Sons of Ignatius

In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, Sons of Ignatius Podcast is back this week with a slight plot twist! This week's podcast features Fr Niall and members of the NET team who are serving at his parish in Gardiner Street, Dublin this year. The NET team are an amazing group of young people who have taken a year out of their lives to serve God through mission. The NET team share their experience of faith and how they came to encounter Jesus in a personal way. This is the very first step in our journey of faith. But since faith is a gift, we must not keep it to ourselves. We must share it with others. It is when Catholics take this vital (and scary!) step of reaching out and inviting others in that the Church then has what Pope Francis calls "a missionary option". The conversation this week is inspired by Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel). 

Hello listeners! After the summer break there is lots of news to report. Fr. Dave and Fr. Niall are back for another season of Sons of Ignatius. Fr. Dave is moving from Miami to Madrid to start his doctoral studies, but he stopped in Dublin en route to visit Niall and see the land of saints and scholars for himself. So for the first time ever this episode was recorded live and in person and IN THE SAME TIME ZONE! Our Jesuit friends look back over the summer and look ahead to what is coming on the podcast. Our Lady of Knock also features.

Being spiritual doesn’t mean that we are not human. And having lots of missionary zeal and high ideals does not mean that you don’t have needs. If we want to be missionaries for the long run then we need to be aware of and attend to our human needs. Grace perfects nature, it doesn’t replace it!

We have both been through 10 years of Jesuit formation, a formation process which is a preparation for mission. So in this episode we share what we have learned about spiritual formation for mission.

Acceptance, assimilation and adherence—three terms given to us by Pope Saint Paul VI. It’s very simple: in order to change the world for the better, WE have to be changed, both as individuals and as communities.

Witnessing with our lives is essential…but it’s not enough. If we are to evangelise then Catholics also need to talk about God! So let’s talk about talking about God. Proclamation comes in many shapes and sizes. Experience teaches us what is the most appropriate way to proclaim (or not proclaim) the word in a given circumstance.

If we want to evangelise the world, then witnessing to the love of Christ with our lives is essential. What does it mean to be a good witness to Christ? Or a bad one for that matter? The love of Christ makes us both refreshingly normal and strangely abnormal, but always more human.

In this first episode we introduce ourselves and our new podcast. Fr. Niall is Irish and Fr. Dave is a US American, and we met while studying theology in Canada. So we bring some cultural breadth to the discussion of the Church and the Church's mission. We are Jesuits so we also bring the St. Ignatius of Loyola angle to the table. For Fr. Niall, simply saying "God loves me" can be an inadequate way of expressing our faith, because God keeps on asking us to do things that don't appeal to us. Dave says that discernment is meant to lead to decision and action. Get up and move! Q. What is the Church's mission? A. Evangelization. And what is evangelization? EXCELLENT QUESTION!

Speaking the morning after the election of Pope Leo XIV, Frs. Niall and Gerry Whelan SJ are very enthusiastic about the election of the new pontiff. The big question is whether or not Pope Leo will be in continuity with Pope Francis. In light of that question, Fr Gerry goes through the deeper theological significance of Pope Francis’ pontificate and the tensions it provoked in the Church. He also suggests some ways that Pope Leo could improve upon Francis’ legacy and the synodal way forward.

In Part II of this three-part mini-series, Fr Niall and Fr Gerry continue the story of Pope Francis’ life. They begin by sharing some reflections on Pope Francis’ funeral, which turned out to be something of a geopolitical event. Fr Gerry then talks about J-M Bergoglio’s time as a Jesuit superior when he put the Argentinian Jesuits on a new course, his period of exile and suffering called the “Cordoba years”, and his extremely influential years, nationally and internationally, as the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. This is one of our longer episodes because there is just a lot of ground to cover. Fr Gerry believes that Pope Francis, although accused of being on the left or the right, was always a strong ‘centrist’. The Theology of the People and the discernment of spirits were his guiding lights.

 The news of the death of Pope Francis early on Easter Monday came as a shock to the world. After serving for 12 years as the successor of St. Peter, Francis has gone to God, bringing to an end a dramatic chapter in the history of the Church and the Society of Jesus. Francis brought a unique set of gifts and perspectives to the papacy. While being firmly rooted in Catholic tradition, he never fitted easily into any camp, and he had an uncanny ability to draw praise and criticism from all sides. In this short series on the life of Pope Francis, Fr Niall talks to Jesuit author and theologian Fr Gerry Whelan SJ about some of the major experiences of Jorge Maria Bergoglio’s Jesuit life: his spiritual experiences as a novice, his pastoral experiences living close to the poor, and his intellectual formation as a Jesuit scholastic.In this episode, Fr Gerry brings us back to the Argentina of the 1950s and 60s, and presents the spiritual and intellectual currents of that place and time that shaped the young Bergoglio into the man who would go on to break the mould. Pope Francis was a true son of Ignatius. With St Ignatius and all the saints, may he share in the glory of the Divine Majesty forevermore.

The Institution of the Eucharist: the source and summit of Christian life.

Fr. Niall Leahy SJ and Seán McMahon SJ introduce and discuss their respective formation stages. Fr. Niall reflects on his 'Experiment' with the Missionaries of Charity. Recent videos on the Irish Jesuit Instagram are also highlighted.

Eamonn Walls SJ hosts the new Jesuit "scholastic" Seán McMahon SJ as he reflects on professing First Vows in Innsbruck and taking the next step after Noviciate.

Fr. Niall Leahy SJ preaches on Christ's calming of the storm, Christ as Creator, bringing our challenges to God, and the call to be humble and courageous in doing great things for God.

Fr. Kevin O'Rourke SJ preaches on "Christ burgling Satan's house", the theme of Christ's authority in the Gospel of Mark, and the Church as Christ's family.

What is love? Fr. Niall's homily offers a three-fold answer: Eros (passionate, romantic love), Philia (friendship and political love) and Agape (the free, lasting love that comes from God.) That Agape love comes from God is a wonderful message from St. John that people need to know. Being loved by God is not about working harder, "copping on" or everyone pulling their socks up. We can always turn to God, acknowledge the poverty of our ability to love, and ask for the grace of His love. Featuring St. John, St Ignatius of Loyola and St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as Taylor Swift and the Bellamy Brothers.

Jesuit novice and friend of the show Sean McMahon returns to Sons of Ignatius to talk about his recent experience in Uganda where he was ministering to refugees.

Fr Niall talks with Fr Ted Penton SJ and Fr Mark Lopez SJ about the final stage of Jesuit formation which is called tertianship. For the last eight weeks or so Fr Ted has been ministering in Gardiner Street parish while Fr Mark has been in a nearby shelter for men experiencing homelessness which is run by the Legion of Mary.

In this third conversation between Fr Niall and Drs. Kevin and Ciara from JCFJ they talk about the connection between the care of the environment and Jesus. If Christians are to be ecologically responsible then the link between creation and Christ needs to be made very explicit.