Fortify Youth Conference – Forget Common Sense!

When you’re organising a Catholic youth even for the first time common sense would tell you to start small, organise a few speakers, and tap some local talent for the music ministry. What you should never do is to book Matt Maher, the biggest name in worship music in the world, and see what happens. However, that’s exactly what the team at NET Ministries did for the Fortify Youth Conference. It was more than a shot in the dark. It was a leap of faith and it paid off!

 

 

The Fortify Youth Conference was designed to showcase youth ministry options available to parishes in Ireland. Over 200 people from across Ireland attended who were involved in or concerned about ministry to young people. As you can imagine there’s about two degrees of separation, so if you didn’t know someone the chances were you knew someone who did. The atmosphere was joyful and welcoming.

 

 

 

The day began with a series of inputs from different speakers in the field of youth ministry, discussing the difference young people make in our Church. Our ministry can simply be about getting young people to go to Mass. We have to be clear what we’re hoping to achieve. We looked at what needed to change and what different groups were doing successfully. Then we asked the big question: What’s stopping you from getting stuck in and making a difference yourself? We finished the day with a sense of hope and enthusiasm for the future. The Fortify Youth Conference wasn’t a once off event. It’s a beginning. Now lets get moving!

 

 

 

After the conference we had an evening concert with Matt Maher. Matt is an eight time-GRAMMY nominee, he has garnered multiple radio successes writing and recording songs like “Lord, I Need You,” “Hold Us Together,” “Christ Is Risen,” “Because He Lives (Amen)” and “Your Grace Is Enough.” Maher has penned songs recorded by Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Third Day, Matt Redman, Hillsong, Casting Crowns, Jesus Culture and Bethel among others. Matt has written or co-written five No. 1 radio singles. In 2013, Maher had a career highlight performing in Rio in front of Pope Francis and a crowd of 3 million people, as well as performing in 2015 in downtown Philadelphia as part of the World Meeting of Families with The Fray, Aretha Franklin, Juanes, Jim Gaffigan, among others. In 2015, Maher was awarded his first RIAA Gold certification for his popular single “Lord, I Need You.” Most importantly having met him previously at the Brightlights Catholic Youth Festival and the Alpha Leadership Conference I can tell you he’s a really sound guy.

 

Youth 2000 Scotland Sharing Good News in the Highlands

A Youth 2000 Retreat is always going to be special, but the last regional gathering in Craig Lodge in the Scottish Highlands was wonderful. This is the home of Mary’s Meals, the dynamic charity that provides over a million meals every day to children living in poverty around the world. This time we had almost 200 young people from around Scotland and beyond. Some even bussed it up from London. It didn’t matter where you came from. It was just fantastic to be there. We had those who have been at the last twenty Youth 2000 Retreats and others for whom it was their first time. All were equally welcome.

 

We were blessed to have some of the most amazing music ministry, led by Kate and the team. Throughout the whole weekend we had Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It was the perfect opportunity to raise hearts and minds to God, while putting up with the midges. I had heard about them, but honestly anything I was told didn’t do them justice. They were relentless, as was the rain, but plagues of insects and floods of water couldn’t dampen the spirits of all the people there. In fact it kind of made it better. In the River is now officially one of my top five favourite hymns, along with Kate Curran’s Pentecost Sequence that she sang for the first time that weekend.

 

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Camino 2017: Walking in the Footsteps of Millions in Runners

There’s something special about getting up before dawn each morning, finding your boots (or runners – we’ll get to that later), and heading off with fellow pilgrims in a gentle procession across the Spanish countryside. This is the daily rhythm of those who walk the Camino de Santiago, as we walk from horizon to horizon to the resting place of St James the Apostle.

This is the fifth year that the MSC Vocations team have organised the pilgrimage on the Way. It is the sort of experience that attracts people from a variety of backgrounds. Each day, we’re out walking with the sun rising behind us. We stop for breakfast after a couple of hours, and then take a café con leche mid-morning. There’s no great rush. In fact, when you’re walking about 25km each day, you have to go gently.

 

“On the Way, you take time – for yourself and for others.”

This is perhaps the greatest challenge of the Camino, that of slowing down. Our world today is fast-paced and constantly moving. Being under pressure is seen as a virtue for some strange reason. On the Way, you take time – for yourself and for others. You speak with absolute strangers. People come from all over the world, drawn by something they find difficult to put into words. One of our group this year hit it on the head when he said that we were walking in the footsteps of millions of people, along pilgrim pathways that stretch back over a thousand years and that will continue into the future.

While it’s a reflective, meditative experience, it’s also good fun. When we arrived into these old towns, we would take a siesta and spend most of the day exploring, before gathering for a shared meal in the evening. We met a navy chaplain who keeps bees, a part-time Mr and Mrs Santa Claus who spend their summers caring for pilgrims, and plenty of people from South Korea, who couldn’t speak English but who were ace at sign language.

 

A small aside for future pilgrims – while runners look great, they’re not really ideal footwear for a walk like this. One statement from someone in this year’s group summed it up beautifully. Following a torrential rain shower, she told me, in what has to be the most positive interpretation of an uncomfortable situation ever, “Fr. Alan, my soaked trainers make it much easier to walk on my blistered feet!”

Buen Camino,
Fr. Alan

If you’d like to know more about our Camino trips, you can contact Fr. Alan at camino@mscmissions.ie, or call +353 (0) 86 785 7955 (Ireland) or +44 (0) 75 2676 4236 (UK).

On the Camino, we began each day with a moment of reflection. This was one of a number of pieces from the poet Mary Oliver, titled “Invitation”, which we used to inspire us for the day ahead:

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Reflection for Vocations Sunday

Introducing our MSC Pre-Novitiates: Mark

Meet Mark Quinn, one of two pre-novitiate students who began his studies in our MSC formation house in Dublin in autumn 2016.

By spending time in personal reflection, and living and working as members of a larger group, MSC pre-novitiate students gain a rich and varied experience of the community, its works, and its mission within our world.

Mark is from Castlebar, Co. Mayo and is a chef by profession. A number of volunteering experiences in Africa led him to consider missionary life, and he has now come to explore his vocation with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Here, he shares his reason for choosing to study with the MSC.

“In the midst of a deep discernment process, I found myself on a volunteer trip in the coastal city of Dar es Salam, Tanzania. One evening, while travelling home from our daily trip to the orphanages, my gaze was drawn to a small girl standing outside a makeshift hut as we sped along the dusty road. While her impoverished surroundings were heart-breaking, it was the expression on her motionless face that captured my attention. Her eyes transfixed on mine, I felt as if Christ himself was looking at me, calling me, or asking something of me that I was yet to fully understand.

A couple of days later, home in Ireland and with East Africa still fresh in my mind, I began to look deeper into religious missionary orders in Ireland. If I am to be honest (and maybe a bit superficial), I was initially attracted by the MSC’s online presence. It showed that the congregation was very much contemporary, and alive and kicking. I contacted Fr Alan, who came to my home to meet with me for a relaxed chat. He was genuinely interested in my story and was honest and informative about the MSC.

A few weeks later, I was invited to stay with the MSCs at their formation house in Dublin. It was great to see and talk to more young men in formation, and I was able to meet a number of priests who are working in a wide variety of roles for a question and answer session. It was a revelation for me to learn about the diversity and internationality of the congregation, and how I could bring my skills to them as well as being formed by their unique charism.

Then, in July, I was also able to take part in their fantastic annual volunteer programme. I travelled to the Holy Family Care Centre for children orphaned by HIV/AIDs or TB in South Africa, where I could see first-hand the heart of Jesus being brought to life. It confirmed for me that God was indeed calling me to be a missionary. But not just any missionary, a missionary of his Sacred Heart!”

Together on the Way to the Lord: Thoughts from an MSC Novice

Together on the Way to the Lord

Giacomo Gelardi, from Italy, is one of five novices who are working and studying with the community of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Myross Wood House, Co. Cork. Here, Giacomo reflects on his experience to date.

“It only seems like yesterday, but it has already been seven months since I, along with four other novices, embarked on an experience that, with the help of God, will take us to consecrate our lives to Him.

Each of us travelled from a different part of Europe in August 2016, arriving in a quiet corner of Ireland to begin our novitiate with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Myross Wood House in Leap, West Cork. The novitiate year is devoted to deepening our knowledge of ourselves, of the divine within us, and of our relationship with God – and our response is a resounding ‘Yes!’, declared with complete freedom and awareness.

During these months, under the wise guidance of the Novice Master, Fr Michael Huber MSC, we have been expanding our knowledge of the MSC congregation, beginning with the spirit that inspired the MSC founder, Fr Jules Chevalier. At the same time, we have also been developing a prayer life that is the foundation of human and spiritual growth towards a profound understanding of Jesus being present in each instant of our lives. This whole experience is enhanced by a wonderful natural setting in West Cork, where calm and solitude induce reflection and contemplation.

The Lord has granted our community the grace of getting on well together – within the limits of our humanity, obviously!

People may be curious to know what encouraged a Polish theologian, an Italian journalist, a Spanish lawyer, a Slovak computer scientist, and an Italian chemist to join the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Although the familiar answer is ‘because God called us’, each one of us had a personal reason that drew us to this religious congregation.

Piotr, who hails from Poland, tells us that he was inspired by reading a book written by Fr Emilien Tardif MSC. Piotr was particularly impressed by the idea that we should be bold in prayer, and ask for the complete healing of soul and body – not just for small things. This brought him to believe in and place his trust in God.

Domenico’s experience was somewhat different, as he began his career studying journalism in Italy. Having moved away from the Lord for a number of years, he began to understand the longing to dedicate his life to Him when living in the MSC college institute in Florence, which was led by Fr Carmine Pace. Domenico decided to read the MSC Constitution, and he was struck by a particular passage from Fr Chevalier: ‘Knowledge becomes dangerous without piety. They will learn far more at the foot of the Cross than in books’.

For Jaime, it was the example of the priests in the MSC school in Barcelona, Spain, that had an impact on him. He had studied there since he was a child, and the spirituality of the Sacred Heart still fascinates him, particularly as a model by which he can live his favourite Gospel passages: ‘the good thief’ (Lk 23:40-43) and the giving of oneself in the manner of Simon of Cyrene (Mk 15:21-22).

Daniel’s initial interest came about as a result of the spiritual retreats organised by the MSC community in Nitra, Slovakia, which focused on spiritual and psychological development. During these retreats, Daniel gained a greater knowledge of community life, with the understanding that he could fulfil his own broad concept of mission within the MSC congregation.

As for me? I was a bit like Jonah – I ran away ignoring the Lord’s voice (Jon 1:1-3). Then, one day, I met Fr Alan Neville MSC, who showed me the friendly and humorous face of God. After visiting several communities in Ireland, I recognised that with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, I can be at home, and I can realise my desire to love and be loved completely.”

 

Flame 2017

Flame 2017 took place in London on Saturday, March 11th, at the SSE Arena in Wembley. Flame is an international youth event attended by young Catholics from all over the world, and this year’s event, with the theme “10,000 Reasons”, included headline speakers such as Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Cardinal Charles Bo, and singer and worship leader Matt Redman. Travis, a member of the Cork NET Team, attended the event with the group and now shares his London adventure…

“Flame for us, as the NET Team, started with a phone call from Fr Alan Neville MSC, who got in touch with us to ask if we would be interested in attending the youth event in London in March. We learned that the Catholic Youth Ministers Federation were responsible for organising Flame, and that the purpose of the event was to encourage us, and Catholic youths everywhere, to begin making positive changes through Jesus Christ.

The Cork NET Team, myself included, were incredibly excited to learn that we would be given the opportunity to attend the Flame event as volunteers with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. We were delighted to be able to learn more about performing acts of service in our daily lives, especially with an awareness of the current events that are taking place all over the world.

The team and I arrived in Heathrow, London, at around 9.00am on Friday, March 10th, the day before the event. We spent a fantastic day in London, and we then went to St Alban’s Church to stay the night with the MSC community there. We joined forces with other youths and youth volunteers the next morning, ready to share this new experience with each other.

We when finally settled in the stadium, we were amazed to be greeted by the sight of over 10,000 people who were equally as excited to be there! Some of those attending didn’t have a full awareness of what the event involved, but were still glad to be somewhere new, meeting others who shared their passion.

In addition, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart invited us to Flame to help them with their exhibit there. This involved sharing more about the ways that Catholic youths can make changes for the better, as well as sharing information about the different events that the MSC run throughout the year. We were delighted to be on the receiving end of encouraging responses all round.

Overall, Flame was a hugely positive experience for us all. We attended three sessions on the day, which involved talks, testimonies, prayer, reflection, music, and much more. I was astonished to be in the presence of so many faithful people, who all wanted to be there and to share this experience together. I felt so affirmed, and on reflection, I can safely say that this must be one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had!”

Reflections: The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Living Life to the Full

Are we living our lives, or are we sleepwalking through life?

God has given us the gift of life and desires us to make the most of it. Yet how often are we just going through the motions? Or do we feel like the dried bones of the first reading? Perhaps we feel like Lazarus in the gospel, bound, blind, and buried?

Lent is Christian Spring. Just as the natural world comes to new life in Spring, so God gives us the season of Lent as a time for us to come alive in new ways.

What is it that binds us in mediocre living? What prevents us from using our talents to the full, or even from knowing all of our capabilities? What causes us to miss the mark of living a full life, free of useless habits and addictions?

In Hebrew, the word which we translate as “sin” literally means to “miss the mark”. It comes from the world of archery. Sinning is not just breaking laws; it is a failure to live life to the full. It is choosing to stay in the safe familiar tomb, rather than risking the big open world.

Today, and every day, God offers us His life giving Spirit to transform us from being half alive to being fully alive. This offer is made in a special way at Easter through the Resurrection. However, even now in Lent, God invites us to allow His Spring to take root in our lives.

Reflections: The Third Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent

The Gospel (4:5-42).

A spring of water welling up to eternal life.

This is a rather lengthy reading containing different themes. Central themes are the Samaritan woman, the well, and the water. In Jesus’ day, there was deep enmity between Jews and Samaritans, who were regarded by the Jews as heretics and not part of the Jewish people at all. This division seems to have had very old roots. There was enmity between the northern kingdom, Israel, with Samaria as its centre, and the southern kingdom of Judah. A noted well in the area was connected with the patriarch Jacob.

In the evangelist John’s writing, the episodes in this reading function at two levels – this earthly one, and at a spiritual level, to which the earthly ones point. Thus, the water from the well is a symbol of the water that Jesus will give his followers, welling up to eternal life; this is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans worshipped at their own sacred site and the Jews at their Temple in Jerusalem, which led Jesus to speak of the coming age when both would be irrelevant, and God worshipped in Spirit and in truth. His own hunger gives Jesus an opportunity to speak of his intense desire, his hunger to complete the work the work the Father had given him, with the sowing of the Gospel seed and the ensuing harvest.

As a reflection on this reading, we can recall Jesus’ promise to give to those who believe in himself a spring of water welling up to eternal life – that is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives faith and hope, while Christian faith brings certainty.

A common feature of the world in which we live is doubt in matters relating to faith – doubt about elements of moral teaching, about truths of faith, and even at times about the very existence of God. An assertion of a certain philosophy, prevalent today, is that there is no certainty about anything. All we can have is speculation and guesswork rather than certainty, and opinions that vary from age to age.

An atmosphere of this sort adds to the difficulties of religious observance. Such doubt about fundamental matters is completely contrary to the teaching of the faith in matters relating to truths concerning this life and the life to come. Christian faith is thus described in the Epistle to the Hebrews (11:1): “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen”. Two of the terms used there call for our reflection: assurance and conviction.

The assurance and conviction spoken of in this verse are not psychological attitudes of souls rooted in the human mind or soul. They refer instead to the divine, theological, virtue of faith – a gift from God that gives conviction which is beyond that which human nature can provide. This assurance and certainty bring with them a peace of soul, the peace which Jesus has granted to believers, and a peace that no-one can take from them.

Nightfever

As a worldwide initiative, the idea behind Nightfever is a simple one: open doors and open hearts. On designated nights, Mass is held in a city centre church, and afterwards, the church is filled with candlelight and prayerful music. Volunteers invite passers-by on the street to come inside and light a candle of their own, and many stay to enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of peaceful and prayerful reflection in the loving presence of God.

Luke is a member of the Cork NET Team, a youth evangelisation team run in partnership by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Dominicans. Here, Luke shares his experience of Nightfever in Cork City…

“For over a year, I have been involved with a wonderful outreach group called Nightfever. Today, I’m delighted to talk about my time as a volunteer with this group, which will hopefully help to shed some light on the power and efficacy of this largely under-appreciated ministry.

In the last four months, there have been three Nightfever events in St Augustine’s Church, Cork City. Hundreds of people have come into the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist on account of these three events. Many of these people have not been season ticket holders, so to speak – some may not have ever even set foot in a church before.

Amazingly, this is achieved by the simplest of invitations. Volunteers go out in pairs (one boy and one girl), and watch out for people passing on the street. We approach passers-by and invite them to light a candle in the church… and that’s it. We might mention that there is some beautiful reflective music inside as a bit of an incentive, but that is the full extent of the invitation. Those who say yes are led by the volunteers from the street into the church, right up to the altar where they light their candle before the Lord.

I have had the privilege of welcoming people as they approach the altar at two out of three of these events. I have seen people being moved to tears in seconds – just once look at the Blessed Sacrament is enough. For some, it’s just this sense that something is different here, and I have observed countless people looking around as if trying to figure out what that is. These people often pause and take a good look at the monstrance, seldom realising that it contains the one that is different, the one that is divine.

Nightfever really has deepened my faith. I would encourage any young Catholics who are interested in joining us in this outreach in Cork to get in touch with the Fr Alan Neville at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart for more information.”

You can contact Fr Alan by email at fralan@mscvocations.com, or by phone on 086 785 7955.

NET Youth Team Hits the Ground Running

In 2016, five young adults came from Canada, Dublin and even Galway as part of a National Evangelisation Team ( NET ) to share the Good News and celebrate their faith with the people of Cork. This is their story …

 

“Hello, we are the Cork City NET team. We are really excited to be working with the Dominicans and Missionaries of the Sacred Heart this year. There are 5 members on our team; two from Ireland and three from Canada. We range from the ages of 18-23. All of us have had a personal encounter with Jesus, and want to share that encounter and the love of Christ with those around us.
A random fact about our team is that we love Disney movies: we have been known to sing Disney musical songs while doing chores such as dishes and cleaning.

 

We just arrived in Cork city this week after six weeks of NET training in Esker and Rossnowlaugh. Cork is a beautiful city filled with history and wonders which were created by God, we look forward to experiencing and learning from our time here.

We are really enjoying the spectacular view of the city we get to adopt as our home for the year. We have high hopes for this year; we want to see young people impacted and transformed by the love of Jesus. We are excited to get to know and reach out to young adults, children and secondary school students.

 

 

 

 

 

As a NET team we will be involved in a variety of ministry work throughout the year. The aim of our work is to help people encounter Jesus in a personal way. A big aspect of our ministry is forming relationships with the youth; we believe that these relationships will demonstrate the power and joy that comes from a personal relationship with Jesus.

Our tasks include children’s liturgy, running a parent and toddlers group, visiting local schools, day retreats, Access youth club, youth 2000 meetings, running religion classes and young adult ministry. Day retreat’s or encounter days will be a big part of our ministry. At these retreats students will be taught the Good News through games, activities, sketches, dramas and talks. We hope that through these retreats, students will become more involved in church ministries. One of our main goals this year is to create a sustainable youth ministry program in Cork City; we want to train young adults to continue the mission when we depart.
We are looking forward to getting to know everyone and growing more in our relationship with Jesus alongside the community of Cork.”

World Youth Day 2016 – The Road to Krakow

The MSC small group with Beth and Ellie, our amazing leaders. There really are no words to describe World Youth Day. It’s an incredible event for the seventeen of the MSC pilgrims, coming from Galway, Cork, Dublin and London. We joined up with the Archdiocese of Birmingham for the 40 hour drive / flight / taxi / bus / ferry / bus trip to Poland. However, before you know it were in the parish of St. Marks, Łomianki, just outside of Warsaw. There was an incredibly joyful group of parishioners, who were delighted to welcome us to our Mission Week.

 

Mission Week is an essential part of the WYD experience. It’s about taking the time to ground your faith in acts of service. This is especially important during Pope Francis’ Year of Mercy. We’re told to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, bury the dead, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned.
 

Altogether there was 120 pilgrims in the group, who were divided over a variety of projects. We don’t tick every box during Mission Week, but we were close.

 

 

 

 

 

The first team headed to Sadawa, a residential home for people with disabilities, to build a multi sensory garden. They had to dig up paths, decorate jumbo pots, and paint a sail boat. They also managed to fit in time for bike rides through the forest, dancing, as well as arts and crafts. The next group built a Rosary walk in a home for the elderly. Another spent a few days entertaining the kids at a local paediatric hospital with drama and music. The rest of us were in the park organising few days of games and activities for local children. It was pretty manic, but we had loads of help from Ola and the members of the Łomianki youth group. They were just brilliant.

 

 

 

By Sunday the songs were sung, the garden dug, and pots were planted. Bishop William Kenney CP blessed the sensory garden and Rosary walk and then we all headed for a barbecue – as you do. The next morning our Polish families saw us off on the bus and we began our journey to Kraków. On the way we visited Wadowice, the birth place of Pope John Paul II. We also paid our respects in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It was a sobering reminder about the world’s need for justice and mercy.

 

Late on Monday evening we finally arrived at the Junior Krakus in Kraków, tired but excited for Week 2 of World Youth Day!