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MA in Applied Spirituality

Posted on 27. Apr, 2017 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community

Michael O’Sullivan SJ is the Director of the MA in applied spirituality. It is a masters that is awarded by Waterford Institute of technology and delivered in Milltown Park, Dublin in conjunction with SpIRE, the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education. The course includes lots of class contact as well as meetings with a spiritual director and discussions in groups of three for the purpose of personal and theoretical integration. Michael pointed out that when they first started the course, there were quite a few people on the course who were struggling to reconcile their spirituality with a Church they felt had let them down. Miriam asked Michael how the course was able to address that, but began by asking him about the different types of people who are drawn to the course and how they hope to enrich their education through a Masters in Applied Spirituality. For more information go to http://spiritualityinstitute.ie/ma-applied-spirituality

 

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Spirituality for Professionals

Posted on 18. Apr, 2019 in Christian Values, Community, Faith and Justice, Retreats, Spiritual, Vocation

The first ever international conference on ‘Spirituality in Society and the Professions‘ will take place in the Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), May 16-18, 2019 in Waterford, Ireland. The conference has attracted speakers from various parts of the USA, Australia, mainland Europe, UK, and Ireland. It is a collaboration between WIT and the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education (SpIRE), headed up by Dr Michael O’Sullivan SJ and Dr Bernadette Flanagan, along with the European Institute for Spirituality in Economics and Society (SPES). You can book for the conference by clicking here.

The topic of the conference is related to the Routledge International Handbook of Spirituality in Society and the Professions (2019) edited by Laszlo Zsolnai and Bernadette Flanagan. This book, and four other works in spirituality by SpIRE board members, will be launched at the conference.

Some of the issues and questions to be addressed at the conference will include looking at understanding spirituality in different professions and questioning how and why materialistic worldviews dominate social practices and the professions? As well as how professional education can be enriched by a spiritual perspective and orientation.

Speakers at the conference include Dr David Coghlan SJ, whose topic is ‘Developing a Spirituality of Scholarship’, Gavin Murphy, blogger and part of the team in Irish Jesuit Communications, speaking on the ‘Psycho-Spiritual Inspiration of Three Saints’, and SpIRE director Michael O’Sullivan on ‘Spiritual Capital: Spirituality for Social & Planetary Well-being’. Petra Sebek, a recent graduate from the MA in Applied Spirituality with SpIRE, will be speaking on her thesis topic, ‘Spirituality in the Selfie Culture of Instagram’.

In this interview with Pat Coyle, Michael O’Sullivan and Bernadette Flanagan outline the significance of this international event, and give a brief sketch of the book on which it is based. Bernadette begins by saying that you can see deep threads of spirituality running through various professions, once you start to look for them.

Again – you can book for the conference by clicking here. and there are multiple different options and prices when it comes to booking the tickets, ranging from lecturers on one day only to full event including dinner.

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Studying Spirituality

Posted on 14. Apr, 2016 in Spirituality

Michael O'Sullivan

Michael O’Sullivan SJ the Co founder of SpIRE, the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education, spoke about the the need for a leading institute for spirituality in Ireland.

Following the closure of both the Milltown Institute and then All Hallows, himself and Bernadette Flanagan felt the lack of any place for spiritual studies in Ireland. Michael points out that the study of spirituality is a growing area and that Ireland would be a poorer place for not being able to offer studies in this field. In particular he wanted to keep the MA in Spirituality. Now in conjunction with Waterford Institute of Technology, they will be opening up the first year for the MA in Applied Spirituality in August. He explained more to Miriam Gormally about SpIRE and the MA. She began by asking him what exactly an MA in Spirituality would involve.

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The Spirituality of Virginia Woolf

Posted on 10. Mar, 2016 in Art, Book Reviews, Christian Values, Spirituality, War / Civil Unrest

stephaniepaulsell

Well-known author Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) may have been an atheist, but she nonetheless had a rich and deep spirituality, according to Professor Stephanie Paulsell of the Harvard Divinity School. She spoke in Milltown Park on March 8, at the invitation of SpIRE, the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education.

Professor Paulsell described Woolf’s family ties to religious movements and her own complete rejection of any notion of a deity. However she retained a deep interest in the concept of soul, morality and how to live a good life without God. She had a passion for justice and for the ethical life.

Dermot Roantree met with Professor Paulsell to find out more.

There will be a formal launch of SpIRE in the Arrupe Room, Milltown Park, on Tuesday 22 March. At this same event both SpIRE’s website and its MA in Applied Spirituality will also be launched. All are welcome to attend. Enquiries to Michael O’Sullivan at spiremos@gmail.com.

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Spirituality in Children

Posted on 13. Jun, 2013 in Spirituality

It was often understood that spirituality was something that had to be taught to children. However Dr. Michael Sullivan SJ, Director of the MA in Applied Christian Spirituality in All Hallows College and co-editor of the book Spiritual Capital – Spirituality in Practice in Christian Perspective says that even very young children have a sense of spirituality. He tells Pat Coyle how his own spiritual experience as a young person informed his life long understanding of God as kind and loving.

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Applied Spirituality

Posted on 12. Apr, 2012 in Spiritual

Spirituality is often seen as an ephemeral topic, but the New Masters Programme offered by All Hallows in Applied Christian Spirituality seeks to change that image. The aim  is to assist people in making the relevant connections with lived spirituality. Pat Coyle met Dr Michael O’Sullivan who is the Programme Director to find out what the course had to offer and who would be interested in taking part.

 

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Bursting Out in Praise

Posted on 02. Jan, 2020 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Depression, Gospel Values, Mental Health

Gavin T. Murphy, blogger with the website, I love bipolar  talks about the spiritual journey that the highs and lows of bipolar have brought him on. He has also presented a series of reflections on his life’s journey with RTE Radio One’s A Living Word programme.  From that series he was asked to write a book by the editor of Messenger Publications, Donal Neary SJ.

The book is called Bursting Out in Praise: Spirituality and Mental Health and features some of the reflection and research he did while studying for an MA in Applied Spirituality at Waterford Institute of Technology.

He hopes that the book will help others and even encourage readers to ‘burst out in praise’ in the midst of pain or suffering and begins by explains why spirituality and mental health have been such important topics to him.

The book Bursting Out in Praise: Spirituality and Mental Health is available on the Messenger Website – Messenger.ie 

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Spiritual Tourism

Posted on 22. Jun, 2017 in Church Teachings, Climate Change, Community, Ecology, Environment, Nature

Bernadette Flanagan PBVM is chair of the board of SpIRE, The Spirituality Institute for Research and Education which has been established to serve the spiritual seeking of people and contribute to the academic study of spirituality in higher education. For the last fifteen years they have been organising a very popular summer school from 21-25th of August – spiritualityinstitute.ie/summer-school

This year, the school will focus on ecology and how people make meaning in their life, drawing on the Story of the Universe. The summer school is open to everyone offering a taster event into spirituality. From there they can explore spirituality deeper by choosing to sign up for the MA in Applied Spirituality.

Pat Coyle spoke with Bernadette Flanagan PBVM about some of the topics that can come up during the school and on the masters. One topic in particular that stood out was the school’s focus on the area of spiritual tourism and how we can explore sacred sites, pilgrim routes or holy wells without losing the sense of sacred rituals and importance that is associated with the sites. Bernadette Flanagan explains more.

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Loving Sister Earth

Posted on 08. Sep, 2016 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Climate Change, Community, Ecology, Environment, Faith Groups

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“Everything is interconnected, and this invites us to develop a spirituality of that global solidarity which flows from the mystery of the Trinity.” This is the quote from Pope Francis which inspires Loving Sister Earth.

On Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October, they will be leading creative prayer rituals, which will be live streamed globally from ancient monastic sites and holy places in Ireland. Tapping into Christian Celtic spirituality they will use prayer to bring the wisdom and rituals of these holy places into modern awareness to help people appreciate their environment and tune into the need to love and heal the earth. They will be praying for Universal Harmony.

Two of its three members, Elaine O’Leary, a mother and grandmother with a degree in applied Christian Spirituality and Helen Grealy, a Sister of Our Lady of the Cenacle talk with Miriam Gormally about the importance of opening ourselves up to the wisdom of our ancestors and how Loving Sister Earth started.

For more information or to take part go to www.lovingsisterearth.com

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The Theology of Weakness

Posted on 08. Oct, 2015 in Celibacy/Sexuality, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Gospel Values

Dr Riaan van der Merwe from South Africa recently gave an interactive presentation on “A Multimedia Engagement with the Spirituality of Vulnerable Embodiment of Henri Nouwen”. Henri Nouwen teaching on a spirituality of vulnerability has touched a cord with many people all over the world. He had his own inner struggles included trying to reconcile his depression and his sexuality with his Faith. He wrote many books, including, “The Return of the Prodigal Son”, which Hilary Clinton has cited as a source of inspiration.

After nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions including the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School, Nouwen went on to work with mentally and physically handicapped people at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Richmond Hill Ontarios.

Dr. Adriaan F. (Riaan) van der Merwe is an accredited Pastoral Therapist / Spiritual Director, working with the Center for Christian Spirituality, mostly in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. He talks with Pat Coyle about the remarkable life of Fr. Henri Nouwen and how his work at the L’Arche community changed his perspective on life.

The event was organised by the Spirituality Institute for Research and Education (SpIRE). SpIRE seeks to engage spiritual, cultural, faith-based and heritage resources through education, research, and community services so as to positively contribute to challenges of meaning and purpose facing today’s society and so to raise awareness of spirituality as an applied academic discipline. Michael O’Sullivan, SJ is the Acting-Executive Director of SpIRe

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