Posted on 25. Jun, 2020 in Christian Values, Eastern Spirituality, Working Abroad
In this piece from our archives, we look at the intriguing topic of being a priest and a Zen Buddhist teacher. Fr Robert Kennedy explains how he went to Japan as a Jesuit missionary and spent a number of years there before returning to the United States. While in America he had a formative experience, […]
Posted on 30. May, 2019 in Christian Values, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Spiritual
Mysticism and religious experience have been dismissed by psychology as “nothing but” abnormal experiences or even medical conditions. Something Ralph Hood, Professor of Psychology and distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), disagrees with. He gave a presentation on Mysticism and the Relationship between Religion and Spirituality at the international conference […]
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 […]
Posted on 30. Mar, 2017 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Ecology, Gospel Values, Nature
Des O’Grady SJ and Dee Hennessy give mindfulness workshops throughout the country. Both of them came to mindfulness through a sense of dissatisfaction with what the Church had to offer. Their mindfulness however brought them back to a richer and deeper appreciation of their faith and their retreats now combine Christian Eucharist with Mindful awareness. […]
Posted on 15. Dec, 2016 in Book Reviews, Charity, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Faith and Justice, Film Reviews, Gospel Values
Martin Scorsese considered joining the priesthood before becoming a director and that interest is certainly obviously in Silence, his most theologically dense film yet. James Martin SJ, an advisor on the film said ‘it was like a prayer’. An adaptation of the book by Shūsaku Endō, it follows two 17th century Jesuit priests, Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) […]
Posted on 03. Mar, 2016 in Achievement, Christian Values, Church Teachings, Eastern Spirituality, Education, Feminism/Women in the Church, Film Reviews, Gospel Values, Older People, Vocation, Working Abroad
“Thanks to your Noble Shadow” is a feature-length independent documentary film about Ireland’s last missionary nun in Japan. Sr. Paschal O’ Sullivan returned to Cork in 2010 after 75 years as a missionary nun with the Infant Jesus (Drishane) Sisters in Tokyo. Her cousin, James Creedon – a journalist for the international news channel, France […]
Posted on 10. Dec, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Education, Faith and Justice, Gospel Values, Vocation
The monk and hermit Thomas Merton (1915-1968) is hard to define. He was a poet, prolific spiritual writer, diarist, jazz buff, pioneer of inter religious dialogue, advocate of radial social reform and precursor of liberation theology. His works were known worldwide. However despite all his productivity, he was a man of inner turmoil, who died […]
Posted on 03. Dec, 2015 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Eastern Spirituality
Catherine McCann presenting her first book to Mary Robinson. In their eighties many people are thinking of settling down or maybe moving into a retirement home. Not Catherine McCann, founder of the Shekinah Sculpture Gardens in Wicklow. She has recently returned from a trip to India, including time spent in an Ashram and has published a […]
Posted on 26. Nov, 2015 in Christian Values, Church of Ireland, Church Teachings, Community, Eastern Spirituality, Faith Groups, Gospel Values
The Alpha course has been sweeping though the country and attracting the attention of Christians and non Christians alike. Donal Casey, lecturer and artist, was a lapsed Christian who like many professed to be spiritual but not religious. Here he talks with Miriam Gormally about how he joined the Alpha course out of curiosity – […]
Posted on 19. Feb, 2015 in Eastern Spirituality
In 1997, Kosi, then Jill Warner, had a profound mystical experience of Jesus Christ and was ordained minister on June 6, 1999 by Radiant Light Ministries, a multi-faith church in San Francisco. The primary emphasis of this church was the non-dual teachings of Sri Baba Muktananda and Sri Sathya Sai Baba. After her ordination, Kosi […]