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Answering God's Call And having one's life transformed (By Fr. Thady Doyle)

A Book For All God's People

This book is in a special way, me. Behind the book, there is my own personal experience, my experience of great hurt, emptiness and desolation as a teenager and young adult, then my experience of being deeply touched by Jesus, my experience of spiritual growth amidst real personal struggles, and now my experience of ongoing joy through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

It also includes most of the spiritual insights that I have learned along the way, setting important teachings and truths in the context of my own lived experience.

The book is written for all God’s people, but since I am a priest myself, it has even extra interest for priests. In it I share my experiences of 25 years in the priesthood including my experiences of celibacy. It also includes a very brief history, (6 pages), of how married priests in the early Church were expected to live a brother - sister relationship with their wives.

Do you tend to jump bits when reading?

Then this book is for you! It is written in 25 separate chapters each complete in itself. One can get best value from this book by reading just one chapter at a time.

If one comes to a chapter that one finds too deep, one can leave it, until one is ready, and move to the next chapter. But make sure that you don’t miss the final chapter, “Growing in the power”!

Much of the opening chapter can be seen on this website under “Fr Thady’s personal testimony - rescued by Jesus” Published in 1999, ISBN 0 95363300 4

Real Love Is Still Possible

(By Fr. Thady Doyle)

Rebecca, a deeply committed Christian, was praying to meet Mr. Right. In truth she wanted a marriage like the wonderful marriage that her parents enjoyed, and wasn't prepared to settle for anything less. She wanted someone who would share her Christian values and who could truly be her partner, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.

But the years have been creeping up. She is beginning to fear being `left on the shelf', but she is still determined not to compromise, preferring no marriage to a substandard one.

Meanwhile her younger sister, Rita, a spiritual person but without Rebecca's strong views on love, wants to rush into marriage to a gorgeous but somewhat selfish hulk, named James.

Trying to sort things out, Rebecca finds herself spending two weeks with James' brother, John, who hasn't been to Mass since he was Confirmed and doesn't even know the Our Father. On top of that, he has quite a sexual history, whereas she believes in abstinence before marriage. Naturally the sparks fly.

This is a novel that, with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, could transform a person's understanding of both sexuality and marriage. While the main story line is pure fiction, so many of the experiences described in it are in fact the very real experiences of very real people.

"God's Cottage"

Around 1540 all Catholic Church property in Glendalough was confiscated. When in 1847, the Catholics managed to get a site for a Church, it was two km from the Monastic City. For the last 370 years and to this day, there is not even a tiny place in the upper valley for people to go in to pray.

In my Prayer Walks in Glendalough, I have often sat in St. Kevin's Cell and grieved for the fact that there was no Christian Centre beside the Monastic City. How I would love to see a Blessed Sacrament Chapel or a Prayer Room, or even a Christian Information Centre.

Recently a tiny cottage was put on sale right at the very entrance to the ancient Monastic City. ts only a tiny cottage, far from being the type of centre that I long to see, but it is right beside the entrance to the Monastic City. I am trying to buy it, not for myself, but for Lord, as hopefully a tiny Catholic drop-in and prayer centre.

It is tiny, but what St. Kevin started with was also tiny. My desire is for it to be a little centre for the Lord until the end of time.

But because of its location, the price is astronomical. I have just been told that my last bid of 400,000 euro has been accepted. It is an enormous amount of money, but if the cottage is secured, it will, please God, be still there for the Lord in 400 years time and much longer. If you feel you could make some contribution towards its purchase, it would be appreciated.

Meanwhile please pray that we will be able to get planning permission for change of use and also re the money. The March 2010 Curate's Diary will contain full details

"Glendalough - The Pilgrim's Guide"

Glendalough was once one of the four main places of pilgrimage in Ireland. I myself have been going there as a pilgrim for over thirty years. Not merely have I visited it more often than I have visited all the other pilgrimage destinations combined, but I have visited it more often as a pilgrim than I have visited any other place on the face of the earth for any reason. I absolutely love it, and going there has played an important role in my own walk with Jesus.

It is a place of immense natural beauty, and of infinite variety. The very earth has been made sacred by St. Kevin, St. Laurence O Toole, and a host of other saints, male and female, who truly fell in love with God and lived for Him in this sanctified place.

This booklet, in which I draw not just from the history books, but also from my own many pilgrimages and hours of prayer there, is designed to help you to be touched by God's love in this special place.

One can order a copy by post for just 2.50 including postage, but anyone who donates even 10 euro towards the purchase of God's Cottage will get a signed copy.

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