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 fouunded almost forty years ago and which is still very much at the heart of academic and cultural life in Ireland and [...]

Brian Lennon SJ worked for many years with people affected by conflict in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. In a way that is both compassionate and challenging, he explains the myths and misunderstandings of what forgiveness is and the demands that society often puts on those who have suffered. He then [...]

From the Veritas ‘Into the Classroom’ series: Philip Barnes provides a thorough introduction to the tenets and beliefs of all the major world religions. This series, edited by Eoin G. Cassidy and Patrick M. Devitt, is designed for teachers of the new Leaving Cert religious education syllabus.

From the Veritas ‘Into the Classroom’ series: Thomas Norris and Brendan Leahy examine Christ’s vision for the world and how this vision has been received at important junctures of Christian history.

Amid the chaos and the beauty of the contemporary world Enda McDonagh sees the Other, the Holy, still powerfully present and urges us to be open. We will find, he says, that the Other is both gift and call, costing and fulfilling not less than everything.

Rev Francis Selman offers a fresh insight into many of the features of St Thomas Aquinas’s work with sections on God, the human being and moral life, as well as the means of salvation by Christ, the emotions, the resurrection, and our being drawn to God not only by our [...]

James McCaffrey OCD gives a thought provoking account of the influence of Mary, Mother of Carmel, on Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Edith Stein and Thérèse of Lisieux, and offers essential insights and fresh observations for both the Carmelite scholar and lay reader alike.

Stephen Cottrell’s vision of an evangelising church embraces Christians of every tradition, and explores practical ways of developing structures and ministries that will establish a culture of evangelism in local churches.

Donal Dorr SPS begins with the idea of mission as dialogue between Christianity and other religions, spiritualities and value systems. He goes on to look at mission as evangelisation, as inculturation, as struggle for liberation, as option for the poor and as power from the Spirit. He also looks at [...]

This article by John-Paul Sheridan is a general introduction to the Alive-O programme, the primary school religious education programme. Based on the quotation from St Irenaeus: “The glory of God is a person fully alive”, the programme aims at a holistic and integral development of the young person. It first appeared [...]

Fr John Bollan is Director of Spiritual and Pastoral Formation in the Religious Education Department at the University of Glasgow. He shows how scriptural passages yield spiritual richness for the teacher and he also supplies a practical tool-kit of materials to help students and teachers to develop their own faith [...]

“Matt the Mitcher” is the story of ‘Barney’ Matt Talbot, from his childhood in the Dublin of the 1860s to his death on Trinity Sunday, 7 June 1925. Set against the grinding poverty of tenement life, of a large family on a small income, it tells of Matt’s alcoholic father [...]

For the eighth centenary of the town of Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Jim O’Halloran SDB addresses his fellow Callan-ites on the topic of “The Church and the World of the Future”.

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 [...]

Thomas O’Loughlin’s book is aimed at those who regularly read the word of God during the liturgy. It explains in simple terms why we use certain readings, and why the readings come up when they do – in the belief that a deeper appreciation of the scriptures can be gained [...]

The subtitle of this book by Salesian James O’Halloran is “A Workshop on the Vision and Practicalities of Small Christian Communities and Groups” and that is exactly what it is. Any priest or pastoral worker could begin to build up basic Christian communities using this book.

A 3 hour video training workshop, demonstrating the effective use of ritual, symbol, music and the Arts in Eucharistic and non-Eucharistic liturgical celebrations, as well as providing input and formation on the nature and structure of liturgy.

Michael Mullins’ lengthy commentary examines the different methods of interpretation of St John’s gospel and sets them in the context of a literary approach. Fr Mullins is a priest of the diocese of Waterford and Lismore and a lecturer on scripture at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth.

Edited by Harry Bohan and Gerard Kennedy, this book examines the issues which arise from the speed of change in our world and argues that this necessitates another kind of change, both at a global and at a local level.

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.

This book by Johnny Doherty, Oliver Crilly, Frank Dolaghan and Paddi Curran records the induction and formation process associated with the development of the pastoral council, the effort to extend the collaborative dynamic to more and more people within the parish community and the thinking which inspires them.

Included in these Gnostic discoveries by Marvin Meyer are several gospels of Jesus’ life that never made it into the modern Christian Bible, as well as a treasury of lost and esoteric wisdom. He also includes an overview of all the texts and their contents, and discusses their meaning and [...]

John Canon O’Hanlon (1821-1905) was a priest literateur of the 19th century so well-known that Joyce has immortalised him as a charcter in “Ulysses”. He wrote on many topics including folklore, the lives of Irish saints, the Irish language, church buildings, politics, art and poetry. Pádraig Ó Macháin and Tony [...]

Clive Marsh considers how Christ is present today, and invites us to reflect on how communal human interaction can be informed and transformed through attempting to understand this question. He considers how Christ and the Church relate today, highlighting the decisive role to be played by the Church in society, [...]

This book by the Benedictine Mark Patrick Hederman gives an introduction to the Tarot, a history of its uses and abuses, a practical guide to its value as an underground map to the unconscious where the springs of our creativity are hidden, and where God can enter our lives. It [...]

Martin Kennedy gathers together a series of reflections on his own experience of ministry in contemporary Irish culture, offering practical approaches to evangelisation, justice and working together with others. He writes from a context of working with others honestly and respectfully, convinced that the Spirit is alive and active in [...]

Families come in a variety of configurations: divorced or separated, widowed, single-parent stepparent, childless, blended, adoptive, multigenerational, aging. Wendy M. Wright aims to adapt her spirituality to suit all configurations. It is a book that digs deep and touches many a nerve.

This little booklet by Fr Tom Ryan offers support to people who suffer from problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling, over-spending, over-eating, over-working. Through a mixture of scripture passages,, reflections and prayers it encourages and gives spiritual in times of suffering and stress.

Brendan Hoban has a feel for the telling phrase, the sound-byte that sums up pastoral dilemmas, like “not going to church anymore”, “teenage sex”, “making your own soup”, “neurotic curiosity”, “the grace of eccentricity”, “too many Bodenstowns”. He has the compassion to understand why people say the Church “doesn’t do [...]