On 29th April the AMRI team welcomed 30 returned missionaries to a (mainly social) event at Avila Retreat Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin. The day of mixing and meeting was greatly enriched by interludes of prayer-rituals.
To begin, we had a lively animation of the group, latino style, by the Brazilian group, Tales Musica, kindly introduced to us by Fr. Severino, OFM Cap, Halston Street Parish, Dublin.
Secretary General, Gerard Gallagher, set the context of the gathering with words of welcome and appreciation of the experience in the room – miles and years of missionary journeys ‘to the ends of the earth’.
One remarkable feature, especially to us as ‘onlookers’, was the obvious enjoyment there was for participants in being with others who could identify with their experiences. They are people who have lived through serial uprootings followed by orientations to new and very different peoples and places, cultures and contexts. It seemed not to matter so much whether they had gone east or west, south or places in between. However, in some cases, people were meeting up for the first time after several years, and this triggered many shared memories.
After lunch, Columban Sisters, Kathleen Geaney ad Mary Anthony Ryan invited us into a beautifully calm and deep place of awareness and presence. Having shared life among communities in China, Mayanmar, and other Asian contexts, Kathleen and Mary Anthony were themselves enriched by the responsiveness of the group. It was, in truth, an emotional as well as spiritual experience.
Towards the end of the day we at AMRI offered ideas and invited suggestions for further events, and the feedback is still coming in. it is our earnest hope that our new home at Kimmage Manor will include a welcoming space for such ventures in the days ahead.
One notable feature of these women and men, and their respective congregation and society leadership, is the opportunities they have had along their way to refresh their spirits and revise their understanding of mission, especially in the post-Vatican II period. This was evident in the research which led to the publication last Autumn by Carmel Gallagher, Emeritus Research Fellow at Technological University Dublin, of Retired Missionaries and Faith in a Changing Society. It is particularly important that the experience and reflection, wisdom and passion for mission of these members of our congregations, missionary societies and lay mission committee are heard and felt as we make our way along the Irish Synodal Pathway.
Before we went our separate ways, the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Rosary, led by Sr. Ndidi Anozie of the AMRI Executive, prepared us to continue our own missionary journeys, included a ritual ‘blessing’ of feet, with a characteristically lively song and dance routine.
