News from The Graan, Enniskillen.

Since Christmas we have been trying to raise funds for the Tsunami Appeal. We had our collection here in The Graan on the Sunday after the disaster, which meant it was a week earlier than the National Appeal. Even though the people had no prior notice, over £ 15,000 was collected on a single Sunday. Since then through donations, many of which have come anonymously, £43000 was sent to various Tsunami charities.

Because Easter has been so early we had to go straight into preparations for the Novena of Hope. Naturally the theme this year was Finding Hope in Times of Tragedy. We had five meetings with the laity and each meeting had about 50 to 60 people present. It was a real community effort as always. Each of the speakers were chosen to highlight the importance of the ordinary individual struggling with and overcoming setbacks in their life. On the first Sunday we had two local people, a husband and wife team Stephen and Maggie Muldoon, who work permanently in Sri Lanka. They look after the disabled there and have been living in the East for ten years. They were caught in the middle of the Tsunami with their two children but luckily escaped injury. They have been working tirelessly since then on the wider Tsunami charity. They were home for a few days holiday and Maggie shared her story with us in The Graan at the opening day of the Novena. It was a wonderful way to begin.

On Monday we had Sean Boylan, the Meath football manager. Sean spoke mostly about his work with the sick and also on the theme of living by convictions.

On Wednesday we had a wonderful contribution from Jackie Burke who is a Protestant from Portadown. He requested that the title of his talk should be, "An ex junkie tells his story." It was a really fascinating story and told in a most entertaining way. A real highlight of the Novena.

On Thursday we had Breda Keating. Breda is from Offaly and has suffered enormous tragedy in her life as well as cross-addictions. She has worked tirelessly and has risen to the top of her profession again. During the summer she spends six weeks as a voluntary guide in the City of the Poor. On Friday Fr Jack McArdle spoke on the theme, "The only real sin a Christian can commit is to be without hope." Jack was his usual entertaining and challenging self. He's a gifted speaker and we were delighted to have him.

On Saturday Marion Carroll spoke about her miraculous cure from MS at Knock Shrine. She also spoke at the Service for the Sick. Marion's talk was devotional, but very inspiring. And on the final night we had the Church of Ireland Rector of Rossorry, Archdeacon Cecil Pringle. He and Brian closed the Novena on a unified and hopeful note. We had a day of Reconciliation on the Tuesday which Fr Gary Donegan conducted excellently. We were delighted to have so many Passionists with us to help us with confessions. Our thanks to Frs Gary, Victor, Dermot, Eugene McCarthy, John Friel, Pat Duffy, Cosmas, Ailbe and Brian, Michael, Casimir and Terence from our own community. We were delighted to have such help and all of the Community wishes to thank so many Passionists for helping us out. We also had the services of the local diocesan priests from Clogher and Kilmore. On Wednesday and Saturday we had additional Services for the Sick at 2.30pm. Over 600 sick came on each day.

After the Novena of Hope it was straight into preparations for Palm Sunday and Holy Week. In January we also had an Ecumenical Service in the local Church of Ireland church in Rossorry. Casimir and Brian represented The Graan and there were about 500 people present, 50% of whom were from the worshipping community at The Graan. There were some protests organised by the Kilskerry Branch of the Free Presbyterian Church.

In February we had Provincial Visitation and we are grateful to Martin for his kind and challenging comments during the visitation.

All of the Community are in good health, though very tired after an extremely busy period. Brian, Casimir, Mark, Terence and Michael are all in good spirits.