Faith and Community Relations Seminar – What now for the Churches?

image Yesterday Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics) hosted a seminar on ‘Faith and Community Relations: Perspectives on Diversity, Dialogue and Reconciliation.’ I presented an update on the progress on my School’s research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Read more...

Crisis in the Irish Catholic Church – the Kingdom v. the Institution, Final Guest Post by Fr Michael Bennett

image Today is the final instalment of Fr Michael Bennett’s Guest Posts on the crisis in the Irish Catholic Church, A Look from Afar.

Fr Michael concludes with reflections on the concept of the ‘kingdom of God,’ juxtaposing it against the … Read more...

Seminar on Faith & Community Relations April 28, 2010

image I’ll be conducting a seminar based on the findings of my School’s IRCHSS-funded research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism,’ on Wednesday April 28, 2010 from 12 noon- 1p.m. at The Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin at Belfast, 683 … Read more...

Bishop Richard Clarke Elected President of Irish Council of Churches

image Richard Clarke, Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath and Kildare, was last month elected President of the Irish Council of Churches. His term will last until 2012.

The April 9 edition of the Church of Ireland Gazette features Clarke’s election … Read more...

Enda McDonagh Book Review: Theology in Winter Light. Reflections for Good Friday

image The Epilogue to Enda McDonagh’s latest book, Theology in Winter Light (Columba, 2010) is titled ‘A Crucified People.’ It opens with a quotation from the Gospel of Mark (15.33): And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over Read more...

Andrew McMahon: Research on the South Down Ecumenical Clerical Study Group

image Today my School awarded our James Haire Memorial Prizes for the best dissertation and best essays produced by students on our Master’s in Reconciliation Studies programme. Andrew McMahon, a priest based in Lurgan, wrote the best dissertation among the … Read more...

Abuse Scandals in the Irish Catholic Church: What do Young Catholics Think?

image What do young Irish Catholics think about their church? There was a fleeting insight into this in today’s Education Supplement in the Irish Times. Brief interviews with four teenage students from Coláiste Cillian in Clondalkin, Dublin, covered a range … Read more...

Lessons from the Benedictine Monks on the Life of St Frances of Rome

image Yesterday, March 9, was the feast day of St Frances of Rome. Hailing as I do from a Protestant background, my knowledge of saints’ days is pretty thin on the ground. But yesterday I was visiting the Holy Cross Read more...

Norman Hamilton, New Presbyterian Moderator: Relationships Matter

image This morning’s BBC Radio Ulster edition of Sunday Sequence featured an interview with the newly elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Norman Hamilton. Hamilton had a fairly wide-ranging conversation with presenter William Crawley in the ten minute … Read more...