Beggars and drunks in Dublin: some things never change

St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, completed in 1825

Today's Irish Times carries a story, Fewer than one in five attend Sunday Mass in Dublin, which reports the words of Archbishop Diarmaid Martin of Dublin at the ordination yesterday of seven deacons. “Many young people, despite years of religious education, have only marginal interest in the message of Jesus. Many who come to us today possess only a sort of cultural Catholicism which can easily deceive us about the depth of people’s faith,” said the archbishop. “Faith in Jesus Christ and in his church is not a free-for-all of opinions in which anything goes. Faith in Jesus has content and context. It is about knowing Jesus intimately.


The archbishop said the years ahead must be ones of renewal for the Irish church and he urged the seven deacons to play a critical role in that renewal. “I encourage you to reach out to the coming generations, presenting them in unambiguous terms the teaching of Jesus and challenging them not to be afraid to let the message of Jesus change their hearts,” he said.

Christ Church Cathedral, originally Catholic now Anglican

Recently Archbishop Martin said that in some areas as few as two percent attend Sunday Mass. these would be mostly poorer parts of the city.

Up to the 1970s more than 90 percent of the people went to Mass every Sunday. So what is happening now is a huge change.

General Post Office (GPO) in the heart of the city. I was approached by two beggars here the first time I went into the city centre on this visit.

But one thing hasn't changed. The priest is still a target for beggars and drunks in the city centre. I've gone there a number of times during my current brief visit to my native city. I wore my clerical collar each time except today. When I was wearing it beggars made their way to me, all addressing me as 'Father'.  One was a young Irishman talking into his mobile phone and I waved at him while passing on. antoher was a young woman, probably from Romania, who, when I made an excuse and didn't stop said 'But you are a Father!' At one time I might have felt guilty. I did feel a mild pang of guilt but not enough to spoil the lunch with old school friends I was heading for.

The Spire of Dublin in O'Connel St, behind the statue of Jim Larkin, a labour leader in the early part of the last century. The GPO is on the left. The Spire replaced Nelson's Pillar, blown up in 1966.

Last year as I was walking in another part of the city during the day a man in his 30s stopped me. He wasn't a beggar but if I had lit with a match the alcohol he was breathing out half of the city might have been destroyed in the ensuing explosion.

In my time in the seminary students wore a black suit and black tie when outside. We wore a soutane inside. Although students by definition hardly every have money to spare I was still a target for beggars and drunks. Sometimes the drunk was also a beggar. Sometimes he wanted to engage in an alcoholic discussion about theology or the Church. This happened more often on occasions such as wedding receptions.

Statue in O'Connell St of Fr Theobald Mathew OFMCap, 1790-1856, who promoted temperance

For years I didn't wear my collar when going to the city centre, mainly because of beggars. I normally wear it now and simply keep going if a beggar tries to accost me. I've never been able to deal graciously with beggars or drunks, though on this visit I haven't been rude to any I have met.

Statue of the Venerable Matt Talbot 1956-1925, who led a life of great austerity, under spiritual direction, for the last 40 years of his life after having been addicted to alcohol. You can read a brief biography of Matt here.

In the Philippines there have been occasions when individuals whom I saw simply as beggars became real persons for me when I listened to their story. In a couple of cases I would give a weekly 'allowance' on a fixed day. If they approached me on another day I'd smile and remind them of our agreement. In these situations both parties retained their dignity. These persons came to know me as an individual too and not someone to make feel guilty by a sort of 'blackmail', like the young woman in Dublin last week who reminded me that I was 'a Father'.


I prefer to channel what people give me to such projects as Holy Family Home for Girls in Bacolod City (above). I know too that many in Ireland are working with those on the margins.

Giveaway Reminder

I just wanted to give out a quick reminder about the contest I'm having. I'm giving away two paperback copies of The Fallen Star. All you have to do to enter is follow my blog and my facebook page by June 4th.

Giveaway

Okay everyone. Now that I'm feeling better, I've decided to giveaway two paperback copies of The Fallen Star. For a chance to win, all you have to do is be a follower of my blog and facebook page. I’ll randomly select two winners on June 4th.
Happy entering.

I thought I'd also add that the contest is open internationally!

'I will love him and reveal myself to him'. Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A, 29 May 2011

The Last Supper, El Greco, c.1568

Readings (New American Bible, used in the Philippines and USA)

GOSPEL, John 14:15-21 (NAB)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

AN SOISCÉAL Eoin 14:15-21 (Irish)

San am sin dúirt Íosa lena dheisceabail

'Má tá grá agaibh dom, coinneoidh sibh m’aitheanta.
Agus iarrfaidh mé ar m’Athair é,
agus tabharfaidh sé Abhcóide eile daoibh
chun fanacht faraibh go deo –
Spiorad na Fírinne,
nach féidir don saol a ghlacadh,
mar ní fheiceann sé é ná ní aithníonn sé é.
Ach aithníonn sibhse é
mar fanann sé faraibh, agus beidh sé ionaibh.
Ní fhágfaidh mé in bhur ndílleachtaí sibh;
tiocfaidh mé ar ais chugaibh. Tamall beag eile agus siúd é an saol
agus gan radharc aige ormsa feasta;
ach tá radharc agaibhse orm,
óir táimse beo agus beidh sibhse beo chomh maith.
An lá sin aithneoidh sibh go bhfuilimse i m’Athair,
agus go bhfuil sibhse ionamsa, agus mise ionaibh.
An té a bhfuil m’aitheantasa aige agus a choinníonn iad,
sin é an té a bhfuil grá aige dom.
An té a bhfuil grá aige dom,
beidh grá ag m’Athair dó,
agus beidh grá agam dó,
agus taispeánfaidh mé mé féin dó.'

+++
Over the years I have met many young people who have been orphaned or who, for one serious reason or another, cannot enjoy a normal loving and safe family life. I have had young children from backgrounds like that tell me that they want me to be their father. That isn't possible in the usual sense but I amcalled to be a father in a very real way. I can be a father-figure, or grandfather-figure, to young people I know who don'at have a father.

But at a deeper level I am called as a priest to take proper care of those entrusted to me by the Church. I am called to point people towards our Lord Jesus Christ who in today's gospel speaks to us of God's desire to have an intimate relationship with us. Jesus is promising to send u the Holy Spirit who will draw us to the Father, who will bring us into the intimacy of the life of the Holy Trinity dwelling within us.

This can be difficult to grasp and can seem abstract but the evidence of the lives of those whom the Church formally recognises as holy is evidence of the joy that only god can give us and that he wanst each of us to have.

Today's gospel is taken from the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, the night before he died, in which he speaks to us of joy. This isn't something shallow but is in the depth of our souls, even when the surface isn't calm.

Jesus doesn't want us to be orphans. He wants each of us to come to know God as our loving Father. He wants our lives to be filled with joy so that they radiate with the truth that Jesus is truly risen, a joy that is evident in the Resurrection song below in a mall in Beirut.

Jesus is Risen
In a Beirut shopping Mall, Easter 2011

Thanks to Fr Tim Finigan for drawing this to my attention on his blog.

Most Catholics are unaware that many Arabs are Christians and have been so since the time of the Apostles, long before Islam came on the scene in the early part of the 7th century. Christian Arabs have suffered greatly in recent years in the Middle East and many have left the region. Performances such as that in the video above are called 'flash mobs'. I think it is a wonderfully joyful proclamation of the Resurrection in the marketplace, which the mall is in cities now throughout the world, in a country that has known much conflict in recent decades.

Below is a proclamation of the Resurrection in Arabic from the Byzantine Rite, produced in Canada by Catholics of the Melkite Rite and Orthodox Christians of the same rite.



Remember in your prayers all Christians living in the Middle East, most of whom are Arabs, that God's peace may reign in their hearts and in the hearts of Muslims and Jews living there for whom that part of the world is holy, as it is for us Christians.

Liturgy: What can we learn from Queen Elizabeth II and President Mary McAleese?



Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britan and Northern Ireland was in the Republic of Ireland on a state visit from 17 to 20 May, the first time a British monarch has visited that part of Ireland since it became independent in 1922 and known then as The Irish Free State. Ireland and Britain have a tangled history and yet there are no two countries in the world that have closer practical ties. You don't need a passport to travel from one to the other. Irish citizens living in the UK have full voting rights there and British subjects - technically they aren't citizens but subjects of the reigning monarch - living in the Irish Republic have full voting rights there. 

On the first day of her visit Queen Elizabeth visited the Garden of Remembrance in the centre of Dublin to lay a wreath in honour of those who had fought for the independence of Ireland. These had all fought against the British authorities. There were no speeches but by bowing after laying the wreath Queen Elizabeth spoke eloquently to most Irish people. For the majority it was a moment of healing, of reconciliation.



On the second day of the visit Queen Elizabeth laid a wreath at the Irish National War Memorial in Islandbridge, Dublin, dedicated to the 49,400 Irishmen who died in the Great War (1914-18) in the forces of the United Kingdom, which included the whole of Ireland at the time. The wreath was made of poppies, the symbol of the loss of life in Belgium and France. President Mary McAleese laid a laurel wreath.

Again, there were no speeches but the symbols spoke to Irish people. For decades the Irish involvement in World War I was airbrushed out of Irish history. Many Irishmen who joined the UK forces did so that Ireland and other countries might be free.

I'm in Dublin at the moment on a family visit. I am struck once again by the power of symbols in the context of rituals. At a time when the celebration of Mass and other liturgies is so often banal I think we can learn from ceremonies such as those at the Garden of Remembrance and at the Irish National War Memorial.

 

Really Quick

I'm going to make this blog entry a quick one because I'm sick. I apologize in advance if some things don't make sense because my brains a little foggy right now.
First off, if you haven't entered the contest on goodreads, hurry up and go do so. I’m giving away two paperback copies of The Fallen Star, and the contests ends in less than two days.
My word count for Part 2 is a little over 31,000 right now--131 pages. It’s a little lower than I’d like it to be, but that is partly because I have been sick.
I’ll post more in a couple of days, when I feel a bit better and can think a little clearer.

TOS Female Uniform Dress on eBay - Phase II



The TOS female mini-dress that popped up on eBay last week has caused quite a stir.  You can see it here.  The discussion has been whether it is a 3rd season or a Phase II and I can tell you pretty conclusively that it is a Phase 2.

I met with Bruce and Laurie Carlson yesterday and they were very nice people.  They took plenty of time out of their day to show another collector and myself the costume and admitted they don't know much.  Bruce worked on Star Trek 1-6 as a grip and had plenty of stories.  

I inspected the costume, and then compared notes with Gerald Gurian, who I consider a very good authority on TOS costumes.  Gerald and I recently authenticated a TOS Gold Velour costume, and so I know his expertise and his openness to discussion.

THE COSTUME

The costume is in amazing shape, and comes complete with 3rd season insignia and braid.  I will tell you upfront, that the plastic zipper, and the square weave fabric, makes it pretty clear that this is a Phase 2 costume.  Note that while the photos show it golden, it is TOTALLY green.  Just bad lighting!

Here are the photos:









NOW HOW WE KNOW THIS IS A PHASE II COSTUME


ZIPPERS

 
TOS season 1-3 costumes had metal zippers with the name "Unique" in on the pull

A Season 1 Gold Command Tunic Zipper

 Phase 2 costumes had plastic zippers with a metal pull.

Two Phase 2 Costumes showing plastic zippers

 DIAMOND WEAVE

Standard TOS Season 3 wool double knit fabric




 SQUARE WEAVE

This is the fabric that  is used on Phase 2 costumes.

A Sample from a known TOS Chapel mini-dress
And the TOS Mini-dress currently on eBay


So a few people who I have talked to concur that this is a Phase 2 costume and not a TOS 3rd season one.  Still, it is a beautiful piece and I think it will go over the $ 5,000 starting bid.


Alec



Profiles Auction # 44 results

Well, there were few surprises in the Profiles # 44 auction and a bunch of good deals.  I am sure the fact that the Propworx auction went live the week before Profiles' auction helped keep the prices reasonable, as there are 2 1/2 times more items in the Propworx auction than Profiles had.


The two big fails, were, as predicted, the Spock costume from TMP (no bids) and the Shuttlepod (no bids).  You didn't have to be a genius to know that the TMP Spock Robe was worth maybe $ 15,000 TOPS and that this one would never hit the $ 30,000 reserve.  And since Martin Netter already had one Shuttlepod, and was the only guy likely to be interested in something so big, that this one would not sell either.


The biggest shock was the nose cone to the Phoenix, which went for a shocking $ 15,000!  That blew me away, but you never know what people like.  (There is an unpainted one from Doug Drexler in the Propworx auction).


The Bajoran, Cardassian and Romulan PADDs all went for $ 1,000 which I thought was rich, but not too much so.  All were nice pieces.  These at $ 1,200 (when you factor in BP) is the high end of the spectrum, but not crazy.

The distressed Archer jumpsuit from Enterprise was reasonable at $ 3,000 ($ 3,600 with BP).  The Prop Store has been trying to sell that one for a while, but it was overpriced I felt.  An Archer is generally a $ 5,000 costume in good shape, and this one was somewhat distressed.  A couple people have asked me about this over the past year or so, so I am happy to see it go at a fair price (and to a respected forum member!).

I also thought the distressed Janeway from "Scorpion" was a solid deal at $ 3,000 ($ 3,600 with BP), as it had a comm badge and a stunt Tricorder.  I just don't think you will get a better deal than that. So good buy whoever got it!

Amazingly, the hero Tricorder went for a paltry $ 2,250 ($ 2,700 with BP).  That is a steal!  I was so tempted to bid on it, but alas I nee dto moderate my buying habits and I just made a big score that took my budget for the year!   But what we have seen lately, after last year's Tricorder bonanza in Profiles June 2010 auction, was prices going down for Tricorders.  I think now is the time to buy one.



Now the costumes with Mannequins were interesting.  A couple sold well and most didn't sell at all!  Here is a rundown:


TNG   $ 1,700

ODO  $ 3,000

DS9   $ 1,900

Neelix  PASSED

Vidian  PASSED

Nausican PASSED

Kazon  PASSED

KESS PASSED

Lawxana Troi PASSED

Romulan Female PASSED

Borg   $ 12,000

Quark  $ 5,000




Overall, a good auction, but the starting prices were too rich on some good items. 

Alec

'I am the way and the truth and the life'. Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A, 22 May 2011

St Philip, Giuseppe Mazzuoli, marble in the Basilica of St John Lateran, the Pope's Cathedral, sculpted 1703-12

Readings (New American Bible, used in Philippines and USA)

Gospel John 14:1-12 (NAB)

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.”

+++

About seven years ago I was visiting Holy Family Home, Makati City, run by the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family. Most of the girls there, about 25 of them, come from a background of extreme poverty, many of their fmailies living on the streets. On this occasion a girl of 14 or so - I'll call her Lucia - astounded me with a question that still resonates in my heart. I knew that Lucia had asthma and learned later that her father was a blind beggar. Her question was, 'How can I offer my life to God?'

I was speechless at first and then tried to explain something of the Little Way of St Thérèse
of Lisieux, that everything we do when we do it with love is aready an offering of ourselves to God and that in time he would show her where he was calling her for the rest of her life.

Lucia was asking a question similar to that of St Thomas. Jesus was pointing the apostles towards the Father but had to spell it out for Thomas that he himself was 'the way, the truth and the life'. Lucia was a step ahead of the apostle. She wasn't asking the way but asking how she could offer her life to the Father.

Perhaps Lucia's question was closer to the request of St Philip, 'Show us the Father'. Again, Jesus pointed out that insofar as Philip and his companions knew him they knew the Father and that the Father was dwelling in him and working through him.

Pope Benedict in his various homilies, messages and so on is constantly telling us that our faith is in a Person, Jesus Christ. Jesus, God and Man, came to do the will of his Father and when he invites us to follow him he is asking us to desire nothing else except what the Father wills.

Lucia's was really asking what God's will was for her and how she could carry out the will of the Father. This young asthmatic girl, the daughter of a blind beggar, was going to the heart of the matter.

St Thomas the Apostle, Pierre Le Gros the Younger, marble in the Basilica of St John Lateran, sculpted 1705-11
 
+++
 
Entrance Antiphon
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds; he has revealed to the nations his saving power, alleluia.(Ps 97:1-2)
 
Here is a setting of those words and succeeding verses of that psalm, which is Ps 96 in some versions of the Bible, by Spanish composer Sebastián de Vivanco (Ávila, 1551 - Salamanca, 1622). Performers: Orchestra of the Renaissance (Richard Cheetham)
 

 
Latin
 
Cantate Domino canticum novum,
quia mirabilia fecit, Jubilate Deo,
omnis terra, cantate et exsultate, et psallite.
Psallite Domino in cithara et voce psalmi:
in tubis ductilibus, et voce tubæ corneæ.
Jubilate in conspectu regis Domini: moveatur mare,
et plenitudo eius: orbis terrarum et qui habitant in eo.

English

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things.
Be joyful in God all lands, sing and exult and give praise.
Sing to the Lord with the harp and in psalms.
With trumpets and horns rejoice before the Lord the king.
Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof,
all the world and they that dwell therein.

Castellano

Cantad al Señor una nueva canción,
porque él ha hecho cosas maravillosas.
Alégrense en Dios todas las tierras,
canten, se exalten y den alabanzas.
Cantar al Señor con el arpa y en los salmos.
Con trompetas y cornos regocíjense ante el Señor,
el Rey Que ruja el mar, en su plenitud,
el mundo entero y todos los que en él viven.

Graze @ One Rochester

Went to Graze for Sunday Brunch quite a few weeks ago I had my default Eggs Benedict ($19++)- I can hardly ever resist having this dish if it's on the menu cos I really like hollandaise sauce. The Eggs benedict at Graze comes with either ham, smoked salmon and chives or spinach and mushrooms. They were rather stingy on the hollandaise sauce - see how the sauce on my second egg hardly covers the top of it. I requested for more sauce and the waitress said that I would have to pay for a top up. To which I protested cos the portion is really stingy. Fortunately, she returned with a small bowl of it, much to our delight. And at no further cost either.

The Old fashioned pancake stack ($14++) comes with crispy bacon, bananas and lots of dipping sauces. Honey, maple syrup and chocolate sauce, as well as a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pancakes are thick and fluffy, not overly floury and it was really delicious. If I had to recommend a dish, I would definitely recommend this cos it was unanimously the best dish of the meal.
The Spanish omelette ($19++) is a rather small thin omelette with chorizo, bell pepper and smoked cheddar. I suppose tha the chorizo is the most expensive part of the omelette (I just went to Cold storage the other day and 2 pieces of chorizo costs $14+) so I supose that is why this omelette is more expensive. Recommend this for people with little appetites...
The corned beef hash ($24++) which I didn't try...




A dissappointing dish was the cinnamon and raisin butter toast ($7++) served with some kind of jam. It looked like it came from one of those packets of buns from Cold Storage... Really very ordinary and I would defnintely not order this again.


The service here can really be improved. Somehow I get the vibe that the entire crew is extremely unhappy and this somewhat marred the dining experience. Even more so since the food is nothing much to shout about, and prices aren't exactly the cheapest around... In view of this, I would very much rather recommend other branch places, since there is an abundance of these brunch places popping up all over.


Then again, if you're into alcoholic drinks, their Sunday Brunch has some alcoholic drinks like the Mimosa (and some other drink, I think a Bloody Mary?) at a mere $6 (If I am not mistaken) top up with some brunch sets. Which makes it really worth it but it's a pity I don't like oranges and they won't serve it with any other juice, which I thought was really ridgid and inflexible. The ambience is really nice, just like all other restaurants at One Rochestor. If you're not scared of the heat and the UV radiation, I would highly recommend sitting outside in their nice garden setting. They have a pond with lots of fishes, lush greenery with lots of bamboo (my fave plant ever!). But being true Singaporeans, we hid from the humidity and sat indoors;P



Graze @ One Rochester

4 Rochester Park

Tel: +65 6775 9000

A few things...

After coming across a discussion forum, discussing when I was going release the next book in the Fallen Star Series, I decided that I should probably give out an estimated date of when this will happen. As of now, with the word count I’m clocking in per day, I’m shooting to release it around September. This date could either get moved up or pushed back, depending on how my revision process goes and how long it takes my editor to go through it.
To give you a better idea, I thought I’d start making posts that will let you know where I’m at. As of now, I’ve clocked in 20,000 words and I’m on page 80.
Also, another thing I thought I should mention is that The Fallen Star, Volume 1, is in the process of being reedited. The original version will still be available until the second edition is released, which should be at the beginning of June. For all of you who love the story, don’t worry, I’m not changing the actual story. I’m only getting it reedited to clean up the sentences and fix spelling errors and things like that.

'I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.' Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A

Landscape with a Flock, by Charles Émile Jacque, painted 1872

Readings (New American Bible, used in Philippines and USA)

Gospel John 10:1-10 (NAB)


Jesus said:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
Although Jesus used this figure of speech,
the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the gate.
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

+++

Today is called ‘Good Shepherd Sunday' and it is also the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations.



When I was in boys’ kindergarten Sister Stanislaus, an Irish Sister of Charity and our principal, often spoke to us about Fr Willie Doyle SJ (above), who grew up in Dalkey, a beautiful village by the sea south of Dublin. The stories she told us about him probably had a part in the gradual awakening of my awareness that God was calling me to be a missionary priest. He died on 16 August 1917 in the Battle of Ypres (Ieper), Belgium, while serving in the Great War as a chaplain in the British Army. The landscape in Belgium where he served was very similar to that in the painting above. Just recently I came across a website named Remembering Fr William Doyle SJ, which gives readings most days from his diaries and letters. Recently it featured a letter he wrote his father a few months before his death, giving more details of an incident that happened in April 1916. I have highlighted parts of the letter, which for me goes to the heart of what it means to be a priest, to be a ‘Good Shepherd’ as Jesus was, someone coming to young soldiers in their late teens and early twenties but now on the point of painful death, assuring them in the name of Jesus ‘that they might have life and have it more abundantly’.


Here is Father Doyle's letter to his own father. I have added emphases.

I have never told you the whole story of that memorable April morning or the repetition of it the following day, or how when I was lying on the stretcher going to ‘peg out,’ as the doctor believed, God gave me back my strength and energy in a way which was nothing short of a miracle, to help many a poor fellow to die in peace and perhaps to open the gates of heaven to not a few.


I had come through the three attacks without ill results, though having been unexpectedly caught by the last one, as I was anointing a dying man and did not see the poisonous fumes coming, I had swallowed some of the gas before I could get my helmet on. It was nothing very serious, but left me rather weak and washy. There was little time to think of that, for wounded and dying were lying all along the trenches, and I was the only priest on that section at the time.

The fumes had quite blown away, but a good deal of the gas, being of a heavy nature, had sunk down to the bottom of the trench and gathered under the duck-boards or wooden flooring. It was impossible to do one’s work with the gas helmet on, and so as I knelt down to absolve or anoint man after man for the greater part of that day, I had to inhale the chlorine fumes till I had nearly enough gas in my poor inside to inflate a German sausage balloon.

I did not then know that when a man is gassed his only chance (and a poor one at that) is to lie perfectly still to give the heart a chance of fighting its foe. In happy ignorance of my real state, I covered mile after mile of those trenches until at last in the evening, when the work was done, I was able to rejoin my battalion in a village close to the Line.


It was only then I began to realise that I felt ‘rotten bad’ as schoolboys say. I remember the doctor, who was a great friend of mine, feeling my pulse and shaking his head as he put me lying in a corner of the shattered house, and then he sat beside me for hours with a kindness I can never forget. He told me afterwards he was sure I was a ‘gone coon’ but at the moment I did not care much. Then I fell asleep only to be rudely awakened at four next morning by the crash of guns and the dreaded bugle call ‘gas alarm, gas alarm.’ The Germans had launched a second attack, fiercer than the first. It did not take long to make up my mind what to do — who would hesitate at such a moment, when the Reaper Death was busy? — and before I reached the trenches I had anointed a number of poor fellows who had struggled back after being gassed and had fallen dying by the roadside.’



The harvest that day was a big one, for there had been bloody fighting all along the Front. Many a man died happy in the thought that the priest’s hand had been raised in absolution over his head and the Holy Oils’ anointing had given pardon to those senses which he had used to offend the Almighty. It was a long, hard day, a day of heart rending sights, with the consolation of good work done in spite of the deadly fumes, and I reached my billet wet and muddy, pretty nearly worn out, but perfectly well, with not the slightest ill effect from what I had gone through, nor have I felt any since. Surely God has been good to me. That was not the first of His many favours, nor has it been the last.


On paper every man with a helmet was as safe as I was from gas poisoning. But now it is evident many of the men despised the ‘old German gas,’ some did not bother putting on their helmets, others had torn theirs, and others like myself had thrown them aside or lost them. From early morning till late at night I worked my way from trench to trench single handed the first day, with three regiments to look after, and could get no help. Many men died before I could reach them; others seemed just to live till I anointed them, and were gone before I passed back. There they lay, scores of them (we lost 800, nearly all from gas) in the bottom of the trench, in every conceivable posture of human agony: the clothes torn off their bodies in a vain effort to breathe; while from end to end of that valley of death came one low unceasing moan from the lips of brave men fighting and struggling for life.


I don’t think you will blame me when I tell you that more than once the words of Absolution stuck in my throat, and the tears splashed down on the patient suffering faces of my poor boys as I leant down to anoint them. One young soldier seized my two hands and covered them with kisses; another looked up and said: ‘Oh! Father I can die happy now, sure I’m not afraid of death or anything else since I have seen you.’ Don’t you think, dear father, that the little sacrifice made in coming out here has already been more than repaid, and if you have suffered a little anxiety on my account, you have at least the consolation of knowing that I have, through God’s goodness, been able to comfort many a poor fellow and perhaps to open the gates of Heaven for them.

Fr William Doyle SJ

The next video gives a glimpse of the horrors of the Five Battles of Ypres. Father Doyle died in the Third.



A brief biography of Fr William Doyle SJ

I have highlighted some parts.


William Joseph Gabriel Doyle was born in Dalkey, a suburb of Dublin, in Ireland on March 3, 1873. He was the youngest of seven children, four boys and three girls, out of which two boys became Jesuits, another died a few days before his priestly ordination and one of the three girls became a Sister of Mercy: four vocations out of seven children.

He entered the Jesuit Novitiate at the age of 18 after reading St. Alphonsus’ book Instructions and Consideration on the Religious State. Soon after his ordination in 1907, his superiors appointed him on the mission staff for five years. From 1908 to 1915, he gave no less than 152 missions and retreats. His fame as preacher, confessor and spiritual director spread wide and far, and he had a special gift to hunt out the most hardened and neglected sinners and to bring them back with him to the church for confession.


In the midst of such an active apostolate, he maintained a fervent spiritual life of union with his Eucharistic Lord, offering himself as a victim for the salvation of souls with the Divine Victim.

He was finally appointed during World War I chaplain of the 16th Irish Division, serving with 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 6th Royal Irish Rifles and the 7th Royal Irish Rifles. Having fulfilled his priestly duties in an outstanding fashion for almost two years, he was killed in the Battle of Ypres on August 16, 1917, having run ‘all day hither and thither over the battlefield like an angel of mercy’. This good shepherd truly gave his life for his sheep.

Fr Doyle’s body was never recovered.


My maternal grandmother’s brother, Corporal Laurence Dowd, died in the same battle ten days before Father Doyle’s death. I wonder if this great priest was with him before he died. I located my great-uncle’s grave in September 2001 in the cemetery above. Many bodies of soldiers who died in the First World War were never recovered and many that were could not be identified.


At my great-uncle's grave, September 2001

You can find Pope Benedict's Message for the 48th World Day of Prayer for Vocations here. Here is an extract, with my emphases.

It is a challenging and uplifting invitation that Jesus addresses to those to whom he says: “Follow me!”. He invites them to become his friends, to listen attentively to his word and to live with him. He teaches them complete commitment to God and to the extension of his kingdom in accordance with the law of the Gospel: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit ” (Jn 12:24). He invites them to leave behind their own narrow agenda and their notions of self-fulfilment in order to immerse themselves in another will, the will of God, and to be guided by it. He gives them an experience of fraternity, one born of that total openness to God (cf. Mt 12:49-50) which becomes the hallmark of the community of Jesus: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:35).

Father Willie Doyle lived this joyfully.

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While preparing this I came across a ballad, The Dublin Fusiliers, sung by Irish singer Johnny McEvoy, which mentions Fr Willie Doyle. It's the only song I've ever heard that tells something of the story of a military chaplain.















'Let Auntie P drive around the Kingdom of Heaven in style'

I learned recently of the death of a dear friend of mine, Sister Perpetua, a Mercy Sister form Kilkeel, County Down, Northern Ireland. My first contact with her was around 1979 when I read about her in a Catholic newspaper. She and some other Mercy Sisters had gone to work in Iceland, a country I had always been interested in. I wrote her a letter and, many months later, received a reply. This led to the first of three visits to that beautiful country. She was there from 1977 till 1987. My last visit was in 2000 when I gave a weekend retreat to Filipinos living in Reykjavík followed by a pastoral visit to Filipinos living in the coastal towns around the country. (I think there's only one town that's not on the coast).

'Harbour', Kilkeel, painting by Lucia Peka. Sr Perpetua grew up in Kilkeel

St Joseph's Church, Hafnarfjörður

Sister Perpetua worked in the Catholic hospital in Hafnarfjörður, near Reykjavík. The Sisters often went to Mass in the Carmelite Monastery in Hafnarfjörður. At the time of my first visit in 1981 the nuns were Dutch. They have since been replaced by Polish Carmelites. I celebrated the 'new' Mass, now called the Ordinary Form, in Latin with the Dutch Carmelites and they sang the Gregorian chants.

A view of Hafnarfjörður from the Carmelite Monastery

Blessed John Paul visits the Polish Carmelites in Hafnarfjörður in 1989

When Sister Perpetua went to Iceland in 1977 there were about 1,500 Catholics out of a population of 220,000. In 2004 there were more than 5,500 out of 290,000 or so. The majority of Catholics are foreigners and include significant numbers of Filipinos and Poles. The Diocese of Reykjavík covers the whole country which is slightly larger than Mindanao, Philippines, and larger than Ireland.

Downpatrick, with Convent of Mercy slightly to the left of St Patrick's church

Sister Perpetua, who had legions of friends, two of whom came from Iceland to visit her shortly before she died, loved to drive. Her eight-year-old grandniece caught this perfectly in the letter she wrote when her 'Little Auntie P' died.

I have two Auntie P’s in my life, one I call ‘Big P’ who lives in Manchester, and the other one I call ‘Little P’ who lives in the Convent of Mercy, Downpatrick. As you know, she was very special and I loved her very much. Recently she gave me a beautiful handmade doll of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which were attached to the front of her apron and when you turned her upside down and unfolded all her clothes there was the Wicked Witch on one side and the Handsome Prince on the other.

That I will cherish for ever and ever. No more little cards in the post or phone calls with a voice saying ‘Hello my little darling’. That’s gone too.
But even though we loved her very much God loved her more and decided it was time to call her home.

Because she loved to drive the car so much during her life, I especially asked God to please tax and insure the biggest most expensive Mercedes car he can find and let Auntie P drive around the Kingdom of Heaven in style so that she can visit all her friends and relations. That would make her very happy.

So Auntie P, don’t break the speed limit up there. Cause you’ll only get three points on your licence and then you would have to wear wings like all the other Angels.

God bless Little P


Love you always

Megan ♥

[Note: Driving licences in both parts of Ireland carry points and there are deductions for various offences, which can lead to your losing your licence.]

One glorious summer when I was at home Sister Perpetua drove me along a road I had always wanted to see, the Antrim Coast Road. We also visited one of the Glens of Antrim. Unfortunately, it was the one rainy day during my holiday.


The Mountains of Mourne, County Down

County Down is one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. There is a famous song by Percy French, Where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea. It is a favourite of mine but, for some reason, Sister Perpetua didn't like it so I won't include it here!

I was in the middle of preparing this post on Thursday afternoon when the Blogspot system broke down, making it impossible to upload anything. The problem, which lasted for more than 24 hours, has now been fixed.

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