| Here and There 2009 |
|
Some items taken from "News from Home" No. 52, December 2008. This is an in-house newsletter intended especially for our missionaries who are living overseas.
LIMERICK Refurbishment of the At 3.58 in the afternoon of Wednesday the 19th November 2008 the final pieces of the scaffolding were removed and by 4.30pm all elements of the scaffold were gone from the church. This was a day many of us had looked forward to for weeks and weeks because this construction, while a feat of engineering, had been an eyesore since it was erected in the centre nave last July. Between mid-January and early June the side aisles and sanctuary had, at different stages, been home to the scaffold. So one can see how those of us who had lived with this necessary distraction for almost a year were happy to see the last of it. Sunday the 23rd November was therefore a real treat for our regular worshippers when they were able to enjoy an unhindered view of the refurbished building for the first time. Some small bits and pieces still need doing or finishing but the major work is completed. Within the next week our new rector is having TV screens mounted on the side aisles, two on either side, to enable people to view the altar whose vista is blocked by the pillars. Another four or five closed circuit cameras are to be installed for the live streaming purposes via the internet. These cameras will double to make available the pictures in the church. Since January 2008 the Mt. St. Alphonsus church choir has been without a director and organist. Séamus Enright made some attempts to find somebody but the pool of available people is very small and in the contacts he made he drew blanks. After the His successor, Adrian Egan, continued negotiations with http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1006/nationwide_av.html?2432259,null,228 (Note the underscore between: /nationwide_av.html?) New St. Clement's College, On the 9th March 2007 the construction workers moved onto the site of the new school and on Monday 25th August 2008 the doors of the newly erected St. Clement's College officially opened. Vincent Foley, Principal - he has been in this position for the past 19 years - decided he wanted to get the project off to a good start and was desirous that Mass should be celebrated in the school on this first day. In doing this he wished to emphasise the Catholic ethos of the school. Therefore at 12.00 noon on this day Mass was celebrated for the first time in the chapel of the school. The celebrant was none other than Séamus Enright, the rector emeritus and chairman of the Board of Trustees. Invited to the Mass were the teaching and ancillary staffs, the members and staff of the Mt. St. Alphonsus community, representatives of the parents' council and five boys representing the student-body. The other Séamus, school chaplain Séamus Devitt, ensured that it would be an historic occasion. He asked to have the use of what is called the Pecherin chalice. This is the chalice and paten presented to the late Fr. Vladimir Pecherin following his trial and vindication in the case of the 'burning bibles' in Following the Mass Séamus Enright blessed the school from the 'cross-roads' on the upstairs floor. At a later date it is planned to a have a formal opening and blessing. With these formalities out of the way, the guests made their way downstairs for an aperitif followed by a delicious buffet meal in the school canteen. The first lesson in the new school took place that afternoon when those doing catering learned that at such events you should provide small plates. The plates provided were large ones which the early guests piled high, leaving little for the late-comers. All-Weather Playing Area This astro-turf sports arena at the end of the monastery garden is now in full use. The floodlighting was installed by mid-September following some delays with planning permission; the planners wanted a guarantee that there wouldn't be 'light spillage'. Isn't it wonderful how the jargon continues to grow? As an income generating measure this play area and the new gymnasium are rented to interested parties after school hours and on many evenings they are in use from 5.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. Even the 'high-flying' FCJ schools make use of the astro-turf sports arena for hockey training. The Canadian National rugby team trained there before their international with What would our confrères of a bygone age think of this development when you consider the happenings of 126 years ago? In 1882 the community erected a screen above the wall facing on to Laurel Hill Avenue because a new house had been built with a large window facing into our property, thus infringing 'our privacy', leading to an exchange of letters between the house owner and rector, Fr. Thomas Bridgett.
Present and former St. Clement's College students have recently made headlines in THE IRISH TIMES. The first report appeared on Wednesday 19th November 2008 and the second on Wednesday 26th November 2008. The first report concerns a young athlete who is currently at school and the second a man who sat his Leaving Cert. examination probably in 1983/1984.
The writer, Emmet O'Riordan, goes on to narrate his with meeting Anton Katayev, a St. Clement's College student. Some readers may recall reading something about him in Home News No. 49, November 2007. The article informs us that Russian born Anton (17) has made giant strides as a javelin thrower since he first arrived in Limerick with his mother four years ago seeking asylum. Until recently he lived in the Knockalisheen camp for asylum seekers. Some readers may remember that back in 1957, following the Hungarian uprising, this unused military camp was used to house refugees from His introduction to the javelin came when he entered St. Clement's College and fell under the tutelage of PE teachers Mike Lynch and John Sheehan. Anton says "I didn't do any athletics when I was young in Like any youngster, he took part in as many sports as possible when he started in St. Clement's, but javelin is where he believes his future lies. "Javelin is my main event. I was also doing shot putt, triple jump and long jump. But I'm six foot two or three so after about a year of training in the jumping events I started to feel pain in my knees so I quit them to concentrate on the javelin and shot," he said. His progress has been excellent, breaking a long-held North Munster Schools intermediate javelin record of 50.08 metres last year with a personal best throw of 52.07 to win gold. He bounced back from finishing second in the Munster Schools to win the All-Ireland gold at intermediate level last year and earn a place on the Irish Schools team in a four nations event in Newport, Wales last summer. Young Munster have been keen to introduce him to the city's number one sport, but Anton plans to keep on throwing javelin and not rugby balls. "My goal is to advance at least five metres a year. If I take it really seriously, set a goal for myself that I have to go to the Olympics, then I'll do it." The Economist Who Told You So This is the heading of the article about the former St. Clement’s student, his name is Dr Alan Ahearne (41). The writer of this article, Gráinne Faller, mentions that he is from In April of last year NUI Galway lecturer said that "there will be no soft landing for the economy." In the outcry that followed even Bertie Ahern joined in the hysteria, condemning this as "inaccurate" and "irresponsible" and claiming he "disagreed with almost everything" Ahearne had said. But Ahearne stuck to his guns maintaining in the media that things were going to fall apart. He was even brave enough to put a time-line on it at the beginning of 2007 when in an interview he said that we would see a downturn within three years. He was right of course and now, even the politicians are paying attention. This September, Dr. Ahearne addressed the annual Fianna Fáil think tank and presented a few home truths to those who might still have doubted his take on what is in store for us over the next few years. Ahearne is everywhere these days. More academically acceptable than David McWilliams, but with the same flair for communicating a tricky piece of economic theory, he has emerged as king of the "I told you so" economists. "He is very well qualified as a commentator and analyst of Irish issues," said one colleague. "He speaks as a mainstream economist and he doesn't cultivate drama for the sake of it." ESKER Cemetery Sunday was held on 7th September, the first Sunday of the month and about 80 people came for the occasion. Mass was said in the cemetery by rector, Fr. Johnny Doherty with music by Fr. Dermie O'Connor. All were invited to a buffet meal afterwards. Family members of Br. Aidan Lavery came from Also present at that ceremony were the family of Br. Colman Malone. Colman was a student in 1940, and died on the football field in Esker while playing with Fr. Gerry Crotty, [who lives in Esker and, D.V., he will celebrate his 90th birthday in February 2009]. About eight members of the Malone family came from Patricia O'Dwyer, sister of Br. Kevin Griffin who died as a student in 1953, came from Cashel. PLEASE STOP FIGHTING THE CHURCH Evelyn Onwuegbusi, a Nigerian living in Limerick and a cantor at Mt. St. Alphonsus, wrote to the Limerick Leader the following letter, entitled: I fear for the NIGERIANS in As a Nigerian Catholic, I grew up with great admiration for holy I worry for A godless nation is weak and hollow. It cannot withstand outside influence without losing itself. Please put God back in the driving-seat in this country. Many cultures have come into this country and we are looking up to the Irish to show us the Evelyn Onwuegbusi [Our congratulations to Evelyn who was awarded a Degree of Master of Arts in Irish Media Studies at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick on 20th October 2008.] INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF REDEMPTORIST BROTHERS (A Report by Bro. Anthony McCrave, C.Ss.R.) The bi-annual meeting of Brothers from the Region of Europe North took place in Séamus, who had been in Poland for a week as a guest of the Warsaw Province, travelled by bus from Kraków (15 hours) and car from Neumarkt, Germany (three hours) to Altötting together with a couple of Polish Brothers. Séamus is, of course, an adopted member of the Tommy and Anthony flew from The fifty or so participants were accommodated in a Franciscan retreat house about ten minutes walk from the town centre. The group included: 14 Brothers and one Father, Reading the list above will answer a question that is often in the minds of confrères. Yes, it is a brothers' meeting but an invitation to attend goes out to all Redemptorists. From some provinces Fathers always attend but from others none, and that includes the Our days were full beginning with prayers at 7.30 am followed by breakfast and first meeting at 9.00 am. Because the talks had to be translated it meant that a 30 minute lecture lasted an hour. Talks in English or German were translated paragraph by paragraph. For those of the Slavic languages translation was done simultaneously in a low voice while the talk was being given. Fr. Ivel Mendanha of the Mumbai Region, The first day he set the scene considering the changes that have taken place in Religious Life over the past fifty years. Today we use a new language and new expressions not used prior to the Second Vatican Council: e.g. called to be prophets, community and charism, option for the poor, availability to people, dialogue, insertion in the local community. Together with a new lifestyle and theology we can see that Religious Life is different in many ways. On the second day he spoke about the challenges affecting religious and the response of the Church. He mentioned the document on Religious Life issued by the He went on to say that we must be cautious of what is meant by spirituality. It is to be open and docile to the workings of the Spirit. At the same time the Spirit can call us to be innovative but we cannot be creative or responsive if we do not feel loved by Christ. In his talk on the third day he said that at the centre of our charism is the quality of our witness in the world of today. A world divided by oppressors and oppressed calls for a preferential option for the poor. It was notable he added how in the past 15/20 years every Congregation has embraced this preference. We have lovely documents and theology, he said, but there is the danger that we tend to leave these nice documents in the library with little change in our lives. It is interesting, he observed, that if we want to stop a meeting in our Congregation just ask 'who are the poor.' He then went on to elaborate this thesis considering poverty in the Bible, how our founder and our other saints/blesseds inserted themselves with the poor and finally he looked at our Constitutions and the challenges before us as we proclaim the Good News. Some other points... Of course a major concern in all units are vocations or rather the lack of them. On returning home from such gatherings confreres can usually expect to be asked, "what was decided?" or some such question. At this stage I think we are well aware that these types of gatherings are not decision making bodies. It is possible suggestions made can be directed to the powers-that-be for further consideration and action, but often the main benefit is the coming together and sharing views. Sometimes more is accomplished over a cup of coffee or a glass of beer than at the formal gatherings. For the Brothers from what we might call "old Europe" (in the words of a certain gentleman on the other side of the All of those present from Eastern Europe were relatively young, able and intelligent men as also a number from The men from Meeting with these young men from eastern/central Europe and Two years ago at the meeting in On the whole in To sum-up what was said about vocations, there are possibilities for both but the vocations are different for Priests and Brothers and this must understood and accepted. Besides the formal side of the meeting we had the opportunity of visiting the sanctuary of Our Lady, a shrine also visited by both St. Clement Hofbauer and Bl. Kaspar Stanggassinger. We also visited the One afternoon we travelled to Gars where we had Mass at the tomb of Blessed Kaspar Stanggassinger. We had time to visit the cloister, gardens and the cemetery where Frs. Josef Pfab, former superior general and Bernard Häring are buried. Fr. Häring's ground-breaking "The Law of Christ" was first published about fifty years ago. |
