In January 2021 Sr Mairead Ni Chuirc will travel to Malawi to a new country and a new ministry. In this article Mairead shares how she feels about this new chapter in her life.

This month of December, 2020, in the California Region, invites us to honor in a special way Sister Kathleen Newell who will celebrate her 100th birthday on December 13th. Sister Kathleen was one of the five pioneers who came to California over sixty seven years ago, in September 1953, at the invitation of Cardinal McIntyre, to minister in Elementary Education in St. Cornelius Parish School, Long Beach, in the diocese of Los Angeles.

The Sanctuary here in Stanhope Street Dublin 7, is a meditation centre for social change. It has been evolving gently over the past twenty-two years alongside an ever-changing society, however, with the challenges of COVID-19, new and exciting opportunities have opened up on a scale not planned for at the beginning of the year. The following is an example of just two online initiatives:

It stepped into our world uninvited

Left it in shackles unexpected.

With a smile, Covid-19 appeared

Thinking it would leave Mother Earth devastated.

The year 2020 has been marked with the visit of a frightening yet astonishing stranger – COVID-19 – whose presence has challenged us into diverging ways of meeting with our needs but more especially of listening to the Divine and seeing the Divine in all things.  We have also learnt new ways of living in community.

It wasn’t until 1916 that the allotment movement started to grow in a select few Irish cities. This was half way through World War I, and as you can probably guess food was in short supply.  A reality in all war torn situations in our world.

Our 2019 General Chapter calls us to open our hearts to our common call; to journey together into the New Dawn.  “Look the New Dawn is breaking – the Spirit invites us to grow into the fulness of life and love”.

As for all parishes throughout the country and indeed the world, the virus Covid 19 has had its impact with NPHET, HSE and Government restrictions. However, we very quickly embraced technology with offering Facebook and You Tube Mass on line until Webcam was installed into the Church early April.  Phone calls and zoom meetings became the norm and we embraced technology with open arms – as these were the only arms we had to reach out to our parishioners. 

These are the ways we in the English/Scottish Province are preparing to celebrate Christmas in the midst of the pandemic.

There seems to be no smile on the faces of those whose livelihood have gone down the drain because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Hence, preparation to welcome the infant Universal King at Christmas might seem meaningless. Nevertheless, it is our communal responsibility to bridge the gap between joyful expectation and hopelessness and thus help people to find meaning in life.