Posted on 13. Apr, 2017 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Easter
Easter is a time of death and renewal. Every year the Avila centre in Donnybrook run a Holy Thursday Retreat starting at 2pm. According to Jim Noonan OCD, this is one of their most popular retreats – a time when people are coming out of the season of Lent and beginning to prepare for the […]
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values, Young people
Viatores Christi (VC), is a lay missionary organisation which specialises in the training and placement of skilled volunteers. Their CEO Shane Halpin, a Drogheda man, decided to give up a comfortable Public Relations job and life in London to go live amongst homeless children in South Africa. He talks about how the experience was outside all […]
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community
Bishop Willie Walsh recently gave a talk in Dublin on renewal within the Church and how it could be reinvigorated with the true sense of Christ. He looked at some of the possible ways in which Christians could live with a true sense of being Christ to others, or as Pope Francis says, “It is necessary to […]
Posted on 06. Apr, 2017 in Charity, Christian Values, Community, Ecology, Faith and Justice, Natural Disasters
As we come to the end of our own Lenten fasts and head into the abundance of Easter, it is important to remember the Global food inequalities that exist. More than 20 million people in Africa today are in urgent need of food, as the world responds to a humanitarian crisis that the United Nations […]
Posted on 30. Mar, 2017 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Ecology, Gospel Values, Nature
Des O’Grady SJ and Dee Hennessy give mindfulness workshops throughout the country. Both of them came to mindfulness through a sense of dissatisfaction with what the Church had to offer. Their mindfulness however brought them back to a richer and deeper appreciation of their faith and their retreats now combine Christian Eucharist with Mindful awareness. […]
Posted on 30. Mar, 2017 in Art, Feminism/Women in the Church, Gospel Values, Religious patronage, Saints
In the cross vault of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City there are four niches, each one containing a very impressive statue. One in particular which stands out – Saint Veronica by Francesco Mochi. His active and passionate depiction of her is at odds with the decorum of the Basilica – the statue shows […]
Posted on 30. Mar, 2017 in Celibacy/Sexuality, Church Teachings, Gospel Values, Humane Vitae
In Amoris Laetitia, “The Joy of Love”, Pope Francis argues that the early teachings of the Church did not subscribe to the ascetic duality of body bad, soul good, that they rejected those teachings, saying both were a whole. In fact “holiness” was about the integration of things of the body and things of the […]
Posted on 23. Mar, 2017 in Charity, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Faith and Justice, Young people
Josiane Umumarashavu, accompanied by Sr. Ancille recently visited Ireland from Rwanda. Josiane was the face of the Trócaire Lent campaign box in 2004 and Sr. Ancille has worked tireless on women’s rights since the genocide. The inclusion of women was considered one of the primary means to rebuild the country after genocide – Rowanda now […]
Posted on 23. Mar, 2017 in Church Teachings, Community, Sexuality
Kevin Clancy became Director of Galway Social Services in 1988. For the next five years he worked closely with Bishop Eamonn Casey, who was the President of Galway Social Services at the time. The death of Eamonn Casey RIP touched him deeply in a variety of ways. The events, the passion and the commitment of […]
Posted on 16. Mar, 2017 in Celibacy/Sexuality, Community
Bishop Eamonn Casey was one of the most colourful characters in the Church in Ireland. He was universally admired and respected for his work abroad and on behalf of social justice movements. However when the news broke in 1992 that he had fathered a son, Peter with an American woman Annie Murphy, the state was […]