There used to be a description of education which, in summary, went something like this: that the information passed from the copy book of the teacher to the copy book of the student without passing through the mind of either.

Extending that metaphor to some of my own preaching it might be summed up thus: the ideas of the gospel passed from my mind to the mind of the listeners without touching the heart of either. The reason I remember Tiago so easily is that he touched the heart.

Pat Coughlan C.S.Sp.

Fr Pat spent over 20 years as a missionary in Brazil. He is currently the Director of Newlands Institute for Counselling, a low-fee counselling centre in Clondalkin, Co. Dublin and also works with the Spiritan’s asylum initiative, SPIRASI.

his reflections on living at the edge: “Some of us go willingly to the edge, some of us are driven to it, some of us find ourselves there by grace. But all of us get there at some time in our lives, when through the gateway of the present moment we glimpse something beyond. And when we do, may we open ourselves to wonder, may we surrender to the mystery that passes understanding, may we find ourselves at the threshold of this eternal life.”

Come follow me!

Sr.Carmel Molloy L.S.A.

Sr Carmel is a member of the Little Sisters of the Assumption. She is a Pastoral Care Worker in a palliative care service.

As we set out on the journey of 2012 of Chapters and challenges, it is important to affirm those Andrew qualities in ourselves, and it is important that we appreciate and applaud such qualities in other people we meet.

Jim Owens

Jim is a Spiritan Associate and a hospital chaplain in St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fairview, Dublin.

You still mix with people, but you are not the regular Joe.

Jesus, if I let my true self shine forth, can I still remain anonymous in the crowd?

Joe Glynn C.S.Sp.

Ordained in 1976, Fr Joe has worked in Sierra Leone, Ghana and formation in Ireland, and is currently the Spiritans’ Provincial Delegate in USA West.

Joe Glynn C.S.Sp.

Ordained in 1976, Fr Joe has worked in Sierra Leone, Ghana and formation in Ireland, and is currently the Spiritans’ Provincial Delegate in USA West.

Despite the poverty and though Christmas is not as commercial as in Ireland today, those who can will generally give gifts at Christmas. The most common thing bought at Christmas is a new set of clothes to be worn to the church service and when visiting friends and relatives. When I was young we always looked forward to the ‘Christmas cloth’.

Goats are quickly snapped up at the local markets and roasted on Christmas Day in East Africa. In South Africa the sun is hot and the beaches are full of families enjoying braais (BBQs) or traditional open-air Christmas dinners. A missionary in Zimbabwe remarked that Zimbabweans would make sure to have ‘plenty of bread, jam and tea to eat along with their goat meat on Christmas Day’.

Here in Ireland I’ll think of home and family in West Africa and the combination of rice, beef and biscuits and more especially the spiritual atmosphere which continues to be the order of the day for many of those who are celebrating Christmas.

Hyacinth Nwakuna C.S.Sp.

Fr. Hyacinth, a native of Nigeria, is a member of the Spiritan Community in Blackrock, Co. Dublin and Chaplain at Blackrock College.

around 1,600. The role of a missionary is to plant the seed of faith, hoping that it will flourish. The Irish missionary has seen many Young Churches grow from the planted seeds. Better still, these Young Churches are now producing missionaries to other Young Churches.

When I arrived in the Gambia in 1974, there was no native Gambian priest and only a handful of native sisters. Now there are 17 Gambian priests and as many sisters and some of them are missionaries in other parts of Africa. When I was new in West Africa, I thought it was all about giving. There was plenty of giving - giving the faith, giving the sacraments, giving vegetable gardens, giving clean water, giving small medical clinics, giving food during the Sahel drought. But I can honestly say that the receiving of hospitality, of kindness, of sharing of poverty, of patience, of understanding, of friendship, far outweighed anything I gave. Above all, I received involvement and participation in their Church including on that Christmas night in Bwiam.

Ed Grimes C.S.Sp.

Fr. Ed spent many years on mission in West Africa. In Ireland he has been Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies and is now a member of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

We have no human way to grasp or express the joy of that night when Jesus was born to us on earth but Luke's gospel tells us "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God”.

This year I will tell Charlie that when he looks up at the dark sky he will see the same stars that shone down on baby Jesus and with the grace of God.

Katherine McAleer-O’Malley

Katherine is a mother, grandmother, retired family doctor and a member of Kimmage Manor Parish.

At all times and in all our life choices it is our personal responsibility to make the effort to seek out life-giving fellowship and friendship that nourishes and sustains us.

This Advent let us respond wholeheartedly to God’s invitation to nurture new life in the Spirit whatever our circumstance and situation.

Jane Ferguson

Jane is a Spiritan Associate who studied at the Kimmage Mission Institute (KMI) and is currently Clinical Director with Accord. She and her husband have two children.

happy to do. When the news came that the Irish priest was ready to return from his holidays, parishioners asked the old French priest if he would be staying on in the parish even when Fr. Felim came back.  Fr.René replied “When the sun comes out – the moon must disappear”! 

a witness for the Light”. As the Church struggles in these times to be a true witness to the Light of the World, let us pray that we too can be more like John – pointing to the Light – rather than trying to be the Light.

John Skinnader C.S.Sp.

Since his ordination John has worked in Sierra Leone, Rome and Ethiopia and is currently ministering in Enniskillen Parish, Co. Fermanagh.

Looking back on that visit, thirty -four years later, I now realise that it was a milestone on my life’s pilgrimage: the end of my mission in Africa, the beginning of my mission in inner-city Dublin.  I subsequently became involved in various transforming, life-giving projects with the inner-city communities of Seán McDermott Street and Fatima Mansions. I am currently involved in an inner-city counselling project.

privilege of knowing.

We have shared their ministry. They have gone ahead of us. They have prepared the way. The challenge for us is to be faithful and follow.

What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make the beginning.
The end is where we start from.

T.S.Eliot

Liam Sheridan C.S.Sp.

After completing his studies in Kimmage, Liam was a team member of the Brothers’ Formation Programme while doing technical studies at Bolton Street College, Dublin. Having worked in Nigeria and The Gambia, he studied counselling and later initiated Riverside Counselling Services in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Dublin.

grace and power of God’s love which has been poured into our hearts, and to awake to the powers of darkness which keep our own hearts locked in selfishness and greed – to shine a light into the dark spaces and to “see things as they really are.”

May this season of Advent be a time when we “awake” to the power of the love of God and may we come to experience the words of Isaiah in today’s first reading:

“Lord, you are our Father,

We the clay, you the potter, we are the work of your hand”.

Seán O’Leary C.S.Sp.

Seán O’Leary’s first appointment was to Taiwan in 1998. He returned to Ireland in 2007 to be Mission Counsellor in the current Provincial Administration.

The Kingdom of Heaven becomes something real when we recognise what the sheep practiced but could not articulate and what the goats did not know at all. And we do not have to wait for a future consequence to our present actions to be convinced of this.

I was happy to help Simon, for, in our shared humanity, his mother is my mother too.

Billy Cleary C.S.S.p.

Billy Cleary was ordained in 1982 and currently is Director of the Spiritan formation community in Zimbabwe. He has previously ministered in The Gambia and Liberia as well as in the education area in Ireland.

which will allay your fears and transform risks into challenges”? Finally: “Are you ready to take up the challenge? When? Where? How”?

Jesus never heard of “positive thinking”, “emotional intelligence” or “coaching” but he could recognise the fears and desires of his followers. Before confirming Peter as leader he asked three times: “Simon, son of John, do you love me”?

To those who are ready to risk all for love he will say: “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord”.

Pádraig Leonard C.S.Sp.

Pádraig Leonard was ordained in 1956 and spent the next nine years in education ministry in Ireland. In Brazil since 1967, his ministry is primarily concerned with the formation of laity and with holistic spirituality.

We prepare for the end of the world by being about our duties. If our duty is to sweep the floor or add up a row of figures, then, that is what we should be doing, and not dressing up in a white resurrection robe and going up the mountain to await the end.

Seán de Leis C.S.Sp.

Seán de Leis, a native of Waterford City, was ordained in 1981. He has ministered in Sierra Leone, Ghana and in Ireland and, having been involved in Pastoral Ministry in New Jersey and in Florida, he has recently returned to Ireland.

“leader” because your one and only leader is the Messiah.

The greatest one among you must be you servant. Whoever makes himself great will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be made great.

Trish Sherry

Trish Sherry is a member of the Kimmage Parish community and a Spiritan Associate. She works as part of the St John of God Chaplaincies’ Services in the Dublin area.

If missionaries give to the missions by going, others go the missions by giving. Every missionary will tell you about special interventions in times of civil or material disturbances.

Remember to pray for missionaries this Mission Sunday as we are ‘together in faith’.

Ed Grimes

Ed Grimes spent 17 years in The Gambia and has just retired as National Director of World Missions Ireland.

The Church bought second-hand aircraft and flew at night time under gun attacks to bring food and medicine to the innocent Biafran civilians at risk.

Pope Paul VI said “law is there for people, not people for the law”. While one million died from kwashiorkor and the lack of sufficient protein food and medical supplies, the airlift to Biafra saved one million children from death.

Tony Byrne

Tony Byrne was one of over 300 Irish Spiritans in Nigeria before the Biafran War began. He is currently the Director of the Awareness Education Office which provides pastoral support to those affected by such issues as suicide and bullying.

A beauty of ‘pitching our tent’ with an outcast Hindu group is that we see God’s predilection for the poor who find their way to God in loving devotion ‘bhakti’ rather than the other two ways to ‘salvation’ in Hinduism - the way of knowledge and the way of action. Many are attracted to the person of Jesus for his acceptance of everyone regardless of caste, his compassionate healings of the sick and his forgiveness of those who were crucifying him. We are invited to do likewise – to accept everyone who crosses our path ‘from the highways and byways, good and bad alike’.

Michael Liston

Professed in 1979, Michael Liston has served with the Spiritans in Pakistan since 1985.

pastoralists and Pokomo farmers. The conflict was about access to water and grazing rights. There is an African Proverb which says ‘When bulls fight the grass gets trampled’. So it was in this civil unrest – whole villages were burnt down; people had to flee and live in the bush, displaced in their own country.

We are now in the Lord’s vineyard and it is our turn to product the good fruit – let us product good fruit and not sour grapes!

Tom Hogan

Tom Hogan is a Spiritan who spent over 30 years in Kenya where he worked as a teacher and Principal with Primary and Secondary schools and for ten years, in the Tana River district, in the area of health promotion.

The parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-32 offers hope to those who have sinned in the past – even grievous sinners who repent. God the Father is infinitely willing to forgive us and is concerned with what we have become – not what we were. It also speaks to our ever- changing acceptance of God’s word. We don’t always want to do what is right. Sometimes we hear the message but we choose the easier option because it is less demanding. The most difficult choice sometimes involves a change of mind and heart. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy.

Liz Coyle

A parishioner of Holy Spirit Parish, Kimmage Manor, Liz is an Associate member of the Spiritan family and is currently Chaplain at Our Lady’s Hospice, Harold’s Cross, Dublin.

I am moved to ask God for pardon for so often selling him short! Not only in the past but everyday. And I thank God for Vatican II and for the Church movements like The Young Christian Students, Marriage Encounter and Lectio Divina – and the inspiring people in them that have made me realise that our God is loving and caring and forgiving. A magnanimous God who does not depend on me to “bring” Him anywhere! He was in the hearts and lives of wonderful people in Nigeria before I ever arrived. And our mission today has not changed. It is still to reveal the love, generosity and care of God to each other by the way we live our lives.

Des Byrne C.S.Sp

Born in 1927 in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow, Des joined the Spiritans in 1945 and worked in Enugo, Lagos & Makurdi in Nigeria and in Dublin. At present he serves in Knockmitten, Clondalkin Parish in Dublin.

vindictive ways and punished the person he had forgiven when that man failed to forgive someone else’s debts.

God offers us the grace to forgive a hurt, a deep hurt that may have remained with us for years. It can mean forgiving that same hurt day after day, ‘seventy times seven’. I know from experience how freeing that is. It frees the one we forgive, and it frees the oppressor in us!

Bill Jenkinson C.S.Sp

Born in 1923 in Lusk, Co. Dublin, Bill studied at O’Connell Schools C.B.S. Now living at Kimmage Manor, in his long and varied ministry Bill has inter alia been: Spiritan Provincial; Superior of the Spiritan Generalate Community; Executive Secretary of the I.M.U.; Director of SEDOS in Rome, and, after returning to Ireland in 1999, Community Leader at Spiritan House, the SPIRASI HQ.

We prayed together, and ever after that our relationship as colleagues was strengthened. In the past, I would have considered this Sunday’s reading as a rather harsh one about administering correction to others. After my experience of receiving correction kindly meant, I began to realise that the Lord is there among us when we listen sincerely to each other, difficult as this may be.

Thérèse Osborne

An Irish Spiritan Associate, Thérèse worked for many years as a lay missionary in El Salvador, Central America.

When Peter said to Jesus, “This must not happen to you”, he did not know how opposed to Jesus’ way of thinking he was. He was not aware that Jesus’ mission consisted in sacrificing himself for us, and that such sacrifice cannot take place without pain and the cross. All this helped me to see, like Peter, that God does not see things the way we see them. It was failure that brought me to my senses.

I am still learning.

Tom Raftery C.S.Sp.

After ordination Tom was appointed to Sierra Leone in 1961 and mainly worked in the classroom. In 1988 he trained in the art of Spiritual Direction. In 1990 he went as Spiritual Director to the Spiritan House of Philosophy in Ghana and remained there until 2006. He now resides with the Templeogue Community.

One noteworthy theme of the concluding report was the outreach and the appreciation in her midst of the 'rostos sofridos do povo' - the suffering faces of the people. It concretised this all the more by stating whose faces these were: those of the exploited rural worker, women, the black population and indigenous peoples. 'Rosto sofrido do povo' brought together the personal, the local and the national and international.

It was concretised for me in the faces of Maria and Jose. And in their smile and dignity the light that shines through suffering. Who do you say that I am?

Paddy Cully C.S.Sp.

Paddy is a Dubliner. He is a Spiritan since 1975 and worked in Brazil and Haiti. He is currently chaplain in Clonskeagh Hospital in Dublin.

I ask myself: how often do I pass people begging in the street or at the door and write them off as “chancers” or worse?

Lord, help me to respect people and watch my language.

Paddy Dundon C.S.Sp.

After completing his studies in Kimmage, Paddy was part of the first group of Irish Spiritans in Brazil. In 1979 he returned to Ireland as part of the Provincial team. He worked for some years in parish ministry in Dublin and some years in South Africa. Until recently he was the Community Leader of St Michael’s Community, Ailesbury Rd., Dublin.

breeze. Then I hear of Jesus’ disciples in a boat at night being tossed about in a violent storm. In their terror Jesus comes over the water. “Courage, do not be afraid ...it is I”. They come safely to land.

The Word of God spoke to me of my father’s passing. It still speaks and brings calm.

Christy Burke C.S.Sp.

Christy is a native of Clare. Based in Kenya from 1966 to 2002, he taught in secondary schools as well as Junior and Senior Seminaries and also lectured in Philosophy. He has worked in hospital chaplaincy in Nairobi and in Ireland. He is the author of No Longer Slaves, The Mission of Francis Libermann (1802 – 1852).

The disciples tried to deflect any impending disaster by moving them on. Again, using just what was available, Jesus met all their needs with the multiplication of the loaves just outlined in the gospel story.

We are never expected to do the impossible – only believe and trust that our Heavenly Father knows our needs and will look after us. In times of crisis – personal or national – we are challenged to just do what we can with what we have in faith and trust. “The Lord will provide.”

Walter McNamara C.S.Sp.

Ordained in 1968, Walter’s first appointment was to Sierra Leone where he was for many years involved in Education and Pastoral Ministry. After studies and back in Ireland he was assigned to An Tobar, a Spiritan centre for spirituality and community near Navan. In the early 2000s he was assigned to Western Australia where he would later become regional leader. On returning home, he became Director of World Mercy Organisation Ireland and now lives in Kimmage Manor.

In its place we will find the new life in Christ which is the treasure hidden but now found.

The possession of this life enables us to become children of God, sisters and brothers of Christ.

Lorcan O’Toole C.S.Sp.

Lorcan is a Dubliner and was ordained in 1956. After many years working on mission in Kenya, mainly in education, Lorcan returned to Ireland where he has worked in hospital chaplaincy.

Thankfully, none of us has such buttons and in God’s garden other rules prevail.

According to the author of the Book of Wisdom, God is a lenient and patient teacher who allows time for repentance to take root and bring about graced growth. As Christians you and I can be no different.

Jim Corry C.S.Sp.

Jim was born in 1930 and is a native of Donegal. After ordination, he worked in Nigeria (Biafra) in education and pastoral ministry. After the civil war in Nigeria and the collapse of Biafra in 1970 he was transferred to Sierra Leone and was pastor in Freetown for many years. In the mid- 1980s he joined the Long Island Irish Community and took up ministry in Florida. He is recently retired in Dublin.

Looking back I wanted the yields and fruits to be in our communities and not somewhere in another part of Brazil. The seeds that we planted in one community bore fruit in another community.

The lesson probably is that God’s ways are not our ways. At times we are planters of seeds and at times it is for us to do the watering of the plants. It is God who gives the increase, wherever and however.

One plants, one waters and God gives the increase.

Michael Kane C.S.Sp.

Michael is a native of Wexford and has worked in Brazil and Ireland. He has worked with small Christian communities and for many years worked in An Tobar, a Spiritan centre for spirituality and community near Navan.

Perhaps this is the wisdom that enables us to discern that taking on the role of discipleship is not to be overburdened by unnecessary or unrealistic demands. The wisdom of the East teaches us that carrying two loads with a yoke is easier than carrying one load alone.

Gentleness and humility are what we are called to bring with us on the journey - gentleness and humility that are, perhaps, the first signs of wisdom.

Marc Whelan C.S.Sp.

Marc was born in 1962 and ordained in 1990. After ordination, he was appointed to Ghana to work in the West African Foundation of the Spiritans in pastoral ministry. In 1996 he was appointed to the Indian Ocean Foundation as director of formation and worked in Reunion Island and Mauritius where he was rector of the Inter-Island Seminary of the Indian Ocean. In 2008 Marc returned to Ireland to work in the Office for Spiritan Life and as Director of Formation.

The ‘living bread’ nourishes us with a spirit of thanksgiving for our companions on the journey of life.

In Pakistan, Christmas and Easter are special times for seeing how we are linked to each other. As we embrace one another after Mass, we do see each other as a source of joy.

The ‘living bread’ invites us not only to a ‘special day togetherness’ but to unending communion in him with all that is.

Jim O’Connell C.S.Sp.

Jim is a native of Dublin and has been living and working in Pakistan since his ordination in 1978.

At the bedside of that little girl, I had encountered our triune God in his simplicity and compassionate generosity. For, the divinity is one simple entity: Father, Son and Spirit indwell each other in self-surrendering empathy. Made in God’s image, we are called to similar self-giving towards our fellow humans. Thus we come to know our triune God, not so much through words and formulas, as through participation in his life. And so God, the Creator of all, was revealed to me in the experience of the faith of that little girl. I still pray to her.

Tony Geoghegan C.S.Sp.

Tony joined the Spiritans in 1948 and was ordained in 1957. Following studies in Rome, he was assigned to The Gambia, West Africa, where he worked in pastoral ministry, and subsequently to Nigeria where he lectured in Theology at the Bigard Seminary, Enugu. He earned a doctorate in Theology from the Angelicum University in Rome and returned to Ireland, where he has been involved in formation and the teaching of theology. Tony has served on the Provincial Leadership Team and currently is the chair of the Historical Commission established by the Archdiocese of Dublin to enquire into the life of Bishop Joseph Shanahan with a view to his possible beatification.

The first challenge for believers today, many feeling lost and abandoned, is to realise that the Holy Spirit continues to operate in our lives – but only if we allow that to happen. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our creativity and generosity, through our commitment and hope, but also through our sufferings and failings, through our sadness and anger. The Spirit that became such a driving force in the lives of the early disciples is the same Spirit that continues to speak to us with many voices, to give us hope and energy and inspires us to respond in faith. Can we do it? ‘Is feidir linn’.

Brian Starken C.S.Sp.

Brian was born in Ireland in 1948 and was ordained in 1974. Brian has spent most of his missionary life in Sierra Leone where he worked mainly in education. When war broke out he engaged in humanitarian relief work with refugees and conflict resolution at the end of the war. Currently Brian is Provincial Leader of the Spiritans in Ireland.