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.
Martin Tierney has gathered together personal reflections based on the Sunday and feastday readings for the three year Liturgical cycle. They are both inspirational and a good resource for people preparing Sunday Liturgies.
This article is Chapter 7 of Henry Wansbrough’s book “The Story of the Bible: how it came to us” published by Darton, Longman and Todd. It deals with arguments about whether there are two sources of revelation – scripture and tradition, inerrancy and the kind of truth the Bible teaches.
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 [...]
Archbishop of Dublin during the takeover of Ireland by the Normans and King Henry II, his efforts in the peace process and his frustration with King Henry probably caused his early death. Highly honoured at Eu in Normandy, France, where he died. Kevin Doran, parish priest of Glendalough, tells his [...]
Has the Church made mistakes in its pronouncements in the past? If a person today finds themselves in conflict with Church statements, what should they do? Seán Fagan SM tries to shed some light.
Jesuit priest Bruce Bradley looks at the complicated relationship between James Joyce and his educational mentors.
The ideal book for couples planning a Catholic wedding. But great reading also for married couples wanting to renew their appreciation of Christian marriage and for ministers working with engaged or married couples. The book has sold over 20,000 copies and this is its 4th edition. Pádraig McCarthy is a [...]
Christine Green looks across the world at a wide range of Church laws on ‘keeping holy the Sabbath Day’.
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.
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.
Dympna M. McMahon tells us how a casual encounter with a man on the bus changed her outlook.
“We are made to be at home with God. That we are not yet at home is not, in itself, occasion for surprise. For we are travellers, pilgrim people….” This book by Nicholas Lash opens with a critique of Richard Dawkins, goes on to discuss the ‘impossibility of atheism’, distinguish [...]
In this book, Daniel O’Leary develops two themes that are central to the Catholic Education Service(CES) of the religious education programme document of the Bishops of England and Wales. These are: “the Catholic imagination” and “the sacramental vision”. The book is inspired by “On the Way to Life”, an interpretive [...]
Brian Grogan SJ continues his series on St. Ignatius of Loyola, delving into that most crucial moment in the reformation when Inigo’s heart came alive.
John Murray PP tells the story of Patrick Peyton, who as a seminarian sick from tuberculosis with little hope of recovery, prayed to Our Lady and was cured. He went on to become a successful crusader for the Family Rosary with the motto: “The family that prays together stays together”. [...]
In 1850, Dom Prosper Gueranger OSB, at the invitation of Pope Pius IX, wrote a book which the Pope used as the basis of the Constitution “Ineffabalis Deus” which defined the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, on 8th December 1854. This article of a little over 4,000 words was written [...]
Fr Peter Sexton writes about Taizé, that in itself is a ‘parable of community’ and brings reconciliation between divided Christians and separated peoples. He explains how it brought healing to one of his students.
Brian Grogan SJ points out how in Barcelona in the years 1524-25 St Ignatius’s person radiated something that brought veneration and affection in others. Many made mention of a light that lit up his face.
Etty Hillesum was a vibrant young Jewish woman who lived in Nazi occupied Amsterdam in the early 1940s and died ad Auschwitz in 1943. In the months before she was arrested she underwent a profound transformation through psychotherapy. She refused to give into hate and in this way overcame the [...]
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’.
This book is a real effort to distinguish between the problems and perspectives of the hagiographer on the one hand and the historian on the other. Thomas O’Loughlin’s book tries to get the best value from both.
James McPolin S.J examines the nature of religious life in the Holy Land at the time of Christ, specifically at the four groups which most feature in scripture: the Pharisees, the Saducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots.
Miriam writes: In the Apostles’ Creed every Sunday we say ‘we believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church…’ Does this mean that members of other religions won’t be included in God’s salvation – only Catholics? Weren’t Jesus himself and his earthly parents practising members of the Jewish faith? Fr [...]
James Alison is a Catholic theologian, priest and author. Here he poses questions to his Catholic faith on the important questions of desire, worship, sexuality and truthfulness.
Fr Oliver Treanor looks at the miracle of the woman who was healed by touching the hem of his garment and explores what it means.
“Mary gave birth to her baby in a stable and wrapped in in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.” Although the stable would have been a bit smelly and not very clean, I’m sure Joseph and Mary did their best to make the place as cosy as possible [...]
Edmond Grace SJ answers to a parishioner who was upset by a ‘continuous’ preaching of the priest during the Mass.
