More than JUST Cancer – Janette Bryne

Posted on 20. Aug, 2020 in Book Reviews, Cancer, Economy, Health

In this piece from the archive, first recorded in 2006, we hear from, Janette Byrne, a woman with a mission.  A passionate woman whose time in hospital was spent not just battling with cancer, but also with a system that failed to provide her with the most basic facilities: a bed and treatment.  Her own […]

A Near Death Experience

Posted on 30. Jul, 2020 in Death, Health, Spirituality

Many of us have pondered what lies beyond the pearly gates and what will happen when our time to die arrives. In one of the most popular piece from the archives Leila Merriman shares the extraordinary details of her near death experience while she was very ill with pneumonia. She describes a feeling of elation, […]

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 […]

Understanding the Virus

Posted on 28. May, 2020 in Community, Environment, Health

Richard Leonard SJ is an Australian Jesuit and friend of the Irish Jesuit Province. He is also the author of the best-selling book Where the Hell is God, in which he explores the false theologies of suffering that have been current down the ages and explores what a true theology of suffering should be. The […]

The Woman with a Haemmorhage

Posted on 21. May, 2020 in Christian Values, Church Teachings, Community, Feminism/Women in the Church, Health

As we come to the end of Eastertide, we play the last in our series of “Women of the Cross” series. This time we are listening to the story of The woman with a haemmorhage, who reached out to connect with Jesus, by touching the hem of his cloak. She was hoping that she might be healed, but […]

The Way to Manresa

Posted on 14. May, 2020 in Book Reviews, Christian Values, Community, Ecology, Health, Nature, Pilgrimage

Irish Jesuit Brendan McManus’ latest book The Way to Manresa, has just been published by Loyola Press, Chicago. A story that Brendan describes as “a spirituality of failure”. The book is the story of Brendan’s experiences along the Ignatian Camino in Spain, which runs for 600km from Loyola to Manresa, following the journey that St […]

Loss and Hope

Posted on 02. Apr, 2020 in Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Health, Hospice, Relationships

With the Coronavirus sweeping across the globe, people are more aware of our fragility and loss. In this piece from the archives we look back at “Irish Stories of Loss and Hope” a book published by Hospice Foundation.  They wanted to help show people … “the individual nature of grief, the difficulties that grieving brings and […]

Understanding the Sacrament of the Sick

Posted on 26. Mar, 2020 in Christian Values, Community, Death, Gospel Values, Health

Australian Jesuit Fr Richard Leonard, author of Hatch, Match & Dispatch: A Catholic Guide to Sacraments, talks to Pat Coyle  about the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. Pointing to the miracles, he emphasises that Christ’s mission was clearly one of healing with the sacrament as part of the tradition. He notes that the […]

Vegan Lenten Fast

Posted on 12. Mar, 2020 in Christian Values, Heart disease, Lent, Medicine

There is a long tradition of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church, particularly during Lent. Even to this day, Catholics are called on to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent. For many, it is something that has largely fallen by the wayside and most people pick and chose what […]

Surviving Leukaemia

Posted on 02. Jan, 2020 in Cancer, Chronic illness, Health

A cancer diagnosis is something that everybody dreads. Brenda Drumm of the Catholic Communications Office in Maynooth heard the news that she had leukaemia in Jan 2007.  In this piece for 2009, she tells her story to Miriam Gormally and explains how the disease changed her life.