Nicky’s Blog

On 6th August 2008 Bishop Elect Neil Tiedemann, C.P. will receive Episcopal Ordination in Mandeville, Jamaica (West Indies).

On 28th May 2008 Pope Benedict XVI had named Fr. Neil from the St. Paul of the Cross Province (USA) as the third Bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica (West Indies).

The Mandeville Diocese was created in 1997. The total population is around 582,000 of whom some 8,800 are Catholics. The Diocese has 22 parishes, 43 priests (42 diocesan and 1 religious), 6 religious Brothers, 2 seminarians and 28 Sisters. The Diocese has been vacant since 8th August 2006, following the resignation of Bishop Gordon Bennett, S.J. due to health reasons. The first Bishop of Mandeville was the late Bishop Paul Michael Boyle, C.P. former Superior General of the Passionists.

Representing the current Passionist Superior General, Fr. Ottaviano D’Egidio, C.P. at the Episcopal Ordination on 6th August 2008 in Mandeville will be Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., and Fr. Clemente Barron, C.P., from the General Council.

Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration, 6 August 2008.

“Today the Church sings: “Jesus, to you who reveal yourself to little ones, be Glory!”  It is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus.  Reflect on these words which our Holy Mother chants, for they can teach you much”  (Letter #661 of St Paul of the Cross to Thomas Fossi, written 1749.)

These are the words our holy founder wrote to Thomas Fossi, and in a very real way, they are his words for me today too.  As it would happen, I have had some bad news this week which has kept my mood rather sombre and kept me in a state of meditation, not necessarily on the Passion of Jesus, but rather on the very “Passion” the news brings to me and those it has affected.

Bad news, or sad news, can too easily take control of our lives, our thoughts and our deeds, so much so that the last thing you would want to think about is God or the Kingdom of God.  However, St Paul teaches here that it is precisely at this time, our Holy Mother, Mary, teaches us never to loose sight of what really matters.  It is the Glory of God, the Glory of Christ through His Passion!  This letter addressed to Thomas Fossi, is in effect, addressed to me!

I have spent time in prayer today asking God to transform me into the likeness of His Son, so that His will be done, and in so doing He be glorified.

Pray with me today that this be done, not only in my life, but in the lives of every person you may know or come to know.

To Jesus all glory, honour and praise!!!!

From the gardens of the monastery in Marrickville, Sydney, Fr Tiernan, the Custodian of the Young Passionist Saints relics, shares some of the experience of the first week of the pilgrimage of the relics of the three Passionist Saints currently visiting parishes in Australia and the impact the parishes and people have felt. 

You can view the YouTube Clip with Fr. Tiernan  here

You can view the YouTube Clip of Veneration of the Relics during Vigil Prayer at St. Patrick’s Church, Blacktown  here

(Thank you to Fr Gary Perritt, CP, for posting these video clips)

relics-promo-south-australia.pdf

relics-promo-new-south-wales.pdf

Relics Programme Victoria

“Saints be praised, holy bones hit road”

Passionists are bringing out relics of their Saints for veneration - and for promotion of vocations to their community. Wonderful!

From The Age.com
Carolyn Webb
May 9, 2008

Father Tiernan Doherty is taking relics around the country.
Photo: John Woudstra

He’s not a rock star; he’s a Catholic priest from the little-known Passionist Order, but like Jimmy Barnes, his aim is to inspire veneration.

In the lead-up to World Youth Day in Sydney on July 15, Father Doherty will chaperone the relics — slivers of bone — of three saints.

They’ve been sent to Canberra from the Basilica of St John and St Paul in Rome. Yesterday Father Doherty drove them to Melbourne and handed them to Father John Pearce, Passionist parish priest in Endeavour Hills, Melbourne, at the Kew office of tour sponsor Le Pine Funerals.

They will “stay” at the Passionists’ Holy Cross monastery in Templestowe until the tour of NSW, Victoria and South Australia next month.

All three of the saints were Italian. Like rock stars, they all died young.

Gabriel Possenti was 23 when he died of tuberculosis in 1862 while studying to be a Passionist priest. He was adopted long after his death by the US gun lobby, which claims his firearm skills saved a village from marauders in 1860.

But Father Pearce, of St Paul Apostle in Endeavour Hills, says this is a fable. He had been a hunter, but guns were common in Italian villages to shoot pigs.

Maria Goretti died horribly — in 1902, age 11, she was attacked by an intruder who tried to rape her, and then stabbed her to death when she said she’d rather die than submit.

St Gemma Galgani died aged 25 in 1903. She had suffered meningitis, cared for her seven siblings when their parents died, and developed stigmata-like gashes in her hands, feet and heart. She died of tuberculosis.

The itinerary for the metre-long closed reliquary includes a service on June 10 St Paul Apostle in Endeavour Hills; a 7pm mass at St Bernadette’s in Sunshine; a sitting at the Holy Cross Monastery, Templestowe, on June 14, and St Brendan’s in Shepparton on June 25 and 26.

Pope Benedict XVI to the Youth of America -

Religious Sisters, Brothers and Priests contribute greatly to the mission of the Church. Their prophetic witness is marked by a profound conviction of the primacy with which the Gospel shapes Christian life and transforms society. Today, I wish to draw your attention to the positive spiritual renewal which Congregations are undertaking in relation to their charism. The word charism means a gift freely and graciously given. Charisms are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, who inspires founders and foundresses, and shapes Congregations with a subsequent spiritual heritage. The wondrous array of charisms proper to each Religious Institute is an extraordinary spiritual treasury. Indeed, the history of the Church is perhaps most beautifully portrayed through the history of her schools of spirituality, most of which stem from the saintly lives of founders and foundresses. Through the discovery of charisms, which yield such a breadth of spiritual wisdom, I am sure that some of you young people will be drawn to a life of apostolic or contemplative service. Do not be shy to speak with Religious Brothers, Sisters or Priests about the charism and spirituality of their Congregation. No perfect community exists, but it is fidelity to a founding charism, not to particular individuals, that the Lord calls you to discern. Have courage! You too can make your life a gift of self for the love of the Lord Jesus and, in him, of every member of the human family (cf. Vita Consecrata, 3).