Category: Your Faith

Are all religions true?

A common attitude or approach towards different religions is to treat them as all equally true – we can’t prove which one is actually correct, and given that they all try to achieve the same thing, describing one particular religion as having more truth value than another just doesn’t make sense. This view is known…

Do e-cigarettes save tobacco addicts?

Vaping acts as a replacement nicotine source which may precipitate a new public health crisis, writes Hannah Harn   Cigarette smoking, which causes nearly 6,000 deaths in Ireland each year, is on the decline. The annual Healthy Ireland Survey found that the prevalence of smoking dropped from 23% in 2015 to 20% in 2018, and…

Dad’s Diary

My wife came in to my office with a sheepish look on her face. She said that my son’s friend had just called to the door, and had asked if he could go to the park to play. She confessed that she had said “yes” and that he was now gone – out into the…

From Ballymun to Chile in search of social justice

Personal Profile Hannah 
Harn   From growing up in Limerick to leading the conversation in applied spirituality, the path of one Jesuit priest carried him through the Chilean military regime and guided him through his ongoing commitment to social justice service in the modern world. Dr Michael O’Sullivan, Director of the Spirituality Institute for Research and…

Our own Good Friday

When the Romans designed crucifixion as their means of capital punishment, they had more in mind than simply putting someone to death. They wanted to accomplish something else too, namely, to make this death a spectacle to serve as the ultimate deterrent so that anyone seeing it would think twice about committing the offense for…

Healing harmonies

Medical Matters   Music has been used for millenia to raise our spirits. The ancient Greeks recognised that physical and mental well-being could be enhanced by music. Indeed, music was used to improve performance in athletes at the ancient Olympic games. Pythagorus believed that it could soothe ailments of the spirit, body and soul and…

Family News and Events

Who let the dogs out? A pet-friendly family fun day will take place on Sunday April 21 in Corkagh Park, Clondalkin in Dublin from 12-3pm. With invitations open to the whole family, including your four-legged friends, there will be a dog friendly walk and free Easter egg hunt on the day. Husky Rescue Ireland (HRI)…

Is IVF morally permissible?

Questions of Faith It can be heart-wrenching when a couple experiences fertility problems that make bearing children through natural conception impossible. The inability to have children can cause severe emotional stress, and make the world seem like an unfair place. After a long period of anguish and discernment, many couples eventually find closure in their…

Faith in the Family

I am a GAA mammy. I spend a lot of time on the side-lines of matches. Whether it is Gaelic or hurling there is skill, speed and courage involved. Most players and coaches that I know are committed to playing hard but fair. Unfortunately, there are those who favour cynical fouling, outright aggression and even sledging…