside at the liturgy.
The children have taken part in sacramental preparation classes in the College after Sunday Mass each week provided by the seminarians. Their parents have also partecipated in an adult faith formation programme in the College. The familes come from the Irish and broader English speaking community resident in Rome.
The children are members of English speaking families resident in Rome. They attend Mass in the College each Sunday and afterwards participate in sacramental preparation classes conducted by Irish College seminarians. Their parents participate in adult faith formation encounters while their children are in class. The programme begins in early October each year and concludes with the celebration of the sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion usually on the final Sunday of May. This year a total of twenty-eight children took part in the course including five members of the post-confirmation programme.
Doctoral Defences
Posted on 29. Apr, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Fr Billy Swan, Director of Formation at the Pontifical Irish College and a priest of the diocese of Ferns will defend his doctoral thesis in the faculty of theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University on Tuesday 5 June 2012 at 16,00. Fr Swan’s thesis is entitled ‘The experience of God in the writings of Saint Patrick: reworking a faith received’ and was directed by Fr Mario Farrugia, SJ.
Fr Andre Luiz Rodrigues Da Silva of the diocese of Rio De Janeiro (Brazil) will defend his doctoral thesis at the Patristic Insitiute (Lateran University) on 15 June 2012. The thesis consists of a study of the community of Justin Martyr in Rome and was directed by Professor N. Cipriani.
Solidarity with South Sudan
Posted on 29. Apr, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
The Pontifical Irish College choose Solidarity with South Sudan as the charity to benefit from its 2012 Lenten appeal. During Lent the College residents, the congregation at Sunday Mass and other visitors to the College contributed to the weekly collection in aid of the charity. Irish College students organised a weekly Friday fast in support of the initiative. The guests at the St Patrick’s Day entertainment also supported a raffle the proceeds of which went to the lenten appeal.
On Sunday 29 April the two seminarians who organied the lenen appeal presented the proceeds to Sr Patricia Murray, an Irish Loreto sister, the Executive Director and Ms Anne Carthy Chief Development Officer with Solidarity with South Sudan after Sunday Mass. In expressing her thanks for the donation Sr Pat briefly described the work the organisation and other Church bodies were undertaining in the country. She also exprressed her appreciation of the support they received from the Irish goverment.
Solidarity with South Sudan is a project that seeks to promote the Kingdom of God in partnership with the local church and the people of Sudan through the establishment and development of teacher and health training institutes and other pastoral initiatives. It is a consorti
um of more than 170 religious congregations. The Irish Loreto sisters are involved in this project and run a school in the country. South Sudan has only recently achieved independence and is facing daunting challenges in terms of feeding its people and building a new country. Solidarity with South Sudan has identified education and in particular the training of teachers as central to the survival of the country. The College community and friends of and visitors to the College contributed over €3,000 to the Lenten appeal will be used to help fund the training of 101 new teachers. For further information, please see the attachment or www.solidarityssudan.org
Year of Faith
Posted on 28. Mar, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
A reflection by Fr Billy Swan on the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI
A few months ago, my father died. At the time of his death and since his passing, I thank God for the gift of faith and for the consolation and strength it has provided. It has not been easy. In composing the homily for his funeral Mass, I thought of all the times I had done this before for others but that for my own father, it was so different. In parish, while preaching and in pastoral care, I had used the language of hope and eternal life often and easily. Now, with my father’s death, I was brought back to the very basics of my own Christian faith: to honestly face suffering, to consider hope, eternal life and what it means to believe. The death of my father had brought these questions to the surface in a way that made me wonder: do we as Christians really believe what we say we do?
With the Apostolic Letter of 11th October 2011, Porta fidei, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith. This year will begin on 11th October 2012, on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and will conclude on 24th November 2013. With his letter, the Pope’s desire is clear: to empower all Christians to ‘share in the salvific mission of the Church’ (Lumen Gentium, 33) and to be active participants in the new evangelization: a process that will gain further momentum in October of this year with the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will have as its theme The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. However, in order that Christians share more fully in their missionary calling, Pope Benedict points to the need for believers themselves to rediscover the joy and life we derive from a life of faith in the Lord. The Holy Father speaks of the need for Christians ‘to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ’ (Porta fidei, 2). In the same letter he describes the year of faith as ‘a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world’ (Porta fidei, 6). With these directives the pope is leading us back to the sources of our Christian faith: to consider what we believe and most importantly in whom we believe so that our faith may take a deeper root in our lives and express itself in virtue and charity. This summons to authenticity and conversion could be expressed as an opportunity for the whole Church to consider if we truly believe what we say we do: so that we can realize our common vocation to be the salt of the earth and light of the world (cf. Matt. 5:13-16).
The necessary connection between the faith we profess and how we live has always been important. In the Old Testament, God warns of the constant danger of superficiality when he speaks of Israel as a people ‘who honour me with their lips but whose hearts are far from me’ (Is. 29:13). In the Gospels, with the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches of the necessity for the seed of his word to penetrate roots into deep soil if it is to produce a rich harvest (cf. Matt. 13:1-23; Mk. 4:1-20; Lk. 8:4-15). Similarly in John, the beautiful image of the vine and the branches promises that those who are truly in communion with Jesus will bear fruit in plenty (cf. Jn.15:1-8). With St Paul, faith in Christ did not remain at the surface of a mere profession but led to the transformation of his whole being so that he could say ‘it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’ (Gal. 2:20). In the early centuries of the Church, we recall the memory of the martyrs and the torments they endured to remain faithful to Christ and the gospel. Their fortitude remains a shining example of a faith built on rock (cf. Matt. 7:24-27), of something inside them so deep and strong. Through their sufferings they too were tested if they really believed what they said and with their witness onto death, their faith has been proven like gold (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7). In our own time, the importance of faith having deep roots in human existence and culture was emphasised by Pope Paul VI in 1975 when he insisted that the evangelization of peoples and cultures must not be ‘in a purely decorative way, as it were, by applying a thin veneer, but in a vital way, in depth and right to their very roots’ (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 20). This teaching came at a time when the divorce between faith and culture was taking hold in Europe where the vast majority of citizens were Christian but where Christian culture was being undermined by secularism: a trend that has continued to the present day.
It is in this sense of continuity that Pope Benedict’s declaration of a year of faith finds its context. Porta fidei essentially invites us to understand Christianity in a new way: not so much as a badge of religious affiliation but as a transformed existence by the Spirit of Christ that in turn brings transformation to the Church and to the world. To arrive at this point we return to the sources, to the basics of our faith and to what we have already received. Here is an invitation to return to the Scriptures, the creed, the commandments, the sacraments and to the prayer Tradition of the Church to discover again ‘the wealth of teaching that the Church has received, safeguarded and proposed in her two thousand years of history’ (Porta fidei, 11). In these limitless resources are contained wisdom, meaning, the blueprint for a beautiful life and a beautiful world as God always intended. They are vessels that contain the language in which the heart of God speaks to the heart of man. They await to be unpacked, explored and shared by those who are thirsty for ‘living water’ (cf. John 4:10).
Re-discovering the faith we profess helps to know Christ more and not just know about him. The creed for example is no longer understood as a dry formula of words but as a summary of all that God has done for us, and continues to do in Christ’s love. For this reason it is full of spiritual power that has the potential to move hearts and to change lives. For Soren Kierkegaard, the creed of the primitive Church ‘is like an enchanted castle where, locked in slumber, lie the handsomest of princes and the loveliest of princesses. It only needs to be aroused for them to leap to their feet in all their glory’ (The Journals, II.A.110, entry 127). This year of faith is a call to arouse the spiritual depths of what we believe and in whom we believe so that we may participate fully and effectively in the new evangelization.
I conclude with two examples of articles of faith we profess all the time but perhaps whose implications we have only begun to realize. The first relates to God who has adopted us as beloved children and co-heirs with Christ in the Spirit. As co-heirs we are inheritors of a blessed life in this world and in the next. We have received nothing less than God himself, conferred with ‘every spiritual blessing in the heavens’ (Eph. 1:3) where God promises us that ‘everything I have is yours’ (Lk. 15:31). Do we really believe this? Do we really believe that God has given himself totally to us? It seems almost too good to be true and yet it is. The second article of faith with explosive implications is that as co-heirs with Christ we are brothers and sisters in him. If I believe this is true then I can no longer remain indifferent to the plight of people I see in need, no matter how separated we are by nationality, culture or belief. They too are part of my family, I am responsible for them and am united to them in God. What if we all were to really believe this and act as if it were true? This year of faith is an opportunity to ignite the full potential of what we believe and what that faith implies.
Death is difficult and painful. Yet the loss of my father has led me back to the source of true hope and joy: Jesus our brother, friend and Lord who suffers with us and in whom all are alive. At this time of bereavement, the Porta fidei has been the place where gratitude and grief have met and embraced. May the year of faith lead all Christians to rediscover the gift we have received so that we may truly believe what we profess. May our shared journey that passes through the Porta fidei ‘lead us to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time’ (T.S. Eliot, «Little Gidding», The Complete Poems and plays of T.S. Eliot, 197).
Fr Billy Swan is a priest of the diocese of Ferns and was Director of Formation at the Pontifical Irish College .
St Patrick’s Day 2012
Posted on 01. Mar, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel
Liturgical Celebration
The Irish Community in Rome gathered for the celebration of Mass on the feast of St Patrick, our national apostle, on Saturday 17 March at 10.30 in St Isidore’s Church, Via degli Artisti 41.
This year the liturgy was hosted by Fr Micheal Mac Craith and the Franciscan Community at St Isidores. The chief celebrant will be Fr Ciaran O’Carroll, Rector of the Pontifical Irish College and the homilist was Fr Billy Swan also of the Pontifical Irish College.
Entertainment
The Pontifical Irish College presented its annual St Patrick’s Day play on Friday 16 March and Saturday 17 March at 20.00.
‘Dracula’ Bram Stoker’s classic tale of danger, mystery and excitement is the 2012 St Patrick’s Day entertainment presented by the Pontifical Irish College. Anxious to impress his prospective father-in-law, Jonathan Harker sets off from Donegal to Transylvania to assist a mysterious nobleman who is keen to buy property in Ireland. But all is not what it seems at Castle Dracula. Has Jonathan stumbled upon a vampire? Does the Count really intend on bringing death and mayhem to the Emerald Isle? And can he be stopped before it’s too late?
The play was produced by Conor McCarthy and directed by Damian McCaughan.
Celtic Ball
The Irish Club of Rome hosted its annual Celtic Ball in the Grand Hotel dei Principi on Saturday 17 March 2012 at 19,00.
SAINT PATRICK AND THE NEW EVANGELISATION:
WHY MISSION MATTERS
In October 2012, the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will commence in Rome which will have as its theme The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith. The purpose of the Synod will be to draw together Church leaders from all over the world in an effort to reinvigorate missionary zeal and focus again on the mandate given to all Christians by the risen Lord: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt. 28:19).
For the first disciples who received this command, the challenge to evangelize all nations must have seemed almost impossible. Their limited education, rejection by many, threats of violence and death, differences in culture, language, obstacles in travel: so many difficulties faced them that the only conclusion that can be drawn from their success is that the Spirit of the Lord was truly with them as he promised to bring their work to fulfilment (cf. Matt. 28:20). Indeed the very survival of the Church over twenty centuries and the spread of Christianity to countries and cultures across the globe is perhaps the greatest sign that Christ never leaves his Church and that the message of the Gospel that she bears, transcends all races, nationalities and generations in a powerful unifying embrace.
Today, the Church faces no less daunting challenges as she seeks not just to propose but to re-propose the Good News of faith in Christ and the message of a God who loves us. Confident in the continuing presence of the divine in our Church and the Spirit’s impulsion to re-embrace our missionary calling, we look to the early Church for inspiration and to saints who point us in the right direction as we enter into spiritual communion with them and seek new ways of witnessing to the Good News in the world with renewed enthusiasm and effect. This article proposes the example of Saint Patrick, whose feast we celebrate on March 17th, as someone from our tradition who can help the Church approach the New Evangelisation with the hope of the same success in the present as he enjoyed in the past.
Saint Patrick (c. 385-462) was born on the west coast of Britain in the late fourth century, the son of a deacon who also acted as a Roman curial official. At the tender age of sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland where he was forced into slavery. Separated from his family and immersed in suffering, he came to know God’s friendship, to identify with Christ’s closeness and to understand himself in a new way. After six years he escaped back to Britain and was reunited with his family who begged him never to leave them again. It was a promise Patrick could not keep for shortly afterwards, he began to sense a powerful call to return to the land of his captivity and to bring the Gospel to the Irish. This time, his presence in Ireland was not forced but was freely chosen ‘for the love of neighbours, sons and daughters’, because of his ‘zeal for God’ and for ‘the truth of Christ’ (Epist. 1). There in Ireland in a pagan culture, he faced many difficulties and dangers. He was among a people many considered uncivilized and beyond redemption. He suffered persecutions, further captivity and expected to suffer martyrdom at any time. He describes himself as a ‘lowly, unlearned exile’ (Confess. 2, 12) as he freely admits his own limitations. Yet, despite these obstacles, Patrick testifies to one of the most remarkable missionary successes in the early Church. He baptized thousands and witnessed to how the early Christian community in Ireland was ‘increasing beautifully’ through his preaching (cf. Epist. 12). History testifies that Patrick’s efforts began a chain of events that not only led to the Christianisation of Ireland but to the influx of Irish missionaries into mainland Europe who made and immense contribution to the whole civilization project. With these missionaries that included St Columbanus (c. 540-615) and St Malachy (1094-1148), key elements of Christian faith that promoted ecclesial and social unity were absorbed by cultures in a way that valued education, virtue and basic human rights. This concept of faith in the Trinity expressing itself in social harmony was the legacy of these Irish men and women of courage but one that originated with Patrick their father in faith.
For this reason, St Patrick is celebrated not just by the Irish but by Churches around the world who return thanks to God for the gift of faith received by Irish missionaries who left their homeland to bring the faith to other cultures and peoples after the example of Patrick himself. At this time of opportunity for evangelization, what the story of Patrick teaches us with renewed force and effect is simply that mission matters. God in his freedom did not have to involve us in his work of salvation but choose to do so. He desires that all peoples share fully in his divine life and asks us to help offer what he wants to give. God has given us the dignity of being partners with him in bringing his saving love to the ends of the earth. Therefore, in many ways the salvation of others depends on our response to be people of mission.
Patrick had an acute awareness that this was true. He speaks of his mission as ‘this holy and wonderful work’ (Confess. 34) and of his ‘pastoral care for the salvation of others’ (Confess. 28). He describes his preaching as ‘acquiring people for God’ (Confess. 58) and of dedicating himself to the Irish ‘lovingly and joyfully for their salvation’ (Confess. 51). He admits his difficulties as a Christian in a pagan culture but also of his hope that through him, God’s promises would eventually be fulfilled. Despite temptation to leave the Irish, he ‘stayed with them for I hoped that some of them would come to faith in Jesus Christ’ (Confess. 18). He is very conscious of his own example and that of the Church as being in direct proportion to people being led to Christ and his salvation. He witnesses to ‘the faith of truth’ with ‘sincerity of heart’ lest ‘the name of God be blasphemed through me’ (Confess. 48). Because of the purity of his witness, Patrick has seen many believers ‘born through me’ (Confess. 38) for he is ‘an ambassador for Christ’ (Epist. 5) just as the Church is ‘the letter of Christ’ (Confess. 11). Here is a man convinced that mission matters: that just as the Father had sent Christ into the world so Christ had sent him to Ireland to bear his saving love in person to the ends of the earth (cf. Jn. 20:21).
Through God’s loving call and Patrick’s generous response, the saving message of Christ not only transformed his life but an entire nation. Through the birth of a Church that was defined by mission from the beginning, Irish men and women carried the offer of God’s saving love everywhere they went in the world, convinced that like Patrick, the kingdom of God was brought about by their presence and witness. As the Church prepares for the New Evangelisation, this conviction of Patrick and early Christians of the importance of their role as conduits of salvation cannot be overstated. With so many who wait to hear words of hope and at a time of ‘rich harvest’ (cf. Matt. 9:37), Patrick and the saints lead every Christian to understand that their response to God’s call contributes uniquely to the saving mission of the Church that seeks to make Christ known and loved throughout the world. For Patrick, the acceptance of one man of his call to mission led to the conversion of a nation and the influence of millions over generations and continents. His story warns us never to underestimate the personal and unique task God has committed to each of us for in the words of Blessed John Henry Newman, ‘God has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission’.
As we look forward to the synod on the New Evangelisation and consider the task that lies ahead, let us not be discouraged or overwhelmed. United in communion with the early saints and their courage, we renew our confidence in the Lord’s promises that he will be with us always. It is Christ who asks us to bear him to the world so that his light and truth can be seen and heard. In 1979 during his visit to Ireland, Blessed John Paul II asked us to: ‘Remember Saint Patrick. Remember what the fidelity of just one man has meant for Ireland and the world’ (Address to Seminarians, Maynooth, 1 Oct.). On his feast day, we remember Saint Patrick and give thanks for what God achieved through him. For us, we must never doubt the wonders God continues to do in our own day through men and women who share Patrick’s conviction that mission matters.
Fr Billy Swan
Director of Formation
Pontificio Collegio Irlandese