Dublin Mission

After a couple of days in Germany, I joined the rest of the group in Dublin for a mission. It was in preparation for the Eucharistic Congress which will take place next June.

It was a difficult mission, as the Church is really in crisis after the scandals and abuses by some rotten eggs. But, we were able to bring joy into the lives of so many people, and to show that Jesus is loves and mercy.

We visited schools, universities, pubs and soup kitchens. We also spent a lot of time singing and speaking with people on the streets.

One day, Kev and I had lunch together for a bit of quiet time. We stumbled across an Aussie Pie Shop.  It was a tiny little corner shop that sold pies, ginger beer, cherry ripes and lamingtons.  It was great.

Kev enjoying a taste of home.

Three of our students from last year joined us for the mission. It was a joy to have them with us, and they were such a great addition to the team.

Juan, Kev, Hele, Lucy, Lisa

The mission lasted two weeks. We were pretty tired afterwards. I stayed in bed for three days after returning to Rome!

We will probably go back for another mission in June.

Quadlocation

I have created a new word that describes being in four places at the one time: quadlocation.

The weekend before last was extremely busy. If I went to everthing that I was supposed to attend, I would have needed to be in four places at once. There was an event in Rome for the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The ESM was asked to look after the music for all the liturgy. There was also a meeting for all the Province leaders of the Emmanuel Community in Europe, which took place in Vienna. I was supposed to discuss the youth of the Community at this meeting. At the same time, there was a Youth Leaders Formation Course in Altotting, Germany. It was also the first weekend of our mission in Dublin.

Kev took care of the event in Rome, and as it involved music, I wasn't really missed. It was suggested that I fly to Vienna on the Friday, to be ready for a meeting on Saturday morning. Then someone was going to drive me to Germany in the afternoon, before flying to Ireland on Sunday. I decided that this was a bit much.

So I flew to Germany on Friday morning and spent the weekend in Altotting. Although it was a very busy weekend (I was the MC for the event, and had lot of meetings), it was really great. I got to see a lot of the young people from the English-speaking countries, which is a part of my work that I don't get to do very often.

Altotting - getting ready for Christmas

I was so happy to see some of our students from last year. When I saw Kristina, she threw open her arms and yelled, 'mummy!!!'. It was very cute.


Hele, Kristina, Juan, Maria


Monika, Juan, Maria, Hele


Then on Sunday night, I flew to Dublin to meet the rest of the ESM for our first mission for the year. Needless to say, I was very tired.

National Communtiy Gathering

Kev and I joined the rest of the Emmanuel Community of Italy for a weekend in Assisi. We left on Friday afternoon by train. Before getting on the train, we decided to buy some breadrolls for our dinner. We went to a little cafe at the train station and decided what we wanted to order. Although the lady saw us, she completely ignored us. I am getting pretty sick of this type of 'customer service' and have decided not to reward it with giving them my money. So we left.

It was a blessing in disguise, because right in front of us was a Scotish restaurant. With great delight, we each ordered a Classic 50s burger meal. Then we got on the train and enjoyed our fine meal. The train journey was very enjoyable. When we got to Assisi, we only had to walk about 10 minutes to the retreat centre. We passed another restaurant with golden arches, so we thought it would be good to get our dessert. They didn't have any hot apple pies, so we got a tiramisu. How Italian!!!!

The rest of the weekend was pretty good too. We got to practice our Italian, to spend time with lovely people, to have Mass in the Basilica of San Francesco, and to renew our commitment in the Emmanuel Community. We returned to Rome on Sunday afternoon.

Hele and Kev in Assisi

Scotland

Last week I went to Dundee for the third time.  It was part of my work for the youth of the Emmanuel Community in the English-speaking world. I travelled there with Martin Fenkart who is the person responsible for the European Zone of the Emmanuel Community.

There are no direct flights between Italy and Scotland, so I had to travel via Amsterdam.  I met Martin there and we travelled to Scotland together.  All in all, I was travelling for about eleven hours.

I had a wonderful suprise when I arrived at the airport in Scotland.  I knew that Paul (former student of the ESM ) would be there to meet me, but I didn't know that we would also be joined by Matthieu.  It was great to see my boys again!

Matt, Hele, Paul

We had meeting after meeting after meeting, but it was a really good weekend. After many years with only one person of the Emmanuel Community in Scotland, now there is also a group of young people.  It is really encouraging!


















The Emmanuel Community of Scotland

I couldn't get a flight back to Rome on Saturday,so I stayed an extra night.  I decided to make the most of the situation, so I went to the pub with the youngies. I was ready for a night out on the town, but got tired at about 8:30pm.  I am not the person I once was!

Paul kindly drove me to the airport early the next moring (6:30am - poor thing). This time I went home via Paris.  My friend Theresa happened to be on the same flight. Amazing!

A good start!

The new school year began again on October 1st.  As usual we went to Assisi for the first week. The students are a wonderful group of people. I think it will be a good year.

 

Marta, Kev (another new hat) and Simon

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Kev and I were invited to participate at an event at the Vatican last weekend, which was organised by the new Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation.  There were about 350 people there, representing different groups from around the world. It was really interesting and encouraging to hear about all the efforts that are being made to spread the Good News in different parts of the world.

In the afternoon, we joined with 8500 people who are involved in the New Evangelisation. Kev and some others from the Emmanuel Community lead the music.  I was proud as punch.

Isabel, Philip, Kev, Kristina, Tiziana, Carly

We listened to some talks and then were treated to a small concert by Andrea Bocelli.  It was fabulous!

Andrea Bocelli

Then the Pope joined us.  It was great - especially for our new students. Kev and I were right up the front.  We had special tickets because we had been to the meeting in the morning.

The Pope supports the New Evangelisation

The next day we went to Mass at St Peter's Basilica.  It was especially for the participants of the conference on the New Evangelisation. In his homily, the Holy Father declared the coming year as the Year of Faith, with an emphasis on its missionary aspect.

Our dear Holy Father

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On Wednesday 19th October, Kev and I went to the official opening of Domus Australia, which is a new hotel and pilgrim centre in Rome which is run by the Catholic Church of Australia. Our dear friend Fr Denton is the rector. We were very blessed to receive and invitation to the event, because most of the other people were bishops and priests.

When we arrived we noticed that the streets were blocked and there were police everywhere, in anticipation of the Pope's arrival. When we got inside we realised that we were to be seated in another room where we could watch everything on a tv screen. We were a little disappointed (to put it mildly). Then at the last minute, an official entered the room and read out some names of people who were asked to come into the church where the event was taking place. Our names were on the list! Very soon afterwards, the Pope walked into the small church with Cardinal Pell and Fr Denton.

 

The Pope arrives at Domus Australia

The Cardinal spoke briefly and then the Holy Father gave some encouraging words. It was strange to hear him speaking in English again.

Opening of Domus Australia

The he went out to the courtyard and unveiled a plaque. From this point we watched everything on the screens. It was nice to see that Fr Denton got to spend some moments chatting with the Holy Father. After the Pope left, we had fancy finger-food and wine. We got to catch up with lots of Aussies who live in Rome but we don't see very often.

You can watch a snippet of the event here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_onbJMjGjo

You can watch the whole thing at the bottom of this page:
http://www.sydney.catholic.org.au/news/latest_news/2011/20111021_1362.shtml

Look out for Kev and me who are sitting at the back on the left!

We have had a very busy week indeed, but have been so blessed to see so much of the Pope!

Meetings, meetings, meetings....fun

Last week Kev and I went back to Paray le Monial, after only three weeks since the last time we were there. It was an intense week. Firstly we had a meeting with the Directors of the other two European ESMs. The following two days we had meetings with the International Youth Team for the Emmanuel Community. Then we had two days of formation for the Teams of the ESMs. Then we were given a retreat. 

Although we were kept very busy, it was a really enjoyable time.  It was also broken up by some times of hanging out.

We had a BBQ at Olivier and Xrystilla's house.  After dinner some of us gathered around the fire and sang along as Kev played Metallica and Gun's 'n Roses songs on the guitar. I was surprised at how many of the Europeans knew the words.

Sing-a-long in Paray

We also tested out the new bowling alley in Paray.  I wasn't as hopeless as I thought I would be.  Kev was the winner. 

Kev getting his body into bowling

We went home via Milan. We had a meeting with members of the Emmanuel Community there about the possibility of working together on some missions in the future. 

Cathedral in Milan

Now we are home again, and have just welcomed our new students for the year!

Dublin

I popped over to Dublin for two days to do some preparation work for an upcoming mission. I had sworn that I would never use Ryanair again, but there was no alternative. The night before I left, I spent about half an hour trying to pack my bag so that it would weigh less than 10kg. They are ruthless about the luggage restrictions, so I had to be precise. Ryanair are the only airline that I know of that only allow you to bring one carry-on bag.  All the others allow one bag plus a handbag or laptop.  So I had to put absolutely everything into one bag. This isn't easy because my laptop weighs 5kg and my suitcase weighs 3kg, so I only had 2kg for clothes and stuff. I ended up using a backpack instead, which didn't weigh as much.

As a side note, while on the trip I came up with the idea of sewing some really large pockets on the inside of a coat. I will call it my 'cheap flight jacket' and put all the bulky items in the pockets when I travel: books, camera, laptop charger, bible, etc. Then I can walk onto the plane wearing the jacket and carrying ONE bag with me. I can't wait to make it.  Then I will win....mu ha ha ha......

Back to my story, I left Rome on Monday morning, and returned on Wednesday morning - so it was a quick trip. I got to catch up with several members of the Emmanuel Community -luckily they will be able to do a lot of the ground-work for the mission. After having a nice pub lunch and several cups of tea (we can't get good tea in Italy) I went for a drive with Linda, Paul and Conlith. We drove north for about two hours to a hotel for a meeting with Ed and Fiona who live in Belfast - it was the half-way point.

The next day we had a few more meetings about different aspects of the mission. We checked out the area around the church where we will have one of the missions. Here is the local pub - very religious.....!

Helen and Linda

The meetings all went really well - much better than expected. The Irish are such a good bunch, so it was an enjoyable trip. I had to get up at 4:30am on Wednesday, in order to get to the airport in time for my cheap flight. I was pretty tired when I got back, but pleased that it had been a successful trip.

Out in Style!

Last week Kev and I went all the way to the other side of the city to catch up with some friends. This was very exciting, not only because they are particularly good friends, but because we don't get out very often.

The occasion was Louisa's visit to Rome. We planned to meet up with her at Domus Australia, which is a new hotel in Rome. The rector of the hotel is Fr Denton who is also a very good friend of ours.

We started with Mass at 6ish pm in the church which is attached to the hotel. Then we mozied on over to the restaurant which is also attached to the hotel. The food was great. So was the wine! (Kev and I are not used to spending more than 2 or 3 bucks on a bottle of wine, so this was a real treat!) The service was top-notch too. It was very fancy indeed.


Hele, Kev, Louisa, Fr Denton


It was good to have some ripper Aussie company for the evening. Oh....how we laughed! It was thoroughly enjoyable.

(we gotta get out more)

Madrid - World Youth Day

World Youth Day was fantastic....but so exhausting.

We first went to an International Youth Forum in Paray le Monial. There were about 2500 people there, including our own dear Aussies. After having been there a number of times over the last year, it was so good to be there with so many good friends from home.


Aussies in Paray!

Each morning there was Praise then a talk. Then there were workshops in the afternoons and concerts at night. Kev and I were asked to give the talk on the second day. We thought it a good idea to listen to the talk on the first day, in case we might need to make any minor changes to our own. As we sat and listened, we freguently mumbled words of disbelief and a few @*&^$£s. It was exactly what we had planned to speak about. So, we spent the afternoon and evening re-writing our talk - basically we had to start from scratch. It turned out ok. Many people laughed at Kev's jokes, which is quite an achievement for an international audience.

On the last evening of the Forum, we piled into coaches for overnight travel to Lourdes. It was not a comfortable way to spend the night, to say the least.

We spent one day in Lourdes - for the feast of the Assumption. We didn't have time to visit the baths but it was a great day.

We had mass produced strange food for lunch - I think they wanted to whet our appetites for WYD.


Kev patiently waiting for lunch

We were able to catch up with a large group of students from our first year at the ESM, many of whom created the now well-known "Wrong Town". (This is a place inhabited by people who continually say inappropriate things - needless to say, Kev is the mayor). These darling young people finally fulfilled my request by writing a song about Wrong Town to the music of 'Downtown'. The fact that they wrote it on the way to Lourdes is an example of Wrong Town in itself. The song gets the thumbs up!


Residents of Wrong Town - former ESM students

After more mystery food for dinner, we joined the procession. There were sooooo many people - it was wonderful.


Candlelight procession

Then we got back on the coach for another overnight journey...two nights in a row was a killer.

We arrived in Madrid feeling anything but refreshed! But it didn't take long to get caught up in the excitement of WYD. Most people stayed on the floor in schools or halls. Kev and I asked if we could stay with a host family. We stayed with a dear old man who spoke no english and was very generous but a bit odd. The bed was terrible, so we slept on the floor anyway.

In Madrid we joined up with our group: last year's ESM students and members of the Centro San Lorenzo. We were together for the week as missionaries, not just participants. We were involved with a number of things at WYD. Firstly, we organised one of the catechesis sites. That meant that for three mornings in a row, our whole team travelled for about 90 minutes to a church that was to host an English-speaking bishop or cardinal who would give a talk to the young-uns. Our role was to set up the church, organise the prayer, the music, the Mass, Adoration, Q&A and the all-round welcome of the pilgrims. We thought it was going to be a bit of a pain, but ended up being the highlight of the week.


The mission team

We also helped a bit with an event organised by the Emmanuel Community, called Noche de Alegria (Night of Joy). It was one of the major events for WYD and had a huge crowd. Some of our ESM students had major roles: Shaheer and Nia were the MCs, and Kristina and Maria were singers. They make us proud.

One of the guests for the night was a singer called Tony Melendez. He is a famous guitarist from Nicaragua. He has no arms. This little video explains more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9wo9sVn2c

He was very talented and very inspiring. I applauded him so much that I lost my voice for days afterwards.


Tony Melendez

Our group also did a mission in one of the city parishes for three afternoons and three nights. We were never bored.

Traditionally the Saturday of WYD is the pilgrimage walk to the site where everyone sleeps out. We gathered toghether most of the English-speakers who were with the Emmanuel Community - ESM/Centro, Americans, English, Welsh. Due to the heat, fatigue and the distance, they decided to get the train to the site. This didn't sit right with us so we asked our students if they would like to walk. Most of them said yes. Locals told us that it was impossible to walk that far, but we didn't believe them. So we walked about 8 kms in almost 40 degree heat. We took about three hours. It was fantastic. Spirits were high, and we all really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately when we got to the WYD site, they had already locked the gates. That's what happens when you don't check people's tickets before letting crowds in! So we joined tens of thousands of other registered pilgrims by setting up outside in the surrounding fields. I don't think it made much of a difference - we were in front of a screen so didn't miss anything.


Hele, Fr Markus, Kev

In the evening, when the Holy Father was speaking, there was a freak storm. There was lightning and thunder and heavy rain. It got pretty bad so we tried to protect ourselves under our sleeping mats. It was fun.


Shelter from the storm

The problem with being locked out of the official site was access to food. One kind friend named Rohan, who joined our group, collected all our meal tickets and waited at the fence until volunteers would give him food. He carried an incredible amount of food packs back for us. He was very welcomed when he returned to us!

We managed to sleep quite well under the circumstances. Lying out in an open field amongst thousands of people was actually more comfortable than anywhere else that we had slept in the last couple of weeks. It only rained a little bit during the night.

The next morning, Rohan showed up with breakfast for our group. He had walked a heck of a long way to McDonalds and exchanged meal tickets for breakfasts. He insisted that they give him two meals per ticket because the tickets were worth more than their meals. He came back with 32 coffees and 32 donuts or pastries. It was a welcome sight!


Breakfast arrives!

Then we took it easy until the outdoor Mass with the Pope started.


Hele and Kev - this is where we slept

After Mass, our group broke up. It was very sad, as this was the last time that some of our students will see each other ever again.


Maria, Denilo, Hele, Shaheer, Juan, Kev

This small group of us tried to make it back to the city together. We thought we were clever by getting on a bus to the city. Unfortunately it took us to an overcrowded metro station. Kev and Denilo and I walked for a bit. Then we prayed and asked Mother Mary to get us back to our parish because we were scared that our coach would leave without us. Our prayers were answered immediately - almost as soon as I stuck my thumb out to hitch-hike, two dear old ladies picked us up and drove us back.

We had time for quick showers and lunch before getting back on the dreaded coach. This time it was a 17 hour trip to Lyon airport. We bought a couple of cheap dvds at roadside diners and watched those before going to sleep.

The next day we flew back to Rome.

We have two years to recover before the next WYD in Brazil.

I know why WYD is for young people - we are getting too old!

Oxford

Well it is finally my turn to write on the blog. That's me in the photo above, looking fairly pleased with myself. The place behind me is Christ College in Oxford...which is apparently important if you like the Harry Potter movies. I was there for the purpose of going to a conference on Patristics. It is held there every four years, so I figured I might as well get there if I could while I was on the top side of the world. The conference coincided nicely with a meeting that had been organised by the Community, in Oxford, for the purpose of translating some songs from French to English. That meeting happened to be on the weekend previous to the conference, so it worked out quite nicely.

During the translation meeting I stayed at Catholic Chaplaincy, which is directly opposite Christ College. You can see that my room was quite palatial! During the conference I stayed with some friends (the Rodgers) at their place just outside of Oxford. All in all it was a good trip...but of course I missed Hele big time!

Home...then Rome

We arrived back in Rome after travelling for almost 32 hours. The trip was quite good - I slept for about ten hours between Singapore and Italy.

It was really hard to leave Australia again. Our visit home was too short. We managed to catch up with a lot of family and friends, but ran out of time to see everyone.

On July 26th, it was Alex's and my birthday. Everyone came over for dinner. It was a hoot.


The twin's birthday dinner



Hele and Kev

On August 1st, it was Paul's birthday. Everyone came over for dinner. It was a hoot.


Paul and Hele


Mum and Dad

We were on a tight schedule for the last few days. We visited the CCB and caught up with the gang there. We had a visit from Sarsy and met her lovely fiance. We popped in on Daniella and her darling boys. We visited the Lawrences, the Andersons, the Vacas, the Canavans and the Ducketts. Thanks to all who prepared lovely meals for us. We really appreciate how you coordinated the menus so that there was no doubling up!


Hele, Marita and Gerry (an aunt and uncle)


Hele One and Hele Two


Hele and Kev, and the Canavans

We had a BBQ at Nick and Rachel's...the food was great and the weather was beaut! After lunch we went inside for a family sing-a-long. It was......weird.


BBQ at Nick and Rachel's

I really really enjoyed spending time with the family, and it was a treat to be able to play with Mikey and Timmy (our gorgeous nephews).

It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone (and the comforts of home) again. So when we returned to Rome we decided to do the things that we couldn't do if we were back in Melbourne.

This is what we did:

1. Had a good coffee.
2. Walked 25 minutes to St Peters.
3. Prayed in front of Bl. JPII's tomb.
4. Had Adoration each day, a short walk from home.
5. and .............


These cost about 45 cents (Aus) each!

See you all again in one year.......

Winter

We arrived in Sydney on Saturday 2nd July after a pretty good flight from Europe.


View of Sydney from the plane

It was almost 18 months since we left our homeland, and we can’t tell you how nice it is to be home. We stayed with Kev’s parents for two weeks. It took about one week to get over jetlag – falling asleep at about 3am each morning. We spent a lot of time catching up with the ever-growing Wagner family – it was nice to meet the new little editions. I also went up to the Gold Coast for a few days to see my darling aunty and uncle (Carmel and Jack) and cousin Tessie and her hubby and six kids. They are all mildly mad, so we had lots of fun.

Then, back in Sydney, we stayed with the MacDonald’s for some quality time. They are also wild and crazy, so it was super fun. They live three doors down from Jacinta (my bridesmaid) so it was a treat to see her and the kids too. I also got to see Dougie and Sandra and their little boy Joseph, who is my godson whom I had never met.


Hele and Sarsy


Hele and Cinti

After two weeks in Sydney, we flew down to Melbourne. We went from extreme heat in Rome, to cool in Sydney, to dang-cold in Melbourne. I am determined not to get sick - I have been fighting off the signs of a cold since we arrived in Australia, but it has not quite developed.

It is strange to be home after all this time, but in a way it seems as though we have never been away. We hadn’t seen most people for a year and a half, but were very blessed to have had visits from my brother Paul, and mum and dad during our time away. We have finally seen our new nephew Timmy (Alex and Steph’s second child) and can’t keep up with our extremely chatty and energetic godson Mikey.

Last weekend we went away with some good friends. We stayed a couple of nights in a lovely cabin in Red Hill. We didn’t do a lot....mostly caught up on old times, ate, drank (in sensible quantities of course) and played charades.


Dave, Maree, Donna, Mary, Hele, Kev, Pete, Nick



Enjoying a walk



What a handsome boy!


A candid photo - enjoying the grounds

It was a lovely spot, and it was so nice to breathe the fresh country air – it was kind of like the opposite to Rome! On Sunday we drove back to Melbourne with Dave and Maree, via the coast road. We stopped in Mornington for morning tea. I hadn’t been there in years and years. Twas such a wonderful weekend!!!

End of the year

Kev and I survived our first year as directors of the ESM. Towards the end of June, we started to prepare for the end of the year. We had a special dinner to thank all the people who had helped with the formation of the students - teachers, companions, etc. These generous people were honoured with various performances by the students that showed how much of an impact they had had on the students - basically, the students impersonated them...it was hilarious and was received in good humour.

Like last year, we also had Cardinal Rylko over for dinner. He likes to meet the students before they leave the school, to encourage them in their mission to evangelise when they return home. He is in charge of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, and is the person who requested that the Emmanuel Community run a School of Mission in Rome.


Cardinal Rylko with the ESM

On the last day of school, the students gave Kev and me a surprise after lunch. A couple of them impersonated the two of us at the pearly gates, trying to convince St Peter to let us into heaven. Then they showed us a video that they had made to prove how much they had listened to everything we had taught them over the year - it was a video of them doing everything we asked them NOT to do. Once again, it was great. They presented us with a chain of cut-outs of their hand-prints with a message from each of them. It was supposed to look a bit childish, as many of them referred to us as 'mum and dad' througout the year.

That night, we had our end-of-year party on the terrace. It went until about 3:00am. Then Kev and I had to finish off some work, and headed home at about 4:00am. We decided not to go to sleep, knowing that the first group of students would leave at 6:00am. We made use of the time by packing for our trip home. Then we went back to the School and said goodbye to the students. It was very very sad.

We went to 7:30am Mass, and had to try very hard to stay awake. Then we went home and waited for our taxi which took us to the airport. We flew out of Rome at midday on July 1st.

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It has been an amazing year. There have been some major struggles, but these were out-weighed by the blessings which poured down on us over the year. Our students were an incredible group of people, and we will really really miss them. We already do....