James D. writes: Dear Father, The Catholic Church insists so much on attendance at Sunday Mass that it seems as if this is the top priority for members. Are other aspects of Christian life not of greater importance? Fr Bernard McGuckian SJ replies.
This month the Pope asks us ‘that Sunday be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the Risen Lord in the table of the Eucharist’. Fr Michael Paul Gallagher SJ explains.
Tony Bolger tells a story about his father-in-law that encouraged his faith.
Edmond Grace SJ responds to a question about the confusions in the Gospels and why sometimes the stories in them seem to be telling different things.
Edmond Grace SJ answers the question about Jesus’ relationship to the Father, and if he could have refused to fulfil the will of the Father.
I don’t go to church, but I think it would be nice to get my baby baptised to please my gran.
Fr Pedro Arrupe on devotion to the Sacred Heart.
Irish Catholics should welcome the open space that secularism provides, not fear it, writes Sean O’Conaill.
Well-known social campaigner Peter McVerry S.J. reflects on his experiences in Dublin’s inner city. His heart-felt sympathy for the young people from disadvantaged families – and his equally heart-felt anger at the failure of the establishment even to understand these people – is palpable throughout.
Fr Lawrence Cunningham writes on the strong links that bind us to others who are part of the vast community of the living and the dead.
The life of a teen is filled with challenges. 18-year-old Debbie Thornton looks at those she thinks top the list. What are the main issues facing teenagers today? That question was put to me a while ago, and I’m struggling to come to any definite conclusions. If an adult was [...]
Rinne Finola Uí Chinnéide staidear cuimsitheach ar an dteaghlach in Éirinn don leabhar Cottage to Creche; Family Change in Ireland.(2001) Anseo tugann sí blaiseadh de torthaí an staidéir sin.
Mary, an obscure but feisty young woman from Nazareth, continues to have a powerful hold on the Catholic imagination. Rosemary Houghton writes.
Trí bliana sular maraíodh é scríobh an tAthair Christian de Chergé OCSO litir agus sheol chuig a chlann í, “le hoscailt i gcás mo bháis”. Tiomna mairtírigh a bhí inti.
David Gaffney SJ sees cultural changes to have made young people vulnerable and fragile, sometimes leading them down a self-destructive path.
Philip Fogarty SJ responds to a query about God’s seeming unfairness – specifically about God permitting terrible suffering around the world.
Mark Patrick Hederman provides a thoughtful and readable account of the history of dialogue in the Catholic Church since the pontificate of John XXIII.
Dermot Lane invites Christians to deepen their faith by exploring some of the fundamental issues of contemporary theology, such as the religious meaning of experience, the nature of Christian revelation and the place of grace and faith in Christian life.
John Bruton TD acknowledges the faults of the Church in Ireland but argues that the benefits which Ireland has gleaned from its Catholic culture outweighs them.
In this short work, Joseph McEvoy summarises the life of Pope John XXIII, one of the most important and best loved popes of recent centuries.
Carmel Wynne believes we should not underestimate the difficulties of parenting and the strain it can put on a relationship – hence the need for learning appropriate skills and for a solid family support system.
James McFadden sees the spirituality of Meister Eckhart in terms of detachment, of letting go of everything and living without a why.
Paul Andrews SJ reflects on the risk Jesus took in presenting God to us as a father-figure, especially as not all of us have had exemplary fathers.
Married for over 30 years, John Drane and Olive M. Drane trace the changing forms of family life and then present a practical theology of family where children can be nurtured, their parents sustained and old people valued and respected.
John Davis recalls the best known battle of the Crimean War, the 25-minute Charge of the Light Brigade down the wrong valley at Balaclava 150 years ago. Of its 673 horesmen, 114 were Irish and its leaders had interesting Irish connections.
Donal O’Leary stresses the importance of giving time each day to creating “soul space” in our lives.
Are we trying to “gobble up” as many experiences as we can? Why are we always hurrying? Ronald Rolheiser explores the saying that “hurry is a form of violence exercised upon time”.
Teresita Durkan’s “Reflections on a Life” range over the seven decades of a rich spirituality from a free-ranging childhood on the Atlantic coast of Mayo, through three decades as a Sister of Mercy and re-location to Valparaiso in Chile during Pinochet’s dictatorship.
Charlotte Carson is UK coordinator of Open Bethlehem, a charity and website designed to make people think about the Christian community in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is under the Palestinian Authority. A wall erected by the Israelis keeps tourists away, hampers the local economy, virtually isolates the inhabitants, cutting them off from [...]
This book is Finlay Holmes’ popular study of the Presbyterians of Ireland – who they are, where they have come from, their theological and political conflicts, their identity and ethos, and their significant role in Irish religious and political history.
