One of the things I like about England is the 50p pieces. There is a pleasant continuity to using coins with shapes and sizes similar to those in circulation when I was a boy growing up in Cork. There is something reassuring about such small things in life remaining constant, and in seeing my kids stash…

Mags Gargan visits the Living Water young adult Charismatic prayer group Every Wednesday night as the shops on Dublin’s nearby Grafton Street begin to close their shutters and office workers met up for after work drinks or dinner, a group of young people are gathering at St Teresa’s church, Clarendon Street for praise and worship.…

My 14-year-old daughter wants to learn to cook. Being obsessed with all things Japanese, she ambitiously picked an exotic recipe for her first attempt at producing a family dinner. Onigiri consists of rice balls filled with tuna or salmon but my daughter decided that beef was a better option. I was impressed with her efforts…

Members of Tullamore Junior Parish Pastoral Council explain their work In 2006 the Junior Parish Pastoral Council (JPPC) was founded in Tullamore parish, Co. Offaly as a way of giving young people a voice in the Church. The JPPC is made up exclusively of secondary school students. Pupils first hear about it in sixth class…

We are deep in winter now. Yet there is something brightening the grey. The New Year still shines fresh and full of possibility. The Earth is, by welcome degrees, tipping us back towards the sun – an astronomical fact quietly celebrated by the crocuses and snowdrops that emerge from the frosty ground. It is wonderfully…

Human beings are incredibly resilient in the most extraordinary of circumstances January is a dark month. When the Christmas decorations are put away we are once again obliged to deal with short hours of daylight. Many children are afraid of the dark and I know quite a few adults who cannot settle in bed unless…

I was asked today at rather short notice if I would facilitate a workshop on Saturday. The theme of the day is ‘Images of God’. I had already said yes to the request when I began to panic – what am I going to do with the group, have I time to pull together a…

Mags Gargan meets the new National Director of Youth 2000 Last October, Youth 2000 elected Belfast-woman, Lana Wilson as its new National Director. Youth 2000 is a Catholic youth organisation that organises lively faith festivals, retreats, prayer groups and other events for young people aged 16-35 across the island of Ireland. It began as one…

The start of 2016 sees our family engaged in an Irish tradition: emigrating. Work has brought our family to live in England for a spell. The past few months have been a flurry of paperwork, transit vans, goodbyes and house-hunting. We now find ourselves in an idyllic rural corner of England that often feels like…