A Hundred Roads to Here is a book for struggling meditators.
The wish to meditate may be strong and persistent, but there are many impediments. Every meditator knows them. They present themselves in random ways, and this book is for dipping into at random. Though they are numbered, the sections are in no particular order. They are not points to ponder during meditation, because meditation is inner silence. They were written in response to requests from individuals and groups for brief inputs at the beginning of their meditation sessions; they are not meant to lead to further reflection, but to silence, and to the meditative state which is never more than a breath away.
The many reforms needed in the Catholic Church in Ireland include restructuring its 26 dioceses. Their boundaries, unchanged since they were arranged in the twelfth century, no longer match the distribution of the Catholic population.
Historian Adrian Empey shows in detail how Church structures in Ireland were transformed in 1100s – from being linked to areas influenced by monasteries to the diocesan system we now know.
Geographer Des McCafferty shows how dioceses should normally generate, or at least be based, on a sense of place and a sense of identity. Ten other writers examine a range of relevant topics. They draw comparisons with diocesan re-organisation undertaken by the Church in France and by the Church of Ireland.
The Certainty of Being Loved traces the spiritual journey of Pierre Claverie op, born in 1938 in Algiers, the fourth generation of a family of European settlers.
Pierre joined the Dominicans in France and his conversion experience enabled him to cross the boundaries of difference and deepen his Christian commitment. It would eventually lead him to offer his life as a ransom for peace and reconciliation between Christians and Muslims.
"The Algerian martyr Blessed Pierre Claverie is one of the great witnesses of our time, deserving of a place next to Oscar Romero or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, yet is little known so far in the wider Church." - Austin Ivereigh
