Spiritual exercises can help give freedom to address the crutch of addiction, Chai Brady hears What is it that really matters to you personally? A basic question that should be asked of any person suffering an addiction, and only the individual is able to answer, according to a Jesuit priest based in the North, who…

Scholarship winners and donors were honoured at a reception given by the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, on Thursday  November 2. The Loyola Institute is dedicated to education and research in theology in the Catholic Christian tradition and offers degrees at postgraduate level, both taught and by research. “For many of our students’ scholarships are…

Synodality is about rebalancing decision-making in the Church between bishops and laypeople, Prof. Massimo Faggioli tells Michael Kelly Sometimes in Church history, an idea that has been brewing for some time just starts to percolate down, and its moment arrives. The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) arrived almost out of nowhere when the elderly Pontiff John…

Dioceses must avoid clericalist thinking in pastoral shake ups, Fr Tom Whelan tells Ruadhán Jones As dioceses grapple with the unchartered waters of the vocation’s crisis, there is a danger that plans for diocesan shake-ups will carry over a “clericalised” vision of the Church, a respected liturgist and theologian has warned. Spiritan Fr Tom Whelan…

Peace is possible but it requires dialogue, forgiveness and prayer, writes Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan On October 23, an Israeli woman Yocheved Lifshitz, who was being freed by Hamas militants turned and shaking his hand said twice to one of her captors, Shalom (peace). A search on YouTube will show footage of the hurried but profound…