Remembering Persecuted Christians

Posted on 30. Apr, 2015 in Charity, Christian Values, Gospel Values, Humanitarian Aid

The International Society for Human Rights has found that 80% of religious discrimination in the world today is directed at Christians. It is intensifying in the Middle East and North Aftica where Only in the last week, there was the brutal murder of at least 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya. However there hasn’t been much […]

First Lady Bishop

Posted on 23. Apr, 2015 in Christian Values, Church of Ireland, Community, Feminism/Women in the Church, Vocation

It’s been nearly two years since Bishop Patricia Storey was appointed to succeed Richard Clarke as Bishop of Meath and Kildare. At the time there was great media interest in the first woman to be elected as a bishop in the Church of Ireland and the first female Anglican Communion bishop in Ireland and Great […]

Pope Francis and Vatican II

Posted on 23. Apr, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Politics, Vatican

Vatican Council II was the most important religious event of the twentieth century, with repercussions that reached far beyond the Catholic church. John O’Malley SJ is the author of “What Happened at Vatican II?” a book capturing the drama of the council, depicting the colourful characters involved and their clashes with one another. His analysis, […]

Get Ireland Growing

Posted on 23. Apr, 2015 in Ecology, Nature, Volunteering

Spring is a time of growth and renewal. Michael Kelly is founder of Grow it yourself (GIY) Ireland. He talks about how when people grow their own food it gives them a renewed appreciation and deeper connection to their food and environment. Describing it as very therapeutic, spiritual and primordial, he says that growing your […]

Venerable Mary Aikenhead

Posted on 16. Apr, 2015 in Uncategorized

Mary Aikenhead, born in Daunt’s Square in Cork in 1787, was one of seven people to be declared venerable this year, March 18th at the Vatican. It is the second of four steps in the Catholic Church’s canonisation process. It comes after the Pope approved permission for the person to begin the path to sainthood […]

Thirty-Three Good Men

Posted on 16. Apr, 2015 in Celibacy/Sexuality, Church Teachings, Faith and Justice, Vocation

Thirty-Three Good Men by Dr John A. Weafer analyses the lives of thirty-three Irish Catholic diocesan priests and former priests during a period of significant change in the Irish Church and Irish society, 1960–2010. The book looks at the way Irish diocesan priests experience celibacy and obedience in modern Ireland, and how they understand their […]

Passion and Persuasion

Posted on 16. Apr, 2015 in Art, Saints

‘Passion and Persuasion’ is the title of an art exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland, run in conjunction with the 1814-2014 Irish Jesuit Restoration Committee, and in particular Fr Noel Barber SJ. It focuses on Baroque seventeenth-century paintings by some of the great Counter-Reformation artists of saints such as Mary Magdalene, John the Baptist, […]

Compassion of Christ

Posted on 09. Apr, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Gospel Values

Having spent 20 years of ministry in Northern Ireland, including working as a counsellor, Pat Davis SJ talks with Pat Coyle about how the compassion of Jesus is his driving force. “When you are sitting helping a client as a counsellor, you are being compassionate, you’re listening to them, not judging them and helping them […]

Response to Enda Kenny’s remarks

Posted on 09. Apr, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings

Catholic Comment, a team of lay people who speak about the Catholic faith in the media were troubled by what they perceive to be a worrying threat to Catholic schools if the forthcoming referendum on same-sex marriage is passed. Speaking to presenter Seán O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio, Enda Kenny said that, if the referendum passes, Catholic […]

Meaning and being

Posted on 02. Apr, 2015 in Uncategorized

Holy Week is a time when we reflect on the meaning of life and suffering. Viktor Frankl wrote one of the most profound and best selling books on the matter, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl, who was Jewish, suffered incredibly during the Holocaust. He lost everything, family, possessions, faced extermination daily and yet found that […]