You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living Henri Nouwen (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99) Anthony Redmond I have read quite a few of Henri Nouwen’s books and he never fails to move and inspire me. I never seem to tire of him. He was a profoundly spiritual, prayerful man, but he always struck me as lonely,…
Even though the Church has all the necessary norms and laws in place to safeguard minors from abuse by clergy, the problem continues to be a lack in understanding or caring about those rules and guidelines and applying them effectively, said one Jesuit expert. What must change “without a doubt” are Church procedures for handling…
A series of Lenten events prepared for the WMOF are set for the Tralee pastoral area in the Kerry Diocese. The Lenten series will open on Monday February 19 at 7.30pm in St John’s with an evening entitled ‘The Christian Vision of the Family’ with Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin speaking at the event. The second session, on Monday February 26 at 7.30pm in St John’s parish will…
A pro-life group and parents of children with Down syndrome have expressed their hurt and anger following remarks made by Micheál Martin concerning the presence of disability activists in the Eighth Amendment debate. Micheal O’Dowd of the group Disability Voices for Life said that the Fianna Fáil leader had “crossed a line” and “was trying…
Leabhar Urnaí an Timire níl aon eagarthóir ainmnithe (Foilseacháin Ábhar Spioradálta, €5) Tadhg Ó Dúshláine This slim volume of less than 50 pages will come as a godsend to the increasing number of teachers in Gaelscoileanna, under the trusteeship of the Church, charged with the transmission of the faith in a broken culture, where the rich heritage…
Over 250 winners of the Pope John Paull II award attended a ceremony in Belfast, with the theme of the celebration being ‘Family’, in anticipation of the World Meeting of Families 2018. The director of Living Youth, Pauline Dowd, invited the gathering of 500 young people, parents, award leaders and friends to join in the prayer of the World Meeting…
Pope Francis’ marriage exhortation is a rich source of advice for families, writes Julie Kavanagh In the coming weeks, many parishes across the country and beyond will begin to host a series of parish conversations as part of their preparations for the World Meeting of Families 2018. This series will give anybody who wants to…
The Iona Institute has launched a new national billboard campaign to promote the right to life of the unborn. The billboards show an image of the unborn baby at 11 weeks with the simple message ‘one of us’. Speaking on behalf of The Iona Institute, Maria Steen said that neither the Citizens’ Assembly nor the…
Gooch: The Autobiography by Colm Cooper (Transworld, €20.00) At the outset Cooper explains the origin of his nickname. It arose because when he was eight years old he had a passing resemblance to red-haired ‘Goochie’ dolls popular at that time. The real heroes in this book are Colm’s parents, Mike and Maureen. They began their…
Porn addiction can have longstanding effects, writes Colm Fitzpatrick With one in three Irish people viewing porn before turning 16, addiction can become a serious and harmful issue. In an age where sexually explicit images and videos are available at the push of a button, questions need to be raised about the negative effects…
Chai Brady
Colm Fitzpatrick