The Graan - The Novena of Hope

The Novena of Hope has been the major event in The Graan since Christmas. This year thankfully, we were especially blessed. The theme was Laity: The Future of The Church.

A selection of speakers, some explored that theme in various ways. On Monday the former International footballer Niall Quinn was the guest. He gave an outstanding talk on the value of sport as a means of gaining confidence and building community. He also highlighted the value of putting something back into society. He based much of it on his own story. There were many failures in his life, but because he met the right people who guided him in the right way, he was able to recover to be a better footballer, a better human being, and a better husband and father. He was the footballer who gave almost a 1m, as a result of his testimonial, to a Children s Hospital in Dublin and another Children s Hospital in Sunderland. He also gave 100,000 to GOAL to help their work in the Developing World. Niall, as always, was articulate, gentle, humorous and uplifting.

On Wednesday Christy Kenneally spoke about the value of the studying other faiths and religions throughout the world. He recently completed a television series on the major world religions. He took us through his own experience doing the programme and how he came to respect the search for God in so many different cultures. It gave him a new insight into the goodness of human beings and to the common search we all have. He encouraged us to have an open mind about people who differ from us and to highlight what we have in common rather than what separates us.

On Thursday Michael McGoldrick and his wife Bridie explained their journey after their only child was shot dead in a sectarian murder. The night after his death they planned to take their own lives and still don t know what it was which prevented them doing so. But they recovered from that and dedicated their lives to bringing people together in a common search for God and also to helping deprived children in Romania and Moldova.

On Friday Dr Aideen McGinley spoke. She is a regular worshipper at The Graan and is permanent secretary in Stormount in the Department of Tourism, Sport and Arts. Her theme was the role of women in society and in the Church and the gifts they have to offer. Once again she said that many other people had helped her and challenged her to reach levels which, left to herself, she would never have achieved.

On Saturday David Parkes shared his journey from atheism to belief. Through music, story and song he gave us one of the most memorable nights ever in The Graan.

On the Tuesday Fr Aidan had conducted the Penance Service. On Sunday Fr Gary talked about faithfulness through devotion to Our Lady. The rest of the Services were conducted by Fr Brian. On the Days for the Sick there were over 600 on each day.

The Novena helped us to understand the great need for spirituality in the area. However, it also highlighted the shortage of members in our own Community. We are very grateful to Kenneth, Aidan, Gary and Martin Coffey for helping us at the Penance Services and on the Days for the Sick as well as to Frs Noel McGahon, Noel McConnell, Brendan Gallagher, Jim Moore and Brendan Shannon from the Clogher Diocese and Gabriel Kelly, Kilmore Diocese without whom we would have been unable to look after the huge numbers on the Days for the Sick and Penance Services. On the final day we were joined by Archdeacon Cecil Pringle from the local Church of Ireland in Rossorry. There was a tremendous turnout from both Communities on that night. Once again it was a groundbreaking and very satisfying night.

The new road to Graham's Farm has been completed. It means that there is not now a right-of-way through our property to the Graham farm. They have their own entrance around the back of the farmyard. Both properties now are separate entities. Like most though decisions, when it is made, we kept asking ourselves why it wasn t done long ago. It means we will now be able to realign the car park in a more efficient way too.

Our Anam Cara Group is growing. We ve had excellent days recently with a large turnout. Most have been spiritual days but there also have been days conducted by John Friel, Sr Mary Conway and Fr Niall Martin on new forms of self-awareness and spirituality. The Anam Cara Group has also been very helpful in preparing the liturgy and decorating the Church for various occasions.

Fr Victor is preparing a Life in the Spirit Seminar which will begin immediately after Easter. The Thursday night Prayer Group normally has over 60 in attendance each night and during the Life in the Spirit Seminars normally reaches a 100.

We are preparing for the Holy Week ceremonies. Once again the numbers coming for confessions causes a problem because of the few members in our Community. We hope to have Fr Niall Martin, a Kiltegan Father who is home on holidays, help us throughout Holy Week.

The Community is delighted that Fr Evangelist had such a lovely day when he celebrated his Golden Jubilee. Victor represented The Graan on that occasion. We offer George our sincerest congratulations.

The Graan has been making headlines recently on television too. Both Nationwide from RTE and Sky News asked to film our Services and activities. All the Community, thankfully, remains in good spirits. Br Mark and Fr Oswald are continuing the very dedicated work they do, and Fr Terence has by now settled into The Graan remarkably well. As well as been very busy on Duty, he looks after the Prayer Group on a Tuesday night.

We were delighted that many of the brethren visited us recently, and we were particularly glad that Frs Ailbe and Marius visited us from Prestonpans at different times. We are always glad when our brethren comes to us.

We have recently set up a website. It is at an experimental stage and we would welcome advice and suggestions. Look up at http://www.thegraan.com. We are grateful to Bob Joeger, General Consultor who visited our Community. His kind encouraging words were most helpful. On January 22nd Brian was asked to preach in Rossorry Church of Ireland. It was the first time that a Catholic Priest has shared their pulpit. What could have been a controversial night, turned out to be one of the most spiritually rewarding nights for both communities. Thank God for new times.