Jesuit scholarship

Came across a young man in recent weeks who is now in his late 20s.

He availed of the scholarship that the Jesuits offer at their school in Belvedere. He had nothing but praise for the initiative. Each year the school accepts 10 first-years on the programme.

Impressive. Do other religious congregations who run schools offer similar style schemes?

Kansas bishop resigns

Kansas bishop 'resigns'.

The NCR writes an extensive piece on Bishop Robert Finn. Below is an extract.

Finn came to the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese as a co-adjutor bishop in March 2004.

He was then a 53-year-old St. Louis priest and member of the conservative Opus Dei movement. He had served as a high school principal and oversaw the St. Louis archdiocesan newspaper.

Finn succeeded Bishop Raymond Boland as the diocese's leader on May 24, 2005. Within a week of his appointment he:

• Dismissed the chancellor, a layman with 21 years of experience in the diocese; the vice chancellor, a religious woman stationed in the diocese for nearly 40 years; and the chief of pastoral planning for the diocese since 1990. He replaced them with a priest chancellor.
• Cancelled the diocese’s nationally renowned lay formation programs and a master’s degree program in pastoral ministry.
• Halved the budget of the Center for Pastoral Life and Ministry, effectively forcing the almost immediate resignation of half the seven-member team. Within 10 months, all seven would be gone and the center shuttered.
• Ordered a “zero-based study” of adult catechesis in the diocese and appointed as vice chancellor to oversee adult catechesis, lay formation and the catechesis study a layman with no formal training in theology or religious studies.
• Ordered the editor of the diocesan newspaper to immediately cease publishing columns by Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien, and announced he would review all front-page stories, opinion pieces, columns and editorials before publication.

By most accounts, Finn reached these decisions without consulting any of the senior leadership of the diocese or the people in the programs affected. Virtually no staff at the diocesan headquarters knew of the changes until they were announced at a news conference two days after his appointment.

Many parish staff members and priests would first learn of the changes when they read about them in the local or diocesan newspaper.

As his first year in office unfolded and as budgets were prepared for a new fiscal year, the new bishop’s priorities emerged.

Budgets for the peace and justice office and Bolivian missions were cut in half and more. A diocesan sponsored master’s program was transferred from the Aquinas Institute of Theology, a Dominican school affiliated with Jesuit-run St. Louis University, to the Institute for Pastoral Theology at Florida-based Ave Maria University.

A Latin Mass community, which had been using a city parish for liturgies, was given a parish in its own right and Finn appointed himself pastor. Later, he asked the parish that the Latin Mass community would be leaving to donate $250,000 of the estimated $1.5 million the Latin group needed to renovate the old church Finn gave them.

TV presenter Anna Nolan replies to Breda O'Brien

Anna Nolan writing in today's 'Herald' replies to Breda O'Brien's article in 'The Sunday Independent'.

"I'd like to tell Breda something from my own experience.

"I abstained from sex for three years when I was training to be a nun. Well, two and a half years really.

"No kissing, no tickling, no groping - nothing.

"Here's a big secret I am going to let out: I wasn't a better person.

"I wasn't a better Christian. I was exactly the same person, who reacted to dilemmas and situations in the same way as I would today.

"Breda wouldn't want a life without sex, so why should she suggest it to the gay and lesbian community?"

The Heuston collection

Below is a comment sent to this blog.

As it is posted to a comment in the archives it might well not be seen by readers. For that reason it is placed here as a post. Indeed, most interesting and thank you Fergal.

Fergal Jennings has left a new comment on your post "John O'Gorman OP": 

Hi Michael,

I found his glass negatives in the Claddagh and there are a group of historians in Newbridge scanning them at the moment.

We have set up a Facebook page to try and get help with identifying the images; they are from all over the country. The Facebook Page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Heuston-Collection/1560791330837606

Cheers

Fergal 

Fianna Fáil TD Willie O'Dea and the three-card trickster

Fianna Fáil TD Willie O'Dea in his Sunday Independent column this week, when talking about current government spin says: "It's a three-card trick with blank cards."

Brillaint comment. Does that mean that Willie can beat the three-card trickster when the game is 'fair'?

Sachsenhausen architecture's best for barbaric goals

These days sees special commemorations taking place at the former Nazi death camps. Seventy years ago this month the allied armies arrived at the gates of most of the camps.

It was the turn of Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück today.

German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke at  Sachsenhausen. He said remembrance has no expiry date.

"The crimes of the National Socialist regime are incomparable to any others," Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the Sachsenhausen memorial on Sunday, "they make us shiver."

At the camp north of Berlin, liberated on April 22 and 23 of 1945, Steinmeier alluded to the site itself standing "for the monstrosity of a regime which institutionalised horror." The Social Democrat foreign minister pointed out how the camp - the first to be designed by the Nazis for purpose - was planned "with the best architecture for the completion of barbaric goals."

Inspiring leadership words

Below is a quote from Lieut Col Mark Prendergast commanding officer of the 48th Infantry Group of the Irish Defence Forces. The group took up duty on the Golan Heights on April 7, providing military support for UN observers in a zone between Israeli-occupied Syria and Syria proper.

The group consists of 130 men and women, 14 officers, 115 other ranks and a chaplain.

Fine words of leadership.

"I will display my competence to you in my decisions and how we interact, but I will challenge you to show me yours, to show me what you are capable of doing. If you believe I can do my job and I believe you can do your job, we will work very well together.

"There will be no favouritism. There will be no rules for one group and not for another. It will be fair, and if you perceive it not to be fair, I tell you now: challenge it. Say, 'Hold on a minute: how come?' Ask those questions, becasue it is my intention that this has to be fair."

Germanwings crash victims remembered in Cologne

A service of remembrance was held in Cologne Cathedral this morning to honour the dead of the Germanwings plane crash in the Alps in March.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne presided over the service.

Premier of North Rhine Westfalia, Hannelore Kraft spoke moving words about the tragedy. German President Johannes Gauck, a member of the Spanish Cabinet and a representantve of the French Government also spoke.

Among the 1,400 people present in Cologne cathedral for the serivce, were many members of the German cabinet, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Economics Minister and Deputy Chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel.

The rescue services offered prayers of the faithful along with a sisted of one of the victims.

Oops poor Nigel Farage

On the BBC leaders' debate this evening UKIP's Nigel Farage spoke about 'prostrate cancer'. He really did.

Russian bikers plan 'victory drive' back to Berlin

Today is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the final stage of the battle of Berlin.

Allied armies stayed 100 kilometres west of the city to allow the Soviet Army attack. Twenty armies, 2,500,000 soldiers, 6,300 tanks and 8,500 aircraft were used in the attack.

A Russian rock band are planning to drive motorbikes from Moscow to Berlin, arriving in the German capital on May 9. The event is to recall the Soviet victory in Berlin on May 9, 1945.

The Polish authorities see the motorbike drive as a provocation and it is being rumoured that the Germans will not grant the band visas to enter Germany.

David Cameron seems to put it all down to 'tone'

Apologies for no-show for two days. This has been due to illness.

Lasy night BBC's Evan Davis interviewed the Prime Minister David Cameron. In the course of the interview Davis played a clip of a speech by a former Conservative minister, Peter Lilley. It was clear that Lilley was laughing at the poor. Davis asked Cameron could such an interview happen today. While not directly answering the question, he did incline to say that Lilley's 'tone' was wrong. Watching the Lilley clip it was as clear as day that if such words were issued today the election would be lost for the Conservatives.

Away from work and sick in bed leaves the soul a restless place. There's only so much you can read or listen to on radio. Turn to YouTube. I did just that and listened to two talks. One was given by an English Dominican Aidan Nichols on the future of the Catholic Church in England and the other was a talk given by another English Dominican, Timothy Radcliffe. His talk was in St Paul's and he spoke on what is the point in being a Christian.

Has everything to do with Cameron's understanding of 'tone'? Listening to Nichols and Radcliffe the difference between the two men is breathtakingly stark.

Has everything just to do with style and 'tone'?

Günter Grass dies in Lübeck

Nobel laureate Günter Grass died this morning in a Lübeck clinic.

The publication of  The Tin Drum in 1959 placed him on the world stage. The book sold three milion copies and has been translated into 24 languages.

Grass won the Nobel prize for literature in 1999.

He ran into some controversy over his war record.

The Danzig born writer was a life-long supporter of the SPD.  He was a speech writer for Willy Brandt. He once said that he could never belong to a party or organisation in which he could always agree.

His father was a Protestant and a member of the Nazi party. His mother was a Caholic and Grass was baptised in the Catholic Church.

So far and it is now 18.00, not a word on RTE Radio about the death of Grass.

This evening Germany's ARD tv station screened The Tin Drum.

Politicians of all parties have spoken today of the greatness of Grass. And it's generally accepted that he was always belligerent, right to his death.

Sixty five-year-old Berlin teacher expecting quads

A 65-year-old German is expecting quads.

The primary school teacher from Berlin is mother of 13 children and is in the 21st week of her pregnancy.

Travel pass on the bikes?

The Dublin Bikes has proved one of the great success stories in the city. And now the scheme is in operation in Cork, Limerick and Galway.

Why not extend the over-66 travel pass scheme to the public two-wheelers?

Police presence outside Terenure synagogue

This morning, as is now the case every Saturday morning, there is a Garda presence outside the synagogue in Terenure.

French diplomat Laurent Stefanini and the Holy See

A former rail driver, who is now dead, was overheard saying that "everything comes down to two things, money and sex".

True or false? Whichever, there is always a ring of reality to the comment.

In the last days, the media has been carrying a story about the Holy See's delay in accpeting the nomination of the new French ambassador, Laurent Stefanini.

There has been no comment from the Holy See, so what the papers are saying is speculation. But Laurent Stefanini is gay and in the past he has publicly supported same-sex marriage.

If François Hollande's appointee to the Holy See was 'quiet' about his orientation would there have been a delay in his taking up the post? Would it have been a news story?

He has already worked as a diplomat for his country at the Holy See. That was before France introduced same-sex marriage in 2013.

In the eyes of the Catholic Church is it okay to be gay once the person remains 'closet' about their orientation?

And that inevitably leads one on to ask about priesthood and what's happening in that institution?

Maybe the issue has nothing at all to do with sexuality but rather everything to do with honesty and oppeness?

Whatever it is, it is complex. Expecting it to 'go away' isn't working and can't work.

"God always speaks in the language of the time"

The piece below is an extract from a report in the NCR.

Interesting to say the least.

Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, speaking to a first-of-its-kind congress of many of the world's religious formation directors, also warned the religious against trying to abandon the changes in the church brought about by the Second Vatican Council.

"We feel today new geographical and cultural contexts that manifest in intense ways," Braz de Aviz said on Wednesday to some 1,200 formation directors at the Rome conference.

"The contexts have changed," he said. "We are disoriented. In our identity, we are a bit insecure. We need a new deepening, a new pausing, a new listening."

Continuing, the cardinal told the formation directors: "Do not distance yourself from the great lines of the Second Vatican Council."

"God is not static," the cardinal said. "God is always new movement -- of light, of heat, of demonstration. He speaks in every time to men and women with the true language of that time."

Remembering Bonhoeffer

Today is the 70th anniversary of the death of German theologian and Hitler opponent Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

He was hanged on a meat hook in Flossenbürg concentation camp just two weeks before the arrival of the US Army.

He was an influential opponent to the Nazis. His best known book is The Cost of Discipleship.

Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, then in Silesia, today in Poland, in 1906.

A stamp for a French letter

Yesterday in the post office in Dublin's Montague Street a woman was overheard asking: "Can I have a stamp for a French letter?"

Some of the weapons of those in power and control

A white US policeman shot dead a black man in the back in North Charleston, South Carolina. An amateur video of the shooting shows how the killing was perpetrated.

On Good Friday Anthony Ray Hinton was released from death row having spent 30 years in jail for a murder he did not commit.

The famed US lawyer Bryan Stevenson fought his case.

The blessings of modern technology. Putting trust in the agencies of power and authority?

The right-wing  US radio station  Patriot Radio  has made no reference either to the alleged police murder or the freeing of the innocent man.

Another reminder to cherish an independent and free press.

Irish Dominican presence in the Islamic Republic of Iran

The column below appears in this week's INM Irish regional newspapers.

Michael Commane

Tralee man Paul Lawlor joined the Dominican Order in 1968, the year after I did, so we have been in touch with one another over the years, even if our paths have gone in different directions.

When I went to work in The Kerryman in the 1990s I got to know Paul's mother, and since then we have become great friends. Mrs Lawlor celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, March 28. There was a party for the centenarian. I was there as was Paul, who travelled from Tehran for the special day.

The Irish Dominicans went to Iran in 1962. And since then we have had a presence in Tehran, where we have a priory right in the heart of the capital city.  In the 1970s an Irish Dominican and past pupil of CBS Synge Street, Fr William Barden was archbishop in Isfahan.

Twelve years ago I visited Paul in Iran. I was bowled over by the beauty of the place and its people. They could not have been kinder to me. On one occasion I lost my way in the middle of Tehran and a policeman came to my aid. He ended up stopping a car and asking the driver to bring me to my destination. I speak no Farsi, he no English and still it worked.

Last week I sat down with Paul and we chatted about what it's like for an Irish Dominican priest living in the capital city of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Paul is the only Irish Dominican in Iran. Before we began our chat I pointed out that I had recently been in Synge Street Primary School in Dublin and the first book I saw when I passed the hall door was a copy of the Koran.

The Irish Dominicans since going to Iran have been working with the small Christian community in the capital but they have also been involved in building relations with Islamic leaders. Paul, who speaks Farsi and with his experience of living among his Muslim neighbours for many years, has a practical knowledge of Islam.

Iranians are mostly Shia Muslims, which is the second largest denomination of Islam. They believe that Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammad and his descendants were the rightful successors of the Prophet as leaders of the Muslim community. Ali and his successors are called Imams and there have been 12 of them. The last Imam went into hiding and they are awaiting his return. In the meantime Islamic leaders are the deputies of the 12th Imam who, though hidden, is the leader of Shia Muslims.

Ali is the great hero, the perfect man, who lived the Koran. He is a manifestation of God's self-revelation, who was created before the world. The word Ayatollah means "sign of God." Many Shia Muslims believe that the hidden meaning of the Koran is revealed through the Imams.

Talking to Paul it was clear that he believes in the importance of the work of understanding and relating to this religion, which has such a large following. In his own scholarly and methodical way he is constantly learning more about their world. He has been living in Iran some 18 years. In that time he has made many Muslim friends. 

There’s the old adage that if you want to know me then come to live with me. That's exactly what Paul is doing. And chatting with him I learned so much about the world of Islam. We all need to spend more time talking and listening to one another. It makes far more sense than making war.

A single swan on the Dodder

For close to two years there has been just one swan on the stretch of the Dodder from Rathfarnham Bridge to Orwell Bridge. Before that there were always two swans to be seen.

Two years ago eggs were laid close to Rathfarnham Bridge but a fox or some other animal took them.

Armenian genocide

Next week Pope Francis is due to celebrate a service in the Armenian Catholic rite to commemorate the 100th anniversary of over one million Armenains being killed by Turks.

In these days Armenian communities around the world recall the atrocitiy.

It was the first genocide of the 20th century.

Below is an extract from an address by Hitler after the invasion of Poland. In it he refers to the genocide of the Armenians.

How mad/bad/crazy the man was.

"My decision to attack Poland was arrived at last spring. Originally, I feared that the political constellation would compel me to strike simultaneously at England, Russia, France, and Poland. Even this risk would have had to be taken.

Ever since the autumn of 1938, and because I realized that Japan would not join us unconditionally and that Mussolini is threatened by that nit-wit of a king and the treasonable scoundrel of a crown prince, I decided to go with Stalin.

In the last analysis, there are only three great statesmen in the world, Stalin, I, and Mussolini. Mussolini is the weakest, for he has been unable to break the power of either the crown or the church. Stalin and I are the only ones who envisage the future and nothing but the future. Accordingly, I shall in a few weeks stretch out my hand to Stalin at the common German-Russian frontier and undertake the redistribution of the world with him.

Our strength consists in our speed and in our brutality. Genghis Khan led millions of women and children to slaughter — with premeditation and a happy heart. History sees in him solely the founder of a state. It's a matter of indifference to me what a weak western European civilization will say about me.

I have issued the command — and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by a firing squad — that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness — for the present only in the East — with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Life in the cockpit

Former pilot Stefan Bender has commented in a 'Der Spiegel' article about life in the cockpit.

"The captain is God, the co-pilot holds his coat. An atmosphere exists in the cockpit, which is similar to that in an army barracks, where the co-pilot is humiliated. Such an extreme hierarchical system is completely  contrary to any sort of philosophy which implies a shared responsiblity. The co-pilot has nothing to offer."

Surely a reality not exclusive to cockpits?

Free-sheet 'Alive' again this month tells an untruth

The paragraph below appears in the April issue of the free-sheet Alive.

"When UN agencies, the EU, individual European countries (including Ireland) and the US under Obama attach unreasonable conditions to giving aid they are playing havoc with tens of millions of lives."

The paragraph above is telling an untruth.

In the February issue  of  Aive the following paragraph appeared. This too is an untruth.

“The US, the EU and a host of European countries (including Ireland) link the giving of aid to poor countries with demands that these countries change their laws to uphold various ‘rights’ “.

It's unfortuane that the free-sheet newspaper Alive, which has in its masthead the sentence 'Catholic Montlhy Newspaper' peddles such untruths.

UTV Ireland's poor editing

According to this evening's UTV Ireland news Pope Francis was celebrating Mass this Good Friday in Rome.

Is that a first? Clearly, they have an editing problem.

No dancing in Bavaria today

It's always interesting to listen to Ireland's captains of industry quote how the Germans do things. Today a spokesman for the hospitality sector was arguing in favour of selling alcohol on Good Friday.

Today, Good Friday, Germany is closed for business  from Flensburg to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and from Aachen to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder in the east.

In the State of Bavaria all 'dancing establishments' are closed.

UPC's poor decision

Since the start up of UTV Ireland, television provider UPC has discontinued relaying UTV.

It seems an unusual decision. So far UTV Ireland has simply failed to attract viewers.

It meant that last night UPC customers were unable to view the ITV Leaders' Debate, which was a live debate between seven UK political party leaders.

Dublin's way not Berlin's

Why all this talk about privatising a proportion of the services operated by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann?

Who owns and operates the buses, the U-Bahn and the S Bahn in Berlin?  It works well.

Priests' day

Today in the Christian churches might well be considered a special day for priests.

An occasion to pray that priests will be gentle and gracious, kind and understanding, friendly and wise.

RTE being so silly

RTE's April Fool joke about removing the Spire in O'Connell Street for two weeks during the 1916 centenary celebrations is simply silly.

Can they not do better than that?

This post is being written during the gag.