Pat Brennan, an Irish Divine Word missionary, talks about his 27 years working in Brazil with Tom Cahill.
Andrew Carvell outlines how the annual Rimini Festival of faith and friendship, the largest Catholic cultural event in Europe, manages to attract up to one million Catholics annually.
David Tuohy SJ provides guidance for lay principals and teachers who as part of their own commitment to God and ministry in the church wish to deliver a christian ethos in schools.
Fr. Seamus Enright, in a 1997 sermon during Limerick’s Solemn Novena in honour of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, preached on violence towards women and children.
Tess Martin describes how the National Youth Parliament – Dáil na nÓg – came into being, what its objectives are and how it works.
Jennifer writes: Many grandmothers pray to St Ann for their grandchildren but a friend of mine is reluctant to do so. She said to me, ‘My own mother had a great devotion to St Ann but St Ann sent her a lot of crosses.’ I didn’t know how to answer [...]
Paul Andrews SJ discusses some of the dilemmas that we have to face when deciding what is the right thing for us to do in particular circumstances.
There isn’t a family or an individual living that hasn’t had its own “earthquake” or “can of worms”. “Can you recover?” asks Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, Paul Andrews. The answer, he sees, is in the Gospel parables – the lost coin, the lost sheep, the prodigal son – and in [...]
Geraldine Smyth OP recounts the uplifting experience that was the third European Ecumenical Assembly in Romania last September (2007) and leads us towards further steps for unity.
Lay theologian and lecturer at the Marino Institute of Education, Tony Hanna, explores the thorny problem of authority in the Church. He says himself: “The book is offered to all men and women who exercise, endure, rail against, submit to or grapple with authority. It is offered humbly and with [...]
D. Vincent Twomey SVD sees Mission Sunday as an opportunity to reflect on the question “Why mission?” and to think about what our response we can make.
Jenny Taylor rediscovers chastity as a counter-culture that heralds a new sexual freedom and a recovery of community. She has as her model pioneers, like Florence Nightingale and Jane Austen, and the missionary spinsters who spent decades in India, Nepal and Africa providing healthcare and educational opportunities, especially for other [...]
Celine Mangan OP writes of the role of the Spirit in creation and in the life of believers. “Thinking of the Spirit as ‘Trainer’,” she says, “could call us today to the discipline and action needed to take on responsibility to undo the harm we are doing to the environment.” [...]
Unless the bearer of the Good News is transformed by what he or she proclaims, the word will be stillborn, says Kieran J O’Mahony OSA. We still need St Paul, he says, because the ‘future Church’ will have to be a place of passion, intelligence, transformation and encounter.
This month (September 2009) the Pope asks us ‘to pray that Christians in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar may place their trust in the Holy Spirit and so maintain the courage to proclaim the Gospel in spite of their difficulties. The author is Ashley Evans SJ, who works in Cambodia.
Brendan McGuire was born in Bray, Co Wicklow. He worked in IT in the USA before being ordained in 2000 and is now pastor in San Jose, California. Here he shares his Sunday homilies for the year when Matthew’s gospel is read. We have chosen his homelies for the six [...]
Fr Oliver Treanor looks at the the parable of the sower and the seed as an image of how the kingdom of God grows and comes to fruit in each one of us.
An Gaisce – the Irish President’s National Challenge Award – aims to support the development of young people, social fabric and the growth of active citizenship. Tess Martin writes about the ideas behind the scheme and some of the people working their way towards achieving the award.
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.
Edmond Grace SJ answers concerned grandparents about the baptism of their grandchild.
Edmond Grace SJ sheds some light on the issue of forgiveness to a hurt and traumatised person.
Paul Andrews SJ looks at two aspects of our lives both of which are important for emotional security and mental health – whether in marriage or religious life: they are companionship and space.
Kevin O’Higgins SJ reminds us that refugees are ordinary people like ourselves, caught in a life-shattering situation, and in need of our solidarity and our practical help.
Jim writes: Can departed relatives pray to God on our behalf? And if they are already in heaven should we keep praying for them? Fr Bernard McGuckian SJ replies.
Gerry Bourke SJ recalls his experience of devotion to Mary in Japan; he notes that it has been hugely important to Japanese Catholics going all the way back to the time of St Francis Xavier.
From the Veritas ‘Into the Classroom’ series: J.R. Walsh surveys the country’s religious experience down the ages and in recent times. This series, edited by Eoin G. Cassidy and Patrick M. Devitt, is designed for teachers of the new Leaving Cert religious education syllabus.
For Eileen and Brian Foley, their daughter Catherine has been a blessing and a joy, in spite of her severe health problems.
Columban missionary Sean McDonagh SSC examines some of the issues raised by recent Vatican attention to the arguments about genetically engineered crops.
Paul Murray OP sets the images of ‘descent’ and ‘falling’ alongside the more familiar images of ‘ascent’ and ‘rising’, in explaining the motion of the soul towards God.
The death of a child mocks our sense of the natural order of things. It tests and sometimes breaks our faith in a loving God. Martha Manning, a clinical psychologist, explores the emotional upheaval experienced by families of children who have died or who are terminally ill, and suggests ways [...]
