The Addict

Posted on 06. Aug, 2020 in Addiction, Alcohol, Drugs, Uncategorized

In 1965 Sr. Consilio founded Cuan Mhuire in Athy Co. Kildare to help those struggling with addictions.  She attributes the success of the centre, not to anything she did, but to the support received from Our Lady.  After her presentation at a recent conference on Addiction in the Jesuit Manresa Centre in Dublin, she told […]

New Year Questions

Posted on 02. Jan, 2020 in Addiction, Alcohol

  January can be a difficult month, Christmas celebrations are well and truly over and the bills are coming in.  But what if your Christmas was a write off because of someone’s drinking or maybe you feel that you yourself consumed too much alcohol and are concerned about it.  In this piece from Jan 2009, […]

Stories from the Pastoral Congress

Posted on 06. Sep, 2018 in Alcohol, Book Reviews, Christian Values, Community

We catch up again with some of the action that took place at the World Meeting of Families Pastoral Congress in the RDS at the end of August. Here Pat Coyle speaks with Bernard McGuckian SJ, Mary Brady and Vera Casey about the work of the Pioneer Association and the Messenger Publications’ best-selling books. They discussed […]

Staying sober for St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on 16. Mar, 2017 in Alcohol, Christian Values, Community, Saints

The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (PTAA) has asked people to not abuse alcohol on St Patrick’s Day. Speaking at the launch of the PTAA’s nationwide fundraising appeal for 2017, Raymond O’Connor, project coordinator of the Pioneers, highlighted the relationship between alcohol and celebration in Ireland, looking in particular at St. Patrick’s Day. He said that […]

Pioneers in Africa

Posted on 16. Jun, 2016 in Addiction, Alcohol, Christian Values

Charles Searson SJ saw first hand the damages of alcohol which led him to become a pioneer and to promote the temperance movement. He now works in Africa where he explains to Pat Coyle that alcohol is fast becoming a problem, in particular for women. He has been working on curbing the influence of alcohol in […]

Abstinence in Lent

Posted on 11. Feb, 2016 in Alcohol, Christian Values, Lent

Lent is a time when everyone makes an effort to give up something. For many of us the ideal thing to give up is alcohol, something with impacts on the lives of many Irish people. James Shevelin is president of the Pioneer association of Ireland and he is based in Galway. Miriam Gormally phoned him […]

Treating Addiction

Posted on 03. Sep, 2015 in Addiction, Alcohol, Drugs

Dr. Michael Kinsella is a doctor in corporate and legal ethics, currently working with Cuan Mhuire. Cuan Mhuire is Ireland’s largest voluntary provider of Rehabilitation Treatment for individuals suffering from addiction and other related issues.  Since its formation in 1966 by Sr. Consilio, Cuan Mhuire has treated over 75,000 people and it’s success rate of […]

Could You Do the Pioneers’ Challenge?

Posted on 06. Mar, 2014 in Alcohol, Lent, Seasons of the Church Year

Could You Do the Pioneers’ Lenten Challenge? (And if not why not?) http://jesuitcommunicationcentre.newsweaver.com/nwstatic/spacer.gif The Pioneer Association is making its annual appeal to Irish people, asking them to take a short term pledge for the Lenten season which begins on Ash Wednesday 5 March, 2014. They hope that by signing up to their Lenten challenge the […]

Rev Bjork To Open A Dining Room

Posted on 14. Feb, 2014 in Addiction, Alcohol, Drugs, Poverty

The mostly affluent borough of Dun Laoghaire might not seem the kind of place that would need a free meals service but the Reverend Asa Bjork Olafsdottir thinks it is.  The Icelandic native has been Vicar of Christ Church Dun Laoghaire for the past year and as well as proving herself a very good and […]

World Champion Ursula Agnew

Posted on 09. Jan, 2014 in Achievement, Alcohol, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Crime, Drugs, Feminism/Women in the Church, Gospel Values, Young people

Fr. Alan Neville takes a moment to talk with World Champion Kick Boxer Ursula Agnew about her faith. Ursula Agnew who is the current World Featherweight Kickboxing Champion in the Ladies division talks about how her life was on the wrong side of the tracks and quickly spiraling out of control and getting herself into […]