Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.

I'm loving this song (and video) at the moment (I discovered it playing Singstar - don't ask!). I'm probably totally over-interpreting it, but it seems to me to be an attempt to contrast between the joylessness of hedonism and materialism ("You've got a new horizon, it's ephemeral style,/A melancholy town where we never smile") and a more wholesome and balanced way of life, represented by the eirenic windmill scene (doesn't the contrast remind you of the contrast between Mordor and the Shire in the Lord of the Rings?).

I'm almost definitely over-interpreting now, but it also reminds me of the theological notion of real and apparent goods - when we sin, we mistakenly love (or love in a mistaken way) that which is not worthy of our love. We set our hearts on 'ephemeral style' rather than lasting goods, like community, family, music, or worship. The miserable refrain of the song - 'Feel good' - sums up the sad condition of the hedonist.

Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.

You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
- St Augustine

Croagh Patrick

Part of the reason for my newfound enthusiasm for pilgrimage is a trip last week to climb Croagh Patrick with some friends from home. It wasn't a very prayerful pilgrimage, but it provided a great chance to have some 'quality time' with friends - facing a challenge together (even if it's just climbing a mountain!) can be great for bonding a group, I think.

Anyway, here's some of the pics:

The mountain seen from the road from Westport

About to embark - the smiles didn't last long!
The views over Clew Bay are unreal...
It gets tough towards the top... comparisons with Calvary weren't far wrong!
On the top - in a cloud...

Pilgrimage

When faced with the challenge of youth ministry, people sometimes throw their hands in desperation: 'What can we do with them?' Here's an idea: pilgrimages. Young people, especially teenage boys, will rise to the challenge of a reasonably tough pilgrimage, and many young people are so sedentary and urban that the experience of natural beauty will be exhilerating. Prayer fits easily into a pilgrimage: prayer before setting out, rosary on the way, prayer/Mass on arrival at the shrine/holy place. As well as that, a walking pilgrimage provides an opportunity for silence - and a natural, unforced silence, as opposed to the often giggly meditative silent times on school retreats. As well as that, there's plenty of craic to be had on a road trip, which is no bad thing!

Ireland is blessed with many sites of pilgrimage. Some of them are Marian sites (Knock, Our Lady's Island), others associated with saints (Patrick - Croagh Patrick, Lough Derg; Colmcille - Glencolmcille; Enda - Aran Islands), others still are monastic sites (Glendalough, Clonmacnoise) and there are few regions that lack a Mass rock from penal times, or a Holy Well. Many of these places have been sites of pilgrimage for as long as fifteen centuries, and to visit them is to experience our rich Christian heritage, and our young people deserve nothing less!

If you're looking for somewhere to visit, DoChara.com, MonasticIreland, and Heritage Ireland are useful resources...

Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you;

your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

Isaiah 26:8

Traditional Vocations

I was asked to advertise blog about Traditional Vocations and I'm more than happy to do so, especially in the run up to the Year of Vocation!

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday has always felt like a very empty day for me, especially after all the emotion of Good Friday. For Hans Urs von Balthasar, a twentieth-century theologian, Holy Saturday, and the descent to the dead that he associated with it, formed the centre of his theology. For him, after all the teaching and activity of Jesus ministry and passion, Holy Saturday is an 'empty, wordless pause'.

Entering into the spirit of Good Friday is comparatively easy: we have devotional manuals, engaging images, dramatisations etc. to help us feel the horror of the death of our Saviour. We have fewer imaginative crutches to help us on Holy Saturday. All we can do is face the emptiness, and wait for the striking of the match...

St Patrick's Day Resources

CatholicIreland has provided another great service by preparing a collection of spiritual and historical pieces on St Patrick and various other Irish saints. It includes the Irish text of the Mass for St Patrick's Day, excerpts from his Confession, and humorous stories about various native naoimh.

Dóchas linn Naomh Pádraig, Aspal mór na hÉireann,

Ainm oirearc gléigeal, solas mór an tsaoil é.

D'fhill le soiscéal grá dúinn d'ainneoin blianta i ngéibheann.

Grá mar Mhac na páirte, d'fhuascail cách an daorbhruid.

Sléibhte, gleannta máighe, 's bailte móra na hÉireann,

Ghlan se iad go deo dúinn, míle glóir dár naomh dhil.

Iarrmaid ort, a Phádraig, guí orainne Gaela,

Dia linn ló 'gus oíche 's Pádraig Aspal Éireann.

Music at the Crossroads

These lads are brilliant! I've seen them a few times in Galway and they're breaking the American market at the mo... They're a really talented group of young traditional musicians (mostly) from the West of Ireland. Check out their website: www.music-crossroads.com.

Knights of Malta

I've just found out that Matthew Festing has been elected Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He's the second consecutive Englishman (and the second consecutive old boy of a certain North Yorkshire school!) to occupy the post. I've also just been told that the same Order donated £500 million to charity last year. If they're willing to donate that much to good causes for the sake of wearing funny robes, more power to them!

Theology Reading Group

I haven't posted about teaching for a good while, but I have to say I'm absolutely loving it. It's such a privilege to teach theology at a school where it's a well-respected subject, and where faith is central to the life of the school.

I've been lucky enough to have been given the project of running a Theology and Philosophy Reading Group for students in their penultimate year at the school. Most of the students who take part intend to study theology or philosophy at university and it's inspiring to think of yourself as taking part in the fulfilment of Newman's dream: the formation of a theologically educated laity (he wanted to 'enlarge their knowledge, to cultivate their reason').

So far we've read an excerpt from Alister McGrath's book on Dawkins, a sociological study of the notion of 'believing but not belonging', and on Wednesday we're going to discuss an extract from Morality by the philosopher Bernard Williams (on the impossibility of amoralism and relativism).

Vocations

I'm told there's been a big focus on vocations recently in Ireland. From April 13 - May 3 will be a Year of Vocation in Ireland - this seems like great news to me. From my perspective, the promotion and facilitation of vocational discernment should be No. 1 priority for every parish, diocese and religious order in Ireland. My own diocese seems to be moving in this direction - they're about to launch a website promoting vocations to the diocesan priesthood. More news on that when it's launched...

Fr Ger over at Irish Dominican Vocations has been writing some great stuff on the topic recently, especially in analysing media reporting of the issue. He maintains that religious orders especially should have some members engaged full-time in vocations promotion. As an outsider, it seems to me that, for many religious orders in Ireland (and elsewhere), finding 'new recruits' seems to lag way behind other priorities. In fact, when I was younger, I wrote to several orders to express an interest - I didn't get a single reply. In contrast, when I contacted the Dominicans, the director of vocations was on the phone within a few days, and had travelled the breadth of the country to meet me as soon as he could.

Fr Paddy Rushe, the National Director of Vocations, is by all accounts a very good man, but I thought his comments about the recent 'stark statistics' on priesthood and religious life in Ireland sounded somewhat despairing: "People aren't coming forward in the way they did in the past". The age of people 'coming forward', fully-formed and ready to enter seminary is indeed long gone, but the appropriate response is to make contact with young people where they are, and to maintain that contact through fellowship (prayer groups, youth groups, one-on-one meetings etc.). Young people need every bit of encouragement and support they can get if they are to make such a counter-cultural decision as to enter seminary or the novitiate: vocations directors, your job is an important one - put out into the deep!