Frère Roger of Taizé was a unique inspiration in ecumenical action and in interacting with the youth of the world. Fr John Murray PP gives his impression of the man and his achievement.
In the emerging post-secular society the Irish School of Ecumenics has a bright future. This is founder Michael Hurley SJ’s assessment of the role of an institution he founded almost forty years ago and which is still very much at the heart of academic and cultural life in Ireland and [...]
Paul Andrews SJ discusses what it means to deal with disagreements as a Christian.
Fr Peter McVerry SJ makes the case for the kind of amendment to the Constitution that would adequately protect the best interests of the child.
Teresa is bewildered by the suggestion that we should ‘fear God’. Bernard McGuckian SJ explains the background to such a teaching and the richness to its worth.
Missionary theologian Donal Dorr says that spirituality is about our deep longing and search for meaning, peace and a sense of our personal call in life. In eighteen short and accessible pieces he ranges over the experiences, the calls and the activities that give our life meaning. Here we have [...]
The recent Synod on the Word of God (October 2008) highlighted ways of more effective proclaiming the Word of God in today’s world and Have it inspire the lives of Christians. In anticipation of this, the Cloyne Commission for Liturgical Formation last year produced two beautiful companion booklets, of which [...]
Anthony Krivak’s beautiful memoir of his eight years as a Jesuit becomes a long retreat in its own right as he tests all his desires against the pledge to do all “for the greater glory of God”. It becomes a pattern for our own spiritual search, for our own prayer [...]
Sean O’Rourke tells his experience of sharing prayer with his own young children.
This is a book of papers delivered at a conference on the encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI Deus caritas est. And like Jesus’ reply, it pushes beyond the defences implied in asking the question ‘Who is my neighbour?’ Eoin G. Cassidy, Head of the Philosophy Department at Mater Dei is [...]
Users of the Prayer Request page of this website will have noted the debt we owe to the Benedictines in Rostrevor, Co. Down. These five monks, from the Benedictine Congregation of Saint Mary Monte-Oliveto, have taken it upon themselves to pray for the intentions of those who submit prayer requests [...]
Finbarr Clancy SJ answers the question about why is it important to go to mass.
President Mary McAleese tells how her experience of have children has given her some understanding of how God can extend his love to so many. There is no exclusivity in God’s love: it is all-including.
My mother says babies who die before being baptised go to limbo. What does this mean?
This is the Year of the Rosary, and October is the Month of the Rosary. Last October, Pope John Paul II announced five new mysteries, to be added to the traditional fifteen mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious. Called the ‘Mysteries of Light’, the new mysteries focus on Jesus’ years in [...]
A brief summary of the fourteen encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, by Dermot Roantree.
Jean Sulivan’s memoir of the death of his mother helps us to anticipate our own goodbyes and to enjoy the moments we share with those whom we love, writes Eamon Maher
We’re living in a cynical age, writes Sean O’Conaill, one in which the media offer people instant celebrity substitutes for the leaders of the world who no longer command respect. This is a dangerous power.
The prophets were people who lived in Israel before the birth of Jesus. They didn’t really see the future like a fortune teller, but they would predict the likely outcome of behaviour. For example, if they saw the rulers enjoying a rich life and not bothering about the poor people, [...]
Although the Romans ruled Palestine at the time of Jesus, they did not remove all the old Jewish leaders. They allowed King Herod to rule Judah, which was part of Palestine. He was not very powerful. He did have some control over his own people. But he couldn’t order the [...]
For more than two decades, Kathryn Sinnott has campaigned tirelessly to get educational rights for her autistic and profoundly mentally handicapped son, Jamie, and others like him. It’s a battle that has taken her right as far as the Supreme Court. John Scally meets a mother who has given hope [...]
Michael Byrne reflects on his journey from vagueness and doubt towards certainty and faith, and he considers what it means to be a committed Catholic in Ireland today. Kevin O’Higgins SJ responds to Michael’s article.
We should beware of neglecting the great religious value of our ordinary experience of the world, says Donagh O’Shea OP.
Kevin Seasoltz OSB sees God’s gift of his Spirit as a continuous transformation of the world. The Spirit is woven into the fabric of human life; and, even though the anguish of life may remain, the Spirit always provides the possibility of healing and renewal.
John Horan SDB advises people to try to become aware of the ingrained habits of mind which may turn life into a constant source of worry.
Sean O’Conaill takes a look at a book which queries many of our received notions about depression, and he wonders if people who suffer from this condition might not need deep friendships more than prescription drugs.
Seán O’Conaill looks back at a personal crisis of faith and how it led him to perceive that the Church only makes sense when understood as an extension of Christ’s self-effacing and self-giving.
John R Walsh and Thomas Bradley provide an excellent summary history of that most formative period of Irish history, the three centuries of Christianity after the arrival of St Patrick.
Henry Peel OP recounts the last days of Edel Quinn, a young woman who worked tirelessly as an envoy of the Legion of Mary in East Africa.
Patricia Carroll OCSO draws our attention to Aelred of Rievaulx, a Cistercian saint and spiritual writer who specialised in writing about friendship as an image of the relationship between God and each person.
