St. Patrick's Day 2020

St. Patrick’s Day, the world over and in Ireland is marked by a huge and international energetic sense of Irishness. Many well-known landmarks in the world’s biggest cities turns green to celebrate the contribution of the Irish diaspora to society for generations. The colour of the parades, the sights and sounds of floats, and bands, and cultural displays on a big scale is beamed all over the planet on March 17^th. Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

This year we have been thrown into a completely new and scary situation.  St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and all over the world is going to be held quietly indoors and privately for the safety of everyone. No parades, no pubs, no gatherings. We have new words in the vocabulary; we are all told to practice ‘social distancing’ and self-isolation.’ Small children who would normally be sitting up on their dad’s shoulders to get a look at the floats in the parade, are playing in their homes, and playing in the parks and green areas away from their friends. There are no playgrounds open. The streets are empty, and the bars are closed. We need to be mindful of the wisdom of the medical advice to us.

We are hungry for more information and news about this new Corona Virus pandemic called Covid-19. We are seeing countries closing their borders and locking down their streets. People are to stay indoors in many European countries and only go out for essential shopping. Children are Skyping their grandparents, virtually hugging them from behind the glass. It is eerie and frightening out there. 

We can’t offer Mass in Churches with a congregation. It is not permitted to have more than 100 people together indoors. I imagine that there will be further restrictions coming soon. Many of us are broadcasting on Facebook Live or via Webcam. Last weekend, I don’t know how many calls came to the parish house asking was there Mass? 

I looked at a picture of Jesus in the desert. I find comfort in this when we are told to practice social distancing and self-isolation. Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the desert after he was baptized by John. In a sense he prepared for his public ministry by prayer, fasting, and in isolation. In the desert, a place of foreboding, he was tempted and tormented. Yet, we are told the Angels came to minister to him (Matthew 4:11) He was also terrified in the Garden of Gethsemane before his trial and crucifixion but again, the Angels came to minister to him (Luke 22:43) Jesus understands our fears and he will not leave us alone. He walks with us through this.

St. Patrick spent part of his young life in slavery and isolation and he knew what being apart from his family was like. Later, he was called to come and minister in Ireland, sent by the Pope as Apostle of Ireland. With great tenacity, he lit a flame which became a great fire of faith which lasts to this day. Our parents passed on this faith to us. Faith helps us to see in the dark. Patrick used the Shamrock, the three-leafed clover, to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God in relationship with you and me, like a family, a family of love. 

In these times, we draw strength from family. If we can’t be together now, if we can’t hold each other, or if we must stay apart for the sake of our health, we can still be connected. We join with family at a distance, or who feel lonesome. At this time of Corona Virus, we may not be able to be physically present together, but we can unite in faith, prayer, and love. Soon, please God, we will walk through this, and we will enjoy a coffee together, or a pint, and we will have our family gatherings again, and make new memories. Night is darkest just before the dawn. There is good weather coming.

St. Patrick, pray for us! Our Lady of Knock Pray for us!

Do not be afraid! Amen.

Sending Positive Vibes. Talk given to the Religion Teachers Association of Ireland. Athlone. March 7th 2020.

I ask myself what can I say to a group of religion teachers? What do you need to hear from me? I remember Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard winning the Oscar for ‘Falling Slowly’ a few years ago and they got the chance to speak to the great and the good of Hollywood. For a few moments they had the ears, the attention of just about every movie star in the business. I remember thinking, what a platform. Here today, I have a chance to speak to you. Each of you daily invite and challenge scores of young people to become conscious of something above and beyond themselves and this is something I share too in my life as a capuchin friar and as a priest. 

A little about me. I was born in the Coombe Hospital in 1969, the eldest of seven, and I went to school in Dublin in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  I joined the Capuchin Order in 1987 after a mediocre Leaving Cert and in the ten years of formation, I studied philosophy in Millltown Park, and Theology in All Hallows College. I graduated with a BA in Theology and a Grad. Dip. In Holistic Development. I was ordained a priest in 1997 and my first appointment was a school chaplain. I had 5 hours RE teaching per week and I quickly realised I knew very little about chaplaincy and so I began a two-year MA in school chaplaincy in Mater Dei/ DCU (this began as a Grad Dip and finished as a MA in 2004)

I spent 10 years in school chaplaincy altogether between Dublin and Cork. I was into a groove in Dublin and was gaining confidence in front of a class of 30 teenagers. Now, I acknowledge that it was perhaps easier for me, even more than other priest-chaplains or religion teachers, because dressed like this, I am pretty hi-visibility. When the pupils first get over the shock, and the giggles, and the “Hey-hey, we’re the Monkees…” then it’s obvious to them what exactly I am. For other chaplain and RE teachers, there may be some explaining. Maybe there’s no explaining in that sense for an English, or a Maths or Science, or a French teacher.

You know the way the first year or two can be a nightmare and then you get into it. Well, at least I think I did. They I was sent to Cork, to our own Capuchin School, and I had to start all over again. Eventually, I walked in like a cross between Roy Keane and Liam Gallagher and there wasn’t a sound. I knew I had developed the craft. I had made it as a teacher. I was like “Yeah, don’t mess with me.” But it was hard fought. I remember going back to visit Coolmine after I was transferred. I was in the staff room for a coffee and one of the teachers from the maths/science dept asked me how I was getting on. I remember I said, I think I have got tougher. She said, we knew you would break! It was like she said, yeah, no more mister nice guy. 

In 2007, I was asked to go as Chaplain to Beaumont Hospital. If you had asked me to choose a ministry, any ministry, the last one I would have picked was hospital. I spent three years there and it was tough for lots of reasons but honestly, hospital ministry is great work. It can be a cliché but teaching the young is a privilege, perhaps we are supposed to say this. But hospital ministry, where one can sit with someone who is dying or trying to come to terms with a new reality in their lives is an amazing privilege too. Working alongside nursing, medical, surgical, and care staff and seeing them make no distinction at all about who comes into the emergency dept was and is a great lesson to me.

From Beaumont in 2010, I was asked to go as parish priest to St. Michan’s, Halston St and Church St. In parish ministry, I had fairly regular visits to the two parish primary schools, but this was also somewhat of a challenge because in the real world it can be more tricky to get the time in parish ministry to engage with the schools. For example, there were a lot of funerals in the last parish I was in and these take up the whole morning and some of the afternoon and since the kids are gone home by 2.30 p.m. that’s the day gone. When I was in secondary school in the 1980’s, a priest used to literally walk into the class and promote devotion to some saint or other. No one stopped him. Who would after all? Today, thank God, this shouldn’t happen now for loads of reasons not least as all visitors need to report to reception at least. 

For the last 10 years, I have been in parish ministry with all that entails; Baptisms, Funerals, First Communions, Confirmations, RCIA, First Friday visitation of the sick, emergency calls by the Gardaí, Fundraising, Restoration. And this has given me much of the material for the two books I have written in the intervening years. I’ve been very lucky and very blessed.

I seem to have a reputation out there for spreading positivity. No doubt because I published my second book before Christmas. My first one was called ‘Tired of all the Bad News’ which came out in 2016. The second one is called ‘Sending Positive Vibes’ and that was published in November. Basically, they are some reflections and homilies I have written and blogged over the years. They are interspersed with some memories of growing up in Dublin in the and the genesis of my vocation and my decision to join the Capuchin Order in 1987.

Tongue-in-cheek, I say that the first book was an exercise in vanity. I had been approached by Columba Books in early 2016. They asked me to write a foreword to a book they were publishing on Padre Pio. When I submitted it, they said they would like to return the favour. “Maybe you can” I said. I told them of my idea for the book. “You writing a book?” “It’s kind of written” I replied. “Send it in” they said. So, I did. And following a conversation with the provincial minister because I had to get permission, I sent it in.

So, I stand before you this morning to encourage perhaps. I also want to express my gratitude to those who teach the young religion. While there is a debate today about the passing on of the faith – primarily the work of the Holy Spirit through parents and grandparents, you are also stakeholders in this by providing a platform for students and others to gain wisdom and understanding about a loving and personal God as revealed by Jesus Christ.

My brother Kevin graduated from Mater Dei in 1996 and taught English and RE in Tallaght all his professional life. Two years ago, he became Deputy in Old Bawn Community School. I told him I was going to be speaking to you today. He offered some advice for me. 

He said today religion not something that needs to be defended anymore – nor apologised for – or embarrassed about.  It is something that needs to be rediscovered. While it has to be acknowledged that some (clergy) and in leadership roles have made a spectacular success of profoundly damaging the church institution not least in how child sexual abuse and the criminal cover-up was handled, I still see a cohort of young people responding to the invitation to get involved in church. We are in a post outrage society. For example, you need look no further than what is going on in St. Paul’s Church, Arran Quay in terms of youth ministry.  We are not alone in trying to reach out to young people and offer them something under the umbrella of religious education which I believe goes deeper than just an academic subject.

Young people engage with Church today because they want to, not because it’s what their mammy and daddy want. The days of obligation are over. We are more adult now and when we go to church and when we practice our faith, it is because we desire to. No one is forced anymore. The question “what did the priest say at Mass?” to test kids did they go is gone, thank God. The Millennials are not upset by the Church – they are intrigued by it. Prominent and welcoming people help in this regard, whether in school, or at diocesan level or parish level. For example, seeing church people on social media spreading the good news is critical today. I believe Twitter is an ingenious way to spread the good news today just as the pulpit was in the past. The Holy Father, many bishops, priests, and religious as well as dioceses do the same all over the word and on cyberspace. I believe it is critical to use these forums to upbuild and affirm rather than sow seeds of judgement. Church people should never be trolls. 

I am impressed by Pope Francis in that in his ministry he uses the example of Saint Francis of Assisi praying before the cross of San Damiano. In the story, Francis of Assisi is searching for some answers as to what God is asking him to do. He hears the voice; “Francis, go repair my church, which, as you can see is falling completely into ruin.” At first Francis rebuilds the walls of the church with bricks and mortar. However, later, the other brothers, and Clare and her sisters come to join him.  Fundamentally, Francis learns the building programme is about people. Pope Francis is doing the same in our time I would argue; repairing the church person by person or as he has said, “one heart at a time.” This is what you are doing each day in class with your students when you teach religion, you are repairing the church, you are proclaiming the gospel, you are forming the young and this is vital. It is great work. 

People need hope. We crave good news and while at the moment we seem to see nothing but bad news; Climate change, Covid 19 Corona Virus, Brexit, Republican or Democrat, you name it, it is all consuming because we have it 24/7 on our televisions, tablets, and smartphones. So, while we see this bad news, if we look, we can see the helpers too. Those who are working hard to make a difference, to find an anti-dote and a vaccine, and we need to hear this because its like a shot in the arm.

The vital work you go is a powerful example of making an investment in the future of our young people. Teaching RE is good news and it marries the academic with faith formation and this will inevitably help the building up of the Kingdom of God. Thank you all.

The Three Sieves of Socrates

One day, old Socrates is out walking when all of a sudden a man runs up to him; "Socrates I have to tell you something about your friend…”
“Wait…” Socrates interrupts him; "The story you're about to tell me, did you put it through the three sieves?"

"Three sieves?" The man asks.

“Yes”, Socrates says…
"The first sieve is the sieve of truth, did you examine what you were about to tell me to see if it is true?" Socrates asks.

"Well, no, I just overheard it" The man says.

"Ah, well then you need to use the second sieve, the sieve of good." Socrates asks "Is what you’re about to tell me something good?"

No, on the contrary" the man answers.

“Right;” The wise man says "Let's use the third sieve then, is it necessary to tell me what you're so excited about?"

"No, not necessary" the man says.

"Well" Socrates says with a smile "If the story you're about to tell me isn't true, good, or necessary, just forget it and don't bother me with it."

Talking sense about the Mitten of St. Padre Pio

For some years following his ordination to the priesthood in August 1910, Padre Pio of Pietrelcina felt severe pains in the centre of his hands, his feet, and his side. While he kept the pains and the discomfort to himself, he did confide in his spiritual director about all supernatural matters occurring in his life. 

In September 1918 while at prayer before the cross in the choir (or chapel) of the friars in the convent of San Giovanni Rotondo, he became aware that his hands and feet were bleeding and also a wound had developed in his side, and this too was bleeding heavily. The friars came to his assistance and the wounds were covered and cleaned, and creams applied and covered with bandages. The trouble was the wounds didn’t heal and fresh blood came from them every day and especially on Fridays. Seven hundred years before, St. Francis of Assisi had the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ crucified in his hands, feet, and side. 

Deep down, Padre Pio knew that these wounds or ‘stigmata’ were a game-changer in his life and among the friars and those who he ministered to. Now, he was not going to be able to hide and now he would surely be an object of curiosity. Over the years, there were formal investigations into the phenomena and during the 1930’s, the superiors of the Capuchin Order, on the advice of the Congregations for Religious in Rome asked that he step aside from ministry. In these years, he could not say Mass publicly or hear confessions. 

Following the permission of his superiors, when he could resume public ministry, he wore brown fingerless mittens on his hands which covered bandages to keep the wounds clean. Even though the wounds never dried up, the flesh around them was clean and bright and the blood emitted a fresh almost perfumed fragrance. Sometimes the scent was very powerful and smelt of roses, or fresh flowers. 

Padre Pio never removed the mittens except on the altar when offering Mass each day. The friars who assisted him dressed his wounds daily with clean bandages and gave him fresh mittens to wear. This process was repeated daily until the autumn of 1968 when it was noticed the wounds began to heal and fresh skin formed around the area where the wounds were. Padre Pio died late into the night of the 22^nd of September 1968. 

As Catholics, we have had an ancient tradition of the veneration of saint’s relics. From the early Church; relics, medals, and pieces of cloth associated with a saint have been kept in churches. This practice can be viewed as quaint, or downright silly by some. I’ve met people who are even completely put off by this pious practice. However, for many people, the veneration of the relic of a saint can connect us to the Divine. In the secular world, many people love to own or treasure the jersey of their favourite sports star or the musical instrument or tour jacket of their favourite rock star. I remember the fuss when one of the Rhinestone Jackets of Elvis Presley was brought onto the Late-Late Show on RTE Television and it was handled by special velvet gloves so as not to dirty or damage it, such was its value.

Over the years since his death, people have desired to venerate items that Padre Pio blessed, or owned. No matter what piece of cloth or medal that was touched off the saint, to venerate and be blessed by one of the brown fingerless mittens is a great consolation for so many people. People will go to great lengths and travel far and wide to be blessed with ‘the glove’.

In the Irish Office for Padre Pio at the Capuchin Friary, Church St, Dublin 7, we have some of the mittens that Padre Pio wore, They were given over the years by capuchin friars like Fr. Alessio Parente, and Fr. Gerardo Di Flumeri who assisted him and knew him personally in the Friary of San Giovanni Rotondo. As best we can, we can arrange for one of them to be brought to bless sick people at home or in hospital which is a source of consolation to the patient and their families. Please remember that it is crucial that the patient needs to agree to this blessing, and it is very important that next-of-kin also agrees. It is especially important that this is allowed by the nurse-in-charge and chaplaincy/pastoral care and within the hospital visiting hours and not while there are visiting restrictions. In the case of sick children, extra arrangements will need to be made. Parents/guardians will need to give permission. 

The relics of saints and the mitten of St. Padre Pio do not have curative powers. There is no material in the glove that heals people. Nor is there a guarantee that any sick person will get better the moment they are blessed by the glove. In most cases, patients in hospital get better thanks to the care of the nursing, medical, and care staff and thanks to treatment and medication. The blessing with the mitten of Padre Pio can offer consolation to a sick person and it helps us to focus on the fact that Padre Pio will always pray for that person and all who are sick. He was someone who had a special love for the sick and suffering in his life.

There is no doubt that from time to time there have been unexplained healings and even miraculous healings through the blessings with the relic of a saint and St. Padre Pio. These have been well documented over the years. It is the faith of the people which helps greatly in the belief that a person will be healed sometimes against the odds. I believe that prayer and faith can be integral to the care of the patient in hospital, because one part of the outreach to the patient in hospital comes from the chaplaincy/pastoral care team. 

In the Irish Office for Padre Pio, now located in Capuchin Friary, Church St, we are in the process of updating the lists of the people around the country who have access to a relic of St. Padre Pio or a mitten he wore. I myself have been invited to travel to some Churches to join with Padre Pio prayer groups and people will come along in great numbers to be blessed by the mitten. Please note, I am a full-time parish priest and within reason, I can’t commit to attending these prayer groups countrywide regularly but within this I will do my best. 

Padre Pio is a saint for our time. He died in 1968 and was canonized saint in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, now himself a saint. We can hear his voice in recording, we have movie footage of him, and we have colour photographs of him. As I have said, we have relics and medals of his and some mittens for veneration. The National Shrine of St. Padre Pio is in the Capuchin Friary, Church St, Dublin 7 where there is a first-class relic of the saint set into the shrine. While we make every effort to make the relics available, people seem to favour the mitten above all else. Padre Pio was never a mean-spirited man in life and therefore if a person can’t venerate one of the mittens he wore, it doesn’t mean you only get half a blessing or a partial favour. And remember, it is not Padre Pio who is the healer, it is Jesus Christ who is the healer. Receiving the Sacraments is the most powerful of all blessings and Padre Pio spent his whole life witnessing to this. 

Fr. Bryan Shortall ofm.cap. National Director of the Padre Pio Apostolate.

Let us begin again...

I sit here looking out a window that I haven’t looked out since 2010. I have lived in this place before on two occasions. I have also ministered here as Deacon from 1996 to 1997. It was here that I had my first baptisms before I went to London for summer pastoral work, the summer before Tony Blair became Prime Minister there. These babies are all young adults now. This morning at Mass in the parish, I recalled the name of the first child I baptized, a baby girl. I have been appointed to the Capuchin Friary, St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Priorswood, on Dublin’s northside near the Airport and while I have arrived here towards the end of last week, I officially take up the pastoral care of this parish on September 1^st. 

I am happy to be here although I am not without some small fears. Someone once said you are only as good as your last gig. So, no matter what happened in the past, today it’s a new day. We move forward in hope and like nine years ago, I begin with no agenda – let’s see.

Everyone changes as the years pass, and indeed as the days go by, we change and grow. The albums that bands and singers put out in the early days are not the same as their later work, and song writing and music moves on and shifts shape. So here I am in Priorswood, nine years older and a few kilogrammes lighter and looking out a window I haven’t looked out since 2010. When I was here last, I was a hospital chaplain and someone else was parish priest. Now, I’m the parish priest and I hope to learn the ropes.

I write this a year to the day that Pope Francis came to Dublin for the World Meeting of Families 2018. I was in an RTE Studio in Montrose early on that day as part of a panel talking about the atmosphere around the papal trip and anticipating the arrival of the Alitalia jet carrying the Holy Father and the Vatican Officials. I got back to the city in time to gather with the friars in the Capuchin Day Centre, security cleared and scanned, and to sneak a peek up Bow Street in Dublin 7 to see the Pope Mobile drive towards us. Here I heard echoes of Pope John Paul II on Thomas Street in 1979. And then to be introduced to Pope Francis personally was something I will never forget. 

Pope Francis took the name of St. Francis of Assisi. This was no accident in that he has always identified with the Little Poor Man of Assisi and how he answered the call of Jesus from the Cross of San Damiano to ‘Repair my Church.’ This is the perennial call to all Franciscans. Here in the Dublin parish named after and dedicated to Francis of Assisi, I hope to do my part together with the team, the Pastoral Council, and the people of Priorswood. We hope to reach out to all, but especially young people and young families where they’re at and take it from there. In the words of St. Francis; “Let us begin again…”

St. Clare of Assisi

When we look at some drawings or images of medieval saints, we could be fooled into thinking that perhaps because he was a monk or she was a nun that they are pious or gentle or easily fooled. In many cases that couldn’t be further from the truth. They were recognised for holiness but they were tough and were no push-overs. Many of them suffered, denied themselves food and sleep, others still lived in solitude, and still others were martyred. They were looked up to and relied upon by many people from far and wide and they had a wise word and a prayer for most people. They were also well able to be honest and some could shoot from the hip at the risk of being unpopular. St Clare of Assisi was one such woman. By the end of her life, bishops and even a Pope came around to her way of thinking.

Chiara Offreduccio was born into a noble family in Assisi on July 16^th 1194. Her father was Favarone Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso, and her mother was Ortolana. From a young age it was assumed that Clare was to marry in line with family tradition but at 18 years old she heard Francis of Assisi preaching and asked him could she follow him and live after the manner of the gospel. In March 1212 Francis received her into the order and placed her into the care of the Benedictine nuns of San Paolo. Her father made great efforts to get her out of the cloister and leave the order. Later she moved into a small church at San Damiano where she and her sisters stayed.  They soon became known as the Poor Ladies of San Damiano and they lived a life of poverty and enclosure according to a rule given them by St. Francis of Assisi. This vow of poverty was something that was for Clare non-negotiable. It was called the ‘Privilegium Pauperitatis’ which meant that for the Poor Ladies, they guarded this grace to live in absolute poverty and not having to take possessions.

As a way of guarding the life they had chosen, a Roman Cardinal, Hugolino, was appointed ‘protector’ of the order. He later became Pope Gregory IX. As pope, he visited the Poor Ladies and was concerned about living such a hard and austere life and suggested relaxing the vow to live this privilege of poverty. Clare was a tough lady and was having none of it. For her and her sisters, poverty was just that, a privilege, which well lived, freed them from distractions in order to focus on following Jesus Christ.

Francis of Assisi guided the order until he died in 1226 and after his death, Clare became Abbess of San Damiano. She took Francis’ spirit as a good benchmark for the living of the religious life with her sisters in poverty and enclosure, and she fought off any attempt by church leaders to dispense her and the sisters from it. In 1224 the army of Frederick II came to plunder Assisi and the story goes that Clare came out of the enclosure and faced the Emperor down by holding the Monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament in her hands. The sight of this tenacious woman standing up to the Emperor was enough to scare him so much that the army fled, terrified,  without harming anyone in the city.

On August 9^th 1253, Pope Innocent IV, in a papal Bull, a document given to Clare called ‘Solet Annuere’ confirmed that her rule would serve as the governing rule for the Poor Ladies way of life. Never would anyone in the future be in danger of watering down the rule of the Poor Clares. Clare died two days later on August 11^th, she was 59 years old. She was canonized Saint on September 26^th 1255. In 1958 Pope Pius XII named St. Clare patron saint of television. 

The Eagle has landed...

In the last book, I wrote a piece entitled ‘I was unborn during the Moon landings’ It was a pro-life reflection on the fact that my mother was expecting me at the time. I was born on October 17^th 1969. During those famous days, she had been advised by her doctor that it would be better if she rested and avoided staying up late to see the Astronauts landing on the Moon early on July 21^st 1969. However, like most of the people on planet Earth, she stayed up to witness, in black-and-white, Commander Neil Armstrong and Colonel ‘Buzz’ Aldrin step off the ladder and on to the surface of the Sea of Tranquility. In that reflection, while obviously I have no memory of it, it is important for me that while I hadn’t been born, I existed. I was on the way, and I was growing towards my birth-day.

As I write, on July 17^th 2019, the world is remembering those historic days. Right now, 50 years ago, Armstrong, Buzz, and Collins are flying on there way to the Moon. During the launch, the Saturn V Rocket would climb out from Kennedy Space Centre at 7 miles per second and it would take four days to get there flying at a speed of up to 25 thousand miles per hour. Over this coming weekend not just the United States of America, but the whole world, will remember the Astronauts who were the first human beings to set foot on the Moon. They will remember the huge team of experts who worked hard on the ground to support the Astronauts as they travelled to the Moon.

These days once again, the world also commemorates the history of flight and indeed the times when the human person looked up from the earth and into the heavens where only birds and winged creatures lived. They have looked out using telescopes to see the stars and the planets which we know have been named for generations. This weekend we are grateful for inventors who helped people to defy gravity and fly, like Wilbur and Orville Wright, and others like Bleriot, Alcock and Brown, Erhart, and Chares Lindbergh. The development of the Jet Engine in the 1940’s and the inventions of the Boeing 707, 747, and the Concorde, to name a few also contributed to the story of flight and space flight. In 1961, Russian, Yuri Gagarin was the first man to orbit the earth in Space. In 1962, John Glenn became the first American to fly in Space. American, Alan Shepherd flew to a height of 116 miles before Gagarin in 1961, but he didn’t orbit the earth. 

After the Apollo programme finished in the early 1970’s, NASA was working on the Space Shuttle (Space Transportation System or STS) project to develop a spacecraft that could be launched into low earth orbit from a rocket and land on a runway afterwards to be reused again. One of the big tasks of the Shuttle programme was to ferry personnel and material to build the International Space Station, now in permanent orbit around the earth. Sadly, two of the Shuttles; Challenger in 1986, and Columbia, in 2003, met with accidents during what was over all a highly successful programme. The Space Shuttle was retired after the final flight of Atlantis in July 2011.

Since then, Astronauts, and Cosmonauts have been travelling to the International Space Station (ISS) via the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and we regularly see posts to social media from Astronauts living and working high above the earth as they send stunning pictures and films as they orbit the globe.

The future is bright for space exploration and probes have sent back pictures of the other planets in our solar system; thirty, forty, and fifty years after their launch. Voyager I and II, an American programme launched in 1977, reached Interstellar Space, outside our Solar System in 2012 and 2018 respectively. This is only the tiniest distance in the bigger picture which is awesome.  The plan is to send people to Mars. Space X and Blue Origin to name two private companies are working with NASA and others to further space exploration into the future. Nasa have said they intend to go back to the Moon by 2024, build a base there, and from there, who knows?

When we lived in Rialto growing up (late 1970’s) myself and my brother, Kevin, used to pal around with the two lads next door and we would often play space-games. Star Wars was in the Cinema and Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century, was on the television. We used to fly the Millennium Falcon from the gate-pillars of our houses manoeuvring between planets and stars. We also hung our Snorkel Jackets around our shoulders because we each wanted to be Superman. We were big fans of Steve Austin, the Astronaut who was almost killed in an accident during a test flight. The U.S. Government rebuilt him with Bionic components for six million dollars. He could leap forty feet in the air, run at sixty miles per hour thanks to his bionic legs, and break tree trunks, and lift cars with his bionic right arm. He could also see for miles with his bionic telescopic eye. I got a Steve Austin action man from Santa Claus in 1977. Kevin got the Johnny Jackson (Action Jackson) one.  Perhaps the ultimate space programme was Star Trek. I had a Mister Spock replica swear shirt as a kid. However, I think I was a little bit too young for Star Trek when it was on television. In emulating the technology of Gene Roddenberry, I wonder will they ever be able to develop a space craft like the NCC 1701 Starship ‘Enterprise’ with teleporters, Photon Torpedoes, and Warp Factor 9 speed?

In those forty years or so since we were going out to play on Uppercross Road, sitting into our spaceships and flying a million miles into deep space only to be back in for our dinner, real space flight progressed from Skylab, to the Space Shuttle, to the construction of the I.S.S. Un-manned probes have travelled around our solar system, and visited the planets and is going to the Sun. There have been several probes sent to Mars and are these sending back fascinating pictures from the Red Planet. The Hubble space telescope has let us look into the deepest parts of space and is allowing us to study the origins of the Universe and lately even Black Holes. Yet we are barely scratching the surface. By the time we get to send people to Mars, my generation will be elderly and those who are selected to fly as Astronauts are children, and young people now, and maybe some haven’t been born yet.

Growing up in the city, and especially growing up in Ireland, it was difficult to see the starry nights. The ambient lights of the neighbourhood make it hard to look into the night sky. With Irish weather and the clouds that often roll in from the Atlantic, I have often been disappointed when it became impossible to see celestial shows or partial eclipses of the moon or the sun. However, when its clear out in the countryside, I have been spell bound by the billions of stars and even the caster-sugary Milky Way in the night sky. We have been treated to shooting stars during these deep-dark clear nights. In early 1997, we saw Comet Hale-Bopp crossing the heavens over a short period of time both in the night sky and in the daytime. It was great sight as certainly I missed seeing Halley’s Comet in 1986 and it won’t return till 2061. I also missed Comet Hyakutake for some reason in early 1996. Hale-Bopp was the best example of a Comet I’ve seen as I remember a run of clear days and nights in the Spring of 1997. They tell us that Hale-Bopp won’t come into Earth’s orbit again till the year 4380. Maybe I’ll see it somewhere while the then interplanetary residents of planet Earth take weekend breaks on low cost flights to theme parks on Venus.

The Canticle of Brother Sun written by Saint Francis of Assisi in praise of creation, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Earth, is poignant for me as we come up to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Men on the Moon.

Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honour,
and all blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars, in heaven you formed them
clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will
find in Your most holy will,
for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.