Personal Profile When Bro. Richard Hendrick OFM Cap. was in his teens, he wanted to study zoology, the scientific study of animals. Instead, God called him to a new contemplation of nature in the Franciscan tradition, one Bro. Richard is keen to share with the rest of the world. Bro. Richard began to research, visiting…

We should focus as much on feeding the body with wholesome food as we do the mind during the school year, writes Jason Osborne The return to school is a stressful time for parents more so than children, I’d wager. Children and teenagers have been getting back into the rhythm of things for a few…

Personal Profile Mark Dilworth begins his studies for the priesthood in the diocese of Shrewsbury in England this Autumn. Having already spent some time in Maynooth previously, he still felt the call was there and wants to give it one more shot. Mark grew up in Innishannon, Co. Cork, and received a firm grounding in…

Transitioning from school to college is a big deal for young people, and every effort should be made to help them hit the ground running, writes Jason Osborne Around this time of year, thousands of young people gear up to make the huge transition from school to college life. The size of the change in lifestyle…

Personal Profile When Fr Eamon Kelly LC was a young man in Co. Clare, he considered giving up his schooling and working on his family farm. But the advice of a local priest changed his mind, and set him on a path to ministering in the Holy Land. Fr Kelly grew up on a farm…

Communication is vitally important in any relationship, but all the more so when it comes to the deepest relationships of marriage and family, writes Jason Osborne Consistently listed among the reasons marriages break down and families fall apart is a failure of communication. It need not necessarily be some big fall-out or argument either that…

There’s nothing new-age about the effect adopting a sunnier outlook has on your life, writes Jason Osborne I recently finished Joan Druett’s Island of the Lost, a book concerning shipwrecks on the Auckland Islands, a desolate, uninhabited place 290 miles south of New Zealand. Situated in the stormy South Pacific Ocean, its shores have seen many…

Personal Profile In June of this year, the parish of Kilskeery gathered in St Macartan’s Church for an eagerly-awaited day – the celebration of Canon John McKenna’s 60 years in the priesthood. Reflecting on his six decades of service, Canon McKenna told me that no life “could have been more enjoyable and rewarding”. He recalls…

Dr Karen Ward shares tips to help ease the ageing process in her chapter on physicality from her new book, The Secret of Ageless Ageing I wondered about a milestone that would herald crossing the line between being middle-aged and becoming an older woman. For me, it was wearing reading glasses in public for the…

Personal Profile Music and the Faith have been a part of Marcella Walsh’s life from a very young age. It began with singing grace around the dinner table as a child, and continues today as director of music at Queen’s University Belfast’s Catholic chaplaincy and as a professional opera singer. Marcella’s family were always involved…