Five years of Holy Family Mission

The unique Waterford-based mission has proven itself both a home and spiritual school over the past five years, writes Jason Osborne

Holy Family Mission (HFM) began in 2016 when 10 young people between the ages of 18-30 signed up for a year of faith formation. Since then, they’ve welcomed 56 young missionaries through their doors, with another 14 to start next September.

Recently, past and present members and staff gathered to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the mission and the fruit it’s borne. Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Mission Director at HFM Maura Murphy said there was a “sense of gratitude” in the air, as well as a “sense of pride, in the best possible sense”.

“I think we had close to 50 of the community there for the weekend and there was just a real sense of gratitude. Like anything in life, it’s only when you stop and look back that you see how far you’ve come,” Ms Murphy says.

“Definitely there was that sense of gratitude for the members themselves and all that they had experienced and shared. A sense of pride, in the best possible sense, in ourselves as the people involved in the project, to see how much they’ve grown and the fruit that has happened in their lives.”

Hearts and lives changed, talks given, retreats hosted and much more, HFM has changed the landscape of Catholicism in Ireland. Ms Murphy tells of but a few of the vocations that were represented as they met to celebrate the fifth anniversary.

“There was a variety of vocations represented. Two of our community are in their discernment stage with the Dominicans, so we had two Dominican habits among our young people. Another two girls, one is getting married in the next two weeks and another in two or three months,” she says.

“Then there were some who couldn’t travel because they’re actually in seminary in America or they’re discerning with a religious order, so it was a great snapshot of the fruit of what a year of mission can bring, and that kind of dedicated space to focus on God and yourself and those around you.”

The desire in young people is great, she says, describing them as “extremely generous” with their time. “Nine, ten months is a big commitment. That ‘yes’ to Holy Family is a ‘no’ to joining friends in college or going on a journey with their work or their career.”

Founding members

One of the founding members of the mission and spiritual father to those who make a home there, Fr Patrick Cahill described the space HFM fills on the Irish, Catholic scene.

“When young people come here, they generally come here with some degree of faith, but faith is a fairly broad term and may not be very specific at all to Catholic belief. As opposed to just believing in God, one of the fruits that we see here is that young people leave with a much deeper connection and love for the Lord, for Jesus,” he says.

Personal

“So it becomes, as opposed to a generic or general idea of the Faith, they get to know the Lord in a very personal way, which is something we really want to focus on because a generic idea of God isn’t very helpful in the real world.

“I think when people have different issues, family problems, struggles with all of the temptations that are out there, a generic or homemade idea of God isn’t very useful – especially if what we believe is basically made up by ourselves, then that’s exactly what it is.”

A faith which we make up is no greater than ourselves, Fr Cahill says, and it’s much less than God in his reality, which is exactly who HFM puts young people in touch with.

An unfortunate discovery HFM made over the years is that there is “an awful lot more brokenness” in young people than society would care to admit. Social media and the omnipresence of bullying and comparison are but a handful of the new challenges facing the youth of Ireland today, and Fr Cahill sees this in his own ministry.

“I think they’ve been sold a lot of lies. Social media, it has done great good, but situations like bullying or trying to ‘measure up’, they would have been a problem back in my day during school hours, but then at four o’clock you went home and you had a different reality at home,” he says.

“You had your family, you had your friends, you had your neighbourhood or whatever it was. Whereas now, issues of bullying or being told that you’re not good enough or that you’re different to everybody else, when you leave school that continues now via social media. It makes life difficult for young people, especially these days your faith is going to make you somewhat different and that’s a huge challenge because I think isolation kills the Faith. If a young person is the only person in the neighbourhood, the only person in their town who practices, it’s very, very hard to hold on.”

Prayer

At HFM, they find the healing they need through prayer and community, under the spiritual fatherhood of Fr Cahill – a role he delights in.

“It’s been a great gift. I’m not just saying this, but there is really no place I’d rather be. If someone were to offer me a mission in Hawaii or the Bahamas, I’d say you can keep the Bahamas, there’s no place I’d rather be. It’s an absolute privilege to be here, it’s very busy because, unlike a school of other sorts, this is residential, so you’re with young people all of the day and seven days a week. It’s very, very busy and it becomes very personal.

“We call this ‘Holy Family Mission’ to a couple of ends. We want the Holy Family to be our protectors, our guides and our example, but also we want this to be like a family. As a family, a person’s problems, pains and joys become yours. We become heavily invested in each other, which I think is necessary for people to see.”