Posted on 09. Jun, 2016 in Charity, Church Teachings, Conflict, Death, Grief, War / Civil Unrest
Michael Zammit SJ, the Middle East Director of Jesuit Refugee Service visited Aleppo, Syria shortly after the air strikes on the city hospital. He condemns what he sees as a deliberate targeting of hospitals to drive people out of the city. However he added that despite the bombings life in Aleppo was continuing in a […]
Posted on 02. Jun, 2016 in Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Crime, Death, Economy
Rev Alan Boal is a Presbyterian minister in Findlater’s church in north inner city Dublin – very close to the scene of the latest killing in a feud between two families from the area. Because of this he says that the Pope’s call to gangland criminals and organised crime bosses in this “Jubilee Year of Mercy” […]
Posted on 07. Apr, 2016 in Achievement, Conflict
The film Spotlight has itself been in the spotlight after winning an Oscar for best film and best original screenplay. The story looks at the diligent and painstaking work of journalists who persist against all odds plodding away in musty archives, looking for a needle in a haystack. Speaking truth to power is a major […]
Posted on 21. Jan, 2016 in Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Family, Refugees
Bronagh Ćatibušić has just returned home from Croatia where she spent two weeks volunteering in a refugee camp in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod. This camp is a transit centre for people fleeing conflict who are making the arduous trek along the so-called ‘Balkan route’. An average of between 2,000 and 4,000 people passed […]
Posted on 14. Jan, 2016 in Christian Values, Community, Conflict, Saints
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has expressed the hope that official events to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising will not try to airbrush religion from the story. Writing in a special commemorative issue of The Irish Catholic newspaper, which was dedicated to exploring the role of faith in the lives of the rebels as […]
Posted on 19. Nov, 2015 in Christian Values, Conflict, Crime, Death, Grief
The dreadful events in Paris causes everybody to wonder where this violence came from and what led up to it? Sometimes different agendas get played out and people seize their chance to push a course – Rumsfeld in US after 9/11 used the occasion to go after Saddam Hussein; Marion Le Pen in France today […]
Posted on 02. Jul, 2015 in Christian Values, Conflict, War / Civil Unrest
“The Just War” theory of the Church can cause confusion for many. In broad terms, Christians must not love violence. They must promote peace whenever possible and be slow to resort to the use of arms. But they must not be afraid to do so when it is called for. But when is it called […]
Posted on 11. Jun, 2015 in Christian Values, Conflict, Poverty, Refugees
A former assistant Provincial of Slovakia felt like he was going to a sure death when he was asked to go to refugee camps in Iraq, a country largely dominated by the Islamic extremist group ISIS. Peter Gerasak SJ eventually made the decision to go when he asked himself, ‘If my family was from Iraq, would I […]
Posted on 21. May, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Conflict, Places of Conflict, War / Civil Unrest
Tim Valentine SJ, US army Chaplain, on far right, with Cadets Tim Valentine SJ entered the army in his forties to train to become a Chaplain. Having spent most of his life as a teacher, his world was changed completely when he was a first hand witness to the destruction of the New York Twin […]
Posted on 22. Jan, 2015 in Christian Values, Conflict
Conflict is something that we all have to deal with. Fodla McGrane runs retreats on “Managing Conflict in Our Relationships: The Christian Way” which will soon be starting in Avila retreat centre. Fodhla works as a qualified teacher and trainer in interpersonal communication skills. She is an Oblate of St Benedict (a lay person who follows […]