Creating an Irish “Camino”

Posted on 27. Aug, 2020 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community

Next year marks the 1500 year anniversary of the birth of St Colmcille, Irish abbot and missionary who was credited with spreading Christianity into Scotland. Bishop Alan McGuckian of Raphoe in Donegal thought that it would be a good time to create an Irish camino based around this saint. An avid walker himself, Bishop McGuckian […]

Meeting Family Needs

Posted on 27. Aug, 2020 in Uncategorized

In this piece from the archive, from 2012, we hear from Fr Peter Henriot SJ is an American Jesuit and political scientist who has been working in Zambia and Malawi for the last 20 years. In Zambia he worked in the Jesuit Centre for Theological reflection which  -not as it name would suggest -actually had […]

Mystical Understanding

Posted on 27. Aug, 2020 in Religious teaching

Hearing voices and having mystical experiences were often in the past taken as signs of deep spiritual intuition. More recently they have been commonly seen as signs of psychosis or a troubled mind. In this piece from the archives, from 2011, Dr Janet Ruffing RSM, Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministerial Leadership Yale […]

Mercy: a Jesuit perspective

Posted on 13. Aug, 2020 in Faith Groups, Pope Francis

In this piece from the archive, we hear from best selling author Richard Leonard SJ believes that Pope Francis is “utterly inspired” in focusing of compassion in this Jubilee Year of Mercy. Speaking to the thousands of people who came to the Marian shrine in Knock on Monday 22 August 2016 for the annual novena […]

Compassion for Animals

Posted on 13. Aug, 2020 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Environment, Nature

In this piece from our archives our interviewer Miriam Gormally is questioned by Pat Coyle about being a vegan and a Christian. Drawing inspiration from Bible passages like Genesis 1:29  where God specifically maps out that fruit and seeds should be our food, she argues that there are also many other passages that point to […]

Remembering John Hume

Posted on 06. Aug, 2020 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Death, Gospel Values

John Hume, one of the key architects of the Good Friday Agreement, “never lost faith in peace”, mourners at his funeral have been told. The former SDLP leader and Nobel Prize laureate died on Monday, August the 3rd, aged 83. Due to Covid-19 restrictions on gatherings, there were limited numbers of about one hundred people […]

Women in the Church

Posted on 06. Aug, 2020 in Community, Feminism/Women in the Church, Vocation

“The new instruction issued on 20 July 2020 by the Congregation of the Clergy confirms the Vatican is living in a patriarchal bubble.” So says We are Church, an organisation who have long fought for ordination rights for women and for married men. They also added that,  “It is an attempt to reassert clerical male authority […]

Questioning Celibacy

Posted on 30. Jul, 2020 in Celibacy/Sexuality, Community, Feminism/Women in the Church, Sexuality, Vocation

Fr Bernárd Lynch is a Catholic priest who is gay and married. His journey has caused controversy, but in this piece from the archives he argues that he is living true to who he is. He further argues that very few priests are called to celibacy and that not many of them are living up […]

Ageing with Alzheimers

Posted on 30. Jul, 2020 in Christian Values, Chronic illness, Community, Health, Mental Health

Des O’Grady SJ currently works as a chaplain in Dundrum central mental hospital. He himself was recently diagnosed with Alzheimers and in this first of at three part series from the archive, he talks candidly about his experience and the learning he has received from it. He says that the disease has given him more […]

Operation Valkyrie

Posted on 23. Jul, 2020 in Christian Values, Conflict

Operation Valkyrie or the Plot To Kill Hitler was one of the assignation attempts on the Früher that came closest to succeeding. Led by Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, an aristocrat who was one of the leaders of this resistance movement and the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler on 20th July, 1944. Initially he had respect […]