Corrymeela launches interfaith programme

  The Corrymeela Community, in partnership with Auburn Seminary, New York, has opened the application process for an international interfaith youth leadership programme, ‘Face to Face/Faith to Faith’. This programme brings together young people from Northern Ireland, South Africa, the United States and the Middle East with the common goal of working towards peaceful communities.…

The closeness of our compassionate God

The Loving God By Wilfrid Harrington OP (Columba €12.99./ £10.85) Anthony Redmond   Albert Einstein once said that the religious person was one who had found an answer to the question: ”What is the ultimate meaning of life?” For the atheist, there is no answer to the ultimate yet immediate questions of human life. Ivan Karamazov…

Secrets of the maid of Orleans

The Maid and the Queen: the Secret History of Joan of Arc and Yolande of Aragon By Nancy Goldstone (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, €23.95/£20) Peter Hegarty   This year marks the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc. The story of St Joan, the illiterate peasant girl who led the French army to victory against…

Holy See Embassy debate – what are the stances?

  Are there not more important issues than the Embassy to the Holy See, asks Margaret Hickey   I find it strange that the first public re-grouping of the Catholic faithful in the aftermath of the Dublin, Ferns and Cloyne Reports should be centered on a campaign to restore Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See.…

After Vatican II, a year of faith and debate

The Second Vatican Council remains a living issue, writes Francis X. Rocca   Fifty years ago this October, Blessed John XXIII and more than 2,500 bishops and heads of religious orders from around the world gathered in St Peter’s Basilica for the opening session of the Second Vatican Council. Over the following three years, Vatican…

The future potential of worker co-operatives

By ignoring the potential of co-operatives we are missing out on an opportunity for economic growth, writes FrDermot McKenna SJ   Regrettably, co-operative enterprise is not held in high esteem by our Government, by our professionals, by our teachers, or even by our Churches. It would be interesting to know if any of our third-level…

Committed to the journey

In the run up to the Eucharistic Congress, David Cleary discusses his personal experience of the Eucharist   Eucharist is very important to me. I decided years ago as a teenager learning about the Reformation that I really needed to resolve the question of transubstantiation! Does Christ become really present or just symbolically so? I…

Lucky grandparents, lucky children

Family activities Anne O’Connell   If a grandparent has a skill which they can pass on to their grandchild, February is a good month to do so: there are still many long, dark evenings ahead. It can be any skill from tying shoelaces to whistling, to skimming a flat stone across the water! Think of…

Health Matters: Autistic spectrum disorder

Health Matters Dr Andrea Fitzgerald   Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurological disabilities that start in early childhood and are life-long. ASD encompasses a range of disorders, the commonest of which are Autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Symptoms are characterised by difficulties in communication, social interaction, and behaviour. ASD seems to be on…

Institutional religion never reformed itself

  Editor’s Comment Garry O’Sullivan   Prophetic voices are often lauded in the abstract but when they appear in reality they are more likely to be ignored, sidelined and generally scoffed at. The retiring Dean of St Patrick’s was one of those few prophetic voices in any of the Christian churches on this island —…