Elizabeth McArdle, Research Officer at the Columban Ecological Institute in Dalgan, will launch Fr Hugh O’Donnell’s new book, ‘Time to Call Home’, on Wednesday 12th May 2021 at 6.30pm. The event will take place online.
The book is published by Veritas and Fr Hugh, according to Elizabeth, “is a good friend of the Columban Ecological Institute”. He was one of the first students to graduate with a Master’s degree in Ecology and Religion from Dalgan.
His thesis was published by Columba Books as ‘Eucharist and the Living Earth’, which was launched by Fr Sean McDonagh.
Hugh O’Donnell is a regular at the Columban Ecological Institute’s courses and he helps with the Institute’s workshops and summer schools in Dalgan and further afield.
A Salesian priest, Hugh works in Sean McDermott Street Parish in Dublin’s north inner city. He is particularly interested in the connection between faith and the protection of the environment. As well as ‘Eucharist and the Living Earth’, he also wrote ‘Songs for the Slow Lane’ which was published by Columba Press.
‘Time to Call Home’ is a collection of short meditations inspired by Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical letter on climate change. These meditations encourage the reader to take courage in the face of adversity and to ponder the astonishing gift of the natural world.
Unlike many examinations of the environmental crisis, that are understandably prescriptive in approach, the aim of this particular work is not to admonish but to embolden.
Readers are inspired to ponder the awesome gift of creation and to heed its attendant call to stewardship of our shared home. Using poetry, scripture, art and music, Hugh O’Donnell takes the reader on an awesome ecological journey, from which we emerge committed to redoubling our efforts to live at one with our natural surroundings.
Fr Hugh O’Donnell
Speaking to Columbans.ie, Fr Hugh explained that underlying ‘Time to Call Home’ is the sense that we are increasingly separating ourselves from the natural world.
“One of the positives arising from the dreaded Covid-19 is that we have been forced to slow down. This ‘staying at home’ in our own area has often brought to our notice details of our living space we would generally have overlooked!. This volume of short reflections, however, is meant as a wake-up call, an opportunity to listen again to the One who speaks to us in the voices of creation.”
“The earth is our home. We belong here. We are woven into it. The old catchphrase for a cold comfort Ash Wednesday was, ‘dust you are and unto dust you shall return’. But it is God’s dust which is as loved as we are loved. We are not accustomed to think like this. But it is good for us. What happens to the earth and all its inhabitants happens to us. We do not live on the earth we are of the earth.”
According to Fr Hugh, he started reflecting more seriously on such matters when he became one of the first group to attend Dalgan to begin an MA course in Ecology and Religion in 2002.
“Sean McDonagh and some of his fellow Columbans brought great foresight to setting up this venture with the University of Wales (Lampeter). Thanks to them, we were able to benefit from what turned out to be a wonderful learning about our living space and about our responsibilities as brothers and sisters of the poor and of our other-than-human kin.”
“I wrote ‘Eucharist and the Living Earth’ out of that experience, followed in 2014 by a volume of reflections called ‘Songs for the Slow Lane’. It was a similar book to the present one but without its focus. This new volume offers a series of meditations on nature’s abundance and on our failure to appreciate it as we go on heaping destruction and impoverishment on all life systems.”
“It is not a book of warnings. It is quite the opposite. It celebrates our common home and invites us to recover the qualities of childlike wonder, gratitude and trust so as to join in the cosmic dance of the Creator. The language is alluring rather than prescriptive. My hope is that, by our coming to love the world around us (as we love our home), we would find the passion to be a voice for it, for she is, according to Francis of Assisi, our sister and mother.“
“It’s our time to make a difference for our children and for the poor of this world who are impacted so deeply by our lifestyles. ‘Time, ladies and gentlemen’ as a voice from behind the bar used to shout, it’s time to go home!”
To take part in the launch, please register by contacting [email protected] by Tuesday 11th May.
