Travels in Pakistan

Posted on 10. Sep, 2020 in Community, Poverty, Schools

Retired, widowed and open to new challenges is how Beth Nunan would describe herself.  When her husband was dead two years a friend suggested that she should ‘do something’ – so she did.  She travelled to Pakistan to help with a teaching programme and then she did it again and again. It’s a story of […]

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 […]

Working with Chaplaincy

Posted on 20. Aug, 2020 in Community, Faith and Justice

In this piece form the archive, first recorded in 2005, Catherine Merry shares her experiences working with chaplaincy since 1979. She describes her role in the chaplaincy office as just being there to listen to the stories of the people that come in and talks about the challenges she faces in her job. Catherine is […]

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 […]

Called to do Justice Part 2

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

JaNaé Bates works in Minneapolis USA as a minister in the United Methodist Church. She is a member of Isaiah, a grouping of religious organisations from Christian, Muslim, and other faith backgrounds working for racial and economic justice in the state of Minnesota. In this two part series with Pat Coyle, JaNaé talks about her […]

New Post-grad Cert in Theology

Posted on 16. Jul, 2020 in Church Teachings, Community, Vocation

The Loyola Institute of Theology in Trinity College Dublin is offering a new Postgraduate Certificate in Christian Theology which can be studied as a stand-alone Certificate, or it can be used as a stepping stone to the MPhil. Students who opt to do the certificate will join MPhil students to study two compulsory modules, Readings […]