God is always with us, behind us, supporting us, loving us, ever-present – even if not seen. John Callanan SJ tells us a Christmas story that illustrates this.
Fr Richard Leonard SJ is a visiting professor at the Gregorian University, Rome. He directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting and is the author of “The Mystical Gaze of the Cinema”, “Movies That Matter: Reading Film Through the Lens of Faith in the Light of Christian Faith” [...]
How to minister in contemporary Irish society is the question addressed by the articles in this interesting book edited by St Patrick’s Missionary Fr Thomas Grenham. Topics include the roles of conversation, presence, systems theory, supervision and reading the signs of the times play in pastoral ministry.
Edmond Grace SJ clarifies some issues on the sacrament of reconciliation and explains the reasons for personal celebration of this sacrament.
Edmond Grace SJ explains the reasons for praising God.
Declan and Sarah O’Brien from Prosperous in Co. Kildare share a novel and simple way of preparing for Christmas with their children by building an atmosphere of love in the home.
I want my baby baptised but I’m not married, will the priest make a fuss about this?
Cardinal Seán Brady commends CatholicIreland.net as a method of proclaiming the Gospel.
Sister Blandina Ryan MMM found a whole new challenge in her ministry when she was asked to “help Elizabeth”.
Kevin continues his bereavement story by recounting the positive impact his experiences of grief had on his whole family and on others.
Advent means ‘coming’. “The advent of the motor car”, means when cars first came to the streets. During advent we look forward to the coming of Jesus. At the end of Advent, on Christmas Day, we celebrate the feast of the coming of Jesus – the birth of the baby [...]
Joseph was a carpenter from Nazareth. He was engaged to be married to Mary. Probably he was just a little bit older than her, though it is not likely that he was such an old man as you sometimes see in pictures of the Holy Family. In those days marriages [...]
In the old days, it was believed that special and important events would be predicted by signs. The sight of a comet or anything new in the sky would be considered a great portent or sign.
Martin McGee OSB reviews a recent work by Archbishop Henri Teissier of Algiers. Archbishop Teissier sees the possibility of mutual respect and peace between Christian and Moslem communities when the people on each side are committed to ordinary human friendship and to dialogue.
Patrick, child of a Christian family, was captured and brought as a slave to pagan Ireland.
Columban missionary Sean McDonagh SSC examines some of the issues raised by recent Vatican attention to the arguments about genetically engineered crops.
Henry Peel OP traces the life of Fr Peter Higgins, a Dominican priest who was martyred in Dublin in 1642, during the days of the penal laws.
Donal Dorr, missionary and theologian, takes a fresh look at spirituality, sexuality and globalisation in the light of the Church’s meaning and message.
Sean O’Conaill points out the cultural origins and the defects of theories of atonement and satisfaction, seeing Christ’s sacrifice instead as God’s refusal to enter the cycle of violence and retribution which characterises human relations.
Marilyn Rodrigues recounts the story of Grow, a community mental health movement co-founded by Fr Con Keogh after he himself suffered from mental illness.
This series of essays from the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice reflects on the integration of spirituality with a commitment to working for a more just world.
Henry Peel OP surveys the story of catholics and education in Ireland at the end of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, a period during which anti-catholic penal legislation was on its last legs.
Henry Peel OP recounts the story of the gradual adoption throughout Europe of Pope Gregory XIII’s new calendar, a replacement for the inaccurate Julian calendar.
Matthew Byrne focuses on the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus and the leading personalities involved – not just Joseph and Mary, but Zachariah and Elizabeth, the shepherds, the wise men, Simeon and Anna, and, of course, Herod. Each has a great human interest.
Healing nun Briege McKenna talks to Teresa Nerney about how miracles do happen.
Andy Campbell, an Irish SVD missionary, brings a little joy to Ghana’s lepers at Christmas. Here he talks about challenging the stigma attached to the disease.
What’s it like to be in prison? What’s it like coming out? Paul Carter-Bowman spent over 1,000 days in Feltham and Reading Young Offenders Institutes and Portland Prison, England. He is now studying Law at the University of Westminster.
Maynooth professor, D. Vincent Twomey SVD, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict XVI, reflects on the transformation of his university teacher into the Universal Teacher of the Nations.
In this article on the parables Seán Goan focuses on stories about Christian living and prayer. As we have come to expect from Jesus the teacher the parables on these topics are not lengthy sermons but short stories that paint vivid pictures.
In this book Christina Rees argues that the only way we can know God is through our own experience; by embarking on a personal journey of discovery and gradually learning to recognise how God is at work in our world and lives.
