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.