Greg DalyA new place of mission and evangelisation for young people in Ireland has been officially opened in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
The Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, formally opened Holy Family Mission at Co. Waterford’s Glencomeragh House on Friday, December 2, saying it was an honour officially to launch such a new and exciting initiative for the Church in Ireland, and that ‘’Youth evangelisation is the most important task of the Catholic Church”. He described Holy Family Mission as “one of the green shoots in the Church in Ireland”.
Holy Family Mission is a residential community for young people where the primary focus is academic and practical formation in the Catholic faith. Ten young people have been living there since October 23, nine of these being from Ireland with one from the USA.
The mission aims to help young people between 18 and 30 to discover and deepen their knowledge of the Catholic faith, with the aim of then sharing and helping nurture the Faith in parishes and schools across the country.
Pillars
The daily routine at Holy Family, according to 26-year-old Mission Director Maura Garrihy, is built around the five ‘pillars’ of spiritual, academic and personal formation, community life and mission, and the community will also host retreats for young people, families, individuals and groups.
The typical day, she says, begins with prayer, Rosary and Mass, followed by breakfast and then classes led by the core team and invited speakers on catechism and Scripture. After lunch the early afternoon is given over to chores, free time for rest or prayer, or even a hike to a local shrine, while practical formation in the late afternoon focuses on helping people better communicate the Faith.
Dinner would be followed by a holy hour and evening prayer, she says, adding that some days may also entail family outreach and that Holy Family’s mission element would receive more emphasis after Christmas.
Inspired by Pope Francis’ call for young people “to be revolutionaries, to swim against the tide”, offering the Church their characteristic enthusiasm, creativity, and joy, the project is the brainchild of Maura, Fr Patrick Cahill and Patrick Reynolds, who have a broad range of experience in young ministry and evangelisation.
“We had been working in youth ministry for a long time and have always been struck by the deep desire of young people to know more about their faith and share it with others,” explains Maura, who says the need for somewhere like Holy Family was becoming obvious.
Praising the work of established groups where youth evangelise to youth, notably Youth 2000 and Net Ministries, she said there was still a clear need for a residential mission where groups of young people could be nurtured in their Faith.
Ideas
Various ideas were exchanged about what form such a residential centre could take, inspired in part by FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) in the USA and by Craig Lodge in Scotland, and eventually, feeling that episcopal support for their idea would be needed, the trio approached Waterford and Lismore’s Bishop Phonsie Cullinane, who has spoken forcefully on the need for young Catholics to have courage in sharing their faith.
Shortly after the trio’s meeting with Dr Cullinan, the Rosmininians gifted Glencomeragh house to the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, something Maura describes as “providential”. The new mission would now have a base, though Maura stresses that it is not a Waterford initiative, as such.
“The vision for Holy Family Mission is not just the diocese’s,” she says, continuing, “It’s spread across Ireland. One of the community is from Waterford, but others are from Cork and Limerick and other places.”
Commending the mission at the launch, Dr Cullinan highlighted again the need for youthful fearlessness in taking risks for the sake of the Gospel and praised the attitude of the community members. “I have seen firsthand the joy of the young people who have come here and the core members,” he said.
“It is a living testimony to their search for Jesus and the desire to spread His joy to other.”