By Brian Lennon SJ

What happens when you cannot forgive - indeed, when you feel that to do so would serve to minimise, excuse or even justify the wrong that has been done?

In So You Can't Forgive...? Brian Lennon SJ asks what real forgiving is. He tries to be both compassionate and challenging in looking at ways in which people can move towards freedom. He discusses the danger that the reaction to suffering may foster a sense of 'victimhood' rather than enable people to become survivors. And he asks: how can we respond to the challenges of the Scriptures in a way that is a help and not a burden?

Brian Lennon is a Jesuit priest who has worked for many years with people affected by conflict in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. 

By Fr. Peter McVerry SJ

‘This book may seriously damage what is not infrequently considered to be Christian faith, lead you to a new sense of freedom, an increasing interest and wonder at the world around you, reveal to you a personal wealth that surpasses your wildest dreams, a wealth that no one can take from you, from which everyone can benefit, and which increases in value the more it is shared.’
Gerard W. Hughes SJ

In the context of an Ireland that has become unbelievably rich, but where many feel uncomfortable at the levels of homelessness and poverty that continue to exist, Jesus: Social Revolutionary? is an attempt to open a debate about the meaning of our faith and the obligations that belonging to the Christian community imposes on us.

To view a discussions page on the book, click here  

Published by Veritas, it is available on their website.

International Jesuit Network for Development

The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, in association with the International Jesuit Network on Development (IJND), has published a collection of essays to mark the fortieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio, the papal encyclical on development and justice. This visionary encyclical, which highlighted many of the issues that we now see as central to development, is sadly still relevant in a world where millions of people in our world today live in misery.

The central themes in Populorum Progressio, have inspired experts in development to reflect on its enduring relevance. The Development of Peoples: Challenges for Today and Tomorrow looks at issues across today’s development spectrum, including poverty, debt, trade, peace and conflict, human rights, globalisation, HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, the environment, and migration.

Read more...

by The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

This project was initiated by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and launched by the Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform, Mr Brian Lenihan TD, on 16 July 2007. The aim of the directory is to provide an accessible overview of current criminological research in the Republic of Ireland. The Directory includes research currently being undertaken by academics, research centres, Ph.D students, as well as research commissioned by statutory bodies. Read more about the background to the directory

For the online version of the Directory click here

Written by The Adelaide Hospital Society & The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

"The Irish Health System, Vision, Values and Reality" is a new publication prepared jointly by The Adelaide Hospital Society and the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice.

This new publication - uniquely the product of Protestant and Catholic organisations working together challenges the current direction of Irish health service reforms. In a detailed overview of the Irish health system, it challenges the growing privatisation of health care and states that this is contrary to the values which ought to govern the provision of health care.

Please click here to access the pdf version. 06/06/2007,17:35 471.66 Kb

Edited by The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

This explores many of the key issues facing the EU: Is there a European identity? What role can Christian values play in furthering European integration? Can Europe retain its current social model while pursuing economic progress in a highly globalised environment? How can the EU respond justly to the challenges of development, migration and asylum?

Edited by Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

Social teaching has sometimes been called the church's 'best kept secret'. The aim of this book is to make some of this teaching more widely known. The book brings together authors from a variety of backgrounds, men and women, Jesuits and lay, to explore some aspects of Catholic social teaching. The articles are written in readily accessible language and the areas covered include: the vision inspired by the notion of the dignity of the human person; social teaching and education; subsidiarity and the family etc. Catholic Social Teaching is a rich source to be drawn on for many areas of life. It has importance for personal and interpersonal, social and societal relationships, as well as relationships between nations and peoples.

Edited by The International Jesuit Network for Development

The Jubilee 2000 campaign drew attention to the crippling debt borne by the world's poorest countries. Yet, today, developing countries owe more than three times the amount they owed 25 years ago. This collection of papers, from a conference organised by the Jesuit Network for Development, takes a timely look at the many dimensions of debt and trade and their interconnections. Authors from Zambia, the Philippines, Columbia and Brazil give firsthand accounts of the impact of debt and unfair trade on their countries. For anyone with an interest in the creation of just and sustainable policies in these areas, Debt and Trade is essential reading.

Written by Peter McVerry SJ

A collection of writings spanning the career of well known social campaigner Peter McVerry. In 1974, as a newly-ordained Jesuit priest, Fr McVerry chose to live and work in the inner city with a small group from his order. He began working with young people from severely disadvantaged families and communities. To a young priest from a middle-class background the experience was a complete culture shock. It opened his eyes to what is happening in our very divided society and called into question his understanding of God. This book contains his reflections on these experiences.

Written by The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice

Christian Spirituality is social - it is about how we live our life in society and has implications for our relationships and for our actions in the personal, social, political, and religious spheres. Within the framework of a Christian understanding, the contributors to this book consider social dimensions of spirituality as part of the response to the search for a more just world. The authors are all practitioners in the field and their experience and commitment are transparent in what they write: how a Christian understanding of the world can motivate, nourish and sustain our efforts to bring about a more just world.

Written by The Cherry Orchard Fairth and Justice Group

"We live in a physical environment that is under strain. There are few facilities, one corner shop for over 5,000 people, no public phone boxes, no schools, cinemas or local health centre."

So state the members of a Faith and Justice Group based in Cherry Orchard, Dublin. In this book they go on to analyze the reasons behind this state of affairs, and to reflect on their experience in the light of the Gospel. Amid the signs of decay they find room to hope...

PDF version of 'One City, Two Tiers'

Written by Brian Lennon SJ, Gerry O'Hanlon SJ, Bill Toner SJ, Frank Sammon SJ

Women are alienated from the Roman Catholic Church. Not all women. Not everywhere. But a significant number of women in Ireland see the institutional Church as something alien to them. Over four years, four male priests engaged in a dialogue with a group of women from both lower and middle classes. In this paper they present some of the points put to them by these women and give an initial response to them.

Written by Tim Hamilton, Brian Lennon, Gerry O'Hanlon & Frank Sammon

This deals with such questions as: Why has the position of deprived people in Ireland improved so little over the past twenty years? Why is there still bitterness an enmity in the Northern conflict? What is the link between Christianity and our secular world? The authors of this book argue that a greater solidarity between different groups in Ireland is necessary if any of us are to live proper human lives. They stress particularly the passionate love that God has for deprived people and the demands this makes on the better off.