This is the story of a friendship that was celebrated this year in September in Lourdes, a friendship that has lasted sixty years, almost to the day.  It is about  a young priest newly ordained in 1950  by John Charles McQuaid for the diocese of Cashel and Emly,  but was bound for New Zealand

Ignatius Rice died on the 29^th of August 1884 and left behind him a legacy of service and the educational model known as the” Catholic School Model” which still exists to this day.  He was born in Callan, Co. Kilkenny and was one of a family of seven  brothers and two sisters. He

Ingratitude,  is  an integral part of life.  Ingratitude is a “forgetfulness or poor return for favours received,  or  not valuing what you have, or have been given”.  Unexpressed gratitude is also ingratitude.  For example have you ever given a gift and received no thanks? Have you ever

“I like the dreams of the future, better than the history of the past”  (Thomas Jefferson)

For the students who returned to second chance education at Coláiste Éile, the above quotation is extremely relevant.  I am going to speak about the years that I had the honour of being Co-ordinator

In 1941 the British Government commissioned a report into ways in which  Britain could be rebuilt  after the Second World War. In 1942 the Government unveil a plan offering care from “the cradle to the grave”. The new Prime Minister would implement the report chaired by William Beverage, an

How could you put on one page the diversity of the spiritual journey that is the Oblate Lourdes Pilgrimage. For me, this was probably the best so far because of the many friends that I have made and that I keep in contact with over the rest of the year. Friends, who have come to mean so much in my

All research and data provided by many different organisations dealing with the causes of intergenerational poverty  say that its elimination can be achieved by education and productive employment. At this moment in time, in Ireland,  we have 137,000 children who live in consistent poverty, an indictment

In Ancient Rome, an alcoholic woman was considered such an affront to society she could be legally put to death.  It was assumed that every woman who drank alcohol was also promiscuous, another reason to put her to death. We still have women treated with rejection, disgust, prejudice, apathy or indifference

I watched a thought-provoking priest giving a sermon recently on the television and when he said that the recession had increased the numbers attending special ceremonies at Christmas and Easter it made me think about how we feel about religion and its necessity in our everyday lives. He said we turn

The  controversy  about the holding of suicide inquests is raised again by Barry Egan  in an interview with a mother of a young boy who died by suicide on the 27^th December 2012 and printed by the Sunday Independent on the 13/07/2014.

In November 2013,  I wrote an article about the procedures  surrounding