The inability to deal with substance misuse is a universal human problem. No country has discovered a fail-safe way of tackling it. In Ireland there is an annual public outcry about an ever-deepening drinking culture but once the outcry is over the problem subsides below consciousness. Strategies are created and launched but quickly forgotten. Everybody is aware of the problem in their own family or neighbourhood and everybody has their own opinions on causes and remedies. Jack Houlahan suggests that exploring the pattern underlying all substance use provides our best starting point.In A Ghost in Daylight: Making Sense of Substance misuse, the general reader will find many popular stereotypes re-examined in a way that will illuminate their own experience; the specialist addiction worker of researcher will find reason to challenge first principles; a new approach to counseling and advice work is suggested; the policy maker will find a firm foundation for what will be the first attempt at an integrated policy for dealing with the range of issues we group under the title substance misuse.

Angels for Little People is the story of two guardian angels and their baby sister who each have a special child to watch over. The book explores the notion of angels being close and surrounding children with love. It discusses the concept of prayer and the reason why angels exist. At the end of the story the young reader is invited to say a prayer with the angels and so it encourages children along the road of quiet reflection and thankfulness.

Dr Gail Freynes Care, Justice & Gender is one of the freshest, most enlightening contributions to feminist theory and marriage counselling now available. It enables both counsellors and couples alike to recognize the missing link between what makes for a troubled marriage and what constitutes an emotionally satisfying relationship. This is a book for those who want to understand marriage from both sides. This is a book for women and for men. It helps women understand their own emotional responses to marital conflict. It enables men to understand what women really want. Most of all, it helps both women and men to see what theyre each missing in the institution of marriage as we now know it. Care, Justice & Gender belongs on the shelf of every married couple and counsellor in the field. Gail Grossman Freyne is a solicitor, a psychotherapist and a mediator. But it is also her feel for the human situation of troubled marriages that enables her to chart a way to the win/win of a satisfying relationship. In her book "family values" get a freshness they seemed to have lost.

This book,Compiled by Brenda Drumm, brings together the Papal World Communications Day messages of Popes Paul IV, John Paul II and Benedict XVI over the past 40 years and some of the key church documents on social communications issued duing that period. It reminds us of the amazing changes and developements that have taken place in social communications over the years and the challenge they present to the Church in its responsability to present Christs face and voice in a new millenium of global communications. It is a very timely resource book.

Everyone can exercise leadership whether or not they are in a position of authority. High-Quality Leadership: A Self-Assessment Guide for Individuals and Teams enables people to assess their own leadership qualities and gives guidance on how to lead effectively whether individually or as part of a pastoral council or parish team. Each chapter contains a brief section on the theoretical aspects of leadership along with a set of questions that help individuals and groups to assess their skills in this area. As well as examining leadership at both an individual and a group level, this approach also looks at their leadership in the context of change and liberation. In particular, it explores the implications for leadership of working with diverse groups of people, with different social identities (e.g. age, gender, culture, nationality, class and so on), facing issues of inequality, marginalisation and oppression. It lays stress on the key role of leadership as a resource for liberation.The guide also highlights practical issues and difficulties around such processes as authority, decision making, conflict resolution, attacks, listening and influencing.

A compilation of some favorite and famous prayers designed to aid and comfort in times of need. With a foreword by Archbishop Robin Eames and contributions from President Mary McAleese and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others, this prayer book has been compiled for those experiencing times of distress or illness and those who care for them and pray with them. Illuminated by illustrations from Marie Calvert as well as images from The Six Days of Creation, Chester Cathedral's beautiful stained glass window, Looking Through Glass hopes to impart on all those who share in its message a sense of healing and prayerful peace.

A collection of reflections on ministry in contemporary Irish Culture, offering practical approaches to evangelisation, justice and communion. The author writes from a context of working with others honestly and respectfully, knowing that somewhere among us the Spirit is active. He intends for these reflections to go back into that context, not as finished articles, but as contributions to an ongoing story of pastoral trial and error.

Planning for a wedding requires careful organisation and effort. It is easy for the couple to be so caught up in the practical details of the reception and invitations that they lose sight of the most important element of the big day - the ceremony itself. In On the Way To The Wedding Elizabeth Hughes provides information and details of options available as you design a service to suit your particular needs. The book offers the long and short form of the marriage ceremony in the Roman Catholic, Church of England, Church of Ireland and Methodist traditions. There are sixteen sample marriage ceremonies, which can be adapted for any form of service. They explore such themes as fidelity, maturity, trust and commitment through prayer and Scripture. Readings and poems are provided to help you make your paritcular wedding day memorable. On the Way To The Wedding also includes services prepared for couples to mark a significant anniversary, making this the ideal book for those celebrating their married life as well as those planning their wedding day.

A book of reflections that have emerged as Ruth has journeyed through specific events, times and seasons, and as she has travelled in her spirit through some of the sacred moments of the Cycle of the Christian year. While these reflections are largely born out of a life shaped by the last forty years or so of Ireland's story, the underlying themes are universal. It is Ruth's prayer that the many thoughts and images in this book may enable the reader to see beyond the immediate and be seized by hope in the present and for the future. Rev. Dr. Ruth Patterson OBE is a Presbyterian minister and the Director of Restoration Ministries

When Sister Eucharia Keane came to the village of Corofin, Co. Clare in 1981 she set in motion a ministry of spiritual and social care that left an indelible mark on locals and visitors alike. This long-lasting impact now finds voice in this collection of memories and stories from those who knew her best. Eucharia embodied the message of Julian of Norwich, in that 'All will be well and all manner of things will be well'. As a compilation of her teachings and an insight into her deep spiritual life, The Ever-Open Door: Memories succeeds in spreading the personal message of Sister Eucharia.

The Future of Europe: Uniting Vision, Values and Citizens? explores many of the key issues now facing the EU: Is there a European identity? What does it mean to be a European citizen? What role can Christian values play in furthering European integration? Faced with massive global inequalities, how is the EU responding to the challenges of development, migration and asylum? Can Europe's leaders provide an adequate response to the widespread sense that 'Brussels' is distant from and indifferent to the needs and concerns of ordinary people? The contributors to

Elizabeth Ryan's sculptures are beautiful evocations of scriptural themes and stories. In The Road to Calvary Elizabeth's works on the Passion of Christ are accompanied by a series of verses which encourage us to reflect on the great sacrifice Our Lord made for his people through his Crucifixion and Resurrection. This small pamphlet, with its rich imagery and thoughtful commentary, provides a much needed resource for anyone wishing to reflect on this most important event in the Christian tradition.

To Love and Cherish is born out of the author's experience of working with couples as they prepare their wedding liturgy. It caters for the needs of all couples, offering a wide choice of readings, prayers, blessings, contemporary reflections and forms of exchanging vows. It provides two model wedding liturgies, one in the context of the Eucharist and one without mass, as well as a newly created ceremony for inter-faith marriages.

In the autumn of 2005, Mater Dei Institute of Education in Dublin hosted a series of Public Lectures on Vatican II to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the closure of the Council. Vatican II: Facing the 21st Century brings together the papers presented during this series. The intention is to communicate some of the content of the documents, and to offer some historical and theological perspectives on Vatican II as it faces the twenty-first century.

Hospitality is a core value of the Christian gospel and tradition. The Christian is one who is invited to respond to the hospitality of God in Christ by living a life characterised by hospitality. Throughout the ages Irish people have long been noted for their welcome but many would argue that such hospitality is extended only to their own . Thus the Christian emphasis on a welcome for all challenges out growing fear and distrust of the stranger in our midst. In a time increasingly characterised by individualism and self-interest, Welcoming the Stranger explores notions such as self-representation and the representation of the other, accompaniment, and the recognition of human dignity; it provides reflections on multiculturalism and interculturalism within the New Ireland; it presents hospitality as a core virtue for every religious believer and as a core activity of the Church community and it relates hospitality to a number of contemporary concerns - human migration, the disablement of persons with impairments and ecological issues.

Ephrem the Syrian is known as one of the greatest Christian poets and as a unique author whose mode of thought is usually described as “symbolic.” In this work, Kees den Biesen explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in Ephrem’s writings with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of his “symbolic thought” and evaluating its contemporary relevance. Den Biesen elaborates a comprehensive approach that integrates a variety of methods into a genuinely theological methodology. He then proposes his own comprehensive understanding of the nature and merits of Ephrem’s symbolic thought.