I haven’t written anything here in the past two weeks as my spare time has been taken up with preparations for our Passionist Institute which begins this evening at the Emmaus Retreat Centre, near Swords, Dublin. We have just over forty participants, laypeople and Passionists, from various parts of our Province. I will be giving talks tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday on Saint Paul of the Cross, with powerpoint slides (‘Saint Paul of the Cross and Technology’), and on Friday Father James Sweeney C.P. will be addressing some more recent questions. Father Frank Keevins C.P. will act as moderator and lead us through these days.
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In its online catalogue, the National Library of Scotland gives a short excerpt from a video of the first Lourdes Day Rally of the Diocese of Galloway held at Fatima House, Coodham in 1958. Coodham was a Passionist Retreat House from about 1946 until 1988. After the Passionists sold the property, it was allowed to fall into ruin, with the interior being completely destroyed by fire some years ago. The house has now been restored and converted into nine high quality apartments.
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An exercise we were often given in school was to compare and contrast two pieces of writing. Why not try this yourself with these two accounts of the forthcoming visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to Her Majesty’s Prison, Wormwood Scrubs. For inmates at London’s Wormwood Scrubs prison praying for redemption, help may soon be at hand from “the greatest saint of modern times”, writes Caroline Davies in The Guardian (of all places), while John Walsh comments in The Independent: To find, in 2009, that a casket of relics from a long-dead saint can warrant its own multi-venue rock tour of western Europe, with an entourage of stage managers and roadies, thousands of adoring zealots and (okay, I’m guessing) special tour merchandise (“£15 for the Little Flower T-shirt: roll up!”) is more than laughable; it’s positively alarming.
(Interestingly, John is the author of The Fallen Angels, described as A work of autobiography dominated by a single theme — the author’s love-hate relationship with his Irish-Catholic heritage.)
You can find more information on the Visit of the Relics of Saint Thérèse to England and Wales here.
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