Patricia O’Neill’s world fell apart when her 12-year-old son drowned in Wexford’s Kilmore Quay in 1998. But it was also the nightmare that guided her back to her faith, as Deirdre O’Flynn reports.
These extracts from A Celebration of Life provide a helpful introduction to the different elements of the funeral liturgy.
Thug an tAth. Pádraig Ó Croiligh cuairt ar Rwanda i bhFómhar 2000 chun freastáil ar tionól na nEaspag ar an athmhuintearas. Déanann sé cur síos anseo ar an méid a chonaic sé.
When Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem, they looked for somewhere to stay. Unfortunately, as all the people from the area were travelling to just twelve towns to get registered for the census, Bethlehem was packed. So there was no room in any of the places that normally took guests. [...]
Dale Francis offers some dos and don’ts for parents who experience the pain of seeing their adult children leave the church, sometimes to join another church or religious group.
After leaving Ireland, Patrick still had to endure hardship and dejection as he was prepared by God for his mission.
The prophets, says James McPolin SJ, transmit and interpret God’s words for the time, especially in order to call people to address the injustices of their world.
Tony Baggot SJ describes the contours of that exploration of the self which we need to undertake in order to have compassion on ourselves so that we can grow spiritually.
Greagóir Ó Seanacháin OFM takes a look at the eremitic tradition as it was observed by St Francis and his followers, paying special attention to St Francis’s ‘Rule for the hermitage’.
Paddy O’Meara notes that the self-confidence and brash exteriors of teenagers often hide deep feelings of uncertainty, confusion and fear.
In this booklet, John Dardis SJ brings together a set of essays on the complex realities of migration in the world today, urging Irish people to welcome those who come to this land in their hour of need.
Donagh O’Shea OP warns against the tendency to think of the material world – especially the body – as something to be despised. Christian spirituality enjoins respect for all creation.
Teenager Debbie Thornton wonders if teens today are too self-involved and busy to be really interested in justice issues. In another part of this feature from Face Up magazine, Sue Leonard interviews some Belvedere students about their sleep-out to raise money for the homeless.
Paddy O’Meara observes that the poetry and songs of Johnny Cash, Patrick Kavanagh and Kris Kristofferson have touched the hearts of countless people – touched them in a way that hymns, sermons, or the Bible may never have. There are lessons here for the institutional church.
Anne Thurston explores the season of Advent using the themes of waiting and longing, hope and expectation. Pregnancy is the potent symbol here, along with stories of annunciations and visitations.
Colmán Etchingham looks at the history of Graiguenamanagh Abbey and the 12th century reform movement which brought the Cistercians from Wiltshire to the valley of the River Barrow
The Ferns Report was a moment of epiphany, Seán Ó Conaill argues. Judge Murphy has put in place a new accountability that a smug clerical church could not achieve. He sees it as the beginning of a new partnership between secularism and Christianity.
“Our prisons are not working” was the title of an article written for Reality magazine in 2001. And, it seems, little has changed since then. Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ is a visiting chaplain to a number of prisons in Dublin and is also Director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith [...]
God speaks to us in the Bible. But, in using human writers, of necessity He speaks in human words, in a variety of literary forms, and in a culture that is different from our own. Jim McPolin SJ explains how we can find meaning in the Bible for us today.
Seo téacs an Aifrinn do Shollúntas Phádraig Naofa – 17ú Márta – agus iomainn a oireann dó.
Fr Patrick Jones selected these homilies on the Eucharist as reflections on many of the scriptural themes contained in the Apostolic Letter Mane nobiscum Domine. It should be a source of inspiration for all engaged in pastoral ministry.
Tony Hanna provides an introduction to and an analysis of the new energetic movements in the Church. He asks how the theological questions they raise might be resolved and what are the risks and potential they bring for the Church.
Every pope receives the pallium along with the Fisherman’s Ring when he is invested at his first Mass as Pope. Every Feast of SS Peter and Paul, 29th June, the pope also imposes the pallium on each of the new metropolitan archbishops.
Ambrose Tinsely, OSB edits this review of memories of Sr Eucharia Keane RSM
In what it has to say about Mary Vatican II inserted a special chapter into the Constitution on the Church “Lumen Gentium”. By this it was signalling that it wished Mary to be seen as a prototype of the disciples of Jesus. Philip Fogarty SJ develops this spirituality.
Over 30 per cent of the verses of St Mark’s Gospel is taken up with stories of miracles. The Latin word ‘miraculum’ means something that causes wonder. James McPolin SJ says the miracles of our day are those which speak to our world of liberation, of human dignity, health, justice [...]
Séamus Greene is Director of the National Parents and Siblings Alliance. Thirty years ago his daughter was born with a severe disability which it was difficult even to categorise. Little did he know that she was to become the centre of his and his wife’s life, and how much she [...]
“In the sacrament of reconciliation we have a special instance of the Lord’s gracious invitation to approach him with confidence in our difficulties.” Fr Bernard McGuckian answers some of the queries of an inquirer.
The pope’s intention for this month is: “that all baptised people grow into a mature faith, and manifest it by the choices they make in their lives”. Conal Ó Cuinn SJ illustrates the stages we go through as we grow in maturity of faith.
This book, edited by Bernard Tracey OP with Alan V. Martin and Tony Walsh, examines the different experiences that migrants and their host community have of the recent immigration to Ireland. It examines the options that this cultural interchange raises and suggests some perspectives for moving forward constructively.
