News

Violence has racked the country of Nicaragua since April 18th.  More than 360 people have died in conflict between forces of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and opposition protesters, who are calling for his resignation. President Ortega has been in power since 2007 and is on his third mandate, along with his wife Rosario Murillo, the Vice President.  Yet it has all ...

Today, on what would be Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday, we remember Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa.  There are a great many quotations from Mandela’s life and writings that we are all familiar with.  I have chosen this quotation because it has the recognition of  journey and moving forward as an essential part of life.  It also reminded me of ...

In this digital age handwritten letters are a precious and rare thing, and even more precious, because of this rarity.  Letters continue to communicate the considerations, thought and care of the author even years after, to a different readership from that originally intended. There is something incredibly moving that happens each time one  sees the penned signature from the hand ...

We are constantly exposed to a political agenda.  Indeed, there is an ongoing debacle in the media worldwide in recent days on the fall-out from the post Brexit vote discussions and resignations in the UK parliament, and the post Trump Press conference analysis on Russian-American  relations.  This reflects a seemingly growing preoccupation with ‘power and personality’ and the ‘power of ...

The passing of the Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill on the afternoon of Thursday 12th July  2018, has made history.  Ireland is the first country in the world to commit to withdrawing public money invested in fossil fuels, the industry which is contributing most to climate change. This Bill will stop public money being invested against the public interest, and it sends ...

It is that time of year when all of a sudden, almost in the space of a breath a discernible gap of space and stillness descends, and we have stepped over what seemed like a forever extending line of activity, to another place.   It is summer, with the novelty and pleasure of balmy light filled days and warm evenings. This ...

Somehow I was  pointed to this News piece in the midst of the flood of media coverage on the hardships and issues  endured by the ongoing  movement of people’s, particularly  Migrants and Immigrants and Displaced Peoples.  It can be very easy to almost unconsciously  mainstream and normalise this information into the background of our lives  ‘as just another part of ...

‘Know where you come from, to know who you are’. The first time I saw the exhibition in the ‘Heart Aflame’ Visitor Centre this was the phrase that remained with me long afterwards as  the ‘Heart Aflame’ Story is the story of the Presentation Congregation. The exhibition material that is available treasures the memory, tradition and contribution of all of those ...

I was reading the article below last evening, and it struck me that in the today’s continually demanding climate for justice and advocacy work, that this reminder about ‘Soul Care’  and the sustenance of community life is something worth sharing. Nano Nagle, founding the Presentation Congregation in 1775 in Cork, did not begin by theorising about spirituality.  She began by ...

Refugees They have no need of our help So do not tell me These haggard faces could belong to you or me Should life have dealt a different hand We need to see them for who they really are Chancers and scroungers Layabouts and loungers With bombs up their sleeves Cut-throats and thieves They are not Welcome here We should ...