Liberal Churches lose both members and integrity, writes David Quinn   The Lutheran Church of Sweden is urging its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to God and avoid words like ‘Lord’ and ‘he’ and ‘father’. What Martin Luther, after whom the Lutheran Churches are obviously named, would think should be obvious. He would…

We have a duty to stand in solidarity with persecuted believers, writes Dr Michael Kinsella   As 2017 comes to a close, we can reflect upon a year in which the Church marked both the 70th anniversary of the founding of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by Fr Werenfried van Straaten and the…

It can be quite disheartening to watch the news these days. Our world is full of hatred, bigotry, racism, and over-stimulated greed and ego. The gap between the rich and poor is widening and random, senseless violence is an everyday occurrence. One lives with hope, but without much optimism. Among all of this, perhaps the…

Notebook Fr Bernard Healy   At the start of November this year, various Facebook friends began posting images and messages stating that with Hallowe’en behind us, now was the time for Christmas songs and decorations. Christmas seems to start earlier each year, but the current fad seems to be for the Christmas Season to encompass…

It is said, amongst teachers, that by teaching, you learn. Similarly, by writing for readers, a journalist learns much from those readers. And over the past week, I received a reader’s letter which gave me much pause for thought. It was from “Anne” in the “West of Ireland”. “I am writing to you re the…

The View Martin Mansergh   November is the month of remembrance, with All Saints’ Day on the 1st, followed by All Souls’ Day on the 2nd, in the Christian calendar. It is also the month when on 11 November 1918 an Armistice was called which brought the main fighting in the First World War to…

Living well is a lifelong process, but we have to know what we are aiming at, writes David Quinn   In an excellent address to a conference on priestly formation in Maynooth at the weekend, Archbishop Eamon Martin made a passing reference to the volumes of work that have been written in the years after…

There’s a growing body of literature today that chronicles the experience of persons who were clinically dead for a period of time (minutes or hours) and were medically resuscitated and brought back to life. Many of us, for example, are familiar with Dr Eben Alexander’s book, Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife.…

Notebook   July 2009 saw the commissioning of HMS Daring, a Type 45 destroyer and the most technologically advanced ship the Royal Navy had ever deployed. Capable of travelling nearly twice as far and almost half as efficient again as the ship it was replacing, it had stealth technology and a huge radar which could…

Anthony de Mello is known as a pioneer in his style of prayer teaching, writes Chai Brady   Harvesting Hope with Anthony De Mello by John Callanan SJ is available from Columba Press. Contact 016874096 or visit http://www.columba.ie/