“This book is a must for the desk of every pastor, priest and teacher. It ought to be available to every serious student of religion and ethics. … [It is a] manual for those of us who wish to overcome violence and to pray for and work for a lasting peace on this island.” That’s [...]
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An Assembly in the Irish Catholic Church: Any Closer?
Yesterday about 1,000 people attended an event in Dublin organised by the Association of Catholic Priests, ‘Towards an Assembly in the Irish Catholic Church.’ I was unfortunately unable to attend because of my prior commitment to the Belfast City Marathon (to support my fundraising for the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice, this year’s official charity of [...]
Cardinal Sean Brady & the movement for an Assembly in the Irish Catholic Church: Reforming the Un-Reformable?
There’s not really much commentary to add on the increasingly sad-saga about Cardinal Sean Brady’s role in the Catholic Church’s private inquiry into the activities of Fr Brendan Smyth. The by now usual horrific details of abuse and cover-up, followed by the inadequate responses of church leaders with power, all contribute to a picture of [...]
Why am I a Catholic? Guest Post by Jon Hatch
Why am I (still) a Catholic? In the wake of the clerical child sex abuse scandals and the latest investigation of Irish priests by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), that’s a question that is being asked increasingly by people in Ireland. Jon Hatch, a doctoral candidate at my School, became Catholic [...]
Fr Brian D’Arcy: Vatican Now Monitoring Outspoken Voice for the Faithful in Ireland
If any grace can come out of the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) investigation of Fr Brian D’Arcy, it’s that someone in the Vatican has at least read what he has to say. Sadly, the Vatican’s failure to engage with the Vatican II-inspired movement within the Catholic Church – in which [...]
Building Peace through the Arts: Last Post on the ‘Picking up the Pieces’ Series
What do people need to help them process the trauma they have experienced during conflict? The answer to that question will not be the same for everyone. Over the last few weeks, I’ve highlighted the insights from the RTE Radio One ‘Picking up the Pieces’ series, which features the grassroots peacebuilding work of groups throughout [...]
Picking up the Pieces in the Border Counties
The fifth programme in RTE Radio One’s ‘Picking up the Pieces’ series features peacebuilding in the border counties of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, focusing on the work done among republican ex-prisoners and the Protestant minority in the Republic. The border counties are often neglected in analyses of the peace process, which seem [...]
Talking about Reconciliation … New Post on Slugger O’Toole
I have a new post on the Slugger O’Toole blog, titled ‘Talking about Reconciliation,’ which explores some of the implications of recent attempts by republicans to use the R-word in Northern Ireland’s public sphere.
At Easter: Loss and Hope in the Irish Catholic Church? Research Published in Doctrine and Life
The Easter message is fundamentally one of hope – hope for redemption, forgiveness, and reconciliation … Catholics in Ireland may feel hard-pressed to find hope in their church. The fall-out from the clerical sexual abuse scandals continues to impact on how people interact with their church – especially its institutions and the seemingly out-of-touch clerics [...]
Is Reconciliation Making a Tentative Return to Public Debate in Northern Ireland?
My last two weeks have been more unsettled than usual, involving presenting my research at two conferences: The Political Studies Association (PSA) conference at the Europa in Belfast (3-5 April) and the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion Study Group conference in Chester (28-30 March). This, in part, explains my unusually long absence from blogging. [...]
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.
