Martin O’Brien meets a remarkable sister with a thirst for justice The first thing that strikes you about Sr Majella McCarron, a pioneering advocate for justice and peace within her congregation, is that she is no shrinking violet. Sr Majella, a sprightly, feisty 77-year-old who hails from Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh, is happy to talk for…

Greg Daly meets the man behind a film series helping young adults wrestle with Christianity Dublin’s Gonzaga College might seem an unlikely place for the launch of an evangelical video series produced by the historically Protestant and highly dynamic Scripture Union (SU) group, but according to Jonny Somerville, presenter of NUA, it made perfect sense.…

Fr Paddy Moran CSSp To understand the passion of Christ is to understand the human journey, writes Fr Paddy Moran CSSp As a missionary I had the great privilege to work for 11 years in Ethiopia. I spent a number of those years working with prisoners in Arba Minch prison. Arba Minch is a town…

On the eve of his departure Archbishop Charles Brown sat down with Mags Gargan to reflect on his time as Papal Nuncio of Ireland Since arriving in Ireland in January 2012 as Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Charles Brown has become a very familiar face to Irish Catholics. He has travelled the length and breadth of this…

Even those who do not belong to the Church understand that Pope Francis wishes to set in place a real renewal of the Church and they wish him well. What inspires Pope Francis in his desire for renewal? There is a danger that each person would try to impose their own idea which may well…

Greg Daly meets a Tearfund ‘early responder’ on the frontline of crises in the Philippines Originally from Manila, 37-year-old Dandin Espina had always thought he’d be a minister in his Church, the Pentecostal Church of God, but God, he says, had other plans. “I was in seminary,” he says. “I had thought I’d be a pastor, but…

Sr Marianne O’Connor Sr Marianne O’Connor describes a spiritual support service for survivors of abuse “I feel relaxed, and comfortable with the process…why? –my answer is this because the guilt, blame, confusion, was wearing me down, so with support and guidance, I want to let go, and thus try to move on with my life,…

Faith and reason go hand in hand, a leading apologist tells Greg Daly Fresh from a public debate at Trinity College Dublin, where 600 students overflowed from the college’s largest lecture theatre and filled three overflow rooms while a further 1,100 people watched online, philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig is adamant that Christian faith…

‘Catholic’ has to mean more than a sign over the school door, writes Bairbre Cahill Timidity, a lack of clarity and confidence, fragmentation, consciousness of a damaged brand. These were just some of the challenges articulated by a group of school principals, teachers, members of Boards of Management and local clergy at a recent conference…

The girl from the 2004 Trócaire box tells Mags Gargan how the charity changed her life Josiane Umumarashavu saw the sea for the first time last week on Dollymount Strand in Dublin’s Clontarf. It was a week of firsts for the 26-year-old: the first time on a plane, the first time outside of her native…