27th August 2017 - The world of Bishop Edward O'Dwyer of Limerick

On this weeks programme, John and Shane are joined by Limerick Diocesan archivist David Bracken to discuss an upcoming conference on Bishop Edward O'Dwyer of Limerick which is happening 13th October at Mary Immaculate College. We have our regular reflection on this weeks Sunday gospel as well as a run through our celestial guides for the up coming week and other notices and liturgical odds & ends. 

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

The World of Edward Thomas O'Dwyer of Limerick (1886-1917)

Limerick Diocesan archivist David Bracken joins John and Shane this week to share some of the story of Edward O'Dwyer the former bishop of Limerick who died in 1917.

Born at Holy Cross, Co. Tipperary, Edward Thomas O'Dwyer was educated at the C.B.S. in Limerick and at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he was ordained in June 1867. Having served as CC in Rathkeale, Bruff, St. Patrick’s Adare, Newcastle West and St. Michael’s, he was appointed bishop in May 1886. One of the most famous Irish bishops of the late nineteenth century, he was also one of the most controversial. Honoured by Pope Leo XIII for his part against the Plan of Campaign, he ended his life with approval from his people for his stand against General Maxwell in the wake of the 1916 Rising. 

General Maxwell wrote to various Bishops directing them to remove suspect priests from the active ministry. But he picked the wrong man in Bishop O’Dwyer when he named two priests in his Diocese who had preached against the dangers of conscription and whom the general regarded as being a dangerous menace to the peace and safety of the realm. Bishop O'Dwyers response was published and gained him national and international renown.

Bishop O'Dwyer's letter to Maxwell 

Sir,
I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 12st instant which has been forwarded to me here. 

I have read carefully you allegations against Rev. and Rev. but do not see in them any justification for disciplinary action on my part. They are both excellent priests, who hold strong national views, but I do not know that they have violated any law civil or ecclesiastical. 

In your letter of the 6th instant you appealed to me to help you in the furtherance of your work as a military dictator of Ireland. Even if action of that kind was not outside my province, the events of the past few weeks would make it impossible for me to have any part in proceedings which I regard as wantonly cruel and oppressive. 

You remember the Jameson raid, when a number of buccaneers invaded a friendly state and fought the forces of the lawful government. If ever men deserved the supreme punishment it was they, but officially and unofficially, the influence of the British government was used to save them and it succeeded. You took care that no plea for mercy should interpose on behalf of the poor young fellows who surrendered to you in Dublin. The first information which we got of their fate was the announcement that they had been shot in cold blood.

Personally, I regard your action with horror, and I believe that it has outraged the conscience of the country. Then the deporting of hundreds and even thousands of poor fellows without a trial of any kind seems to me an abuse of power as fatuous as it is arbitrary and your regime has been one of the worst and blackest chapters in the history of misgovernment of the country. 

I have the honour to be Sir your obedient servant.
Edward Thomas, Bishop of Limerick 

To General Sir J.G Maxwell,
Commander-in-Chief, the forces in Ireland

To mark the centenary of his death and his complex role in the life of Limerick, the church in Ireland and also internationally during WWI, then and down to the present day through his founding of Mary Immaculate College, St Munchin's College and St John's Hospital in Limerick there is a conference hosted by the Department of History, Mary Immaculate College & the Limerick Diocesan Archives being held on 13th October 2017. 

The programme includes:

• Dr Colin Barr (University of Aberdeen), ‘Cullen’s heir?’
• Dr Úna Ní Bhroiméil (Mary Immaculate College), ‘”The ablest educationist of the Irish Episcopate”: Bishop E.T. O’Dwyer and Catholic control of primary education.
• Dr Sarah Roddy (University of Manchester) , ‘The bishop as financial manager: Limerick under Edward O’Dwyer’
• Dr Jacinta Prunty (Maynooth University), ‘Networks and news: the correspondence of Annie O’Dwyer with her brother Bishop Edward Thomas’
• Dr Brian Murphy O.S.B. (Glenstal Abbey), ‘Bishop O’Dwyer and the 1916 Rising: “I trust in valour not in arms”’
• Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel (University College Cork), ‘Bishop O’Dwyer, Mgr O’Riordan, Benedict XV and Irish-Vatican relations during the First World War’

Full information is available here including the programme and online registration. 

You can listen to David's discussion excerpted from the main programme podcast here.

An online database of published material about Bishop O'Dwyer including all of his Lenten pastoral letters including his famous 1915 letter about WWI are available from Limerick City Library available online HERE.

A defiant bishop – An Irishman’s Diary on Edward O’Dwyer, Limerick and 1916 - The Irish Times 16th May 2016

Gospel Matthew 16:13-20

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi andhe asked his disciples,"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply,"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply,"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter,and upon this rock I will build my church,and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciplesto tell no one that he was the Christ.

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter week 1; 21st week in Ordinary time

Saints of the Week

August 28th - St Augustine
August 29th - Passion of St John the Baptist
August 30th - St Fiacre
August 31st - St Aidan of Lindisfarne
September 1st - St Giles (First Friday)
September 2nd - St Ingrid of Sweden(First Saturday)

The Final Prayers of the Executed Leaders of 1916 begin the State Commemoration of the Easter Rising 1916

 
On this Easter morn, Ireland takes stock and salutes her patriotic dead and marks the centenary of the 1916 Rising (Éirí Amach na Cásca).
 
Under the eye of the Commander-in-Chief, Uachtarán na hÉireann, the true successors of the Irish Volunteers, Oglaigh Na hÉireann (the Irish Defence Forces) will represent the Republic and the people of the Republic declared on Easter Monday 1916 in honouring all men and women who fell in the name of Irish freedom.

Óglaigh na hÉireann has been the people, is thepeople and will be the people. Our green uniform does not make
us less people. It is a cloak of our service, a curtailer of our
weaknesses, an amplifier of our strengths’– General Richard Mulcahy

One of the first events on Easter Sunday was a very moving ceremony at the Stonebreakers Yard in Kilmainham Gaol where fourteen of the leaders of the Rising were executed in May 1916. As part of the simple wreath laying ceremony Fr Seamus Madigan, Head Chaplain to the Forces (from the diocese of Limerick) lead a prayer consisting of a reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes and the final prayers of the executed men:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to reap;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
God has made everything beautiful in its time.

"In this place of final moments we are intimately reminded of the comfort brought by faith to the Leaders of the 1916 Rising. On this Easter morning we remember, reflect and reimagine our belief in life after love!

Now, in their own words of prayer, we recall the love and devotion of the executed Leaders for family, for country and for God.
 

My Jesus, Mercy; May we the people of Ireland bear no malice against anyone, and live in perfect peace with Almighty God. We pray for each other, and trust the Lord will raise us up, when silent we have waited in the grave for lonely years.

 

Give us courage to be ready to go into darkness, danger and death trusting in your love. With your help may we act with heroism and respect all people of good will who do their duty. Give us strength to forgive and a belief to hope, that you will be with us to the end. As we draw nearer and nearer to you, we ask your blessing and protection: May we keep the faith, bring glory to you and honour to Ireland.

 

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you, Amen.

 

Solas na bhFlaitheas dár n-anamnacha

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamnacha

 

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed
through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen

13th March 2016 - "The End of All Things Earthly" edited by David Bracken - 5th Sunday of Lent

On this weeks programme we are joined by David Bracken, Limerick Diocesan Archivist to talk about a new book "The End of All Things Earthly". We have a short reflection on this weeks gospel as well as some other odds and ends.
 
You can listen to the full podcast of this weeks programme HERE.

"The End of All Things Earthly" edited by David Bracken
 

On this weeks programme we are joined by David Bracken who works as the Limerick Diocesan Archivist to talk about the publication of a new book about the faith profiles of the 1916 leaders.
 
Bishop Brendan Leahy launched the new book in Dublin and his talk at the launch is available here.

The official launch in Limerick takes place on Tuesday 15th March in Mary Immaculate College at 6.30pm if people are interested and want to attend.
 
The title of the book comes from the last letter of John Mallin to his wife from Kilmainhan Gaol written the night before his execution,
 
"My darling Wife Pulse of my heart, this is the end of all things earthly; sentense of Death has been passed, and a quarter to four tomorrow the sentense will be carried out by shooting and so must Irishmen pay for trying to make Ireland a free nation, Gods will be done.....My heart strings are torne to pieces when I think of you and them of our manly James, happy go lucky John, Shy warm Una dadys Girl and oh little Joseph my little man my little man Wife dear Wife I cannot keep the tears back when I think of him he will rest in my arms no more, to think I have to leave you to battle through the world with them without my help, what will you do my own darling …

Edited by Limerick Diocesan archivist David Bracken, ‘The End of All Things Earthly’ has contributions from 18 academics on this aspect of the leaders’ lives and also includes personal letters and testimonies of the leaders, as well as rarely seen photographs and transcripts. Commenting ahead of the book launch, Bishop Leahy said, “The question of how faith and armed rebellion can be compatible has exercised much conversation from the time of the rising to, indeed, the present day.  However, the book does not seek to adjudicate on this but, instead, merely give a sense of what faith meant to the Leaders.

“The Rising Leaders clearly had varying degrees of faith.  But what is striking is the closeness with God in the final moments before execution, including for those with little Catholic faith prior to this.  It’s a piece of work we are very proud of and indebted to all involved, including our own David Bracken for his effort in pulling this together, and, of course, all contributors.”

Featuring contributions from a selection of Irish academics and historians, the book comprises seventeen concise, yet richly detailed, essays that provide a fascinating insight into the faith profiles of the leaders of the Easter Rising.

 

The essays trace pivotal movements: from the horrors witnessed by Roger Casement in colonial Africa and South America; to the radicalisation of Patrick Pearse, whose writing reflected his Catholic upbringing; to the quiet prison cells in the sober aftermath of the Rising, where the likes of Con Colbert and Joseph Plunkett found consolation in their faith. The personal letters and testimonies of the leaders contained in the book provide a window into the minds of these revolutionaries as they faced their deaths.

 

Including rarely seen photographs and transcripts, The End of All Things Earthly, offers a poignant perspective on the events of 1916, and explores the spirituality that shaped those who gave their lives to Ireland’s independence. 

Contributors to the book include:

• Damien Burke, Assistant Archivist at the Irish Jesuit Archives.
• Bernie Deasy, Archivist at the Delaney Archive, which cares for the archival collections of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, the Patrician Brothers, Brigidine Sisters and Carlow College.
• Noelle Dowling, Archivist at Dublin Diocesan Archives
• Roddy Hegarty, Director of the Cardinal Tomán Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive
• Brian Kirby, Archivist at the Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives.

You can listen to the interview with David excerpted from the main programme podcast HERE.

Artist’s impression by Walter Paget of the situation in the GPO late on the Friday of Easter Week after shell fire set the roof ablaze.

Articles and reflections about the elements of faith and the role of the church during the Rising. Many of these links are taken from the Irish Catholic whose writer Grey Daly is publishing a new book bringing them altogether for people which will be published in the coming weeks.

• The Catholic Church and the Easter Rising
• A divided hierarchy - The Church’s attitude to the Rising was far more complex than newspaper reports suggested at the time.

  In the name of God…

  The dead generations
• Dublin diocese under siege of bullets and flames during the Rising
• The reawakening of a nation
• Ministers of mercy - Fr Bryan Shortall tells  Greg Daly about the Capuchin experience during the Rising
• Jesuit to receive Freedom of Dublin in Hong Kong - 102-year-old Fr Joseph Mallin SJ is the last surviving child of an executed leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.
• Good ends would not justify immoral means - The choice to use force in 1916 must be subjected to severe reappraisal, writes John Bruton
• Pick your favourite 1916 Easter Rising poem - Irish Independent - Some magnificent poetry has emerged from the Easter Rising, from participants, onlookers and others writing over the century since 1916. Dr Lucy Collins of University College Dublin has written about ten key poems inspired by the Easter Rising. Read all 10 poems and Dr Collins commentary at the link above.

 

 

Gospel - John 8:1-11

 

 

"While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

 

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

 

Word on Fire

English Dominicans

Centre for Liturgy

Sunday Reflections

Forgiveness means freedom



 

Liturgical odds & ends

 

Liturgy of the Hours - psalter week 1
 
Saints of the Week (commemorations during Lent)

March 14th - Blessed Thomas Vives
March 15th - Saint Clement Mary Hofbauer
March 16th - Saint Finian Lobhar
March 17th - Solemnity of St Patrick, patron of Ireland. Previous posts from SS102fm on St Patrick
March 18th - Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
March 19th - Solemnity of St Joseph, Husband of BVM
March 20th - Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday 

 

 



The End of All Things Earthly – Faith Profiles of the 1916 Leaders

(Catholic News.ie) - The End of All Things Earthly is a new book edited by David Bracken from the Diocese of Limerick, which offers faith profiles of the 1916 Leaders. Featuring contributions from a selection of Irish academics and historians, the book comprises seventeen concise, yet richly detailed, essays that provide a fascinating insight into the faith profiles of the leaders of the Easter Rising.

The essays trace pivotal movements: from the horrors witnessed by Roger Casement in colonial Africa and South America; to the radicalisation of Patrick Pearse, whose writing reflected his Catholic upbringing; to the quiet prison cells in the sober aftermath of the Rising, where the likes of Con Colbert and Joseph Plunkett found consolation in their faith. The personal letters and testimonies of the leaders contained in the book provide a window into the minds of these revolutionaries as they faced their deaths.
Including rarely seen photographs and transcripts, The End of All Things Earthly, offers a poignant perspective on the events of 1916, and explores the spirituality that shaped those who gave their lives to Ireland’s independence.

David Bracken, who has put the book together, is Archivist at Limerick Diocesan Archive. Contributors to the book include:

• Damien Burke, Assistant Archivist at the Irish Jesuit Archives.
• Bernie Deasy, Archivist at the Delaney Archive, which cares for the archival collections of the Diocese of Kildare and Leighlin, the Patrician Brothers, Brigidine Sisters and Carlow College.
• Noelle Dowling, Archivist at Dublin Diocesan Archives
• Roddy Hegarty, Director of the Cardinal Tomán Ó Fiaich Memorial Library and Archive
• Brian Kirby, Archivist at the Irish Capuchin Provincial Archives.

The End of All Things Earthly is published by Veritas Publications and is available in their stores nationwide and online www.veritas.ie.

Audio from Catholic News.ie: Click here to listen to an interview with David Bracken and Brenda Drumm.

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SS102fm will have an interview with David about his new book and the Limerick diocesan archives in the next few weeks.

Book Launch - "The End of All Things Earthly - Faith Profiles of the 1916 Leaders"

The Capuchins and the 1916 Rising

A documentary examining the role played by the Capuchins in the 1916 Rising will be broadcast on Monday next (25 January) on RTÉ One at 7.30pm. The documentary titled ‘Capuchins and Rebels’ will include dramatic reconstructions and contributions from the historians, Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (UCD), Dr Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh (NUIG), Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh and Fr. Bryan Shortall OFM Cap. and Fr. Kieran Shorten OFM Cap.

Remembering 1916 - Archbishop Eamon Martin - iCatholic

A Question of Faith - John Bruton on remembering 1916

Remembering 1916 with a vision for a just and compassionate society - Irish Catholic Bishops Conference

“Churches have a particular responsibility to bring a message of hope to those who are suffering and those who are feeling disconnected from society … In 2016 we need to hear a renewed commitment to peace articulated from all sectors of society, supported by a clear analysis of the remaining obstacles to peace, the threats to social cohesion, and the steps we need to take as a society to address them.”

During the forthcoming year of 2016 people across the island of Ireland will mark the centenaries of the Easter Rising of April 1916, and the Battle of the Somme, which began the following July.  These events had a profound impact on national identity and shaped the political landscape in ways that can still be felt one hundred years later.  The commemorations thus have the potential to stimulate much-needed reflection on where we are as a society and what we want to achieve for the future.  Churches have a particular responsibility to outline the Christian values that shape our understanding of these transformative events and provide spaces where the challenging questions raised can be addressed in a spirit of understanding and compassion.

We are now over halfway through the ‘decade of centenaries’, a period that was approached with some trepidation because of the risk of reopening old wounds; thankfully these fears have not materialised.  The centenaries marked to date have provided a context for mature reflection and an opportunity to rediscover and re-engage with the experiences, hopes and fears of the generations that have gone before us.  Particularly positive have been those initiatives that have engaged young people in learning about this important period of our history.

The 1916 centenaries will be more challenging still, bringing to the fore the way in which the militarisation of politics and government – both on this island and across the world – impacted on society.  There is much that separates these two events, but there are also important common denominators, most notably the tragic loss of life – primarily the lives of young people, many of whom were prepared to give their lives for their values, for their vision of the nation and its place in the world.