Reimagining Women in the Church

Posted on 21. Mar, 2019 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Faith and Justice, Feminism/Women in the Church

International Women’s Day was earlier this month – a time to celebrate the growing recognition of the importance of women. World religions, including Christianity, however have contributed to the denigration and oppression of women, so says Dr Michael O’Sullivan SJ. He is Director of SpIRE –the Spirituality Institute of Ireland – and  author of the […]

Pedro Arrupe – in love with God

Posted on 28. Feb, 2019 in Christian Values, Community, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values, Humanitarian Aid, Saints

Brian Grogan SJ, who has published ‘Pedro Arrupe SJ: Mystic with Open Eyes’ with Messenger Publications, spoke to Pat Coyle about the life of the former Father General whose case for beatification has recently been opened. Fr Grogan felt privileged to have met Arrupe several times. He particularly remembered meeting him in Rome in 1981, […]

Justice for Ballymurphy Massacre

Posted on 27. Dec, 2018 in Community, Conflict, Death, Faith and Justice, Grief

Fr Paddy McCafferty is the PP in Springhill Parish in West Belfast a parish that was shook in 1972 by the shooting and killing of civilians. One year before another massacre had taken place in Ballymurphy where more civilians were shot. The families of all the victims have been looking for justice for years. Now […]

Remembering Thomas Merton

Posted on 13. Dec, 2018 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Environment, Faith and Justice, Nature, Vocation

December 10th, fifty years ago, Thomas Merton was found dead in his room near Bangkok, where he had been the main speaker at an international monastic conference. At the time he was the best known Catholic monk in the world. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain (Elected Silence in the English edition), was an unlikely best seller, telling […]

Passing on the Faith

Posted on 06. Dec, 2018 in Christian Values, Community, Ecology, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values, Young people

Pat Coyle recently went to Rome to be part of the book launch for Sharing The Wisdom of Time, by Pope Francis and Friends. In it, he explored the advice and learning that older people can share with the next generation. Afterwards he did a Question and Answers session on the issues that were of concern to […]

Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age

Posted on 29. Nov, 2018 in Book Reviews, Christian Values, Economy, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values

Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age is the name of Kevin Hargaden’s new book (foreword by William T. Cavanaugh) where he addresses the Christian problem with wealth. Economics and money is not a topic that the Church speak about very much and if they do, they are frequently told to stick to religious matters. However throughout his […]

Exploring Spirituality

Posted on 22. Nov, 2018 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values, Liturgy

God Ever Greater: Exploring Ignatian Spirituality is the title of Brian O’Leary SJ’s latest book published by Messenger Publications. The book is the fruit of a life-long immersion in Ignatian spirituality from both an academic and experiential perspective. In this interview with Pat Coyle, Brian explains how he dealt head-on with understanding the oft-used, but little […]

Oscar Romero and Trócaire

Posted on 15. Nov, 2018 in Achievement, Charity, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Conflict, Death, Faith and Justice, Humanitarian Aid, Saints

    ‘Each one of you must be a microphone of God, each one of you must be a messenger, a prophet’ St Oscar Romero 1917-1980 St Oscar Romero was recently canonised for his work in El Salvador. He worked closely with Trócaire in the 1970s to speak out about corruption in El Salvador. At the […]

Syria Doc wins Radharc Award

Posted on 01. Nov, 2018 in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Death, Faith and Justice, Humanitarian Aid, Refugees

    Photographed from left to right is Emily O’Reilly EU Ombusman; Ronan Tynan and Anne Daly of Esperanza Productions; Eileen Good chairperson of the jury and Peter Dunn director of the Radharc Trust       The Radharc Awards recently took place in the Talbot Hotel in Stillorgan. The Awards honour television documentaries addressing national […]

Defending the Pope

Posted on 18. Oct, 2018 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Faith and Justice, Pope Francis

Fr Brian Shortall is a Capuchin and author of the book “Tired of all the Bad News” who is based in Dublin. He met Pope Francis on his visit to Ireland when he came to the Capuchin Day Care Centre. He argues in his blog the Pope is under attack from ministers in the Church would […]