Jan 10, 2019
A journey that begins with a single purpose often ends with much more…
As January gets into its stride, we look ahead to a year full of promise and new opportunities – and the 2019 MSC pilgrimages are a wonderful way to embrace the spirit of faith, hope, and unity over the coming year. This year, we will be going on pilgrimage to Fatima in May/June, and to Lourdes in September.
Each year, pilgrims join us for different reasons. Some may be struggling with illness, grief, stress, or other personal challenges. Other wish to take part in a traditional pilgrimage journey with like-minded travellers, sharing stories, experiences, and reflections on life. Many wish to simply pray, reflect, and offer thanksgiving for their blessings. The experience of pilgrimage is different for every individual, but one thing remains the same on every journey – a sense of great joy in the awareness of being part of something bigger, of something more.
“A powerful, life-changing experience… The invitation is open to all.”
“Pilgrimage is about freedom,” says Fr Alan Neville MSC. “It’s about walking to the horizon – and when you get there, you keep on going. It’s about taking part in something that is at the same time enjoyable and profound. I’ve yet to meet one person who regretted making the trip. For every one of them it has been a powerful, even life-changing experience. The invitation is open to all, so what’s keeping you?”
With a true sense of friendship, companionship, and community, our pilgrimages offer a warm welcome to all.
“Each pilgrim brings a special wish in their hearts, a prayer.”
– Pope Francis
MSC Pilgrimages 2019
Pilgrimage to Fatima
May 30th – June 3rd (4 nights full board)
Pilgrimage to Lourdes
September 14th – 19th (5 nights full board)
For further information, please contact Joe Walsh Tours on +353 (0) 1 2410803.
Read about our 2018 pilgrimage to Lourdes.
Nov 21, 2018
Welcome to the Winter edition of the MSC Message!
• Read all about MSC Missions at the World Meeting of Families 2018.
• Catch up with the latest news from the mission fields, with updates from our ongoing projects in South Africa and the Philippines.
• Find out about this year’s Jubilee celebrations in the Irish Province.
• Read a special winter message from Fr Michael O’Connell MSC, Director of the MSC Missions Office.
• Walk the Camino de Santiago with Fr Alan Neville MSC and the MSC Vocations Team.
Reads the MSC Message Winter 2018
Oct 22, 2018
In September, MSC Missons Office Director Fr Michael O’Connell MSC walked the Camino de Santiago for the first time. Walking approximately 113 km over five days, Fr Michael undertook the final stage of the Camino Francés, or the French Way. Here, he shares his daily diary with thoughts and reflections from the Way.
Wednesday, September 26th
Sarria to Portomarin
Distance: 22.1 km
“Walking the Camino was a new experience for me. This was the first time I had done it, and while it had come highly recommended by our Vocations Director Fr Alan, who walks the Way of St James every year, I can’t say that I wasn’t slightly apprehensive about the challenge that lay ahead.
The walk was a challenge in itself, in that it’s a long time since I took long walks, and this one averages approximately 20 km per day. I walked the final stage of the Camino Francés, from Sarria to Santiago, covering around 113 km in 5 days.
I must admit, I asked myself ‘Can I do that?’ Walking the distance is one thing, but will my knees hold me up? How will my joints cope? It was up hill, down dale at times, but it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and that was a real positive.
What made me decide to do the walk this year? Well, I wanted to do something that was healthy for both body and soul. Fr Alan, had been saying how wonderful the Camino was after his trip earlier this year, and so I decided to give it a go.
I started the first day of my Camino journey waking up in an old monastery, and stepped out into a beautiful misty morning. I often found myself following in the path of other pilgrims, which was useful – it lessened the chances of getting lost along the way!
On the first day, I spotted this well-loved spot, where a local farmer obviously finds time for rest and recuperation after a busy day. He has all the essentials at hand – a comfy chair, a newspaper, and a bottle of wine! In a place where there is so much transition, it was nice to see a symbol of consistency from someone whose roots are in the land here.
I also happened upon a stall full of eco-produce, where I enjoyed a chat with the owner. He has no prices on his wares, but simply requests a donation from pilgrims. His sign was a welcoming one, promising tea, coffee, home-made food, a bathroom, and a good rest.
I had decided to walk the Camino on my own. If you’re walking with somebody, it does shorten the journey – we all know the old saying, ‘Tell me a story and half the journey!’. Actually, I found that walking by myself gave me time to think and to reflect, to see the world and what was around me. I only had myself for company, and the Lord. While it was a physical challenge, it wasn’t at all challenging mentally. It was like life really, just taking one day at a time and seeing where it brought me.”
Read more of Fr Michael’s Camino diary:
Fr Michael’s Camino Diary Day 2
Fr Michael’s Camino Diary Day 3
Fr Michael’s Camino Diary Day 4
Sep 4, 2018
Fr Alan Neville MSC spoke with Lydia O’Kane, Vatican News correspondent, at the Festival of Families in Croke Park on Saturday, August 25th. Reflecting on the sheer joy of this momentous occasion, Fr Alan speaks of the importance of acceptance, togetherness, and presence.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is hope. Amen.
Lydia O’Kane: The curtain has come down on a stunning event – tell me what you thought of it.
Fr Alan Neville: It was just wonderful. We had everyone gathered together – we had people from all around the world, we had fantastic music, incredible dancing, and these wonderful testimonies, people coming out and sharing their stories. It was incredible, and there was a lovely sense of authenticity to it, a lovely sense of reflecting, amoris laetitia; actually, life is complicated, but families are the very foundation of who we are as a Church and who we are as a society, and that actually, as a Church, we’ve got something to offer, and working together, we can support one another. Coming together with something like this, this is what it means to be a Church. Okay, it’s a huge stadium, but we’re all gathered here. We’re gathered in prayer and there’s joy and there’s hope. You’ve got people who are homeless, people who are travellers, people who are refugees and asylum seekers, people from Ireland, everyone together, and it’s just wonderful.
LOK: When the Pope came in, there was a huge uproar of affection for him – there was so much affection for him in the stadium tonight, wasn’t there?
AN: Oh yeah! As Irish people, we pride ourselves on our hospitality, but there’s something about Pope Francis, I think. When you see him, he just seems like there’s great warmth there, and as Irish people, we respond to that. Even if you just take the first step, we’ll just embrace you – it is a land where, God willing, we make everyone feel welcome. We’ve travelled the whole world, and when someone comes here, there’s this real sense of, “Do you know what? It’s great to have you here!” And certainly for Pope Francis, it’s a huge occasion, because it’s 1979 since we last had a Pope in Ireland, and people still talk about it – “Where were you when that happened?” And this is that moment now. We’ve got kids beside us here who were playing music, they were wonderful, and when the Pope visits next time – God only knows when it will be – but they’ll be able to say, “I was there and it was amazing. We gave him a great welcome, and he was fantastic.”
LOK: What do you think it means to have the World Meeting of Families in Ireland?
AN: I think that maybe as a country in Western culture, there’s a real sense that for families, if they’re really struggling at the moment, there’s a lot more pressure perhaps than there was previously. Maybe the question for us then as a Church is, what do we do to support families? You know we’ve had difficult referendums here in Ireland recently, and you’ve got to acknowledge that – but then you’ve got to say, as a Church, do we actually back up what we say? How welcome do we make families in our Church? Do we merely tolerate them? Do we merely tolerate kids who come to Mass and cry and maybe make a mess, or run around, or laugh, or do we actually say, “Listen, you’re welcome, it’s so wonderful to have you here. You are actually the most important part of this entire Church.” The actual Irish word for “church” is “teach an phobail” – it’s “the house of the people”, that’s what it means. The buildings are beautiful, the artwork is incredible, the stained glass windows are stunning – but if we don’t have the people, it means nothing at all. And so in Ireland, the church is the house of the people.
LOK: Just one final question – what do you think people will take from the Pope’s words back to their own families? What do you think they’ll take from this evening?
AN: I think that maybe it’s something he brings himself, that gift of presence. We had it there when we had a family from India, the D’Costas, speaking about things like social media – not necessarily bad things, but how are we present to one another? Or the Richardson family, the challenges that they face. You can imagine, with 10 kids now in a house, it’s very chaotic, but there’s presence together. Pope Francis is very keen on how we treat one another, and there’s that real sense of, you don’t go to bed angry with one another, you’ve really got to be able to say “please”, “thank you”, and “I’m sorry”. And actually, another one that I’m sure he’s a very big fan of as well, is “I love you”. There’s something amazing with kids – if you ask a child how much God loves them, or does he love his mother and father, they have no doubt whatsoever, they believe 100% they are loved entirely. Something happens as we get older, we tend to forget that, or we feel almost ashamed to say it. There’s a real need to reclaim that, because we’re meant to be a people of love. I think that’s what we take away – “please”, “thank you”, “I’m sorry”, and “I love you”.
LOK: And on that note, Fr Alan, thanks so much. It’s been a great evening and thank you for talking to us.
Listen to Fr Alan’s interview here: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-08/apostolic-journey-ireland-festival-families-testimonies.html
Aug 27, 2018
After a whirlwind week of WMOF celebrations in Dublin, this weekend’s Papal visit was the crowning glory on a truly wonderful occasion.
Saturday’s Festival of Families was a triumph, featuring a joyous, vibrant programme of music, song, and prayer. “One of the most significant and beautiful events within every World Meeting of Families is the Festival of Families, a very special concert-type event which, at its heart, celebrates families and their faith from all around the world”, says the official WMOF website, and Saturday’s event did not disappoint.
Pope Francis was an enthusiastic participant, overseeing performances with a smile and embracing all he met with his customary warmth. Merging charming Irish tradition with dazzling performances representing different cultures from all over the globe, the evening’s programme featured “community-based artists as well as some well-known local and international artists, joined by an orchestra of over 50 musicians; over 700 Irish, sean nós and contemporary dancers, including 500 from Irish dance schools across the country; a 1,000 strong choir; 100 community groups; and 300 flag bearers” – a feast for the eyes and the ears in every way!
The week’s events brought families flocking to Dublin from across the globe. “We met families from Indonesia, Paraguay, Taiwan, and Brazil, among many others,” says Fr Alan Neville MSC, who attended the celebrations throughout the week. “The energy there was amazing.”
The Festival of Families also addressed the challenges faced by families in today’s society with a heartfelt poignancy. “Throughout the Festival of Families, we looked at the challenges faced by families,” Fr Alan says. “There were powerful testimonies from families from Iraq, Canada, Burkina Faso, and Ireland.”
As highlighted by the WMOF website, these family testimonies focused on “how their families have sustained and nourished them with hope and love through the most challenging and momentous times of their lives. Their testimonies focus on forgiveness, strength, and hope in family life; the intergenerational nature of families today; and the impact of technology on family life.” The overriding message is one of unity, hope, and, above all, love.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is hope. Amen.
On Sunday, Fr Alan attended the Papal Mass in Phoenix Park, braving the bad weather with hundreds of thousands of worshippers from all over the world. Checking in on the MSC Vocations Facebook page, Fr Alan posted: “Sunday Mass with a couple of hundred thousand people. You know, as you do! The Pope has arrived and it’s incredible.”
“Incredible” is the only word to sum up a very special weekend indeed. Ireland has been a proud host to the 2018 World Meeting of Families, and everybody involved has done a tremendous job in making the entire week one to remember. Fr Alan says it in a nutshell:
“This whole week has been about celebrating the Church with one another, old friends and new, and with the Pope. It has been wonderful.”
Read more about Fr Alan’s time at WMOF 2018 here.
Visit Shalom World TV to watch video coverage from the week’s events.
Catch up on the best of WMOF 2018 on our Facebook and Twitter pages:
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