Dr Jon Hatch will lead faith-based reflections on Belfast’s separation barriers in a walk this Thursday, 20 June. The event, organised by the peace group at Knock Presbyterian Church, leaves from the Knock Church car park at 7 pm and will meet up with people from other parts of the city at 7.30 pm at [...]
Archive | Peace Studies RSS feed for this section
Cathy Higgins’ Churches in Exile – Challenges for the Churches in Ireland (Book Review, Part 2)
In a previous review of Cathy Higgins’ Churches in Exile: Alternative Models of Church for Ireland in the 21st Century, I promised to note some of her most compelling challenges for the churches in Ireland. Higgins’ challenges are present in every chapter in the book. Indeed, the discussion or reflection questions at the end of [...]
Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing–Rest & Reflection at St Dorothea’s
This week Fr Martin Magill’s “ecumenical tithing” takes him to St Dorothea’s Church of Ireland in Gilnahirk. Fr Magill describes a restful, reflective service that nourished his spirit, and conversations before and after with parishioners. At the end of the post, he includes another creative suggestion for maximizing ecumenical opportunities in our churches. Fr Martin [...]
Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing: Faith on Trial with Lagan College Chaplains at Fitzroy Presbyterian
This week Fr Martin Magill’s ecumenical tithing takes him back to Fitzroy Presbyterian, where he attended a “Faith on Trial” event featuring Lagan College Chaplains Helen Killough and Gerard Souney. In this post, Fr Magill shares what he learned about the Lagan chaplaincy and the school’s history, explaining how he came away with several of [...]
Johnston McMaster on Cathy Higgins’ Churches in Exile: Remarks from the Book Launch
Cathy Higgins’ new book, Churches in Exile: Alternative Models of Church for Ireland in the 21st Century, was launched on 22 May at Skainos in East Belfast. One of the launch speakers was Rev Dr Johnston McMaster, who worked with Higgins for more than 15 years on the Irish School of Ecumenics’ adult community education [...]
Have a Chat at the Human Library – Community Relations Week Conversations Tomorrow (24 May) at Belfast City Hall
The annual Community Relations Week may have passed some readers of this blog by – especially if you don’t live in Northern Ireland – but this year it has been particularly enriching for me. I’ve had the chance to have some good conversations with people at two events I’ve attend – Rev Mercia Malcolm’s talk [...]
Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing–Reflections on the Ecumenical Pentecost Faith Fest
This week’s instalment of Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing consists of his reflections on the Ecumenical Pentecost Faith Fest. I profiled the event last week and also included a post featuring the thoughts of Rev Arlene Moore of the Anglican/Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd in Monkstown, one of the partners in the Faith Fest. [...]
Cathy Higgins’ “Churches in Exile”: Book Review and Book Launch 22 May – What’s Emerging among Churches in Ireland?
Cathy Higgins’ new book, Churches in Exile: Alternative Models of Church for Ireland in the 21st Century (Columba, 2013) starts from the premise that churches in Ireland are in crisis, wedded to an outdated ‘Christendom’ model of church that has not served Christianity well. But in this thoughtful and easily digestible book, Higgins reflects on [...]
Rev Arlene Moore on Prayer and the Ecumenical Pentecost Faith Fest, 17-19 May
Earlier in the week I blogged about the ecumenical ‘Faith Fest’ organised for the Feast of Pentecost in Belfast. Events during the 17-19 May weekend are undergirded by two 24/7 prayer rooms – at the Church of Ireland/Methodist Church of the Good Shepherd (Cogs) in Monkstown and St Oliver Plunkett’s parish in Lenadoon. Since then [...]
Fr Martin Magill’s Ecumenical Tithing–Prof John Brewer at Fitzroy Presbyterian
This week we continue with Fr Martin Magill’s experiences of ecumenical tithing. Last night he visited Fitzroy Presbyterian in Belfast, where Prof John Brewer of Queen’s University spoke on the findings in his new book, Religion, Ex Combatants and Peace in Northern Ireland, co-authored with David Mitchell and Gerard Leavey. (I earlier reviewed the book [...]
The Past Still Haunts the Present–my post on the 15 Years On Blog
My post titled “The Past Still Haunts the Present” has been published on the “15 Years On” blog. The blog was set up to mark the 15th anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and to stimulate conversation about where we go from here. It is described this way on the “15 Years On” website: We [...]
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.
I also write for the popular NI Politics site Slugger O'Toole. Click here to view my posts on Slugger...
View my profile on Acedemia:
