Beyond Belief - Sunday 22nd March 2026

A very good evening and your warmly welcome Mr. Join us for Beyond Belief here

on this Sunday the 22nd of March for the Jerry Kenny here with you in the

chair tonight and on our program we will hear a discussion about ecology and our

care of the earth. We will also journey with the help of two students from

St. Joseph's Community College who visited Mission Vale in Port Elizabeth, South

Africa to see the continuing work of the great mission there set up by the

late sister Ethel Nalmyle from Lisi Casey and of course I'll be chatting with

my friend and colleague Steven Fletcher in a few moments but first of all we

begin as always with some music and I think many of us were saddened over the

past week when we heard of the death of Dolores Cain that marvelous voice

with its own particular strength and a beauty. So we begin this evening honoring

Dolores and remembering her family particular and friends and colleagues who

mourn her passing at this time. Mishi Restgen piece and here is that wonderful

voice singing one of the Beatles classic songs Let It Be the voice of Dolores Cain.

Very comes to me. Speaking was a wisdom let it be and in my

out darkness she is standing right in front of me. Speaking was a wisdom let it be.

Let it be. Let it be. Let it be. With the words of wisdom let it be.

And when the broken heart of people living in the world of

people living there will be an answer Let It Be. With the words of Dolores Cain

Let it be. There will be an answer Let It Be. Let It Be. Let It Be. Let It Be.

There will be an answer Let It Be.

And when the light is cloudy never still light that shines on me Shine until tomorrow Let It Be.

I wake up to the sound of music Mother Mary used to be Speaking was a wisdom Let It Be.

Let it be. Let it be. Let It Be. Let It Be. There will be an answer Let It Be. Let It Be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be

There will be, there will be, I'm so glad to be

Claire has been

Well here we are again, I'm happy to be down in Stephen Fletcher's little studio here in Killrush in West Claire.

Have a very good evening to you, Stephen. Good evening, Jerry. You're very welcome back.

Thank you for the hospitality as always and you've been travelling a lot with your bishop.

Oh goodness me, we finished, we actually finished on Saturday morning. We've had to shuffle things around a bit but it's been full on.

We've visited 30 different churches over 10 days and I keep stressing how big our dioceses is. It is huge and so we've been going.

We ended up in Mayo in Sligo and we started off down in the Ring of Carey.

So it's been a huge huge journey and then the middle of it in the week on Thursday we should have been somewhere and sadly one of our key people passed away.

And so his funeral was in Kalani on Thursday and so that was a big shock to everyone.

But it meant that we had to rejig the final visits that we were doing. But yeah it's all done now, all done.

And it's very nice to go around and see people. Most of the time I think the weather was kind to us.

We only had rain a few occasions but it was good and of course it's nice to get out and meet people.

And of course he had the other thing of seeing all the vintage cars and tractors and everything that turned up for the visits.

A bit of fun. Yeah one of the most popular videos I put up was Bishop Michael trying to get into an MG Midget.

I mean he's a big man, he's taller than you and me and he tried to get in, when he got into it but then had trouble getting out.

So I've videoed it and I did check with him, he was happy to have it put up.

And then just a day ago he drove a tractor and old Fergie around the car park in Balena Slow.

He was in Balena Slow and drove around the car park in a tractor rather jerkly.

But anyway it's all a bit of fun and he is also raising funds.

So in next week's Beyond Bleigh I'll be talking to him about how the journey has gone.

Very good, very good.

Of course this week a lot was happening with the St. Patrick's Day Parades and all of that.

And you know luckily enough I think the weather was okay here in Westlayer for a number of parades and a great turnout.

And you know people enjoy themselves and the old children and families had a great celebration of our national patron indeed.

And the weather was cold here in Kourash and it rained just at the end when the prizes were being presented.

They just presented the last prize and it rained.

But it had been you know it was a cold wind.

Right.

There's still a little bite in it but I think it's getting a little bit milder.

And of course it's great to see there the bright mornings and evenings you know now again that's that.

And you know there's a little bit in the program about the necessity for all of us

to be very much aware of our environment.

And when spring comes I think we become more conscious of the beauty of the earth that's all around us and the flowers and everything else.

And I know the farming community is very busy as well.

For them the seasonal change is welcome as well.

And just to see the sun even if it is still cold you know you can feel the warmth of the sun on your face which is lovely isn't it?

Oh it is yet is it and brightens I think it brightens people on their journey as well.

And of course one of the sand pieces of news over the past week was the passing of Delores Cain.

A favorite signal of mine.

There was a quality in our voice it was unique and a strength and a beauty in it.

And I'm using a few pieces from her on our program tonight and contribute to her.

So as it probably was on we'll hear from Delores Cain and she rests in peace.

Indeed indeed.

But of course in all of this like we're living in very troubled times in our world is this sort of you know it does a feeling chaos really.

There is a feeling of powerlessness on our body.

And nationally as well you know the Irish government, the English government you know they're all powerless really.

It's a very worrying situation and you sort of ask what can we do?

Well I suppose all we can do is pray.

Absolutely.

I mean it's looking for some sort of stability and this is effect going to affect everything and is affecting everything.

I mean when you drive by the Lord of petrol station and you see the price is changing by the day.

Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah.

And people home heating and that's it.

Oh home heating is a terrible situation.

I mean obviously I've been doing a lot of driving and I run on diesel.

I know you're electric but I run on diesel still.

And you know you literally see it's gone up 12 pence.

And since I started these paragonations it's gone up even more than that you know.

And just randomly seems to go up.

Yeah yeah yeah.

And I mean the not going to affect of all of that is that in time everything else we warp.

The making of plastic depending on petroleum as well.

All of that everything is going to increase.

The whole is making the point that everything we have 80% of everything we have comes on a lorry.

Yeah.

When you think of it clothing, fuel, food of course you know all that ultimately comes along.

That's putting in enormous pressure on households and on people.

Adding to the stress I think of leaving.

So it's a Martin that we just we keep that in mind and that we pray for a resolution of the difficulties that are happening at the moment.

And like the awful thing.

I mean I think was last weekend I saw a figure for hope was spent on the war in two weeks.

Yeah.

And like you know it's mind blowing on arms.

And I mean that's look at what that good could do in terms of you know the organizations that are trying to help like concern and talk or whatever in terms of a world poverty.

I mean like this is just a humanity turned upside down really.

And you see the devastation we've seen it in Gaza and now we're seeing it in Iran.

And as I mentioned before Jerry 50 years ago I worked in Iran before when the shower was there before the revolution as a young single man I worked for a couple of years in the oil fields there.

And they're lovely people you know there was no problem at all very very liberal society then but now.

Yeah it is you know man's humanity to man as they say it's it's frightening that we can be so cruel and we just pray that they there will be resolution.

And I pray every day for the peacemakers and those trying to work on bringing resolution because that has to happen that's the only way it will end dialogue and reconciliation in some way or other.

And that takes time but the sooner that process begins the healthier the better for everyone I think.

Actually that leads us nicely into our next piece of music Stephen thank you for for jashing because again I'm using the voice of the doors can this time just with Tommy Sands but they did a beautiful version a few years ago of that classic song where of all the flowers gone.

And we pray for all those affected in many of the areas of conflict those we hear about in the Middle East but also in places that are struck with poverty throughout the world and the conflicts that are going on there that don't make the headlines.

We remember our fellow humans wherever they are and maybe suffering at this time.

Thank you.

When will they ever be?

Will all the young girls gone?

Long time passing?

Will all the young girls gone?

Long time ago?

Where will all the young girls gone?

Gone to husband and everyone?

When will they ever be?

And where will all the young men gone?

Long time passing?

Where will all the young men gone?

Long time ago?

Where of all the young men gone?

Gone to husband and everyone?

When will they ever be?

Where will all the soldiers gone?

Long time passing?

Where will all the soldiers gone?

Long time ago?

Where will all the soldiers gone?

Want to graveyards everyone?

When will they ever be?

And where will all the graveyards gone?

Long time passing?

Where will all the graveyards gone?

Long time ago?

Where will all the graveyards gone?

Gone to flowers everyone?

When will they ever be?

And where will they ever be?

When will they ever be?

This is Klara Thane.

The sound there of some children from Mission Vale in both Elizabeth South Africa practicing on steam drums.

Just over a month ago some 15 students from secondary schools encountered Claire.

Together with teachers and under the leadership of Father Donald Omara visited Mission Vale in both Elizabeth South Africa.

They went there to continue their support for the mission that was set up by the late sister Ethel Norma, a native of Lisi Casey.

This past week I had the opportunity to meet with two students who traveled on that particular journey.

Nathan Nolan and Eve Nagel attending St Joseph's Community College here in Kalki and asked them about the experience of being in Mission Vale and what they found.

In terms of your trip to Mission Vale, Nathan was on a long journey and what was it like?

Yeah, it was a long journey. We had three flights, our first one being from Shannon to London, which was just over an hour.

And then our long haul flight being from London to Johannesburg, which was over 10 hours.

And then our last flight being from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, but the travel was well worth the trip.

And Dave, in terms of when you arrived in Mission Vale, was there somebody there to greet you?

Yes, all the talented people were there to greet us. And when we got off our bus, they almost made like a pathway for us to welcome us into the centre.

And they had Irish flags and they were singing and dancing for us and they were just so happy to see us.

And in terms of what you did with all of the other participants who traveled out from Ireland on this particular trip,

what were your days like that you spent there, you were there for over a week or so?

Yeah, for the week we were kind of divided up into groups and we were given different things that we could do.

So we helped some people with some jobs that needed doing, we did the gardening, we helped out in the medical centre and even gave out food to people in the morning.

And how different was that from what you were expecting?

Well, the work that we were doing in the centre, it was fine. I'm not sure really what I expected, but the work there, it was nice to do like doing the gardening and giving out the food.

And then for going around to the houses, actually outside the Mission Vale Centre in the township, that was pretty rough now.

I didn't really expect it, I don't know what I really expected, but seeing that it was difficult, seeing how different it was, that was difficult and I didn't really expect it.

Mission Vale, which was set up, I suppose, by the late sister, at the normal.

You know, it started off, I suppose, on small grounds really, but it's now taken on the life of its own.

What did you see that Mission Vale means for their community out there?

Well, the community there, like the people in the centre are just amazing.

You can see how much love and care they put into the centre and the people and even talking to people who were there from previous years.

They say how much the centre is grown and how much it means to the people in the local area.

And you can see that when people line up in the mornings, they may line up there for maybe hours to get food for loved ones, but they do it and the care centre provides that for them.

You know, you were bringing out some gifts as well and bringing out the contributions that she had collected in the months prior to your travel and that.

So those donations will be well spent.

Yeah, so we did bring out our own donations. We all brought out a suitcase each, about 23 kg, just full of coin bandages and clothes and jerseys and stuff of people out there.

We spent our time out there, about maybe an hour or so a day just dividing out all the suitcases and sorting out all the clothes from like baby clothes to like older kids and adults.

It was very interesting to see, like there were so many donations and the care centre were so happy with what we brought.

And now that you're back, it's nearly a month since you visited Mission Vale.

As I left a lasting impression for you, do you think? And what are your thoughts now when you reflect on it after coming back?

Yeah, definitely. Like the whole trip is an incredible happy memory, but the leaving was the side part.

And you'd still think about it every day and think about the people that you met and the impact that they've had, like I feel, the people that I met out there are some of the nicest people I've ever met.

And, you know, it's sad and happy, it's bittersweet to look back on.

Yeah, no, I think about it every day. And like, as Nathan said, the people out there, they were just so kind and they were so welcoming.

And they're just, they appreciate it so much and they were so happy and like everyone out there was kind and everyone out there would say hello to you.

And yeah, I feel the same bittersweet, like I was really sad.

Oh, yes.

Voices there of the children and people of Mission Vale, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, were Nathan Nolan and Eve Nagel of Kilke Community College,

went with other students from secondary schools in County Claire to visit the project there, continuing the work of the late sister Ethel Normal from Lizzie Casey.

And our thanks to Eve Nagel and Nathan Nolan for chatting about their experience there last month.

I've been climbing mountains since I first learned how to crawl.

Just when I'm making progress, I seem to hit the boundary wall.

And when I get back on my feet, somebody shoots me down.

I can't imagine how it would be if you were not around.

It's like swimming across the river trying to reach the other side.

I know I'll get there somehow if your arms are open wide.

But if you turn and walk the way I may never will be found.

I don't know how my life would be if you were not around.

Where it not for you, I don't know where I'd be.

Are you seeing me true?

All the things I could not see, everything you do.

You do the great amounts.

I can't imagine how it would be if you were not around.

If you were not around, I'd know my world would crumble ahead.

Same just like it was before with an emptiness within.

No wonder to guide me or keep my feet back on the ground.

I don't know how my life would be if you were not around.

Where it not for you, I don't know where I'd be.

Are you seeing me true?

All the things I could not see, everything you do.

You do the great amounts.

I can't imagine how it would be if you were not around.

My life would have no meaning if you had not turned my way.

I'd never want to lose this feeling.

That's why you always hear me say.

Where it not for you, I don't know where I'd be.

Are you seeing me true?

All the things I could not see, everything you do.

You do the great amounts.

I can't imagine how it would be if you were not around.

The voice there of Patrick Roach with if you were not around.

As we move into the springtime and have the longer evenings and earlier mornings,

we particularly see in the plants and flowers that are growing that creation is budding and new.

Waking up to remind us of the great gift of God's creation that is all around us.

In our time, there is a growing awareness of the importance of ecology, of care of the earth.

This was spoken profoundly by the late Pope Francis.

It is in Sittical Laudato C.

It's a call for ecological conversion.

He says, Christ is at the center of all creation and we are called to be co-creators with Christ.

It presents a challenge for us to reflect on how we relate to all of God's creation,

including the animals we love.

James Hanvie is a Jesuit priest who spoke recently with Pat Coil of the Jesuit Communications Center on the whole topic of ecology

as presented through the eyes of St. Ignatius' spiritual exercises.

Peter Hanvie explains how St. Ignatius' vision for us extends far beyond our own personal sanctification or interior conversion.

It's a call for participation in God's dynamic creative mission that embraces all of creation.

We listen out to the conversation that Dr. Hanvie had with Pat Coil.

To work with others in building a common home is picking up that great theme of Pope Francis.

And at the heart of your member of Laudato C, his great encyclical on this,

Francis keeps emphasizing the need for an ecological conversion.

That instead of treating creation as an instrument for our use in whatever way,

we actually need to respect it.

We need to recognize that we live in a whole complicated nexus of relationships that we can't live without.

We don't stand on its side of creation, we're part of it.

And what I wanted to do is pick up that fourth UAP, that fourth universal apostolic preference and say,

okay, using our own resources of the exercises from the first universal apostolic way,

what do the exercises teachers or help us understand our conversion towards creation?

And I was actually quite amazed myself when I began to look more closely at this,

because in the first week, that's when we're dealing with our unfreetings, our sinfulness,

one of the things we have to realize is that our sinfulness affects all our relationships,

our relations with God with one another, but also our relationship with creation.

Because sin, if you like, puts us in alienation, alienation from God, from ourselves,

from one another, but also alienation from creation.

And so when I look at how my selfishness or whatever form my sinfulness says,

how I exploit creation, it's damaged.

So creation itself suffers in its own way, because of our sinfulness, our exploitation of it.

Because creation isn't infinite, it's finite, and its resources are finite,

but also the beautiful complexity that God has given us in creation,

means that whatever I do, I may think I'm not having the effect on other life forms, but I am.

So we need to work at that.

While I'm not being romantic about this or naive, there are clearly things in creation that are harmful for us.

We need to recognize that God has also given us the creativity to use our sins, to use our medicine,

to better creation and to better ourselves.

So we're not simply passive or exploitative in this regard, but we have to work in harmony with it.

So what I wanted to do was say, okay, how does the exercises help us discover this?

Interestingly, there's a little footnote I can say, Pat, when you're looking at the whole question of ecology,

it's very interesting to me that so many writers, Christian, non-Christian, whatever,

are all talking about the need to discover a spirituality.

Because it's a spirituality that changes our relationships, our perceptions, our imagination, if you like,

but also gives us a more transcendent picture, which helps us better and regulate our relationships.

So we're all in search of a deeper spirituality to help with this ecological conversion,

and to help with how we respect, cherish, and serve the life that is given us in all its forms.

And I think as we go on, we discover the only intelligent form of life we used to think we were,

but intelligence comes in many different forms.

The birds, the animals have their intelligence, and they have their emotions.

When you see elephants mourning the death, there's a social element to this that we need to take a kind of.

So it's in that context then.

I want to come back. I wait till you're finished because there's some questions that have arisen for me in what you've said.

But let's go to where you find that then in the examples.

Well, there are several key points, I think.

The first is in the first week.

When I experience God's liberating mercy, which also restores my relationships with God with one another,

it's interesting, it's in part of 60.

In a beautiful way, a nation says there, I look at how the crucified Christ, the sign of God's mercy,

overwhelming mercy, liberates me, but then I'm filled with wonder and amazement.

As I look around me, I begin to realize with a deep gratitude, oh wait a minute, yes God's mercy is always present.

For instance, isn't it extraordinary? Hi, I have offended creation and abused it, but it hasn't rejected me.

I'm still here.

So there's a celebration of recognizing all creation still has continued to care for me even though I haven't cared for it.

So out of that, that's my conversion, I suddenly realize, wait a minute, there's a huge gratitude here.

And isn't it wonderful that creation has sustained me even when I've been abusing it?

And it's from that point then we begin to enter into a new understanding of creation.

The creation is the sign also of God's love and mercy, which continues no matter what we're doing.

And I wanted to develop that and trace that through the exercises.

But also what that may mean in terms of our deeper conversion, the real use of our freedom,

also how it changes our attitude to this world.

I mean it seems to me that many of the great scientists, they don't actually have a complete neutrality towards what they're studying.

There's a love that they have for it and a curiosity.

We don't stand as if we're in another planet looking back.

We actually recognize the deep complexity, the beauty of what we're doing.

And that brings forth in us as sort of reverence and understanding and aesthetic understanding

and also spiritual understanding and beauty.

So that's the movement that I wanted to face in the exercise.

And I find that it goes all the way through the exercises.

Of course it's also present in the incarnation of Christ, who gathers all of this together as Colossians speaks about.

So we're always encountering the grace of Christ in creation, however we go about it.

But then it comes again to its great head.

At the end of the exercises in this wonderful contemplation called the contemplation to attain the love of God,

in which very simply but very profoundly we're asked to consider how if someone loves us, they want to share all that they have with us.

I think this is true humanly, but it's also what God does.

God wants to share everything that God has with us.

And of course the everything of God is God's self.

So there's that exchange of gifts in love.

And the question for me is if I'm discovering this love, how do I exchange my gifts with those in rhyme, be with the whole of creation?

And then the second point is that love expresses itself not just in beautiful words and rhetoric, but also deeds.

So I have to be, I have to put that into action, I have to make it concrete.

Then I consider how God dwells in all things.

And that this is a deep personal indwelling, so that God in all things is God's personal love manifested.

This is the way in which a lover shares his or her gifts with the beloved.

So that changes my way of being in creation, my way of understanding creation, and therefore ultimately the way in which I relate to it.

And that's really the key isn't it?

The relationship is what I was thinking, as you were speaking, that at the core of all this it is about realizing what is I am in relationship.

That's just non-negotiable.

No, but it's the type of relationship.

No, I am in relationship, but I can explore it and I can misuse it.

But no, it's a completely different thing.

You know, it's like if you, again, the analogy I would use, if you really love someone, if you love your children, you don't want to exploit them, you want to care for them, you want to judge, you want to see what gifts they have and bring those gifts to fruition and fulfillment.

And so I think that where we are moving now in terms of creation, say, creation is itself filled with gifts.

And we want to say, how can we cherish it and bring all of the gifts of creation to their fulfillment?

For God's story, it challenges us deeply, it means a conversion of our own values.

But if we can bring that about, even slowly, how extraordinary, what a wonderful world we will be living in.

I see trees of green, red roses too.

I see them blue, forming you.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white, the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, are also on the faces of people going by.

I see friends shaking hands, saying how they do.

They really say, I love them.

I hear figures crying.

I watch them grow.

They're like much more than I ever knew.

And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Just as we associate Christmas with Christmas carols, so as we move towards the season of Holy Week and Easter,

the story of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus has inspired many musical compositions down to the centuries.

Saint Matthew's passion is set to music, Mike Bach.

Part of Handel's Oratorio, the Messiah, also features the hallelujah chorus.

And so the prayers and antifans of the Holy Week season leading into Easter has inspired composers down to the years to set the words to music.

The antifan Ubi Caritas, meaning where charity and love prevail, has been part of the church's tradition associated with Holy Thursday and the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus.

It's an antifan that has been sung right down to the centuries, with a particular wording that we have now probably written around the 8th century,

and making its way into the canon of church music in Gregorian chant.

But other composers have also set these words to music, composers like Marie Sturifle, who used the words of the antifan in his musical setting in the 1960s.

The hymn itself is a reminder of the great command of Jesus to love one another, the translation of Ubi Caritas goes as follows.

Where charity and love are found, God is there. The love of Christ has gathered us together into one. Let us rejoice and be glad in Him. Let us fear and love the living God and love each other from the depths of our heart.

Olegello was born in Norway in 1978 and moved to the United States, where he began his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Among his most popular compositions has been the setting of the hymn Ubi Caritas for four-part choir.

This choral arrangement is based on the Gregorian chant that was used for centuries, but he has enriched it with the choral colors he has put into this composition.

So as we move towards the great feast of the Passion Death and Resurrection of Jesus, let us listen now to this encouraging antifan, sung by Vices Eight, composed by Olegello, reminding us that where charity and love are found, God is there.

Olegello is born in Norway in 1978 and moved to the United States, where he began his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Crazy young.

Olegello is born in the United States, where he began his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

Olegello is born in the United States, where he began his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City, where he began his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.

She enjoyed the eternal reward of her goodness and journey here on this world, and the great legacy she has left us in her voice and music.

a very astray, gorever, anim, delish, and we're leaving you tonight with Dolores' special

voice as she sings the Irish song Tonsha in Colour. I am sleeping. Do not wake me.

From me, Jerry Kenney, on behalf of the Beyond Belief team, a very good night and a very

peaceful journey to you in the coming week. Slon, I respect.

I hope you're well.

Tonsha in Colour is a very good night and a very peaceful journey to you in the coming week.

I hope you're well.

I hope that you're well.

I hope you're well.

Do not wake me.

Trim it down here like me

Tam sham khabak is nadu shagme

He is mubukh log

Atoga kahya nasa

Tam sham khabak is nadu shagme

Thakher lefwanarthananar atvarigan

Tam sham khabak is nadu shagme

Gave kahya have harasni

Om meranam si dektrao si ekbranardhu

Skannmi si veon maradau nind amajalur

Tam sham khabak is nadu shagme

Beyond Belief - Sunday 22nd March 2026

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