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 [...]
John Waters is journalist who has become an outspoken campaigner for fathers’ rights in Ireland. He has also written a song to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest. Here he recalls his journey from belief to unbelief and back again.
Missionary theologian Donal Dorr says that spirituality is about our deep longing and search for meaning, peace and a sense of our personal call in life. In eighteen short and accessible pieces he ranges over the experiences, the calls and the activities that give our life meaning. Here we have [...]
“Admitting to belief in God and having Christian faith is currently regarded as a taint, revealing that one’s sanity is impaired”. This is the starting point of Andrew Sims’s exploration of the relation between religion and mental health and his critique of Richard Dawkins’s “The God Delusion”. He thoroughly justifies [...]
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.
Linda Hogan and Barbara FitzGerald edit this collection of essays to celebrate the contribution of Enda McDonagh to the field of theological ethics.
This is a first-person account of a wandering pilgrim in rural Russia who wants to fulfil St Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing”. What he comes upon is the ‘Jesus prayer’ and its practice transforms his life.
Piers Paul Read is a novelist, biographer and historian who says he is baffled that the Catholic Church in England has abandoned many of its traditional positions. In 29 elegant essays on aspects of the faith, the Church, liberation theology, history, sex and marriage, writers and saints he makes his [...]
Brendan McGuire provides homilies for every Sunday of the year when Mark’s gospel is read. The focus of the book is God’s redeeming love and our response to his love in concrete ways in the ordinary lives of ordinary people.
J. Andrew Kirk has selected a variety themes for thoughtful consideration of what present day ‘Christian mission’ looks like in a world that is post-modern, post-Christian and post-Western, post-everything! It should be helpful to for church leaders, students and all thinking Christians, inside and outside the academic world, wishing to [...]
John R Walsh and Thomas Bradley provide an excellent summary history of that most formative period of Irish history, the three centuries of Christianity after the arrival of St Patrick.
Through the practical interaction with his garden, Vigen Guroian finds God touching the significant transitions of our lives and how God is loving us in them.
Angela MacNamara made her name writing as an agony aunt in The Sunday Press during the 1950s and 1960s. She also responded personally to about fifty letters a week as well as those that were published. She was then recruited to talk in schools with teenagers struggling to become adults. [...]
In this book, Brother John of Taizé explores the biblical background of the “Our Father” and shows how it can still be a prayer to express our spiritual desires today.
The Passionist Fathers have put together nine meditations which were give during the Novena of Hope in the Church of St Paul of the Cross. They commemorate the life and spirit of the man who by his simple holiness captivated the people who came to the same church during his [...]
In a series of six monographs, James J. Harkins explores the historical dimensions of the coming of Christianity to Ireland and its subsequent spread to Scotland and the European continent. Using German and French sources he has interesting insights and comments on what the Irish missionaries did well and not [...]
The Power of Dreams acts as a practical handbook that can be used over the course of a month. Gerard Condon analyses and discusses the scientific, psychological, theological and spiritual sides of sleep and dreaming in this easily accessible and interesting book.
In a thought-provoking booklet, Desmond Fennell responds to Vincent Twomey’s book on Irish Catholicism.
