Easter Celebrations. Irish Memories

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2 Change is never easy and yet it is part and parcel of life. There is a saying that if you change often you are on the way to perfection. Well there is one change here connected with the newsletter that has not been helpful. We had to get new printers and we were promised a good service including distribution. Well if anything could go wrong it did including the addressing of the envelopes. So some of you got your letter late and many of you missed out on the Spring newsletter. My apologies and I hope that all will go well with the summer newsletter and it will land in your letterbox on time and intact. Easter Celebrations Despite the cold the church was overflowing for the Easter celebrations, Good Friday always sees walk of witness in Faversham as the Cross accompanied by Christians from all the churches is carried to the market square, where the Cross is erected. By the time we reached the square for the service of hymns and prayers, a good crowd had gathered. The liturgy for Good Friday has a quiet Our Lord glorious in his embracing of the Cross. This year the Easter Vigil began with a sharp wind blowing the embers of the fire into a glowing flame that was to light the Easter Candle that burned brightly as we processed from the gardens up the hill and into the church. The beautiful scripture readings of creation and the new creation in Jesus Christ along with the Easter hymn, the Exultet, always fill me with hope and thanksgiving to God. The main Mass on Easter day was so full that the congregation spilled out into the street. Despite the cold we had daffodils in abundance and the church was adorned with Easter Lilies. Irish Memories North of Europe so that means friars from Ireland, Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. We get by in our discussions speaking English and Italian.

3 It is a time to share insights about our apostolates and to see how we can collaborate especially in our work for vocations and supporting Carmelites in the developing area of the world, anywhere from El Salvador to East Timor. I always enjoy a chance to visit Ireland chiefly because I have family roots in Mayo, near Knock. I remember my first visit to Ireland in 1946 the excitement of the ferry crossing from Holyhead and then the slow train journey to the west, slow because the trains ran on peat. It was all a great adventure. When I was a student friar in Wales we joined our Irish counterparts for a holiday near Wicklow, wonderful weeks of swimming and hiking in the mountains. Then after ordination in 1964 I was sent to Dublin to read English at University College. I lived out in Gort Muire in a community of some fifty friars and would journey into university on a little scooter which never got stuck in the traffic, as I could nip along on the pavement. I was privileged to have the chance of those years in university but I was also able to be involved in ministry especially in our city centre church, Whitefriars street. Ministering there supported by experienced Carmelite friars helped me enormously. Dublin was still very much a community in those days and what struck me was the wonderful fluency people had as they spoke. There was always a striking turn of phrase, nothing self conscious but a great sense of how they saw life. We were a young community out at Gort Muire with a love of sport and the open air, we even managed to raise a rugby team with some more than able players. It is good to remember and thank God for wonderful people who have inspired us. Pope Francis I happened to be watching television when the new Pope was announced I had heard of him and was delighted when he took the name Francis. The Pope comes with great pastoral experience and from a deep tradition of spirituality as a Jesuit. I see that some thirty years ago when working on his doctorate he spent some time in Dublin, so I wonder if when he speaks English, does he have a trace of the Dublin accent?. What has struck me is his warmth and spontaneity, showing great tenderness towards the sick. I hope like Blessed Pope John XXIII he will open windows so the Holy Spirit has freedom in our world just now. Can we keep Francis in our prayers as so many things will be expected of him and the media are so hawk eyed.

4 Let us pray that God will give him strength to proclaim the good news of Our Lord to a needy world. The name Francis signifies sympathy, witness and a Let us also keep the Pope emeritus Benedict in our prayers that God will give him health and strength. I treasure his wonderful books on Jesus and his thoughtful and challenging letters. His visit to Britain was a highlight and did much help people value the role of faith in national life. With your help I am always grateful for your generosity and the help it gives. Fr Kevin Melody who is prior of our community in South London (Walworth) spent some time in East Timor and he has sent me some notes about his work there. East Timor by Fr Kevin Melody O.Carm I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to experience Carmelite life in Timor Leste, a small island less than a one hour flight north of Darwin, Australia. It is a country that was much in the news because of human rights abuses both in the 1970s and again in the late 1990s. However, my reason for visiting Timor was much more life-enhancing. When a Friar joins the Carmelites, he is joining not only a Province but the wider Carmelite Order and it is important to get an experience of Carmelite life in provinces other than our own. So after some months working in the Philippines, I was very pleased to have the opportunity to visit both Australia and Timor Leste. The Carmelite Friars' presence in Timor began in January 1999 when two friars from Indonesia moved there to work alongside Carmelite Sisters in Maubara, near Dili, the capital of Timor Leste. The following year they were asked by the bishop to take responsibility for the parish of Zumalai in the south of the Island and a year later the Carmelite General Council asked the Australian province of Carmelites to take responsibility for Timor Leste which they did on 16 August 2001.

5 In an age when it can seem that Religious Life in our part of the world is diminishing in numbers, it was very good to see how vibrant it is in Timor Leste as in much of Asia and other parts of the world. While it is good news in our Province to have a novice or two every few years, Timor has the joy of welcoming 8 novices each year, while many more would join if there was physical space for them. While I was in Timor in 2009, I got the opportunity to see the work of the Carmelite Friars and Sisters in the provision of health care, education and pastoral support to the people as well as spend time with the postulants teaching English in the parish of Zumulai. Thanks to the generosity of all of you who support the work of the Carmelites through St Jude, I got another opportunity to visit Timor Leste for the first three months of During this visit I spent a lot of time working with the novices and simply-professed friars, again teaching English and Carmelite Spirituality and experiencing Carmelite life where it flourishes. The novitiate house, named in honour of the Prophet Elijah, was partly funded by the supporters of St Jude and the recreation building has a plaque there remembering Fr Donald Grant, a Scottish Friar of our province. It serves as a reminder to us that the work of the Carmelites goes on across the world and the kindness of St Jude supporters is experienced in far flung parts of the world. This kindness continues to be seen in the fact that the British province is still able to support the Timor mission financially each year, just as it does the newly formed communities in much of Asia, Africa and Latin America. After the Provincial Chapter in 2011 I was appointed to the role of Mission Director for the province with a mandate to build up links between ourselves and some of the other provinces around the world. Shortly afterwards however, events overtook our province and I had to take on again the role of parish priest in Walworth. This is a very important parish for the Carmelites, ministering as we are in the London inner-city. However, I still keep contact with the Timorese mission and hope to be able to return. The Friars there are always very grateful to have visitors from abroad and show a great welcome to them. I can assure all of you of their prayers for all the supporters of St Jude and am certain that the generosity of those who enable this good work to continue will not go unrewarded. I am convinced that one of the joys that awaits us in heaven is that of discovering whose prayers and generosity enabled us to do so much that we are unaware of in this life.

6 On behalf all our Timorese Carmelites, present and future, I offer my thanks for your on-going support. Your Generosity Besides East Timor your generosity enables so much else to be done. I think of the support we are able to give The Carmelite Sisters in San Salvador who run a hospital there, we are able to subsidise the work they do with those suf- martyred as he celebrated Mass. Your kindness also helps in the education of our young friars. Thanks to the work of our vocations team we have some serious enquiries. Brother Gerard Walsh who was ordained deacon in February is now ministering in York and London. Recently he joined some thirty or more newly professed friars at a meeting with the Prior General. Gerard wrote to me telling me about meeting up with these young friars from all over Europe. Salamanca by Fr Gerard Walsh During Easter week, I had the privilege of travelling to Salamanca in Northern Spain, the scholastic home of St. John of the Cross, to take part in a European meeting of young(ish) Carmelite friars, who had made their solemn vows (final commitment) within the last ten years. The invitation came from our Prior General, Fr. Fernando Milan- Romeral and the Councillor General for Europe, Fr. John Keating. The title of the meeting was simply a dialogue with the Prior General regarding the future of Carmel in Europe from a friar perspective. Some 32 friars represented nine countries. The meeting, conducted in four languages, first explored the current situation of the Order in Europe and then moved on to look at the possible future. Some of the main conclusions were was a great sign of hope for the future. But we also had to be realistic and with a fall in vocations a response would have to be put in place to address this. Although no concrete decisions were made, there was definitely a process of discernment beginning in this area, which will inform the General Council and the subsequent General Chapter in September It was a great opportunity for me to experience, at first hand, the internationality of the order and the fraternity of my European brothers.

7 Hope for the future Besides the newly professed friars from Europe the order world wide is blessed with vocations which gives great hope and is a source of new energy. When I go to our General Chapter in Rome in September it will give me a chance to listen and learn about new ventures. The general Chapter will also give us all new impetus in our mission as we try to serve a world that knows so much suffering and has so many needs. I am enclosing novena leaflets and raffle tickets. You are always generous with the raffle, the draw takes place around July 16 th, so I hope you can help us make the raffle a great success. Feasts July 16 th is of course the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.The great patronal feast of the order. Carmelites always see Our Lady as the one who protects us in a special way and guides us on the way to a closer union with her Son, Jesus Christ. We also see her as the great woman of faith and the disciple who kept faith at all times. Her yes, which she gave at the Annunciation was lived out in all the moments of her life and it was her fidelity that Jesus praised. When we make our novena to Our Lady can we ask that we are given strength especially in difficult moments when life can seem too much. God does love us beyond all telling and I see the Sacred Heart as helping us to see never forget we have friends in heaven and above all St Jude prayers for us, so that we might have hope in difficult moments. First thing in the morning when I open up the Church and the Shrine I have the chance to pray for us all that God will give us peace and strength. I hope by the time you get this letter all the cold greyness of the last while will have gone. At least today as I write I can feel the warmth of the sun. All of us here send our love and prayers Fr Piet and the ladies in the office. It is always lovely to meet you as you come as pilgrims to the shrine, which is I help in difficult days.

8 Remember our Novenas th May 7 th June th 16 th July th 12 th August A couple of quick ones from children... Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles. Christians have only one spouse this is called monotony. I suppose it is how you hear what people say! So hearing is always a very important sense. I am conscious of my loss of hearing so I am not afraid to say can you repeat that! May Mary protect you and God bless you. Please Remember Wilfrid McGreal O.Carm (Prior Provincial) Tick the box on the Intention Sheet if you require a reply Front Cover: St Jude Shrine,Faversham The Carmelite Friars, PO Box 140, ME20 7SJ England Telephone: Chaplain@stjudeshrine.org.uk Website: Facebook: A Registered Charity Reg. No: