The Sacred Space Team
Jesuit Communication Centre
36 Lower Leeson
Street
Dublin 2, Ireland
Latest
Space
Welcome to Latest Space, the newsletter of Sacred Space.
I'm Alan McGuckian, SJ,
director of the Jesuit Communication Centre in Dublin.
As the counter on Sacred Space nudges towards the 3 million mark we want to
make contact with all those who have responded to it since the beginning. Many
thousands of people have prayed at Sacred Space - in one of the seven languages
- and that has created an invisible community. We want you to know that we here
in Dublin remember to pray for the whole Sacred Space 'family' regularly.
In this first edition we want to introduce you to some of the people - at
least by name - who work behind the scenes to produce Sacred Space.
In life's journey major landmarks are often an incentive for renewed effort.
3 million might be a signal for all of us to make another effort at spreading
the news. Later we give you some suggestions for publicity. Parish bulletins and
local papers are often crying out for some contributions.
We want to thank everybody who has helped with Sacred Space. Thousands have
helped by spreading the news. Many have sent a donation, either on-line or
through the mail. Thanks to everybody.
Thank you most of all for praying with us and helping to create this Sacred
Space.
Alan McGuckian, SJ
Sections within the
newsletter:
The people
behind Sacred Space:
The key figures involved in the
creation of Sacred Space were two Jesuits, Alan McGuckian and Peter Scally,
working out of the Jesuit Communication Centre in Dublin. The site was launched
in February 1999, promising that it would definitely be online for all of Lent.
On the very first Ash Wednesday there were 1,500 visitors. It appeared quickly
that there was no turning back. During the Lenten period, an Irish-language
version called Tearmann was created, and launched for St Patrick's Day, March
17th. This still has a regular following of users from all around the
world.
New team
member
Róisín
Pye joined the team in August 1999, as the site was growing month by month, and
the plans for expansion were mounting.
Spanish
In autumn of that year, Ignacio
Telesca, an Argentinian Jesuit over in Ireland on sabbatical, joined the team
with the purpose of translating Sacred Space into Spanish. Natuca Cordon and
Ines Neira, two Spanish Teresians, were vital to this phase of the project and
special mention must go to Natuca, who sent chunks of translated material across
the electronic wires, despite the fact that her foot was in plaster at the time.
Espacio Sagrado, the Spanish version of Sacred Space, was launched at the
beginning of Advent, November 1999, and is still maintained faithfully by
Ignacio, now finishing a degree in Oxford.
Portuguese
At the start of the year 2000, Sofia
Rebello de Andrade from Lisbon, Portugal wrote to say that she was an avid user
of Sacred Space, and had long wished for a Portuguese version of the site. She
had proposed the idea of translating the site to her CLC (Christian Life
Community) group and they agreed to translate and keep the site going. With the
enthusiastic support from the team in Dublin, they translated the material for
the site. Lugar Sagrado was launched at the beginning of Lent, March 2000,
coinciding with a massive publicity campaign which saw the numbers of visitors
to the site rise to 4,000 a day. Sofia and the group are in regular contact with
the Centre, sending in the scriptures and other material faithfully every
month.
Departure of Peter
Scally
Peter, having done Trojan work with
Sacred Space during his time at the Centre, left in the summer of 2000 to pursue
further studies in theology in London, and is preparing for ordination in the
coming year.
Japanese
Fr. Alfredo Segovia, SJ, a Jesuit in
Japan, emailed us in November of 2000 to say that he wished to translate Sacred
Space into Japanese, and had a team ready to do the work if we sent the
material. So again the material was hotwired across to Japan, and the Japanese
version came into being on the 1st January 2001 much to our delight.
Lithuanian
The next language that appeared on
the scene was the Lithuanian version. Virgilijus Saulius, a Jesuit in Lithuania,
got a few people together and they translated the site, which they ran for
Lenten/Easter.
Addition to the
team
Gerry Bourke SJ joined the
team in May 2001 and manages the correspondence and feedback which comes in
every morning. Every email is responded to faithfully and he keeps in touch with
our supporters all around the world.Italian
One day Róisín opened up her email to find a
message from Pierfrancesco Lombardo in Rome to say that the Italian version, put
together by a similar CLC group in Rome, was already online, and he hoped the
team would approve! Well, we were delighted and immediately gave a link to
Spazio Sacro, the 7th language to make Sacred Space available.
What
next?
So, many thanks to the translators who
have helped make Sacred Space the universal website that it is, and we look
forward to more translations being available in the future. Currently a Chinese
version is in the pipe-line, through Jesuit contacts in Hong Kong. We hope to
launch this before Christmas. Keep an eye on this Space!
Visitors
respond:
Have you seen the latest feedback on
Sacred Space? If not, do take a look the next time you log on. (
Address: http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer/feedback.htm
) There's some great stuff within the pages! People write to say how they
have been helped to find and communicate with God at their computer. Some have
reported that logging on to Sacred Space has meant the beginning of a movement
back into a deeper relationship with God, and the church.
The following is one example from California, USA:
"I am not Catholic. I was raised a Presbyterian by a Lutheran mother and a
Catholic father….. I gradually withdrew from Church specific activities, and
found that my contact with God, sensing of the presence of the Holy Spirit,
prayer life, etc. - the whole gamut - seemed deeper the further I moved from
church and denominationalism. What I find now is that I have a new openness to
finding a new church relationship - certainly to experience the sacrament - but
more so to see how I can contribute what I am about as a person to the Church. I
remember Paul's sojourn to Arabia after his Damascus Road experience. I think
that might be the lesson here, for me. I am an artist by trade. Sometimes the
art comes out in acting (television, film, commercials.) Other times it's
through music - as a composer and lyricist, The latest is through painting -
acrylics mostly. I should know, as a creative person, that I am still being
created myself. Creation is how God and I converse. It is no accident that we
have come in contact with each other through your prayer site. It is what a pal
of mine in Texas calls - "God stuff." You've served as a (gentle) goad, and I
intend to take it to serious prayer. Thank you and blessings to
you."
And another visitor writes: "I discovered your website on September
11th when I could not think, and didn't know what to do..... Going through the
process of your prayer has been a steadying hand in my life." from Illinois,
USA
Recent feedback includes messages
from the Philippines, South Africa, Brussels, New York, Australia and the Faroe
Islands. Why don't you take a look next time to see where the latest
visitors are coming from to pray at Sacred Space? And your feedback is
always a welcome support to us here in the office.
Sacred Space in
a group:
Many visitors, having found the site
helpful in the online format, are using it creatively in different ways.
Deborah, in an Anglican parish in Ontario, Canada, wrote to say that she
had been helped very much by Sacred Space. She wanted to use it in her parish
prayer group, in an adapted format, of which she sent a copy. We responded
positively, and you can access it, for your own use, at this
address: http://www.jesuit.ie/prayer/ontario.htm You might find this helpful as an idea for
Advent, within a local parish group, or as a teaching
resource.
Spreading the
news:
Letters tell us of many ways by which
word about Sacred Space has been passed on – sometimes even from children to
their parents. Most often, it is through a friend, or by a word through a
group to which one belongs, or in a church bulletin or a religious
newspaper. Gerry Bourke was in a Long Island parish during the past summer
and he was invited to write something on Sacred Space for the Church Bulletin.
That led to a request for an interview, and an article on the front page of
The Long Island Catholic. As a result, a lot of people logged on to
Sacred Space, and let us know they had found the site from the article in The
Long Island Catholic. About a year ago, we were featured in a very big
circulation magazine in America called The Lutheran. We had dozens of
e-mails as a result.
The response so far suggests that the more people
get to know about the site, the more people will use it. Currently the number of
visitors each day is over 6,000, and this continues to grow! For those who
are online and have liked Sacred Space, experience has shown that the best way
of spreading the word about Sacred Space is by going to their address book, and
telling all their friends about it. Those who don’t use the Internet, but
believe in what we do, can tell their nephews and nieces and other relatives who
will gain inspiration and be encouraged by it. So, please do help spread
the word in whatever way you can. We suggest doing so through word of
mouth, writing a little piece for the church bulletin/newsletter, local
newspaper, perhaps doing a small interview for your local radio station.
We would be happy to supply any information you need to write up an article, and
you can contact us for any background material or questions you have.
Final word: The publishing
company SPCK is currently working on a book format for Sacred Space, the German
version is in the pipe-line, and work proceeds apace. Thanks for your
continued support, and that's all for
now.
God bless,
Alan, Gerry &
Róisín