This is Father Gabriel Barros. On 19 October he arrived in Ireland with a (transitional) deacon, Harold Bumann, to take up residence in Kilmyshall, County Wexford, Ireland. Why is that so important? – Because Father Gabriel and his confrere are members of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, and Kilmyshall, a village of less than one hundred inhabitants, is their new centre of operations.
The Institute of the Incarnate Word is a new congregation founded twenty-three years ago in Argentina, whose aim is the Evangelisation of Culture. Now present in twenty-seven countries, the Institute has about four hundred members and about twice that number of seminarians, as well as a (men’s) contemplative branch and a community of sisters; like most of the new communities, the Institute also has a flourishing lay movement.
In his ordination year, Father Gabriel (and his confrere, Father Pablo Scaloni) spent two months with us at Saint Mungo’s learning English. Apart from addressing Sister Maureen as Sister Morning, they did very well and made great progress. So it is that an Argentinian with a Scottish accent is now about to evangelise Ireland.
The Franciscans of the Renewal arrived in Limerick a couple of months ago and, on the first of October, the contemplative sisters of the Congregation of Saint John opened a community in Derry, with Bishop Hegarty expressing the hope that they would be followed by additional sisters and also by the Brothers of Saint John. (H/t to Conor for this news before it happened.) The Church in Ireland doesn’t realise it yet, but these new communities will challenge people, clergy and especially religious by showing them a different way of being disciples of Christ (-the most noticeable part of the difference being enthusiasm). If there is anything that is killing the religious life at the moment, it is our certainties: many of us have made up our mind about how things are going to be in the future. (For someone else’s thoughts on this, have a look here.) Fortunately, the new communities haven’t read the script, so prepare yourself for a surprise!
Laus Crucis 
As a former priest of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, I must tell you: beware of these people. They are a dangerous sect. Anyone who needs more info can send me an email and I will tell them why.
Hi can u please email me more on your statement? rampere_4@ymail.com
Hi Former Priest Garcia, your name does not figure in the archives of the Institute of the Incarnate Word. Therefore, if it is true you are a former priest, you’re hiding your true identity. why so? have you been unfaithful to Christ? Have you betrayed your religious vows and your priestly vocation? I pray for you.
That’s a very flattering comment about the Institute of the Incarnate Word–of course, I would agree that its true, which is why I myself entered the Institute! Please pray for our missionaries and our new foundation in Ireland…
As you know from a previous comment of mine, I heartily endorse your sentiment and urge religious to look up, stay positive and recognise that while people may respond differently than before and perhaps want to act in a different way, the world doesn’t stand still and we need those people who are prepared to “say yes” in a different manner. There are many, many signs and reasons to have great hope for the church. In July 2008, the world will see over 500,000 signs of hope for the church when WYD gathers in Australia. We need to seize every opportunity with both hands. I welcome all of these new congregations and groups to Ireland.
Counting Blessings
This is a little project I started to undertake a few months ago.
I got so sick and tired of hearing about (or directly being told) that the Catholic Church is dying, no one is entering priestly or religous life, churches will have to be closed, priests will have to be married, women will have to be ordained, no one is going to seminary, the Church should be relevent, the Church should change its teaching to conform to our death culture in the West.
We are told that all the clergy is aged, that most of them are gay, and all of them are suspected to be child-abusers. (Few people care to point out or understand that less than 1% of the Clergy in the Catholic Church have had so much as accusations made against them…)
It gets old. Really old. And tired. REALLY TIRED.
Especially since it is simply NOT true.
I invite these people to take their blinders off and take a look at where the growth is and WHY the growth is.
My competence in research is limited to English language sources (some would challenge that!) so there are likely 100s of more unreported groups out there that are begining to spread their wings and soar.
Why is the state of Nebraska home to as many as 5 times more seminarians than the state of California? See for yourself. Draw your own conclusions.
Why did the tiny Diocese of Arlington VA (USA) ordain more priests than the Largest US (arch)diocese, LA each year for the past several years? How did Lincoln do the same? Atlanta? Look what is going on in those places. Draw your own conclusions.
The glorious thing is, that 15 years ago when I first started to see that things were not “kosher” the average Catholic was left to believe it was like that everywhere. Now, with great blogs like these, spreading the word about the great orders and diocese that are keeping the faith.
It is an exciting time to be Catholic. Hold unto your seats, this roller coaster is about to get a whole lot more exciting.
We have a community of several sisters and two priests in our diocese of Roermond, ( south of the Netherlands) the sisters live in Merkelbeek, the priests have two parishes in Brunssum. They are very inspiring, and attractive to young people.
Last week Fr. Viktor came on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Charles in Munstergeleen with a group of 15 young people, in preparation of the next World-Youht-Days in Sidney. The group has chosen tne new St. Charles as their Patron.
Hope they’l get some Dutch vocations!
Harrie Broers,
Pastor of Munstergeleen
What an interesting blog…please go & convert all my Irish heathen cousins!
A friend of mine was in the contemplative sisters of the CSJ. Another friend was talking to her, asking her about their life. No, they didn’t say a full monastic office. They spent a lot of time listening to talks by Fr Marie-Dominique Philippe. “Well” said non-CSJ friend consolingly, “he’s very old …”.
Pause.
CSJ novice: “They have tapes.”
🙂
Mr Garcia; it would be a great help to email you about this. How do I contact you , please? From Ireland… my email is anchoresscj at yahoo dot com. Please contact me? Thank you so very much