Author: Justin

The question of immigration has become increasingly charged both at home and abroad in recent years, and World Refugee Day later this month offers a timely moment for reflection. The Irish government has announced that Ukrainian refugees will no longer receive housing supports, and is also considering financial incentives to encourage Ukrainians to return home. This is striking, given that the human cost of Russian aggression has not diminished. In response to domestic pressures, the government appears to be asking people to return to a country still at war.

Over in the United States, over 60,000 people are being held without charge by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the question of immigration becoming central to US politics. Meanwhile, across Europe, anti-migrant rhetoric is driving politics and causing turbulence – notwithstanding the demographic collapse in birth rates. For example, in Greece this year the government has closed over 5% of schools in the country and similar closures are imminent across the rest of Europe.

Here I don’t propose to set out a case for immigration reform, to condemn some, or to exonerate others, but rather on the basis of Ireland’s own history of emigration and – more recently – immigration to discern three broad principles:

• “People have the right to migrate to sustain their lives and the lives of their families;”
• “A country has the right to regulate its borders and to control immigration,” since this concerns the common good, and;
• “A country must regulate its borders with justice and mercy.”

The Church has long spoken out on immigration and there are good reasons why she teaches what she does. For this, an examination of some pontifical documents is helpful.

The Encyclical Rerum Novarum (Of New Things) by Leo XIII, 1891

Leo XIII’s encyclical was the “first social encyclical.” Grafting itself onto a tradition hundreds of years old, it signals a new beginning and a singular development of the Church’s teaching in the area of social matters. This encyclical marked the beginning of what we could call the Church’s “social doctrine.” It’s not that the Church ignored social problems before Leo XIII; rather, with this encyclical, the Church began to speak, from Gospel values, her large doctrinal history, and her wealth of experience, to the social issues and ills of the day.

To summarise the document would be too much, so I wish only to point out that, even if it does not do so explicitly, Rerum Novarum laid the basis for the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity. These two principles are cornerstones of the Church’s social teaching and are integral to the later establishment of the EU.

Subsidiarity means that action should be taken at the lowest level possible. If, for instance, a family can provide for its children just fine, there is no reason for the state to intervene. If the lower-level falters, then the higher level of authority can come to assist, but the preference is that the lowest level look after its concerns. Solidarity encourages all to work together, since we are all the Body of Christ. This phrase most often refers to the mystical body of the church and also applies to the whole of society.

The Apostolic Constitution Exsul Familia Nazarethana (The émigré Holy Family of Nazareth) by Pope Pius XII, 1952

This little remembered document speaks about the historical undertakings of religious communities to provide spiritual care for immigrants. Pius XII provided a summary of his interventions in recent years and also speaks of the benefits of immigration.

“For this reason, on June 1, 1951 in a radio address on the fiftieth anniversary of the Encyclical Rerum Novarum, we did speak of the right of people to migrate, which right is founded in the very nature of land. “If the two parties, those who agree to leave their native land and those who agree to admit the newcomers, remain anxious to eliminate as far as possible all obstacles to the birth and growth of real confidence between the country of emigration and that of immigration, all those affected by such transference of people and places will profit by the transaction”… In this way, the nations which give and those which receive will both contribute to the increased welfare of man and the progress of human culture.” He goes on “the sovereignty of the State, although it must be respected, cannot be exaggerated to the point that access to this land is, for inadequate or unjustified reasons, denied to needy and decent people from other nations, provided of course, that the public wealth, considered very carefully, does not forbid this.”

The Encyclical Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) by Saint John XXIII, 1963

In this encyclical, John XXIII explicitly said that “every human being has the right to freedom of movement and of residence within the confines of his own State. When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men.”

The Pope speaks of a right to movement and to immigration, but always when there are just reasons for doing so. This is very similar to the right to Freedom of Movement which is one of the fundamental rights set out in EU law. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is direct: “the political community has a duty to honor the family, to assist it, and to ensure especially… the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate” (2211).

The Catechism recognises that states have a legitimate right and a real responsibility to regulate borders in service of the common good. This isn’t a concession to politics. It’s basic Catholic social thought. Pope Leo XIV put it simply in saying that“I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.” He went on to say that migrants’ dignity as human beings must be respected.

A nation fails its own obligations when enforcement becomes an end in itself, when procedural violations are treated as more serious than human dignity, when people who came out of genuine necessity have no path to make things right, when families are torn apart without serious justification, or when a permanent underclass of working people is simply left in legal limbo because it’s economically convenient. The question isn’t only whether laws are enforced. It’s how they’re enforced and whether personal dignity is honoured in the process. It’s important that families are kept together not as a favour but as a moral priority. Similarly special attention should be paid to the most vulnerable; children, refugees and people who didn’t choose their circumstances. The human person is not a problem to be managed, and their dignity has to be upheld.

The right to migrate is real, and it flows from the dignity of the human person. The Catechism says that wealthier nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome those who can’t find safety at home (CCC 2241). Gaudium et Spes(65) grounds this in the universal right to seek the conditions for a dignified life.

The Church asks something genuinely difficult of us: to hold two things at once that our political culture wants to treat as opposites. Human dignity must be protected and social order must be preserved. Ignore either one and you risk injustice. Hold both together and something better becomes possible.

Leo XIV, speaking last year on World Refugee Day, said the “link between migration and hope is clearly evident in many contemporary experiences of migration. Many migrants, refugees and displaced persons are privileged witnesses of hope. Indeed, they demonstrate this daily through their resilience and trust in God, as they face adversity while seeking a future in which they glimpse that integral human development and happiness are possible.”

The Pope went on to say that “migrants and refugees remind the Church of her pilgrim dimension, perpetually journeying towards her final homeland.” Ireland’s history of migration to the UK, North America and in our own day to Australia has ingrained the value of international travel and the possibility of seeking a different life away from this island. Having benefitted to such an extent from the hospitality of others, it is paradoxical and embarrassing that this country is struggling to offer hospitality to people arriving here.

Our response must return us to the Gospel, where Christ identifies himself with the stranger, the hungry, the displaced and the vulnerable. World Refugee Day is not only an occasion for political reflection, but for an examination of consciencewhich asks whether our homes, our parishes, our monasteries and our nation still have room for those who knock at the door in need. The migrant and the refugee remind us that we too are pilgrims, dependent on mercy, journeying towards a homeland not made by human hands. To welcome them with justice and compassion is not simply an act of generosity, but rather a way of recognising Christ himself on the road.

Holy Family of Nazareth, pray for us.

William Fennelly OSB

+ World Refugee Day is celebrated annually on 20^th June.

Today’s feast of Saint Joseph the Worker presents us with the image of a saint marked by hard work, quiet dedication, and loving concern for the wellbeing of the Holy Family. It recalls the essential sanctity and dignity of work, and reminds us of the relationship between Joseph, the Church, and the cause of workers.

The feast was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to highlight the Christian understanding of work on a day when the Soviet Union promoted communism and military power on International Workers’ Day.

Saint Joseph is proposed as a model of work, and the beautiful image of him mentoring the young Jesus in the craft of carpentry stands out especially today. He exemplifies dedication in providing for one’s family, making of one’s work an offering to God, and of quiet service and integrity. Through his example, even our seemingly mundane tasks at work can become a way of co-operating with God’s plan.

Indeed, work has always formed part of the divine plan. In the creation of the universe, God Himself works and rests, and later He took man and “settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Gen 2:15). Work is thus ordained by God and endowed with a profound dignity.

The importance of workers such as farmers, engravers, smiths, and potters stands out in the writings of Ben Sira, who describes their work and praises their crafts, reminding us that:

“all these are skilled with their hands,

each one an expert at his own work;

Without them no city could be lived in,

and wherever they stay, they do not go hungry.”

(Sirach 38:31-32)

Work also has a distinctively monastic value, as the Benedictine maxim ora et labora suggests. Saint Benedict understood not only the necessity of labour for a monastery to sustain itself, but also as a guard against the spiritual danger of idleness. He therefore prescribed fixed times for work alongside periods of sacred reading, insisting that “when they live by the labour of their hands, as our fathers and the apostles did, then they are really monks.” In the spirit of Benedictine moderation, he adds, however: “yet, all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.”[1]

Such moderation reminds us that work must be rightly ordered: work is made for man, not man for work. In reflecting on this, we might consider those for whom there is no work or those unable to work, as well as the many whose labour is dangerous, unrewarding, or all-consuming, and all those who are sadly mistreated at work. We recall in a particular way the responsibility incumbent upon Catholics to uphold the dignity of work and defend the rights of workers, in accordance with the Church’s social teaching.

Here John Paul II writes that “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”[2]

This responsibility should also make us attentive to the treatment of workers within the Church itself. As the American Catholic commentator Don Clemmer observes, “the treatment of employees matters for a church with robust social teaching on the dignity of work and the human person,” as “an institution set up to serve people is called to examine its track record as servant of the servants.”[3]

May this feast lead us to reflect more deeply on the example of the holy saint of Nazareth – as a model for our own lives, and as a call to champion the cause of workers around the world.

Saint Joseph the Worker, pray for us.

Justin Robinson OSB

 

 

[1] Rule of Saint Benedict, 48.

[2] John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1.

[3] Don Clemmer, “Church employees are vulnerable to workplace injustice.” U.S. Catholic, 30 April 2024.https://uscatholic.org/articles/202404/church-employees-are-vulnerable-to-workplace-injustice

Please note the following changes to the liturgical timetable and opening hours during Holy Week and Easter at Glenstal Abbey:

 

Holy Thursday

Morning Prayer at 7am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 7pm.

Compline at 9.45pm.

 

Good Friday

Morning Prayer at 7.30am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at 3pm.

Compline at 8.35pm.

 

Holy Saturday

Morning Prayer at 7.30am.

Midday Prayer at 12.35pm.

Evening Prayer at 6pm.

Solemn Vigil of the Lord’s Resurrection at 10pm.

 

Easter Sunday

Solemn Morning Prayer at 8am.

Mass (no music) at 10am.

Sung Mass at 12 noon.

Solemn Vespers at 6pm.

Compline at 8.10pm.

 

Please note that Morning Prayer will take place at the later time of 7am from Easter Monday until Sunday 12^thApril, with the normal liturgical timetable resuming on Monday 13^th April.

 

Confessions

Good Friday at 11am, 4.30pm and 5.30pm.

Holy Saturday at 11am, 3pm, 4pm and 5pm.

 

Guesthouse

Closed from Wednesday 1^st April until Friday 10^th April.

 

Reception and Shop opening hours

Holy Thursday from 9am-5pm.

Good Friday from 9am-3pm.

Holy Saturday from 10am-5pm.

Easter Sunday from 9am-1pm.

Easter Monday closed.

Tuesday 7^th April, Wednesday 8^th April, Thursday 9^th April from 10am-4pm.

Friday 10^th April from 11:30am-5pm.

Saturday 11^th April from 9:30am-5pm.

I recently had the chance to spend five weeks in Glenstal Abbey. It was quite a different setting from that of my own community: the Monastic Community of Jerusalem (Fraternité monastique de Jérusalem) whose motto, “In the heart of the city, in the heart of God,” indicates our choice to live a contemplative life in the midst of crowds.

Since I joined the community in 2009, I have lived in vibrant cities as diverse as Paris, Montreal, Cologne, and now in Strasbourg. Our community was founded in 1975 in Paris, in response to the then-Archbishop’s call for the creation of monasteries in the city in order to help city dwellers reconnect with contemplation within the urban rhythm of life.

This led to the creation of two independent communities, one of men and one of women, sharing the same spirituality and celebrating the liturgy together. We lead – or try to lead – a contemplative life whilst remaining close to the people. Our experience of work tends to be unusual for a monastic lifestyle: we look for part-time jobs in the city, usually as employees, both to earn a living and to share something of people’s lives.

Some teach in schools, work in hospitals, are secretaries in enterprises, and we sometimes end up in unexpected positions: I studied tourism and heritage management, but during my religious life I found myself working as an editorial secretary for a religious magazine, as an accountant in a charity organization, as a webmaster for my own community and – closer to my skills – as a tour guide in Cologne’s Cathedral.

It can be quite a struggle to lead a monastic life in the turmoil of the city, especially for somebody who grew up in the countryside like me. But – wisely – we leave the city every now and again for what we call a “desert day” and I can reconnect with nature, go for a hike, listen to the “silence” of the countryside, try to identify the birdsong… Needless to say, I particularly enjoyed the surroundings of Glenstal Abbey in this regard!

As in all monastic communities, the singing of the Liturgy of the Hours plays an important role in our daily routine. This is all the more significant to me because prayer is associated with music. Music is indeed one of my joys. Even though I am not from a musical family I was introduce to it at a very young age, and I started playing the clarinet as a child. As an adult, I learned the flute, which proved to be much easier to play with other musicians or with keyboard accompaniment (thus solving for me all the troubles of sight transposition I had with the clarinet!). It was a skill I could develop in religious life and, moving from one place to another, it gave me the opportunity to discover new repertoires, and meet and play with talented musicians. The most recent experience I made was indeed a great source of shared joy: playing the recessional for the First Sunday of Lent – Sonata in F for Flute and Continuo (Opus 2, No. 1) Adagio; Allegro – accompanied on the organ by Abbot Columba McCann OSB.

I warmly thank the monks for their hospitality and kindness. At a time when my own community is undergoing a period of reform, this stay at Glenstal has given me a great opportunity to take some time for reflection and to rediscover monastic life in a new light.

Frère Marc-Abraham Babski, FMJ.

This month the monastic community remembers Brother Benedict Tutty OSB on the 30^th anniversary of his death.

John Gerard (Sean) Tutty was born in Hollywood, County Wicklow, on 6^th July 1924. After secondary school with the Christian Brothers in Naas, County Kildare, he helped for some years in his father’s businesses in Hollywood.

He entered Glenstal on 19^th November 1949, receiving the name Benedict and was professed on 21^stNovember 1951.  He was sent to the art school at Maredsous Abbey in 1952 where he blossomed artistically.

A year spent in Münsterschwarzach Abbey from 1961 to 1962, under the tutelage of Brother Adelmar Dölger OSB who helped him to perfect his technique as a craftsman and also widened his artistic horizons.

Back in Ireland, his career took off and he became one of the country’s foremost liturgical artists – a term he disliked. He was the right man in the right place at a time when many churches were being re-ordered after the Second Vatican Council and many new ones being built. He had an excellent working-relationship with the architect Richard Hurley, with whom he developed a close friendship.

While continuing to work on a steady stream of commissions and developing a distinctive style, Brother Benedict was a model of monastic observance – an observance flavoured with his own sardonic slant on human nature and monastic life. For many years he was elected to the Seniorate and acted as zelator – effectively assistant novice-master.

He taught the foundation-course in the Limerick School of Art and Design and held Saturday-morning art-classes for local children in his workshop.

In 1974 he contracted brucellosis, which made it impossible for him to work in his principal medium of copper. He began to experiment with terracotta, rapidly gaining a mastery of this medium. A testimony to this is the Madonna and Child presently in the reception-area of the monastery.

On the 21^st March 1996 he participated enthusiastically in the celebration of the Transitus of Saint Benedict, expressing optimism for the future of the community. He died suddenly the following morning, 22^nd March 1996.

May he rest in peace.

The Limerick Museum cordially invites you to the opening celebration of The Mystery and the Mud: Exhibition of Paintings by Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB on Thursday 9^th April 2026 at 5.30pm at the Limerick Museum, The Old Franciscan Friary, 111-112 Henry Street, Limerick, V94 VW2D. The exhibition continues through 30th April.

Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB is a Benedictine monk and visual artist at Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, County Limerick. His paintings draw on Christian imagery while engaging contemporary aesthetic and theological questions. In particular, his work considers how recent artistic strategies reshape aesthetic priorities and awaken an ethical summons to the Other.

Brother Emmaus uses art to challenge a dualistic mentality that would over-spiritualize the human person at the expense of our physical reality. This focus on the physical form aims to move beyond the fixed, harmonious bodies of Classical art toward a representation that is open to the messiness of lived experience.

Emmaus holds a Bachelor of Design from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, and completed both a Master of Theological Studies and a Doctorate in Theology at the University of St Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Canada.

His research – awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence – challenges static perceptions of the divine, a theme that permeates his own canvas. Central to Emmaus’ work is the principle of caro salutis est cardo, salvation hinges on the flesh.

Emmaus’ work has been shown in Toronto, London (Ontario), Los Angeles, Munich, Dublin, and Limerick.

Áine Lawlor of RTÉ Radio 1 explores religious, spiritual and ethical issues through discussions, interviews and features in her Divine Sparks series. Her show recently came to Glenstal Abbey, offering listeners a few moments of calm and insights into life at the monastery. Listen from 24 minutes here…

On Friday, 14th February we celebrated in a small way our long-standing friendship and connection with Maredsous Abbey School in Belgium. Our school captain Peter Purcell welcomed and exchanged gifts – including sports gear and beer! – with the school captain at Maredsous, Alexis van Rijckevorsel. Both young men could converse in the language of the other which immediately warmed relations.

Two other Maredsous students, Maximilien, (Alexis’ brother), and François Mertens were present, having just completed a six week stay ‘on exchange’ at Glenstal Abbey School, benefiting from a tradition that goes back decades. They fully participated in the school life and so we are all the better for it.

They also recalled our shared past: that Maredsous received from Ireland one of its outstanding abbots, the Dubliner Bl. Joseph Columba Marmion OSB. It was in his memory that Glenstal Abbey was founded by the monks of Maredsous in 1927.

One of the founders, Fr Hubert Janssens OSB, is Max’s grand-uncle and François and must surely be of the extended family of another founder, Fr Winoc Mertens OSB! Deep roots and shared values from the Benedictine tradition enrich our students and prepare them to make their contributions to the world.

May ‘the strong [among them] have something to long after, and the weak not draw back in alarm!’ (RB 65).

To this end we appreciate the leadership of Ms Grainne Foley, Deputy Principal,  and Abbot Columba McCann OSB.

John O’Callaghan OSB

We invite you to join our long-running Easter retreat taking place from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th April.

Journey with us from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday and deepen your experience of these holy days through solemn liturgies, a series of talks, time together and space for personal reflection.

Talks will include:

• ‘This Pale Galilean’ with Simon Sleeman OSB on Good Friday.
• ‘A Good Friday Meditation’ with Oscar McDermott OSB.
• ‘The Mystery and the Mud’ with Emmaus O’Herlihy OSB.
• ‘The Empty Tomb and Faith in the Resurrection (Jn 20:1-10)’ with Lino Moreira OSB.

The cost is €360 fully residential, €250 non residential including meals, or €180 fully residential for students.

For bookings and more information contact guestmaster@glenstal.com

January is often a quieter month for monastic guest masters and guest mistresses, and so every two years we take the opportunity to gather together for a time of reflection and prayer. This year, monks and nuns with responsibility for hospitality in monasteries across Ireland and Great Britain met for three days at Kylemore Abbey, in beautiful Connemara.

Benedictine, Cistercian and Bernardine communities were represented, with guest masters and mistresses hailing from Buckfast Abbey, Stanbrook Abbey, Quarr Abbey, Glencairn Abbey, Silverstream Priory, Kylemore Abbey and Hyning Monastery. Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland joined us via Zoom.

Our theme was simple: “Welcoming the guest as Christ today.” We shared experiences of hospitality in our different monasteries and quickly discovered how much we hold in common. Though our settings vary, many of the challenges are the same. We spoke, too, of a striking pastoral reality: how many people arrive at our doors tired and worn down by the pressures of modern life. Again and again we see how deeply guests value the rhythm, prayer, and quiet of the monastic guesthouse.

One important insight was that hospitality does not have to be grand or luxurious to be authentic. It is not great gestures that make a guest feel welcomed as Christ, but the creation of a safe space, and the offering of reverence and respect. A listening ear, a simple meal, a peaceful room – these speak powerfully.

We were also reminded of something even more fundamental. While we are called to welcome Christ in the guest, it is Christ who truly does the welcoming. Our task is to set the table, to open the door, to be present. When we step aside and allow Christ to act, many marvellous things can happen.

The days in Kylemore were filled with prayer, conversation and encouragement. We returned to our monasteries strengthened in our shared vocation: to receive each guest as Christ and to trust that Christ is already at work long before we open the door.

Oscar McDermott OSB