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 consortium 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 11^th October 2011, Porta fidei, Pope Benedict XVI declared a Year of Faith. This year will begin on 11^th October 2012, on the 50^th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and will conclude on 24^th 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 17^th, 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

Holy Week 2012

Posted on 01. Mar, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel

Holy Week 2012 at the Pontifical Irish College

    Reconciliation Service Tuesday 27 March 2012                               

A reconciliation service and individual confession in preparation for Easter  18.30

 Holy Thursday 05 April, 2012
Mass of the Lord’s Supper 18.00

Good Friday 06 April 2012
Liturgy of Christ’s Passion 15.00

Easter Saturday 07 April 2012
   Easter Vigil 21.00

                                                     Easter Sunday 08 April  2012
                                                 Mass 10.00

The Pontifical Irish College has chosen Solidarity with South Sudan as the chairty to benefit from 2012 Lenten appeal. 

 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 consortium of more than 170 religious congregations. The Irish Loreto sisters are involved in this project and run a school in the country. Sr Patricia Murray, an Irish Loreto sister, is Executive Director while another Irish woman Anne Carthy is Chief Development Officer. 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. Your contribution to our Lenten appeal will be used to fund the training of 101 new teachers. For further information, please see the attachment or www.solidarityssudan.org

Snow in Rome

Posted on 04. Feb, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel

Candidacy for Holy Orders 2012

Posted on 29. Jan, 2012 by John Coughlan in Carousel