Residential Events at Boarbank Hall
The Sisters at Boarbank Hall in Cumbria are pleased to announce a new programme of residential events at their Guest House. Some of these may be of special interest to Religious Sisters and Brothers, including Care for Creation, Our Lady in Latin and Hope in Health.
The Sisters at Boarbank Hall in Cumbria are pleased to announce a new programme of residential events at their Guest House. Some of these may be of special interest to Religious Sisters and Brothers, including Care for Creation (a mix of talks, reflection and activities: 5th-12th October), Our Lady in Latin (learning about the language and the music: 25th-27th October) and Hope in Health (for anyone involved in care or healthcare, to recharge the batteries: 8th-10th October).
For the full programme and more details, see: https://boarbankhall.org.uk/whats-on/.
For more information, please contact Sr Margaret on margaret@boarbankhall.org.uk.
You might also enjoy finding out more about Boarbank from this podcast:
A pilgrim on the way: celebrating forty years of priesthood on the Camino
On the Camino we are all strangers yet no one is a stranger. I think of that adage: ‘a stranger is a friend you haven’t met.’ As we walk, we share. It is quite wonderful and a privilege to listen to so many stories. Many are in transition. Others are looking for something, for themselves, for God.
(source: CoR)
By Fr John McGowan OCD
I write this almost halfway through the 800 kms Camino to Santiago di Compostella.
This walking adventure started when the late Sr Frances (of Nazareth House) asked me to do it with her. She had to pull out but I carried on, at least for ten days….. that was four years ago. Now I am on sabbatical, celebrating forty years of priesthood, and decided to do the whole Camino.
Fr John taking a break
I would say it is one of the greatest graces of my life. Here you see humanity at its best, as it should be. The pilgrims look out for each other and care for each other. As I write, just now a South African nurse bandaged the foot of a fellow pilgrim; he was Korean and suffering from blisters. We are like the United Nations. It is wonderful to see all these people come together and get to know each other. On the Camino we are all strangers yet no one is a stranger. I think of that adage: ‘a stranger is a friend you haven’t met.’
We walk along, about 20-25 kms a day and as we walk we share. It is quite wonderful and a privilege to listen to so many stories. Many are in transition. Others are looking for something, for themselves, for God. There are people of all ages, young and old; we all mix as if we were the same age.It is not comfortable and many are suffering from blisters, tendinitis or some other ache.
One of the things I had to quickly get used to was sleeping in the same room, often a dormitory, with other people. Like most of us Religious I have my own room and bed. But this common sharing as we journey along is what bonds us together. Snoring is a problem; women are sometimes worse than men!
It is a privilege to pass through towns and villages that have been here for a thousand years and more. I notice how the Church is always the centre of a town or village, it is often the biggest building. Today, in our materialistic society, it is the banks that are central and the biggest buildings.To walk is the best way to discover a place and there is so much to discover of history, culture, art and above all the people. They greet us as we pass with “Buen Camino”.
One of the things the Camino teaches you is how simple life can be. As we walk along the only thing we own is the rucksack on our back. We are grateful for a bed at night and for the food we eat. It only costs €10 sometimes to stay a night. Tonight I’m staying in an old Poor Clare convent. The other night I slept in an old Benedictine monastery. As I go along I pray the rosary first thing in the morning. I leave at 6.30. It’s dark and you are alone. If I get the chance I will stop in a church and say morning prayer. One of the disappointments is that many of the churches are closed. Throughout the day you have time to yourself and time to be with others. Then at the end of the day we meet up to eat together. Before that I attend a special pilgrims Mass which is provided in every place we stay in.
As I write, it is the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. I pray for you as I slowly make my way to the tomb of the great Apostle James. Please keep me in your prayers.
A life less ordinary: Sr Pamela Hussey
“It was a critical and intense period in the Cold War. Dictatorships and oligarchies, backed by the CIA, ruled many of the Latin American States with appalling human rights violations as a consequence……Pamela had the advantage of looking frail and conservative when she wasn’t. She was the scourge of US Foreign Service personnel who were entirely unprepared for the passion and anger of this diminutive and well-spoken woman when they tried to defend the indefensible. To her great pleasure her work was first recognised in 2000. She was awarded an MBE for her tireless defence of human rights.”
By Professor Ian Linden
All my children and many others loved Sister Pamela Hussey. Pamela would have been 100 on 7 January 2022. She died peacefully on 13 December in Cornelia House, in the Harrogate care home of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. She made up for missing the traditional letter from the Queen by receiving one from each of two Popes, Benedict XVI and Francis, congratulating her on her Diamond Jubilee as a nun. An Anglo-Argentinian, Pamela grew up in Buenos Aires which makes the occasion being noticed for a second time, and by Pope Francis, seem more fitting.
Pamela wanted to join the war effort and sailed in 1942 from Argentina on one of the perilous Atlantic crossings to the Bay of Biscay and, hugging the French coast, northwards to wartime Britain. She joined the Women’s Royal Naval Services (WRNS). For three years she worked in Scarborough as a wireless telegraphist in an offshoot of GCHQ Bletchley – where she is on the Roll of honour - and returned in 2014 to open a new centre through the good offices of Prince Charles. In 2018 she was awarded the Légion d’Honneur for her service during the Second World War presented in person at her care home by a representative of the French Government. As a special operator she learnt Morse Code spending hours on end waiting for German U-boats to break cover and surface to communicate with their base revealing their location. It was hardly the most effective use of a woman who was a fluent Spanish speaker, who would take a degree in modern languages at St. Anne’s Oxford and, having joined the SHCJs in 1950, teach languages for ten years.
The first time I met Pamela was in 1981 when she became a volunteer administrative assistant in the Latin America department of the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) where I had also just started working. It was a critical and intense period in the Cold War. Dictatorships and oligarchies, backed by the CIA, ruled many of the Latin American States with appalling human rights violations as a consequence. Pamela gravitated to the El Salvador desk at CIIR, making several field trips, sharing the department’s admiration for the Archbishop of San Salvador, St. Oscar Romero, his courage, work for justice and his theology and after his assassination publicising his life. Pamela had the advantage of looking frail and conservative when she wasn’t. She was the scourge of US Foreign Service personnel who were entirely unprepared for the passion and anger of this diminutive and well-spoken woman when they tried to defend the indefensible. To her great pleasure her work was first recognised in 2000. She was awarded an MBE for her tireless defence of human rights.
The last time we met I asked Pamela what training as a Woman Religious was like in the strict self-effacing convent discipline of the 1950s for someone like her. “Well”, she said, “I complained to the novice mistress that my personality was being crushed. She replied: ‘Pamela, your personality is oozing out of every pore’”. And anyone who knew Pamela would agree. In a quiet sort of a way Pamela had style. Decidedly not the dressy kind but more her old fashioned politeness which set her at ease with a huge spectrum of people whom she would address as ‘dearest’. One of my happiest memories of Pamela was her 70th birthday party in 1992. We had a lovely meal in the upper room of the now defunct Gay Hussar. Jon Snow and George Foulkes MP, later Baron Foulkes of Cumnock, were there. She was in her element. So was everyone else though sadly the number of empty bottles arrayed on the table in front of the group meant a photographic record of the event for the CIIR Annual Review had to be censored. Even at Apley Grange she would take a daily walk to the local hotel for morning coffee with her copy of Le Monde or La Croix to keep up with international and Church affairs. The last time I saw her she confided that she had Alzheimer’s then promptly recited a long poem word perfect from memory.
Pamela was a feminist. Books she wrote, Freedom From Fear: Women in El Salvador’s Church and, with Marigold Best, Life Out of Death, the Feminine Spirit in El Salvador and Women Making a Difference bear witness to that. She felt deeply the betrayal of women who had fought against the Latin American dictatorships and who were expected after victory to return to traditional roles. Her life offered yet another example of the extraordinary range of Women Religious’ gifts to the Church. Her death brings down the curtain on a period when the witness of many Women Religious was within the struggle for liberation against tyranny, justice against repression, life against death. There will never be another Pamela.
She leaves a younger brother, now aged 96.
May She Rest in Peace.
(Ian Linden is Visiting Professor St. Mary's University
www.ianlinden.com)
Buckfast bees find a home with the Presentation Sisters in Derbyshire
From cathedrals to candles, from vestments to the Easter Vigil Exsultet, the church honours, depicts, and implements honeybees into its representation of life offered for others. Common words, like the “cell” in a monastery, derive from the cells of a hive. It’s a group of celibate worker bees, supporting one another for the survival of the whole. The high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica is covered in bees.
By Sister Susan Reichert PBVM
In this Season of Creation, we are encouraged to do or take something on that will help our planet….
In our efforts to care more for our earth, we decided to invest in a bee hive. Our next-door neighbours, Julia and Eric, were a great help – they had a hive of bees AND a spare hive. Her son, Daniel and his wife are bee keepers and so our adventure started.
In late June, the hive was placed in an alcove in the church cemetery beside our house. Daniel took himself off to collect a swarm of bees from Buckfast. He had suggested these bees because they are gentle and had been bred as far back as 1919 (at Buckfast) so that they are more acclimatised to England. We were also conscious of the school children being next door and their playing field being on the other side of the hedge.
The bees arrived and were put in the hive but unfortunately some had died on the way and the others were struggling.
Daniel, the beekeeper, got back onto Buckfast – they needed to know in case there was a problem being bred in the bees. Another swarm was brought up and housed in the hive. These are thriving.
We have planted bee-friendly bushes and flowers in our garden and in the graveyard.
It is amazing to see them working in our garden and queueing to get into the hive to take back their nectar.
As a side line – they are doing a great job pollinating our flowers and bushes.
We are now collecting our empty jam-jars ready for the honey………
From cathedrals to candles, from vestments to the Easter Vigil Exsultet, the church honours, depicts, and implements honeybees into its representation of life offered for others. Common words, like the “cell” in a monastery, derive from the cells of a hive. It’s a group of celibate worker bees, supporting one another for the survival of the whole. The high altar in St. Peter’s Basilica is covered in bees. St. John Chrysostom once shared in a homily:
“The bee is more honoured than other animals,
not because it labours,
but because it labours for others.”
Martin Marklin took up beekeeping as a sideline to his main business producing thousands of handcarved liturgical candles each year at the Marklin Candle workshop in Contoocook, New Hampshire. Beekeeping became its own vocation, however, and the more Marklin learned about the life of bees, the more he saw the ways in which the beehive reflects the early church.
Martin has a 5 minute video in which he parallels the bees and us as Church. Its called Be The Bee
In the light of seeing the video, reflect on the following questions –
Martin Marklin says he became interested in beekeeping when he realized he “had no idea how the bees did what they did.” What aspects of your work are you curious about? How might exploring those areas open up your imagination? Is there any anxiety you need to overcome to do this?
Marklin says the bee community “is reflective of how the early church was.” Do you see powerful metaphors for the church around you?
In what ways do you “labour for others”? Is that a useful mindset in your organization?
As a candle maker, Marklin derives joy from knowing that the work of his hands becomes “the light of Christ in the world.” Do you see your work in that way? Could you?
Markin urges everyone to “be the bee” -- to find beauty and transform it into something even more beautiful. Are there places in your life and work where you can do that?
(This was first published in Faith & Leadership: www.faithandleadership.com )
Finally, we invited the parishioners and schoolchildren to get involved, by donating some crocus bulbs helping to create a carpet of crocuses in the cemetery at St.Joseph’s – and provide food for our bees. We hope to get the children in St.Joseph’s school to plant the bulbs.
Reflecting on art, the media, ecology and sacred music during Lent
Art, the Media, Creation …… and in Holy Week:
Music and some wider implications: a Catholic composer’s perspective
with Sir James MacMillan CBE
‘Bethany’ by Andrew White
In a new venture, the Conference of Religious held a series of online talks during Lent.
Faith and Art: Depicting the Image of Christ:
The Artist in Residence at Farm Street Church in London, Andrew White, reflected on his large depiction of The Last Supper, noting it took him fourteen months to paint, in which time “I learned a lot, including about myself.” He also described the process of creating other pieces, including sculptures.
Artist Andrew White talking about his depiction of the Last Supper, on display in Farm Street Church
….and his depiction of a young Mary
Farm Street Church
The Bethany painting, featured at the top, above, was commissioned by the chapel of a school in Belgium. The project began in February 2020 and is near completion. Andrew White says: “The theme of the woman annointing Jesus with oil encompasses the three accounts in the Bible, Mary the sister of Martha, and also the un-named woman who Jesus refers to when He said, 'Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told in memory of her.”
Faith and the Media: Seeking the Truth - How religion is reported and the impact of social media :
The online Editor of The Tablet, Ruth Gledhill gave a wide ranging talk on the experience of ‘covering’ faith issues during decades as a Religious Affairs Journalist.
Ruth Gledhill
A response was given by Jen Copestake,a Technology Journalist with the BBC programme Click. Jen also contributes to meetings on the future of technology and humanity at the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, as well as being the Co-ordinator of the central London Catholic Churches' homeless service.
Faith and Creation : Laudato Si’ and Vowed Religious – developing a prophetic voice:
Back by popular demand after participating in our recent ‘Cry of the Earth’ webinar, Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University: Dr Carmody Grey gave a profound talk on the theology of creation.
A response was given by theologian Fr Martin Poulsom SDB in which he outlined how Religious can lend their prophetic voice to environmental efforts.
Faith and Sacred Music : Music and some wider implications - a Catholic composer’s perspective:
Sir James MacMillan CBE – preceded by an extract from his Stabat Mater, recorded in the Sistine Chapel in Holy Week, 2018. One attendee wrote: “How inspired I am by James MacMillan. Wonderfully stimulating. Warm thanks for inviting me to your Lenten lectures, which have been superb.”
Religious wishing to see the recordings of these talks can email : admin@corew.org
Sir James Macmillan
A call to ecological conversion: Cry of the Earth webinar
“If the simple fact of being human moves people to care for the environment of which they are a part, Christians in their turn realise that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.” (LS: Paragraph 64)
Bishop John Arnold leading prayer at CoR’s Laudato Si’ reflection day in February 2020
Cry of the Earth Ecology Webinar
Thursday 28th January 2021 from 2pm
With a growing sense of urgency about the need to care for our common home and following on from last year's cancelled Laudato Si' reflection days, we've organised a Webinar on January 28th, to which all Religious & lay associates are invited.
Guest speakers are Sr Sheila Kinsey FCJM, Bishop John Arnold and Dr Carmody Grey
Five years ago Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home, was published. The document called on the entire global community to recognize how every person is connected and dependent on one another, as well as on the world in which we all live. Recently, during an audience with a group of ecological experts, Pope Francis welcomed the fact that “the issue of ecology is increasingly permeating the ways of thinking at all levels and is beginning to influence political and economic choices, even if much remains to be done and even if we are still witnessing too slow and even backward steps.”
We're aiming to make the environment a key theme in 2021 so that the Religious of England and Wales can lend their voice to this most pressing issue, especially as the UK is hosting the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference.
Speaker Information
Sr Sheila Kinsey is the international Co-ordinator of the UISG Campaign, Sowing Hope for the Planet.
Bishop John Arnold is the Lead on the Environment for CBCEW, and Chair of Trustees for Cafod
Dr Carmody Grey is Assistant Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University, working mainly in the areas of philosophical theology and theological ethics, with a focus on science, nature and environment.
TO REGISTER, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO:
communications@corew.org
Green Investment / Divestment: what's it all about?
Speakers include : Fr Augusto Zampini, Dr Lorna Gold, Stephen Power SJ, Sr Susan Francois CSJP, Lord Deben, Sr Pat Daly OP
Catholic investment for an integral ecology webinar series: September/October 2020
This autumn, you are invited to join a webinar series to find out how Catholic religious orders, dioceses and other organisations can use their investments to accelerate the clean energy transition and support a green recovery. Speakers include Fr Augusto Zampini, Dr Lorna Gold, Stephen Power SJ, Sr Susan Francois CSJP, Lord Deben, Neil Thorns, Sr Pat Daly OP and Shaun Cooper.
The Conference of Religious is one of the co-sponsors of the webinar series, together with Operation Noah, Catholic Impact Investing Collective, the Global Catholic Climate Movement, CAFOD, Trocaire, Association of Provincial Bursars, National Justice & Peace Network and Justice and Peace Scotland.
Part 1: Fossil fuel divestment: Accelerating the clean energy transition
Tuesday 22 September 2020, 4.00-5.30pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/part-1-fossil-fuel-divestment-accelerating-the-clean-energy-transition-tickets-118279058849
Part 2: Investment for a green recovery: Innovation in impact investing
Wednesday 21 October 2020, 4.00-5.30pm
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/part-2-investment-for-a-green-recovery-innovation-in-impact-investing-registration-118552167725
CoR Seeks New Safeguarding Adviser
We are currently seeking a Safeguarding Adviser to work with the General Secretary, the Executive and Religious Congregations who are part of the CoR membership as well as other church organisations on the development and implementation of safeguarding strategy.
Details for this exciting new role are to be found in the Safeguarding section in the Members tab.
We are currently seeking a Safeguarding Adviser to work with the General Secretary, the Executive and Religious Congregations who are part of the CoR membership as well as other church organisations on the development and implementation of safeguarding strategy.
Details for this exciting new role are to be found in the Safeguarding section in the Members tab.
Lenten vigil of prayer in response to climate crisis
“It is a journey of the heart: a time for personal penance, reconciliation and conversion.”
Christian climate change activists are inviting people to take part in a Lenten 40 day prayer vigil outside parliament in London as part of a campaign of prayer and demonstration calling for urgent action against the climate crisis.
It will begin with an Ash Wednesday Vigil outside Westminster Cathedral at 12 noon; protesters will receive a cross marked in crude oil on their foreheads, symbolising humanity’s continued dependence upon fossil fuels that harm the environment. The demonstration will then proceed to Westminster Abbey, and from there to Parliament Square, where a non-stop vigil will take place for the remainder of lent.
Sr Katrina with 83 year old Catholic activist Phil Kingston on a recent climate change protest
A Sister of St Joseph of Peace, Sr Katrina Alton CSJP, says: “It is a journey of the heart: a time for personal penance, reconciliation and conversion. With Jesus we enter the solitude and temptation of the desert, wrestling with our own complicity in the devastation of creation. It is also a collective journey of diverse actions in solidarity with our crucified earth, and especially the poorest people in the poorest countries already paying the price of the climate emergency.”
Sr Katrina cites ‘Querida Amazonia’ the Pope’s latest exhortation, as helping inform her commitment to the protest: “Pope Francis has defined ‘ecological sin’ not only as 'actions', but also 'inaction' that crucifies the poorest and the environment. The Pope goes a step further and says, "It is a sin against future generations." Our presence in Parliament Square for the 40 days of Lent will be a sign of our personal and collective commitment to make the sacrifices required to put pressure on our government to tell the truth and act now.”
Sr Katrina believes the Church could be doing more collectively, to put this issue at the top of the political agenda: “There are great examples of some dioceses, such as Middlesbrough, many parishes, and some religious orders who are leading the way on this. Good practice is out there, so we have no excuses! 2019 was the year of declaring a "Climate Emergency", 2020 has to be the year we see the transformative action needed to tackle it by our government, and by our Church.”
Christian Climate Action
The Church of England recently committed to reaching net carbon neutrality as an organisation by the year 2030 rather than 2045, the date suggested by the Church’s official working group on the question. Christian Climate Action were active in campaigning for the more ambitious 2030 timescale. The campaigning group have called for the Catholic Church in England and Wales to adopt the same 2030 target, beginning their Ash Wednesday vigil at Westminster Cathedral for this reason.
Celebrating seven decades of Religious Life
“Like Simeon and Anna, those in consecrated life live more explicitly for the sake of the kingdom. It is at the heart of our consecration.”
Platinum Jubilarians
@Mazur/cbcew
An air of celebration pervaded this year’s Mass for consecrated life at Westminster Cathedral – which took place on the last day of the Scripture Road Show, part of the ‘The Year of the Word.’ Many took the opportunity to visit the ‘Tents of Meeting’ after Mass.
Looking at the example of Simeon and Anna in the day’s Gospel reading, Cardinal Nichols explained in his homily that, like Simeon and Anna, those in consecrated life “live more explicitly for the sake of the kingdom. It is at the heart of our consecration.” Read the full sermon here.
Golden Jubilarians
Diamond Jubilarians
At the celebratory lunch after Mass, Cardinal Nichols led tributes to those marking significant anniversaries of religious life this year – Silver, Golden, Diamond and even Platinum.
Among those attending was a new member of the Conference of Religious, the Superior of the Lebanese Maronite community in the UK, Fr Fadi Kmeid. Fr Fadi reports that his property search, which CoR highlighted before Christmas, is still ongoing.
Due to their growing numbers in London he and his small community are looking for a Church and residence, ideally in the west or northwest of the capital. They currently use a Catholic church, Our Lady of Sorrows in Paddington but have to rent a larger Anglican church for feastdays. The Maronites are part of the Catholic Church and they have three monks in the UK living in Swiss Cottage, serving 1500 families.
Fr Fadi (pictured front, right) can be contacted on : father@maronitechurch.org.uk Tel : 07908224983
Cardinal Nichols and the General Secretary of the Conference of Religious, Valerie Nazareth
Friar awarded a top honour by Japan is one of a pair
“I must confess that overall it has been a very blessed life. I’ve often said that most people live in the world of black and white. For me, it has been a technicolor existence through all the experiences I’ve had and the involvement with people and nations and sport around the world. So I look back with a sense of fulfilment; I think I’ve left footprints in the sand.”
Fr Jude has taught generations of Zambians (credit: PaulMartin/MediaZones.net)
A Capuchin Franciscan priest has been awarded one of Japan’s highest honours, for his lifelong service to judo and to the people of Zambia where he spent fifty years on mission. Fr Jude McKenna, originally from Northern Ireland, helped to spread the practice of judo across Zambia and throughout Africa.
Fr Brian (left) & Fr Jude
An extraordinary enough tale in itself. But another extraordinary fact is that Fr Jude has a twin brother who is also a Capuchin Franciscan. Ordained together in 1966, Fr Jude headed to the global south and Fr Brian was sent to the west coast of the United States. As Fr Jude says of his twin: “he was born ten minutes before me, but is now ten hours behind!”
The brothers, natives of Ballymoney, recently featured in an RTE television documentary. Fr Jude’s expertise in judo grew out of an earlier passion for boxing in his youth ; by 1958 he had become Irish middle weight boxing champion. At one stage, he’d been earmarked to take on the later boxing world champion, Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali) in the preliminaries to the 1960 Olympic Games finals in Rome. But he dodged that one by joining the Capuchin order.
Teaching judo in Zambia
Later, after three visits to Japan, he developed an affinity for judo – inevitably leading to him being referred to as “Fr Judo.” He’s a Blackbelt 6th Dan and has taught generations of people in Zambia, including training the police and also putting on sessions for women in self defence. His reputation amongst the Zambian people has been described as ‘legendary.’ He is a former president of the Zambian Judo Federation and vice president of the African Judo Union. He was appointed Assistant Technical Director of the Commonwealth Judo association and in 1980 was a coach at the Moscow Olympics as well as being appointed by the Vatican as Chaplain to the Games.
Father Jude with Japan's Ambassador to Ireland, Mari Miyoshi. Credit: Embassy of Japan in Ireland.
The Japanese government has now honoured him with the ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays.’ The award is given to people who make a very significant contribution to the spread of Japanese culture. It was presented at a ceremony in June in Dublin, by Japan's Ambassador to Ireland in recognition of his “outstanding contribution towards strengthening bilateral relations and promoting friendship between Japan and Zambia through judo.”
Joining the Capuchin Order
Fr Jude recalled how he and his brother, who in their youth went nearly everywhere together, discovered their vocations simultaneously, but completely separately: “We were at a cricket match between Ireland and the West Indies. I told him there was going to be a ‘divorce!’ I was going to join the Capuchins.” ……“And so am I came the reply.” Unbeknowns to either of them, they had both been receiving spiritual direction from the same Priest who hadn’t said a word. It was a completely new path for Fr Brian, who also had sporting instincts – at that time, he was a jockey: “I’m big and he’s small” quipped Fr Jude.
Reflecting back on more than fifty years as a Capuchin, Fr Jude says it’s been a great blessing to have had a twin following the same path: “We’ve sought each other’s advice amid problems or challenges. We’ve always got on wonderfully. I do have a feeling of divine providence guiding us through life and bringing us in the same direction. That’s what you would call ‘vocation’ – a feeling of being called.”
Fr Brian also feels it’s been a blessing to have a twin brother as a Brother in the Order: “There is an innate connection that defies explanation - a common interest and attraction to the same path. If twins are separated for some reason they would likely finish up in the same type of work; there is a definite attraction to the same. We cannot disregard the possibility of some divine intervention. Our mother died at age 49 : what were her wishes for her twin boys? Hardly that they be priests, being of Scotch descent and her religion Scotch Presbyterian. However my aunt on our father’s side, while in San Giovanni in Italy, said to Padre Pio: “I have two nephews in your Order in Ireland” and he responded : “they will be ordained.”
When Fr Jude left Zambia for good recently, the Irish ambassador laid on a garden party in his honour. The cake was adorned with the Irish and Zambian flags. Now living in Dublin and being treated for failing eyesight, he reflects on his decades of ministry : “As I look back, I must confess that overall it has been a very blessed life. I’ve often said that most people live in the world of black and white. For me, it has been a technicolor existence through all the experiences I’ve had and the involvement with people and nations and sport around the world. So I look back with a sense of fulfilment ; I think I’ve left footprints in the sand.”
Receiving a gift in Zambia
On Vocations Sunday: “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest”
It is good, that if we feel passionately about our own choice, we would want others to help us, to join us, to do even more than we could ourselves.
By Sr Elaine Penrice FSP
Sunday the 12th of May marks the 56th World Day of Prayer for Vocations in the Catholic Church. Most Christian denominations will set aside at least one day in their year to pray for vocations, particularly because of the Lord’s invitation to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest” (Mt 9:38, Lk 10:2).
In my work of promoting religious life in the National Office for Vocation, I am privileged to witness the ebb and flow of religious, working out how best to respond to the signs of the times. I also hear from people tentatively negotiating the cacophony of voices calling out for their attention in today’s sensory focused world.
Vocation discernment today is a lot about self-discovery, leading to a kind of spiritual exodus… it is only when a person can stop and recognise their self as an autonomous being, gifted and in relationship with God, that they can respond to that call to go out to the beautiful land that the Lord will show them, just as it was for our father Abraham. As religious, we are called through the shifting sands of the desert, to bear witness to our one true anchor and sure ground: Jesus, the Lord.
So, for the world day of prayer for vocation this year, how would I invite you to pray?
Of course, we need to do as Jesus says, “pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into his harvest.” It is good, that if we feel passionately about our own choice, we would want others to help us, to join us, to do even more than we could ourselves. It is indeed right that we should plead with the Lord for these things, and at the end say as Jesus did, “yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Lk 22:42).
I think however, we also need to be living witnesses to prayer – that prayer which is friendship with God. When we set our minds, our undivided hearts and our wills to the work of the Father, in union with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we will cease to count new members, and begin to generously lend our ears to those who cannot hear the voice of the Lord. We must busy ourselves with the Lord’s work and witness to the communion which is the Kingdom of God.
If there is one overwhelming voice that came from the Synod on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment, it is that young people today (and I would suggest not only young people), need help in hearing the voice of the Lord, understanding it, and incarnating it into their lives. In the final document, as well as the exhortation Christus Vivit, there is an invitation to accompany our brothers and sisters as they journey on the Christian path. Let this be your offering, as “a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God” (Rm 12:1), to be a conduit for the voice of the Lord, who lovingly calls everybody into his friendship. Open your homes, your lives and your hearts to help them discern the ways of the Lord in their lives.
In this way, your prayer will not just be a plea for companions on your journey, but it will be a living prayer which will open peoples minds and hearts and wills to God, and that will inevitably produce many people fired up and in love with God to the point of consecrating their very lives to Him… in priesthood and consecrated religious life.
You can download free resources for Vocations Sunday from our website: http://www.ukvocation.org/?page_id=928
The Pope’s message for Vocations Sunday:
Sr Elaine Penrice FSP is Religious Life Promoter at the National Office for Vocation
“Do good for yourself by doing good for others” St. John of God
“I was exploited for nine years. The ‘agents’ who brought me to the UK said I had to repay the debt. I was taken around the country, living in seven different towns. They took my passport. I was trapped. Since getting to Olallo House I have received the support that meets my needs. I feel treated with dignity, like a human being.”
l to r: Brother Malachy and Miguel
These were the words of St John of God, who, in the 1500s, sought alms on the streets of Granada, Spain, for the poor and the sick that he helped in his ‘House of Hospitality.’ Five hundred years later, the Services of Saint John of God / Brothers of St John of God are following in his footsteps in central London, running a hostel named after its Cuban Brother, Blessed Olallo Valdes.
In partnership with the Poor Servants of the Mother of God who donated the building, Olallo House was opened in 2008. Since 2012, Saint John of God Hospitaller Services has managed the ministry. Olallo House is a safe house for modern day slavery / trafficking victims, rough sleepers with no recourse to public funds (NRPFs), individuals on tuberculosis treatment, individuals discharged from hospitals without a “home”; and some of the most hard to reach individuals such as Roma, alcoholics and drug addicts - thanks to generous donations from individuals and Religious Orders to fund several beds.
Having recently marked their first decade running the hostel, they are now making an urgent appeal for funds to improve what they can offer the most destitute, who are trying to rebuild their lives after sometimes years of being exploited by traffickers or on the margins of society / communities.
Olallo House, just off a main London thoroughfare, is a refuge of compassion and hospitality where no one is turned away, and as mentioned even if they have “no recourse to public funds”. Victims of modern day slavery / trafficking often come straight from police stations where they’ve been taken after being rescued in police raids. Olallo House is driven by a philosophy summed up as: ‘Hospitality in the manner of Saint John of God’.
One recent resident wrote: “I was exploited for nine years. The ‘agents’ who brought me to the UK said I had to repay the debt. I was doing car washing and decorating jobs. I was taken around the country, living in seven different towns. I was never paid as the money went to pay the fee I owed. They took my passport. I was trapped. Since getting to Olallo House I have received the support that meets my needs. I feel treated with dignity, like a human being.”
Residents’ lounge
The hostel offers 29 single and 4 double/ couple rooms, all meals included besides 24-hours residents’ kitchen. Olallo House also offers to its residents a common room and computers where people are given support to write CVs and prepare for job hunting. Brother Malachy, who has been involved in the project since the early days said: “We offer intensive support to get back victims’ identity and make them visible: securing them a national insurance number, relevant certificates, e.g. for health & safety in the construction sector in order to improve their employability, so they can save money and find private accommodation and move on with their lives. We measure our success in people walking out the door with a job and a roof over their head and not coming back!”
Miguel Neves, who is Saint John of God Hospitaller Services’ national lead for homelessness and modern day slavery adds: “We aim to take the ‘victim’ out of the person and to create a fully rounded ‘personhood’ despite the trauma. It’s about their identity and seeing them as citizens and not just ‘labour.’ It’s also about creating a humanity and uniqueness for the individual after what they’ve suffered, having been treated so badly by those who trafficked them.”
Olallo House started as a street outreach project, with Brothers walking the streets of the capital to find the most vulnerable, such as homeless migrants from Europe living in derelict properties and building sites. Olallo House had to be more than just outreach and to be fulfilling its mission it had to offer a roof to the ones on the street. The Brothers soon understood that what these individuals needed was a safe place to restart. A second nearby property has opened which accommodates just victims of trafficking and a third safe house is about to open in north-east England.
As briefly mentioned, another key aspect of Olallo House is that it offers a convalescent space for homeless people recently discharged from London hospitals. The “Pathway” charity started working with Olallo House so the many “homeless” individuals in hospital and “fit for discharge” would have a place to finish their treatment in ambulatory and not being let go with a big bag of medication into the streets.
Recovering from TB in the quiet lounge
Olallo House also welcomes people in tuberculosis treatment. Individuals arrive in Olallo once they are no longer infectious from hospital settings. Due to the severity and strength of the medication there are undesirable side effects that Olallo House takes into consideration. In order to mitigate these a separate sitting room / quiet space and a kitchen is made available for those in treatment: “Our uniqueness is to work with those on the streets that no-one else wants” said Brother Malachy.
Olallo House proudly boasts an 82% success rate – in other words, that’s how many of the clients leave with a job and a roof over their heads. They are sadly conscious of the others that don’t manage this which is often due to mental health problems, alcohol or immigration restrictions.
For two years, Olallo House has been part of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), sub-contracted by the prime contractor Salvation Army, which is a framework for identifying, referring potential victims of modern slavery and ensuring they receive the appropriate support. It offers victims access to specialist tailored support for a period of at least 45 days while their case is considered.
Brother Malachy added as an example a Vietnamese man they are currently supporting. He was severely traumatised and on anti-depressants, but in recent weeks has improved greatly and a smile has returned to his face. But he and Miguel also reflect ruefully on one of the first Vietnamese they helped, who fled after staying just one night – back to the traffickers possibly fearful of the threats that had been made to his family back home. They later learned he was subsequently rescued from a ‘cannabis farm’ in another part of the country. They also recall another UK victim of modern slavery who came to them after 18 years of servitude with one family. The victim had been exploited not only in the UK but also abroad. “Traffickers are manipulative: they coerce the victim and often threaten the victim’s family, even vulnerable elderly relatives, to keep the victim in subjugation” said Miguel.
People often arrive at Olallo House with just a plastic bag, with virtually nothing in it. So providing clothing is an essential first step. But where to shop? Olallo Services are adamant to avoid high street chains that don’t have a clear ethical policy on where cheap garments come from and how workers who produced the clothes are treated: “How can you morally justify spending a pound on a tee-shirt and not question whose fingers were exploited to make it in another part of the world?” asks Miguel.
Victims of trafficking are helped to rebuild the narrative of their life in the UK before returning home
Recent research by the Arise Foundation revealed the scale of anti-trafficking work being done by religious congregations, often under the radar. Saint John of God Hospitaller Services hopes that by sharing details of its work for the most destitute, other congregations will lend their support – offering skills or services, financial support or the use of properties. One Sister currently goes in at weekends to cook for residents; the Olallo Services would welcome other Religious who have language skills, experience of teaching English, or healthcare experience to come and help them treat the poorest of the poor with dignity, respect, compassion and justice in a Hospitaller manner.
For further information and/or to support the work, contact Miguel Neves using the email:
miguelneves@sjog.org.uk Mobile: 07725927908
Sisters versus human traffickers
Religious Sisters from rural Assam: long-term, community-based work
By Sr Lynda Dearlove RSM and Luke de Pulford
Here’s an interesting experiment: next time you are in a group of people – Catholic or not – ask them to name two anti-slavery organisations. Chances are that they won’t be able to think of any. But if they can, you can be pretty sure that the work of Religious Sisters won’t come up. It’s a scandal, really. Sisters (and it is overwhelmingly Sisters as opposed to male Religious or secular clergy) are doing this work in at least 80 countries – including all the areas most plagued by modern slavery. If they were united in a single NGO, they would be by far the world’s largest.
Yet they remain the best-kept secret of the anti-slavery movement. The reason? In short, Sisters don’t boast, as anyone who has worked on the front line of the Church’s poverty relief, education or HIV prevention efforts will confirm. As wave after wave of abuse scandals dominate the headlines, it is all too easy to forget that the Catholic Church has hundreds of thousands of women Religious devoting their lives to serving those on the margins in every part of the globe. Rarely, if ever, have they gone in search of recognition.
So it is not surprising that when Prime Minister Theresa May paid tribute to the “extraordinary global contribution” of Religious Sisters to anti-slavery work recently, it wasn’t the result of a lobbying campaign run by Religious, but in a letter to John Studzinski, Chairman of the Arise Foundation, a charity based in London and New York working to end slavery and human trafficking.
In the fiercely competitive world of international NGOs, the Sisters’ humility is extremely unusual. It is both their strength and their weakness. It is their strength because their low profile means that they are less reliant on Western organisations for funding. This means that they are less tethered to the heavy bureaucracy associated with keeping funders happy, leaving them more free to focus on the individual dignity and complex needs of the person in front of them. It is their weakness because reluctance to crow about their achievements makes their work almost invisible to the funding and policy communities.
But so what? Why should these communities listen to Sisters? What, if anything, makes their work distinctive? If they were heard, what difference would it make? It might be better to attempt to answer through a story. Recently we were in India visiting members of Amrat, the huge anti-slavery network of Sisters covering the entire country. About 100 had turned up for their annual meeting. The gathering was held in a well-maintained but sparse seminary building hidden in a vast leafy plantation on the outskirts of Pune, near Mumbai. It was a sweltering day. The meeting gave occasion for many jaw-dropping conversations about the sheer depravity Sisters were having to confront on a daily basis.
One such conversation was with two Sisters from rural Assam (pictured). They were candid about their work. They told us how hard it was to get the indigenous children to stay in school because the attraction of smartphones and other modern luxuries offered by traffickers were a greater lure than the help they could afford to provide. They told us about how it would often take a decade to see any marked improvement in a traumatised survivor to whom they were offering loving accompaniment (together with the necessary services such as shelter, counselling and skills training). They told us about the physically punishing journeys they had to undertake on a daily basis to get to the most vulnerable villages, where the poverty is so crushing that some parents will sell their children to escape it.
The work they described was thankless, self-emptying and demoralising. But it was also full of hope, purpose and even progress. Their story would be typical of the work of any abolitionist Sister anywhere in the world. But it is also helpful to highlight the distinctive character of Sisters’ anti-slavery work. These two Sisters were engaged in work that was very rural, long-term and directed by a spirit of loving accompaniment. In these three respects, at least, Sisters are different.
International NGOs tend, for the most part, to be concentrated around major cities. It is simply too expensive to attempt to maintain offices in rural areas, especially in a country the size of India. Sisters, by contrast, have community houses and anti-slavery projects throughout the country.
This year, Sister Annie Jesus spoke on this subject as Arise’s guest at the United Nations. She said: “I work in a very rural area of India, Chhattisgarh, among tribal people who are very vulnerable to this exploitation. My location, and so many other rural locations like it, are the origins of the sex trade supply chain. The people I serve have very little. They have very little money. The standard of education is very poor. Access to sanitation and healthcare is sparse. They are hundreds of miles from the nearest city. There are no NGOs in
the vicinity.”
The Assamese Sisters also spoke of working for decades, often feeling as if their uphill battle didn’t yield much of a reward. Those considering investing in anti-slavery work don’t want to hear this kind of thing, and so they don’t donate to it. They want to hear about how many thousands can be saved, and about the high ideals of “systemic change” and slavery abolition. Fair enough. But once someone has been raped, they are never “un-raped”. They have to learn to live with the trauma, and some cope better than others.
The Sisters do not make their help for such people contingent on whether they check the right boxes. They will stick with them, through thick and thin, for as long as it takes. In short, they make a priority of accompaniment – being with those who have suffered. They won’t allow their work to be subverted by the economics of maintaining a successful charity.
So the Sisters are more rural, their commitment is longer-term, and they are often from the communities that they serve with love and faithfulness. On top of this, their standing in the community often means that they are trusted more readily. Still now, in an India increasingly defined by Hindu nationalism, the police ask Sisters to accompany them on anti-slavery raids because their testimonies are considered more credible in court and are more likely to secure a conviction.
These are precious jewels to be coveted and preserved at all costs. They are the fruit of generations of service and give Sisters a unique perspective which deserves to be heard and appreciated.
This isn’t to canonise the Sisters. They make mistakes. Some of their work could be more strategic. But for anyone who is serious about sustainable development there is simply no comparison between the grassroots, vocationally driven, long-term, community-based work of Sisters and that of so many of their secular counterparts.
So what difference would it make if Sisters were more a part of the policy conversation around modern slavery? It would bring the voice of long-term, self-sacrificial accompaniment to the table – a voice insistent that almost all meaningful anti-slavery work relies upon love and trust, however difficult it might be to measure.
And when future generations look back upon the abolition of modern slavery, maybe, just maybe, the names of the Sisters will be remembered in the tradition of William Wilberforce, with the reverence their sacrifice deserves.
Sister Lynda Dearlove RSM is CEO of women@thewell and Luke de Pulford is the co-founder and director of the Arise Foundation
This article first appeared in the Catholic Herald and is reproduced with kind permission