DUBLIN: 23rd October '04 -- News has come in of an important award to Fr. James O'Halloran of the Irish Province, a Salesian, a novelist who has also several collections of prayer approaches for small Christian community groups, missionary and raconteur, well known also in other parts of the world, including Australia where he has visited several times, and in Latin America where he has worked to build up and Basic Christian Communities.  The rest of this word now to Fr. Joe Merriman, courtesy of Rua Link:

     Certainly, when I lived for 3 years in the same community as Fr James O’Halloran sdb of Callan, Kilkenny, I never thought of him as one of “the Great Minds of the 20th Century”.  Yet that is the title of a double accolade which has been bestowed on Fr Jim by the American Biographical Institute.  Fr Jim’s biography has also been included in their 2004 edition of “Great Minds of the 21st Century”.  On hearing the news. he is quoted as saying “I’m gobsmacked by this award”!

     A long piece in the “Killkenny People” showed how Fr Jim has worked throughout his life to help the poor of the world, whether in South Africa, South America, or back in Ireland.  He has been constantly talking and writing to give encouragement to the poor, to pull together in small communities.  Individuals alone seem ineffective.  Communities working together can really carry forward the struggle for justice."

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'austraLasia' is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia-Pacific.  It functions also as an agency for ANS, based in Rome.  Try also www.bosconet.aust.com  Did you know that 'Confronto' is the term applied to major annual Salesian youth gatherings of at Colle Don Bosco since 1988?  But how best to translate this into English?  For further comment cf. Lexisdb