My School’s recent surveys of faith leaders and lay people on the island of Ireland asked a series of questions about ecumenism. While most people claim to have positive conceptions of ecumenism, others say it is elitist, irrelevant, or boring, or that they simply don’t know what it is. One survey respondent referred rather disparagingly [...]
Archive | May, 2010
Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism: More Research Results Now Available
Reflections on and results from my School’s major research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism: Diversity, Dialogue and Reconciliation,’ have become available in a variety of outlets over the last few weeks. The research team is hoping that the publication of these results will stimulate new conversations about faith and religion on the island of Ireland. [...]
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin Speaks Out on Abuse in the Irish Catholic Church
One of the most striking features of the current crisis in the Irish Catholic Church is the huge disconnect between high-ranking clergy and laypeople. As stunned laypeople struggle to come to grips with the scale of clerical sexual abuse and its subsequent cover-up, the clergy have by and large defended the church’s actions – showing [...]
Emerging Women? Is the Emerging Church Dominated by White Men?
During the question and response time at a seminar last week by Dr Peter Rollins (a philosopher whose ideas have been associated with the emerging church movement), a member of the audience asked: where are all the women? About 30 people had turned up to listen to Rollins, and there were only three women among [...]
Brian McLaren Book Review: What Else is New about A New Kind of Christianity?
Back in March, I noted the intensity of the debate that had been provoked by Brian McLaren’s latest book, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith. Now that I’ve had a chance to read the book, I’m struck by how so many of the book reviews that I read before [...]
Symposium on the Eucharist in Ecumenical Perspective in Dublin May 13-14, 2010
As part of my School’s research project, ‘Visioning 21st Century Ecumenism,’ we will be teaming up with the Glenstal Ecumenical Symposium to host a two-day workshop on ‘The Eucharist in Ecumenical Perspective: A Conversation with John Gibaut and Aikaterini Pekridou,’ May 13-14, 2010 at Trinity College Dublin. The event will be held at the Irish [...]
Peter Robinson, Naomi Long, and the 2010 Westminster Elections: A New Era in Northern Irish Politics?
This morning I had the rather surreal experience of a Benedictine monk greeting me with news of one election result I didn’t expect: the Alliance Party’s Naomi Long had defeated Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson in the election for the Westminster Parliament. So I’ll have an interesting answer [...]
Should the Belfast City Marathon Run on Sunday?
The Belfast City Marathon is one of Northern Ireland’s premier sporting events. More than 20,000 people hit the streets on Bank Holiday Monday for the race, including 3,300 marathon runners and 11,000 who participated in five-person relay teams. The event raised thousands for charity. It is mass participation sport at its very best. Now that [...]
Peter Rollins Seminar: The Uprising of Christ
Dr Peter Rollins, a Research Associate with Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics) returned to Belfast today for a seminar on ‘The Uprising of Christ: The Resurrection as Insurrection.’ Rollins is currently based on the east coast of the US. Rollins is fresh off his Insurrection Tour of US and Canadian [...]
Be Playful! Activism from the Kitchen Table on 5 May
The sun was shining, and the streets were full of colour. Not always what you would associate with strolling about Belfast city centre, but that was my experience yesterday. There was a parade of the trade unions, marking May Day, with a brass band and a peaceful, colourful ensemble of participants. Music was emanating from [...]
About me
Welcome to Building a Church Without Walls, a website for people who are excited about how Christianity is developing in the 21st Century. I am a Lecturer and Coordinator of the Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Studies Programme at Trinity College Dublin at Belfast (the Irish School of Ecumenics).
Please note this is my personal site. All views are my own and are not representative of TCD.
