Last Sunday we had the extraordinary opportunity to celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life with a powerful Mass in the RTE Studios in Dublin. We had a viewship of around 60,000 people not just in Ireland, but around the world.
You can view the programme by clicking here.
We had people from a variety of religious congregations and a number of lay groups
It’s a point of encouter for people exploring faith
June was another busy month for the MSC Vocations team. Henry and I just finished the Camino when we hopped on a plane for St. Albans. We had one day to wash our clothes and clean our boots before our first summer festival.
Spirit in the City is a three day celebration of Christian faith in the heart of London, hosted by the Catholic churches in the West End. This is the second year the MSCs have been involved and it’s one of the highlights of our calendar. It’s about sharing the Good News of Christianity, while welcoming people of all faiths, ages and walks of life in the middle of the entertainment district. It gives an opportunity to raise deeper questions about life and to show that Catholicism can’t be pigeonholed around a few issues. The festival was set up with the understanding that we are all searching for new ways to connect with God and others around us.
It’s a day for everyone to celebrate God’s love
Spirit in the City does this through live music, workshops, talks, opportunities for prayer, reflection and reconciliation. We began on Thursday evening with a Mass in Warwick St. Church with Bishop Nicholas Hudson, followed by an open air party in Golden Square. People who stopped to find out what was going were invited to join the festivities and more than a few were really surprised that it was a Catholic festival. Apparently it’s not the sort of thing normally associated with us! We finished the evening with a simple night prayer. (more…)
Only 100km to go!
The plane was late. Only an hour, but in Spain connections are precarious. However finally everybody touched down and we managed to make a mad dash to get our bus. When we arrived in Sarria we began to move at an entirely different pace. On the Way you have to leave the hurry and bustle of the world behind, if only for a short while. It’s an experience that has drawn people from all around the world, including nine pilgrims making up our MSC Camino group.
Just after dawn the next day we began our 111km journey to Santiago de Compostella. It’s an incredible experience of walking from horizon to horizon across the beautiful Galician countryside. We followed in the footsteps of countless thousands of pilgrims, stretching back over a thousand years, towards the resting place of St. James the Apostle.
Follow Your Heart – Wisdom on the Way
Our group was made up of college students and staff, with Henry and Giacomo along for good measure. We walked about 25km per day, arriving at our destinations before the heat of the noon Sun. Then there was the opportunity to have a siesta, explore the town, and chat with fellow pilgrims. In the evening there was time for Mass and the famous €10 Camino three course dinner. There were surprisingly no blisters ( well, not many anyway ) and everybody got on like a house on fire. (more…)
Welcoming all the youth from St. Albans to Flame 2
For Cardinal Tagle it was all about mercy. For the youth it was an opportunity to gather to celebrate faith. For the MSC Vocations team it was all about the Smarites!
Flame 2 was the largest Catholic Youth Event in UK in 2015. It brought together amazing speakers like Cardinal Tagle from the Philippines, Baroness Shelia Hollins, and Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP. Worship was led by the double Grammy Award winning Matt Redman and his band. All in all it was an incredible day, but it was a lot of hard work!
Henry and Pat O’Brien running the Guinness Book of Records Smartie Challenge
Seeing as the MSCs were one of the main sponsors of Flame this year Henry and I were at Wembley SSE Stadium bright and early with our Starbucks in hand. Once we got our high vis. vests and event passes it was off to set up the vocations stand before the onslaught of thousands and thousands of teenagers. They came from all over England and Wales and created an atmosphere that could normally only be found at World Youth Day. It’s hard to describe, but it’s one of joy and hope and once you feel it you can’t forget it. (more…)
Take time to walk the Way
You’ve heard about it from a friend. Perhaps you saw the movie. You know, the one with Martin Sheen. Maybe you stumbled across it somewhere online. For whatever reason as the New Year begins you’re thinking of walking the Camino, but you’re not sure where to start. Look no further.
The Camino is about walking each day towards the horizon and seeing what could happen
This summer we’re leading a group of young adults along the last week of the Way from Sarria to Santiago de Compostella. This will be our third year leading groups on the Camino and so far it has been a fantastic experience. It’s both profoundly spiritual and great fun. It’s a wonderful opportunity to try something entirely different, as each morning you take up your backpack and walk to the horizon with the sun rising behind you. You’ll follow in the footsteps of hundreds of thousand of pilgrims stretching back over a millennium. We’ll make our way through he beautiful Galician countryside by roadside, forest path and cobbled lanes, until we reach the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. (more…)
This year it seems that Christmas has crept up on me. In the midst of the busyness of meetings, carol concerts and shopping all my hopes for Advent were quietly forgotten. As I was thinking this morning of something to write about for our vocations blog I came across a letter from Pope Francis sent to a group of prisoners earlier this month.
In it he apologies for not having written sooner and encourages the men there with a Christmas message of hope. He prays that as the feast of the Nativity approaches that Jesus will be born in the crib of their hearts. He asks them to seek those occasions “for genuine growth in order to find peace of heart and the strength to be reborn, a return to living the hope in the Lord who never disappoints.” (more…)