It is the finest sort of autumn morning. The sun shines kindly upon the apple trees, their boughs now heavy with fruit. Clusters of ripe apples gleam red against pale blue skies. The leaves of the beech and sycamore are already turning a golden brown. Yet the ash trees stand defiantly green, in a willful…
Youth Space Youth 2000 retreats are a time for spiritual reflection and growth, Grace Masterson writes If you’re between the ages of 16 and 35 and haven’t been to a Youth 2000 retreat yet…GO! I remember two years ago when I went to my first Youth 2000 retreat, which happened to be their annual summer…
Questions of Faith Catholics believe that at the end of her life, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was assumed both body and soul into heaven. Preserved free from all stain of original sin, she was taken up by God to share in his heavenly glory. This doctrine was dogmatically defined by Pope Pius XII in…
In a remarkable book, The Inner Voice of Love, written while he was in a deep emotional depression, Henri Nouwen shares these words: “The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to try to understand…
Questions of Faith In today’s world, plenty of people have lucky charms; it might be a football that their father gave them when they were a child; a special pen that is always used in exams; or a lucky coin that is kept in one’s wallet or purse. The belief that objects or practices have…
Everyday Philosophy Tribalism in politics and ethics is an easy thing to criticise. By ‘tribalism’ I’m specifically talking here about tribalism about opinions: changing your beliefs in order to better conform with a group that you identify with in some way. This criticism is mostly right: I think this sort of tribalism is usually bad.…
Don’t give up on dating when you’re older, it might just save your marriage, writes Colm Fitzpatrick “Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way,” the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once remarked. While this quip was written to shed…
Some years ago I went on a weekend retreat given by a woman who made no secret about the fact that not being able to have children constituted a deep wound in her life. So she offered retreats on the pain of being unable to have children. Being a celibate and not having my own…
Sweet Treats This is a wonderfully moreish chocolate cake, the sharpness of the dark chocolate is complemented perfectly with sweet bursts of juicy pears that are right in season this time of the year. It is a really easy recipe to whip up if you have a couple of pears getting overripe in your fruit…
Feel the buzz in Sligo With a modern awareness of how important bees are for our ecosystems to thrive, perhaps it’s time to learn more about these fascinating creatures. If you’re interested to find out about the ins-and-outs of beekeeping, look no further than Sligo where trained farmer Ailbhe Gerrard can show you the ropes.…
Colm Fitzpatrick
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ben Conroy