Welcome to Divine Election In our last episode, we spoke with Dr Toni Pyke, of the Association of Missionaries and Religious in Ireland. Toni shared with us about the importance of hospitality to the stranger as a core element of the Christian faith. This might feel like a leap - but that really shows how thin our thinking is about these issues - but if we recognise we have to be hospitable to all our neighbours, it follows that we should be hospitable to our non-human neighbours. If, as Ton...
Welcome to Episode 5 of Divine Election For a long while, Irish people could flatter themselves in imagining that unlike the rest of Europe, we didn't have a problem with immigration. As a Canadian who moved here to study and ended up staying, I can say that I have been warmly received. But I have also seen racist outbursts directed towards others who come from places that seem more remote. That perception has been shattered in recent years as anti-immigrant rhetoric has become ever pr...
Welcome to Divine Election. It might be common enough for political discussion to focus on crime, but the details of punishment are obscure to most people. How many times have we heard some version of the "what we need to do is be tough on crime" conversation? We might have recited that script ourselves. But Christians have a reason to dispute the standard, so-called commonsense approach to justice. A fundamental reason for Christians to be concerned with who we put in pr...
Welcome to episode 3 of Divine Election. Lord Acton was one of the most important figures in 19th century British intellectual life, but he is now largely remembered for one absolute zinger of a line. You have undoubtedly heard it. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." There are seams of Christian thought that resonate strongly with this sceptical position, counselling that Christians should stay clear of politics and avoid the messiness and compromise it en...
Welcome to Episode 2 of Divine Election. While in the grand scheme of things, no challenge facing Irish people can compare to the accelerating environmental crisis, it has been clear to us at JCFJ for a decade that we are in the midst of a devastating housing situation. Last episode, Richard Carson helped us to think theologically about the place where we live and today, Peter unpacks that in concrete terms by discussing the systemic crisis that afflicts every element of trying t...
Welcome to Divine election this episode, we encourage you to think about place. Even a brief familiarity with the Bible reveals how important place is to the whole story Christians find themselves within. Loving your neighbour involves loving your neighbourhood! Our guest, Richard Carson, helps introduce the implications of this idea and can testify in his own life to how thinking about this has made a difference in his faith. One of the core pillars of Catholic Social Teaching -...
Divine Election is a short 8 episode guide to Irish politics from a Christian perspective. At the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, we are dedicated to undertaking social analysis and theological reflection in relation to issues of social justice, including housing and homelessness, penal policy, environmental justice, and economic ethics. With the Irish election coming up, we wanted to address a few topics that encourage you to reflect on the Common good as we head to the pol...