Christmas Religious Broadcasts – RTE1

12.00am MIDNIGHT MASS from St. Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St., Dublin<br />
Celebrant: Fr William J Reynolds SJ<br />
Organist: Seamus Brett<br />
Cantor: Margaret Brennan<br />
Violin: Denice Doyle<br />
Cello: David Doyle<br />
All wavelengths<br />
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CHRISTMAS DAY 10.02am Mass from St. Francis Xavier Church, Gardiner St., Dublin<br />
Celebrant: Fr Donal Neary, S.J.<br />
Organist and Violin: Denice Doyle<br />
Cantor: Cathy Keane<br />
Violin: Denice Doyle<br />
All wavelengths

Sickness and health in Ireland

The ‘Studies’ winter issue by Fergus O’Donoghue.

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In Sickness and in Health is the theme of our new issue. Our aim is to examine what, in the first article, John Waters describes as “The Health of Irish Society”. So, we look at specific aspects of our Health System: Hospice Care, Parasuicide, the Anti-Smoking Crusade; all of these are highly relevant.

Dr. Patricia Casey, of UCD, looks at Parasuicide (attempted suicide) and its growth in Ireland, when it is declining elsewhere. Dr. Philippe Brillet, a French scholar, wonders why our anti-smoking crusade has not emphasised the dreadful effects that continued smoking has on women’s health. Eugene Murray, CEO of the Irish Hospice Foundation, gives us the results of a recent report into hospice care and asks why so little has been done since a previous report, nearly five years ago. Read more »

Youth cafés, not wine bars

In David Gaffney’s view, there is more chance of changing Ireland’s drinking habits through funding youth cafés than through creating a wine bar culture.

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The Government’s first brainwave for changing our drinking-culture was to promote wine bars. This measure fell through. But the Government may now get a second crack at the problem: by backing – as it is beginning to do, financially – the efforts of local authorities to provide facilities like youth cafes. This is all part of a move to provide young people with, simply, “a place to go”, in the hope that the pub will cease to be the venue (or the street-corner, or fields “with a few cans”). Read more »

New collection of Fr Browne photos published

Fr E.E. O’Donnell SJ has just launched a new collection of photographs by Fr Frank Browne, called Fr Browne’s Galway. The photos are candid snapshots of everyday life in Galway in the mid-20th century.

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Father Browne’s Galway is the title of the latest set of Fr Browne’s photographs to be edited by Fr E.E. O’Donnell, curator of the 42,000 photographs in the collection. This is the nineteenth book of Fr Browne’s photographs to be published, and the third to be published by Currach Press. The book was launched in the Kenny Gallery, Galway, on November 17. Read more »

‘I sincerely hope we won’t need to call on your services this year, Father’

Some people in college think that chaplains are only there to perform duties at crisis times. But for Leon Ó Giolláin, one of the UCD chaplains, there is much more to it than that. He recounts his experience.

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I met Philip at the student bar one evening. When he heard that I was a chaplain, our conversation turned immediately to religion. He assured me that ‘he was quite a spiritual person, but not into religion’. He proceeded to take a medal of St. Christopher out of his pocket as proof of his spirituality. ‘I take this with me everywhere I go’, he said. Read more »

The age-of-consent dilemma

In this transcript of an interview for Religious News Network (RNN), Pat Coyle tells Eileen Good of her reservations about lowering the age of consent in Ireland.

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The current debate about whether or not the age of consent for sexual activity should be lowered to 16 is dominating the headlines. Many teenagers are having sex at a much earlier age than would have been the case some years ago – and this is causing concern and alarm, particularly among the parents of these teenagers. Eileen Good spoke to Pat Coyle, Manager of the Jesuit Communications Centre in Dublin and a mother of two teenagers, Read more »

The opposite of stability

It is a grace, not a curse, to be born into an age of instability, argues Paul Andrews. Jesus himself sought to rock people in their comfortable worlds, and this remains a feature of life for those who follow him.

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The church is sometimes seen as a force for stability in society. In the French Revolution, the Italian Risorgimento and the Russian Revolution of 1917, the institutional church sided with established authority rather than wave the red flag. Ireland was different; the rebels in 1798 and 1916 tended to be Catholics, often fervently so. The same is true in South America. Read more »

Province Assembly and Congregation to be held in January

A Province Assembly will be held in early January and will be followed immediately by a Province Congregation. Through these events, the Irish Province will prepare for the General Congregation in 2008.

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In June of last year, John Dardis SJ, Irish Provincial, invited as wide a consultation as possible to take place in the Province in preparation for the Province Congregation and for the General Congregation. He was initiating a time of reflection on the Mission of the Society and of discerning the challenges to which we are trying to respond, both in Ireland and throughout the world. Read more »

Spirit Moves – RTÉ1

Barney McGuckian was a guest on the programme on prayer. With Eileen Good of RNN they were part of a panel in a discussion of some twenty-five minutes. You can listen <a href=”http://www.amdg.ie/blog/serendipity/exit.php?url=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ydGUuaWUvcmFkaW8xL3NwaXJpdG1vdmVzL3JhbXMvMjAwNi8xMGRlY2VtYmVyLnNtaWw=&amp;entry_id=63″ onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.rte.ie/radio1/spiritmoves/rams/2006/10december.smil’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;” title=”Spirit Moves RTE1″>here</a>.<br />

Reflecting on the season of Advent

While preparing Advent talks, Brendan Comerford found some interesting facts about the history of the celebration of Advent, in a very helpful article by Vincent Ryan OSB. Here are some of Brendan’s jottings.

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Origins and development of Advent

When the feast of the nativity of the Lord was introduced to Rome in the early years of the 4th century, it was celebrated as a simple memorial and was not preceded by a period of preparation. It was not until the middle of the 6th century, by which time Christmas had become a major solemnity almost on a par with Easter, that the Roman Advent made its appearance. Read more »