The Ballymun Gospel Choir and Band is scheduled to perform at a special event to highlight the plight of homeless people and the work of the Dublin Simon Community. It will take place at St Anne’s Church, Dawson Street, on Saturday 14 June at 8.00pm. Dublin Simon offers homeless people a ‘continuum of care’, from soup runs and emergency shelter ...

In the May issue of America Magazine, Irish Jesuit Tom Casey writes an incisive article on what we have to learn from Ireland’s unofficial, or literary, ‘patron saint’ – Leopold Bloom, protagonist of James Joyce’s Ullyses, who is commemorated annually on Bloomsday, 16 June. Fr Casey, who is Professor of Philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome, sees both Bloom ...

Glendalough, Clonmacnoise, Knock, Lough Derg, Ards Friary in Donegal, St. Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast, and the cathedral city of Armagh were the places visited by a Slovene parish this week on their pilgrimage around Ireland. The group of fifty pilgrims were led by Fr. Miran Zvanut SJ (pictured), who studied theology at Milltown Institute, Dublin, for several years. They were keen ...

The June issue of Reality magazine has an article seeking to ‘rehabilitate’ St. Aloysius Gonzaga SJ. The author, Thomas J. Craughwell, argues that the real value of the saint’s heritage lies in his very human struggle with holiness and religious life, not in his overly sentimentalised image of piety and self-mortification. It is because of this misrepresentation, Craughwell argues, that ...

A dinner was held in Limerick to mark the retirement of five teachers at Crescent College Comprehensive, four of whom have been there since the re-founding of the School as Crescent College Comprehensive in 1971 (1859 was the original foundation). Taken together, their years of service at the Crescent amount to 178 years. In September the school begins its Sesquicentennial ...

Over 120 people turned up to hear Dr. Ronald Modras’ public lecture in Galway last Wednesday, 28 May. Organised by the Jesuit Centre for Spirituality there in combination with Manresa Spirituality Centre, it was a packed house at the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart spirituality centre, Croí Nua on Taylor’s Hill. Most of the attendees had booked in advance but ...

The middle week of the summer school run by the Milltown Institute this June includes the option of studying Ignatian spirituality. On each week of the course, the participants may choose between two options, and on the second week these are ‘Ignatian spirituality’ and ‘Issues in fundamental moral theology’. The overall title of the summer school is ‘Beginnings, journeys, endings’, ...

Nicholas Cuddihy is the new principal of the Crescent Comprehensive, who takes over from Dermot Cowhey in the new academic year. Mr Cuddihy from Dublin has been principal of the all-girls school, St. Dominic’s in Cabra, for the last two years. He has a degree in theology and a masters in educational management and leadership, and began teaching Religion and ...

The Peter McVerry Trust (PMVT) has limited places available on their trek in Lesotho, one of Africa’s hidden gems, from 17-26 October 2008. Money raised from this fundraising challenge will go towards supporting young homeless people. For an information pack contact: (00353) 1 8230776, trek@pmvtrust.ie, www.pmvtrust.ie. Contact PMVT before June 6 to secure one of the last few remaining places. ...

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office and the head of Vatican Radio, spoke on 29 May 2008 at the Catholic Media Convention in Toronto. His address, entitled When the Pope Speaks to the World: Working With Modern Media, is made up mainly of personal reflections on working in communications at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI emerges ...