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NEWS 4: Associate News |
» NEWS 5: Holy Faith Walking Group | » PHOTO GALLERY
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| NEWS 4: ASSOCIATE NEWS |
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 Associate Gathering - 25th March 2012
Sisters joined the Associates in the chapel of Holy Faith Convent, Glasnevin, on Sunday, 25th March, for a
three-fold associate commitment ceremony and talk by Sr. Jacinta Prunty on John Joseph Steiner.
The evening began with Scripture and Reflection and was followed by Jacinta's fresh and insightful presentation on John Joseph Steiner, the most ardent and long-serving lay worker on behalf of St. Brigid's Orphanage in the early days of the congregation. The three commitment rituals followed.
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Srs. Olive and Rosaleen
with the new candidates
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Sr. Rosaleen presents
the Associate emblem to Bernie
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Annual renewal of
Associate commitment
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Commitment to Candidacy
Christine and Pat Toomey from Celbridge and Tina McCarthy from Bray became candidates for Associate membership. Sr. Rosaleen presented them with a booklet on Margaret Aylward and also a discernment booklet.
Commitment to Associate Relationship
Bernie O'Raw, having finished the candidacy period, made her Associate Commitment for the first time. The photograph shows Sr. Rosaleen presenting her with the Associate emblem and the signing of the Associate Register.
 Renewal of Associate Covenant
The third photo shows Paul and Lucy Higgins, Phyllis Lee, Ruth Meleady, Jim and Carmel Wynne, Theresa Corbett and Mary Pierce renewing the Associate Covenant.
"... I renew my commitment to follow in the footsteps of Margaret Aylward, to treasure and nurture the gift of my faith, to actively share her Charism with others and to journey as companions with the Sisters of the Holy Faith."
Our celebration continued afterwards with a cup of tea and plenty of chat, followed by a visit to the grave of John Joseph Steiner, who is buried in the sisters' graveyard.
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Associate Commitments - June 2011
It was a happy evening on Monday, 13th June, when three Associates who had completed the Candidacy Programme made their first commitment as Associates and others, from each of our three Associate groups, made their re-commitments.
Ruth Meleady and Carmel and Jim Wynn became new associates and their commitment was received by Sr. Eileen Houlihan, regional team member, on behalf of Sr. Rosaleen, Regional Leader.
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L to R: Sr. Eileen, Jim Wynne,
Ruth Meleady, Carmel Wynne and Sr. Susan
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Prayer of Commitment
God of my life,
in my commitment as a Holy Faith Associate,
I ask you to deepen my appreciation
of the gift of Faith.
May the spirit of Margaret Aylward
inspire me to play my part in the service of Faith.
I ask you, Mary woman of faith
to assist me to live this commitment.
May I say 'yes' to God's call
in all the events of my life. Amen.
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Other Associates present renewed their Commitments. Following the ceremony, the group adjourned to the dining-room for refreshments and a chat. As it was Ruth's birthday, the celebration was joyous with plenty of warm-hearted greetings.
[Sr. Olive, second from left, and
Sr. Susan, centre back row
with Associates]
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| Associate Retreat in Glendalough - April 2011 |
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Four of the Associate group gathered on Friday night, 1st April 2011, in An Tearmann in Glendalough. There was a tinge of sadness to our weekend as our thoughts were with Mary whose brother had just died.
We began our retreat time with a meal and then spent time reflecting and sharing on Sunday’s gospel. It was lovely to wake up to the birds singing and the different fragrances of the country-side the next morning. Following a hearty breakfast we were joined by Anne and four more of the Associates at ten o’clock.
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 We joined Fr. Michael, Sr. Breda and another visitor for morning prayer which involved a short sharing from Michael followed by a time of silence. We then had morning tea, sharing lovely scones provided by Carmel. Of course we had to cut the chat short to return to the prayer room for some input to help us on our way through the day.
The theme that was chosen was ‘encounter’. Michael shared some of his thoughts and experiences on this topic, helping us to reflect on the humanity of Jesus and how we encounter him in our daily lives. Then there was time for sharing which was very enriching. Amid the sharing in the group was a real concern for nurturing the faith of the next generation. The group was then asked to reflect on the question: "who has helped you on your own faith journey?" - who were the people along the road of our lives who had helped us to say 'yes' to following Jesus? The group sharing was followed by quiet time until lunch hour.
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 Lunch was again a time for catching up and finding out what was happening for people. Afterwards until 4pm we then had time to be on our own or go for a walk in the beautiful contemplative space of Glendalough. Unfortunately, not everyone managed to escape a torrential shower of rain!
We gathered again as a group to celebrate the Eucharist which was lovely. We began by reflecting on how our day had been and what had struck us. After the gospel and following on from Michael’s few words people were free to contribute their own thoughts on the scripture. There was a lovely sense of community and openness as people freely spoke.
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 To draw the day to a close, Olive led the group through a reflection, as Susan prepared the dinner, thanks to the generosity of Paul and Lucy. Michael and Breda also joined us for our meal. Anyone working in the Church would have been impressed with our conversation on parish and liturgy!
After the big tidy up, (many hands make light work) it was back up to the city where they had thunder and lightning during the day. Weren’t we the lucky ones! Not only did we have good weather overall but we were well nourished in both body and soul.
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| Associate Gathering to celebrate the feast of Fr. John Gowan - January 2011 |
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St. Mary's Road community facilitated a gathering of our three area groups on Sunday, 16th January 2011, to celebrate the feast of Fr. John Gowan. Present were Associates, Candidates and two people who are discerning their call to Associate membership.
The gathering began with a little time to chat and then information was given to the group about upcoming events and the bi-centenary celebration. The Celbridge group are currently helping in the preparation for the Mass to be celebrated on St. Brigid's Day, 1st February. Part of this preparation involved a trip to the heart of Co. Kildare to gather rushes to make some St. Brigid's crosses.
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Gratitude was expressed to the Skerries group who worked so hard to prepare the ambience and the beautiful "Fan the Flame" display in the conference room in Bewley's Hotel for the "Celebrating Faith" Seminar which launched the Bi-centenary Year commemorating Margaret Aylward's birth.
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The Dublin City Centre group have kindly agreed to prepare Evening Prayer, to be hopefully celebrated within our local parishes and/or Holy Faith communities around Good Shepherd Sunday (Vocations Sunday). The focus of the prayer will be on celebrating our baptismal call.
Following the more formal part of the gathering, we moved to the Chapel for prayer, during which Josie and Grainne renewed their commitment as Associate members, which was accepted by Sr. Eileen Houlihan on behalf of Sr. Rosaleen, Regional Leader.
Then the real business of the gathering - connecting in with each other - began over the cup of tea! It was truly lovely to have most of the group gathered together on this feast and many thanks to the sisters in St. Mary's Road for their hospitality.
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| Associate Retreat Day with Fr. Jim Cogley - October 2010 |
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On 2nd October 2010 many of the Associates and some friends discerning Associate membership attended the retreat day hosted by Fr. Jim Cogley in the Oblate House in Inchicore. Fr. Jim is parish priest in Oylegate in the diocese of Ferns. He is also a psychologist and is deeply interested in the link between spirituality and psychology. He has written two books dealing with Self-identity/Self-healing and Intergenerational Issues/Hhealing of the Family Tree.
The theme of our particular retreat was Bereavement, Loss and Recovery. The day began at 10am with a cup of tea and the group then settled down to some wonderful insights and sharing.
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The day was led by the participants who asked questions in relation to their experiences of bereavement or the impact it had on their family or on a previous generation. At times the sadness in the room was tangible, but Jim always helped to reveal the light in the darkness of the experience. He gave many suggestions on how to walk the road of healing and let go of pain and sadness.
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Fr. Jim is also a master craftsman with wood. His retreat style is unique as he uses the items he has fashioned from wood to illustrate his topics. The message of the wood symbols always helped us to focus on the positive and to find light in a situation, as the beautiful pieces in the photograph demonstrate.
It was a lovely gentle day despite the topic and the Associates and friends who attended were delighted to have travelled to Inchicore and taken part
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| National Associate Network AGM |
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This annual event was held in Clonliffe College Dublin on 16 October 2010 and was attend by Mrs. Lucy Higgins and Sr. Susan Jones. The guest speaker was Mr. David Quinn who brought new light to bear on the way the Irish media has covered recent events and the scandals in the Church. He placed some of the facts and figures in a wider context, thus allowing a new vision of the reality to emerge and giving a renewed hope for the Church as we seek to renew it.
The afternoon allowed some of the Associates and religious from the fifteen or so groups present to share their stories or concerns. This was followed by a brief input on the history of the Associate Network itself and the cutting of a birthday cake to celebrate ten years of the national association. It is wonderful that this event and Network itself is led and organised by the Associates themselves and their enthusiasm is catching.
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Our Associate Celebration of Commitment - October 2010
On the 16 October 2010 some of the Associates renewed their commitment to Associate Membership and four people, Bernie O’Raw, (Bluebell), Carmel and Jim Wynn and Mary Pierce (Celbridge) began their candidacy stage of Associate Membership. All the commitments were received by Sr. Rosaleen Cunniffe Regional Leader.
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Left: Sr. Rosaleen receives the Associate
commitments of Paul and Lucy Higgins,
Davidine Grimes and Phyllis Lee.
Right: Ruth Meleady became a
candidate earlier in the year and
receives her Associate documents
from Gráinne Sarsfield.
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Four sponsors were then asked to support the candidates on this stage of their journey. They are Sr. Elizabeth Geale, Mr. Paul Higgins, Sr. Brenda Quinn and Sr. Barbara Gunning. The ceremony took place during our Eucharist which was celebrated by Fr. Harry Gaynor in Glasnevin. Our Associates were joined by some sisters from Glasnevin and several other communities around the city. Sr. Maria Dunne helped us to praise both God and Margaret Aylward with some wonderful music which helped to lift the voices of the choir.
Our celebration continued afterwards with a cup of tea, plenty of chat and a viewing of the photos from the pilgrimage to Santiago. Paul brought the experience back to life as he guided the gathering through the highways and byeways of our 111km stroll.
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