A MESSAGE FROM THE IRISH MSC PROVINCE, CARL TRANTER, PROVINCIAL

We can compere notes with our Irish confreres.

 On Tuesday of this week the Superior General was supposed to have arrived in Dublin to commence his four-week visitation of Ireland and England over the Easter period. He was also due to participate in our Provincial Chapter, set to commence on 20th April and which we have been planning for the last 18 months. Of course, both of these events have had to be postponed. All of the planning is suspended, and the air tickets from Rome, South Africa, Venezuela, USA and England have been cancelled. We have no idea when we may be able to reschedule these and other postponed events. To a large extent life seems to be on hold. If this is true for the life of the Province, it is also true for each one of us individually. We have seen our diaries suddenly empty and our plans set aside. We are experiencing a total change to our lives, our routines and our days like we have never experienced before. Many are living in closer proximity to one another than we are used to, or we are living alone in a way that can be isolating and lonely. Sometimes it is hard, and we struggle and find ourselves getting impatient.

Undoubtedly this is a very unsettling time. These last days we have heard the deeply sad news that the virus has claimed the lives of MSCs in France and Belgium. Others are very sick. Apart from the anxiety we experience by the swift, indiscriminate and destructive progress of the Coronavirus around the world, we seem to be robbed of our power to “do” something. We are being told that the best way we can collectively defeat this is to “do” nothing – to stay at home. It seems counter-intuitive. We are also aware that for a large number of our citizens, they are being called on to take significant risks and work extra-long hours at the service of our countries – our health professionals and hospital staff, supermarket workers and people in the food supply chain, our police and emergency services and many other public servants. They have no choice but to “do” something, and often what they do is nothing other than heroic. As religious, as pastoral persons and as missionaries, it can be hard for us to accept the restrictions put on us. Our natural instinct is to be with those we serve, to be with those who suffer, to accompany them, to support them, to pray with and for them. It is not in our DNA to “do” nothing.

Necessity, however, becomes the mother of invention. We have often repeated this saying. But now we know it to be true. We are witnessing a Church that is each day finding new ways to reach out and be present to the people of God, and to the world. I was especially struck by the powerful imagery and symbolism of Pope Francis standing alone in an empty St Peter’s Square to bless the City and the World in his Urbi et Orbi address. The previous week I joined more than 15,000 people to watch on-line as my good friend, Fr David Oakley, was ordained Bishop of Northampton in an empty cathedral on 19th March. If it had been the celebration which was planned, with just two representatives of each parish of the Diocese in attendance, it would have been a much smaller ecclesial event. As it was, thousands more wanted to connect and be involved.

Over the last few weeks we have seen a myriad of online spiritual resources being made available to help nourish people through these uncertain times. Social networking and digital media are coming into their own. We, ourselves, are discovering that more and more of our own friends, parishioners and benefactors are turning to our live-stream to join us for mass and prayer from Sacred Heart Church, Cork. Our community in the Western Road has done a marvellous job in planning a schedule for Holy Week that will allow many to join us in celebrating these days that stand at the very centre of our faith and which speak with a new power and poignancy this year. Our people are longing for connection, comfort and nourishment, and that is something we can still provide. We might be staying at home, cocooned and isolated. But we are being challenged to be ever more connected, present and open-hearted.

We may find ourselves frequently reflecting on the isolation of this time, but in reality many of us are experiencing ourselves very much connected – to family, to friends, to fellow MSCs and to people that we mightn’t have had much contact with for a long time. Here in Terenure I am in regular contact with our Regional, Sectional and local Superiors and my fellow Provincials from around the world. The world seems a very small, connected place. Perhaps one of the advantages of having more time on our hands is the ability to make space for communication.

A MESSAGE FROM THE IRISH MSC IN TEXAS, KEVIN SHANAHAN MSC

Greetings from San Antonio, Texas

I am happy to report all the brothers are well and exercising all the required precautions laid down by the State and City ordinances. We are all trying to adjust to a new way of living and being at this time. We are practicing social distancing, physical distancing and cocooning as required.

This has brought its own challenges for us who are in fulltime ministry. We are becoming technically savvy in the use of Facebook and greater utilisation of our church’s website.

Celebrating Mass everyday online with no congregation has taken us a bit of getting used to. No doubt my brothers have far more advanced technology than we have at St. Anthony’s.

Zoom – Up until 10 days ago, I had never heard of Zoom. For me, Zoom was zooming from one place to another. How wrong I was. This is becoming the normal means of communication between parishes and the Chancery office. However, I have included some interesting facts about zoom. Now you will know what people are doing and thinking during these conferences.

We are all finding it challenging to pastorally minister to the people of our parishes, but most especially at times of grief during this pandemic. We are trying our best to reach out to the bereaved families by any means possible.

A local funeral home here in San Antonio has come up with a unique approach to the celebration of funeral services. They invite families and friends of the bereaved to attend the service at makeshift outdoor movie theatres, where they can watch the service from their vehicles while the service is live-streamed on the big screen.

This is a very trying time for all of us. Let us continue to keep each other, and those we minister to, in prayer at this time.