Recommended Reading

Two recently published books were the subject of talks in our parish lately when David Bracken, editor of  The End of All Things Earthly, and Donal Harrington , author of Tomorrow’s Parish, spoke to small but attentive audiences made up of people from the East Clare Cluster of parishes. The first book  details the faith profiles of the 1916 leaders while Donal Harrington’s work is a vision and a proposed path for parishes as the church changes. Both books are highly recommended and are available at Veritas Bookshop in Ennis or through any bookshop.

The book edited by David Bracken,who is the Archivist for the Diocese of Limerick, is an easily read, slim volume comprised of essays written by Irish historians and academics  which explore the spirituality of those who gave their lives for Ireland’s independence. In his talk in Scariff Community College David chose from the book some snippets of information about the faith and beliefs of the 1916 leaders and he included poetry and music in the presentation. The essays in the book itself contain testimonies of the leaders and of Capuchin Friars who were with them at the end as they faced their death and these give us a facinating insight.

Donal Harrington in his talk said that we should be asking how we can thrive as a church rather than how  we can survive. He said that what he called  ‘full-time thinking’ would lead to a defeatest attitude whereas ‘half-time thinking’ would lead us to believe that something new is possible. Donal felt that we need to move away from seeing the parish as a system of services and that we need to understand that some people find God and fullness of life in places other than in the physical church. We need to restructure our minds  and, as Pope Francis has said, we need to be ‘ in a missionary key ‘. ‘Mission’ and ‘Witness’ need to be foremost in our thoughts and there must be new initiatives to make connections with those around us. Donal explores these ideas in Tomorrow’s Parish-a vision and a path.