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Link – Up

Issue 73 January 2010
Golden Jubilee Year 1960-2010

LOCAL NEWS

Happy Golden Jubilee Year!
We would like to wish all of members and friends a very happy 2010, a very special year for Viatores Christi as the association
celebrates 50 years!

 

A Sad Start to 2010
Hugh Brady RIP

As Viatores Christi reaches its milestone Golden Jubilee Year, it is with great sadness that we begin this special year without one of our founding members, Hugh Brady.

It was a huge shock to learn of Hugh’s untimely death on 5th January 2010. Our thoughts are with his wife Anne and their family and with his sister, Mairéad Walsh.

Viatores Christi will hold a special ceremony in honour of Hugh – we will let you know about this over the coming weeks.

"Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilis".

Comings and Goings

Bon Voyage!

Daniel Ferguson – El Salvador
Daniel from Derry, left for assignment in El Salvador on 21st January 2010. Daniel has taken up an assignment as an Educator and Youth Development Promoter with the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Arambala, Morazan, El Salvador. We wish you the best of luck Daniel and look forward to reading your reports!

Home on Holidays!
Nicole McArdle – Guatemala
Maria O’Donovan – Haiti
Brigid McCarthy – Peru

We were delighted to see Nicole and Maria at our Christmas Candle Ceremony when they were both home for Christmas. Maria will return to Haiti on 30th January 2010. Brigid is currently home on holidays and we were delighted to that she did the returned speaker slot at our Global Awareness workshop on 23rd January.

 

Earthquake in Haiti

Viatores Christi staff, members and friends wish to express great sadness upon learning of the catastrophic earthquake which hit Haiti on Tuesday, January 12 2010 at 4:53:09 PM (EST)

Viatores Christi has sent many of its members on assignment to Haiti over the years. Two Viatores Christi members were in Haiti when the earthquake struck.- we are very thankful to report that both members, Maeve Bracken and Gena Heraty are both well after the earthquake.

Maeve Bracken, originally from Co. Offaly, but based in Dublin is now completing the final months of her two-year assignment with the NPH (www.nph.org) organisation – Our Little Brothers and Sisters – in Kenscoff, Haiti. Maeve has been working in the special needs unit of the St. Helen orphanage, Kay Christine , where there are 33 special needs children, most who have been abandoned when they were very young due to their disabilities. Kay Christine is run by Gena Heraty from Co. Mayo, who originally went to Haiti over 16 years ago as a member of Viatores Christi. Gena is now director of special needs for NPH Haiti and has developed programmes to enhance the lives of children with special needs. Both have done trojan work.

Please pray for the people of Haiti who have been affected by this earthquake – the most severe to hit the area in over 200 years.
If you wish to make a donation to help those affected by the earthquake, we recommend that you do so to Our Little Brothers and Sisters (www.nph.org) where Gena and Maeve work.

The details are as follows:
Bank of Ireland , Dublin Airport .
Account Name: Our Little Brothers and Sisters
Account No. 42863621
Sort Code: 90 07 46
IBAN IE23 BOFI 9007 4642 8636 21

For further information and ways to help Haiti, please visit this website:
http://irishhaitiresponse.blogspot.com/

Watch out for RTE Nationwide
7pm, Friday 29th January 2010

Viatores Christi has been liaising with Joan O’Sullivan, a reporter on RTE’s Nationwide programme to put together a short segment featuring Sarah O’Carroll (using DVD footage from South Africa with a recently filmed piece in Bray) who was on assignment in South Africa in 2007. The piece is part of an 'Africa' themed programme, showing examples of Irish groups or individuals who are, in one way or another, helping communities in Africa. This will air on Friday 29th January 2010 at 7pm.

 

GOLDEN JUBILEE 2010 EVENTS

Jubilee Mass & Blessing of 8 New Cabra Road by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin

We would like to invite you to our Jubilee Mass and House Blessing on Sunday 7th February 2010 at 11.30am. Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin.

We request that everyone should be seated by 11am.
Light refreshments will be served afterwards.

Please RSVP to Sally Roddy: sally@viatoreschristi.com or 01-8689986

Coordinated Parish Promotions Programme 2010
Garda Vetting for VC Members

We would greatly appreciate if greatly you could complete and return the Garda Vetting form (which we included with our last issue if Link Up) as soon as you can. We hope to begin our PPP campaign as soon as is possible and cannot do so without having our members complete the Garda vetting process.

In the ‘Declaration of Applicant’ box on page 2 of the form, please put “Church Appeals Volunteer” as the position that you are applying for.

Once a Garda clearance cert has been issued it is valid for two years.

A number of our members have recently undergone Garda vetting as part of their parish work/voluntary work – if this is the case for you, please let me know. It means that you do not have to complete a second vetting form.
If you need any further clarification on these issues, please feel free to contact Colette in the VC office.
Further information is also available at www.dublindiocese.ie

 

Monday Open Door at VC

The February Monday Open Door meeting will take place on Monday 1st February 2010. The meeting will start between 5.30pm and 6.30pm with tea and socialising. This will be followed by a sharing of the various committees, staff, etc. about what is going on at the moment. The evening will conclude with a time for spiritual reflection/sharing/prayer, etc.

For further details, please contact Sally Roddy in the VC office on 01-8689986 / info@viatoreschristi.com

                                                

 

A Behaviour Change Process Weekend Workshop
With Dr. Miriam Duggan (Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Africa)

What is Education for Life?

Education for Life is a tool originally developed in Uganda by Sr. Kay Lawlor, a Medical Missionary of Mary along with Sr. Miriam Duggan FMSA, a gynecologist, in response to the increase in prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda in the late 1980s

Sr. Lawlor and Sr. Duggan were confident that people were capable of change if shown how. People were taught through the Education for Life programme that values, attitudes and behaviours are all dependent upon one another. Participants learned skills to challenge and negotiate these negative values.

Participants learned skills to make responsible choices and to be in control of their lives, and thus avoid getting HIV/AIDS.

How does it work?
Rather than ‘telling’ people to change a behaviour, it helps them to discover for themselves where they need to change.

Education for Life helps people to discover where they are putting their lives at risk, to look at alternatives, and to put steps in place to achieve the desired change. This seminar is aimed at those who work with people – especially youth - in a variety of situations: binge drinking, substance abuse, addictions,
anti-social behaviour and self harming.

Seminar Fee €75 (Includes meals)
Seminar Times Friday 19th March 2010 7.30pm - 10pm
(Registration 7pm)
Saturday 20th March 2010 9.30am - 6pm Sunday 21st March 2010 10am - 2pm

For further details or to book your place on the Education for Life Seminar, please contact the VC office.

 

Rooms to Rent In Viatores Christi

We would be very grateful if you could let anybody who might be interested know that there is office space and conference rooms available for rent at 8 New Cabra Road, Phibsboro, Dublin 7.
Recently refurbished building, close to city centre, on 120, 121, 122, 38 and 10 bus routes and accessible from N3 M50 exit.
- Newly refurbished office space
- Meeting room (seats 50 max) for meetings, seminars, evening classes, etc.
- Fully equipped catering kitchen and dining room
For further information, please contact Ann Waldron 01-8689986 ann@viatoreschristi.com

                                              

 

Book about Missionaries - have you a story to contribute?

Dear Missionary,

I would like to ask and encourage you to contribute your thoughts and experiences to a book I am writing about Irish missionaries.

If interested, I would be grateful if you could send me a 2 to 4 page story/anecdote that shows how different your life, living conditions, local people, and experiences were to say, that of a 25 year-old living in an estate in a suburb of Dublin who works in an office job every day of 2010. Or have you thought about what is your favourite, or most unique, or most memorable anecdote/experience of living abroad as a missionary?

Your contribution doesn’t have to explicitly tell about your religious and development work - that should become obvious as people flick through the book as a whole. Please tell about your interesting life abroad. Also, please be aware that I am not asking you to break any trusts you feel you may have with the local people.

And please don't be reluctant if you may feel that you are not a 'writer' - if you ever kept a diary, wrote a letter home, or contributed a piece for a magazine - you have already done something similar.

Should you have any queries, please feel free to contact me Brendan Clerkin brendan.clerkin3@gmail.com or by post to Greenhill, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.

                                                   

News From Our Viatores Overseas

Pat Mooney – Cambodia
Pat has been associated with Viatores Christi for 32 years – for the first two years as a trainee preparing for mission and then as a member serving in Nigeria for over 3 years, upon return working full time with the organisation at H.Q. in Dublin and then taking to the road again in 2001 to South East Asia. Here he looks back at 2009:

“My work in Thailand this year has focused on Phuket, I’ve made the 12 hour bus journey from Bangkok at least once a month. The first time to Phuket was in 2005 as a member of the Caritas Internationalis response team to the Tsunami that had seriously affected the island holiday destination. So it was interesting to go back to the Patong area and see how the reconstruction program had gone. There are more hotels and condo’s each taller than the other, more bars, more restaurants…more places for us ‘farang’ to enjoy our holidays.

Perhaps not so many of these holidaymakers would ask themselves ‘who built the hotel I’m staying in’ or ‘how did the fish I’m enjoying eating come to the table’. The answer to both questions would be that the labourers who did the construction and the fisherman who caught my fish are most likely migrant workers from Burma . Some are employed by good employers while others are not. Some have hospital care taken care of by their employer while others have not been paid for 3 months. Fisher-folk have two days off in the month and their ‘home’ is on board the boat.

The National Catholic Commission on Migration – from the Bishops’ Conference has projects with migrants - construction workers and fisher-folk and their families from Burma in Phuket. There are approx. 300,000 – some are legal the majority are living illegally in Thailand, and live in fear of being picked up by the police and sent home to an uncertain future. Our programs are in 14 communities and are in health relief and education, vocational training & adult language training, basic education for the children, community mobilization and advocacy. Even with their legal status they can be refused treatment at hospitals, and be overcharged for medicines. Their children can be denied a place sitting beside a child of the host country, loneliness and being away from their roots can lead them into many problems – including health risks. T.B. and HIV/Aids is particularly prevalent coming after malaria and fever. No wonder because of their living conditions. Many of them cannot speak or understand the Thai language, consequently are open to many forms of exploitation.

There are so many stories…..I often think of how little we hear of the years in exile of the Holy Family and what their situation would have been like as migrants in Egypt . And in what ways did the life of Jesus and his family mould His ministry towards the poor, vulnerable and those on the margins of society.

Thailand hosts over 2 million migrants from it’s neighbouring countries, the majority however are from Burma with others from Cambodia and just a trickle from Laos .

The Indo China Region seems to be forever living with problems, for Thailand there is the continuing political unrest and the insurgency in the Deep South with daily killings, there is the on-going issue between Cambodia and Thailand over the Preh Vihear Temple on the border, and of course there are the latest tensions over the actions of Mr. Taksin and his friendship with the prime minister of Cambodia in addition we all know of the problems of Burma – we can only hope that in time the regime will see that democracy & inclusion is a better way forward. In the meantime there appears to be a change of tactics by countries towards Burma - realizing that sanctions don’t work, and perhaps dialogue is a better approach – time will tell, for the Burmese Migrants living in Thailand coming from a history of mistrust and division the majority need to be convinced of the good intentions of their government.

Climate change is affecting us all – here in Thailand and Cambodia the monsoon season has officially come to an end and it is already into the ‘cool’ season. Really cold and jumpers are called for. It is the time of year for people living in the far north of Thailand to suffer badly from the cold – needing extra heavy blankets. Just the other month we were suffering from the flooding, thankfully we will have a few months of ‘mild’ weather.

As I close this greeting I am reflecting on what ‘poverty’ means. Is it relational – when I use the word am I comparing myself with others. Am I making some form of judgment on people’s situation? Does it infer a certain hierarchy of those who have and those who have not. How do I relate with people, is it out of pity and feeling sorry that I give my resources or is it out of justice – a justice that calls for equality. Interesting on the feast of Christ the King – the celebrant was talking about the reign or kingdom of God and never once did he talk about the call of Equality as we find in St. Paul’s letter to Galatians ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”


Helen Flaherty - Zambia
Helen, from Dublin, took up her assignment in Zambia on 9th March 2009.

“I enjoyed Christmas Day in Lake Road Community. Sr. Mary Cathie and myself went over to Lake Road after Mass and joined up with the five sisters there so there were seven of us altogether which was nice - three Zambians, two Scottish and two Irish (Offaly and Dublin – that’s me!). It was a very enjoyable day and the sisters went to a lot of trouble - they even dressed up with Santa hats as they presented each one of us with a present.

On Sunday 27th December all the above sisters and I visited Lusaka Central Prison and brought dinner for all the women along with presents for everyone. Some of the women had their children in prison with them. I had one of their babies in my arms - her name was Happy, she was beautiful and fell fast asleep in my arms - she was only two months old. All the women thanked us for coming and sang a song for us.

I am back in school this week along with the teachers - it is a week of planning and preparation for the beginning of a new academic year which starts next Monday. Last week the special needs students got the results of their Grade 7 Exams and thank God they got very good results.

Yesterday the St. Lawrence 16+ Special Needs Unit had an electronic keyboard, drums, stationery and art materials donated to them which is marvellous and a lovely start to the New Year. My job was to unwrap the keyboard and try it out, so you can imagine I was in my element. We also got three extra hand sewing machines. Next week we are getting three new students in the 16+ class

After Christmas I decided to make a five-day retreat in a place called Kasasi. It was a silent retreat (well most of the time) One day by chance I discovered an orghanage close by and each day I was invited for two hours to play with the babies and help feed them. They were so lovely to be with - I was invited to come back in the future and was told that they would put me up in one of their little rooms.

Yesterday a new Sister called Sister Regina, from India (a Marian Shrine Sister) joined our Community as she is completing her further studies near us, so she will be with us for a year.

Andrea Grainger - Brazil

Andrea, from Cork, is on assignment in Rio de Janeiro where she looks after special construction projects dealing with street children.

“I have big things on my mind – like a million euros to raise for 2010, focusing on a new brochure on the new project and doing private fundraising with trusts in the states, etc. There definitely isn’t any money at home!

As it stands, we have gotten the land from the city council so 15000metre squared of lush forest two hours from here. We have started the topography so the architect is designing everything in the most self sustainable way possible: solar panels, recyclable rainwater, the ten homes for children’s will be designed in way to make the most of the wind etc. All the homes are being designed for children with disabilities, or to at least, include them. In the middle we will have a cooking centre, laundry, medical centre for the kids, after-school help, and the social workers, speech therapists and the psychiatrists.

On the other side of the land we will have recreation and leisure facilities open to all the local poor communities of which there are many, as well as for our own kids. We will be also running a number of vocational training courses for teenagers in the project and from the surrounding area, in soldering, mechanical or baking courses and so on.

We are still deliberating on whether we will have a crèche for toddlers from the area in the project. The city council really want it and they will also run it. I want to focus on horticulture, use of the farm and animal therapy with the children with disabilities. Some of these kids have never seen a tree, can you imagine how much they will love it. It truly is a state of the art project. Hopefully plans to be finished in the next couple of months.”

                                               

 

The Bridge – December 2009
By Therese Osborne

“I’m writing from Dublin, Ireland. As of April of this year I’m theoretically “retired” from full-time missionary work in El Salvador. However, that doesn’t mean that the missionary outreach has ended. Much of my time is spent in a fund-raising and consultancy role via the Internet with the staff of the Programme of Human Promotion and Sustainable Development in Santa Rosa de Lima: co-ordinator Juan Ismael Ventura, parish priest Lorenzo Cruz, and adviser Rosa Aminta Flores. They are training rural leaders, helping poor families build rainwater catchment cisterns and outdoor latrines, teaching farmers to practise sustainable agriculture and market their produce, and inculcating in all the rural and urban communities of the parish a permanent sense of working together to improve their own living conditions, following the example of Christ who said, “I have come that they may life, and life in abundance” (John 10, 10).

Fr. Donal Dorr, Irish theologian and member of St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, conducted a workshop recently for Viatores Christi Lay Missionary Association, explaining in his eloquent way that when Jesus was baptised by John, he had a tremendous experience of being loved unconditionally by the Father. Jesus’ entire ministry was spent sharing the good news that we are God’s beloved children. This is our experience and mission as well: becoming ever more aware that we are loved by God, and communicating that truth to others by the way we relate to them, especially seeking out the poor and marginalised and making their cause our own. I highly recommend Donal Dorr’s inspiring, very readable books, including his classics Integral Spirituality (1990) and The Social Justice Agenda (1991), both published in Dublin by Gill and Macmillan.

Besides my consultancy work for El Salvador, as a member of the Publicity Committee of Viatores Christi I am involved in promoting the vocation of lay missionaries. I’m also a Spiritan Associate (Holy Ghost Missionaries) and participate in a reflection group on Spiritan mission today. This year marks 150 years since the congregation arrived in Ireland, and 300 years since the death of founder Claude Poullart des Places. Next year (2010) will be the 50th anniversary of the founding of Viatores Christi; and I’m also looking forward to the 50th reunion of our class of 1960 from Villa Angela Academy, Cleveland, Ohio.

After spending most of the past 30 years in El Salvador, I am finally taking time to deal with my backlog of personal notes and files, hoping some day to produce the book on mission that I’ve been trying to write since 1985! A Latin American friend once told me he expects it to be published one day before the Final Judgment!

Please pray for me as I do for you, asking God to keep you in his loving care. My thanks for your kindness and solidarity!”