E-mail: 3rproductions@tinet.ie

This week we are focusing on Christmas for very obvious reasons.  We have memories of Irish Christmases in bygone days, and the personal Christmas reflections of singer Dana.  Poet Pat Ingolsby also gives us a Christmas message, and author John O'Donoghue tells us what this time of the year means to him.

Side One:

1. Crossways:   News in the Church and the World. For our main report this week Liam Greene, SJ spoke to Cian O'Tighearnaigh of the ISPCC about the punishment of children.  The news was read by Elaine Comerford and Liam Greene, SJ.
Time: 7.02

2. Spirituality - Tom Jordan:   A new religious magazine, focused on personal faith and spirituality was launched earlier this year.  The publication called 'Spirituality' aims to support people in developing their Christian lives while grappling with mortgages, unemployment, redundancy and parenthood.  Fr Tom Jordan, editor, talks to Marie Stuart RSM about the magazine.  It is a bi-monthly publication and would make an ideal Christmas gift, annual subscription £16.44.

In  Stuart:  "Fr Tom Jordan.......................searching and asking questions."  Time: 3.53

3. Homeless at Christmas:  The Big Issues magazine has become an important source of support to the homeless and unemployed on the streets of Ireland and Great Britain.  For some people, it has been an important stepping stone away from depression towards a new sense of hope.  Richard Murphy is homeless.  He now sells the Big Issues, and told Lorcan Brennan how the magazine specifically helped him to cope.

In   Murphy:   "I came from working................................very good in that way."  Time: 6.43

4.  Authority in the Church:  Well-known journalist and commentator Sean Mac Reamonn has edited a new book entitled Authority in the Church, with contributions from a wide range of thinkers including Fr Bill Cosgrave and Judge Catherine McGuinness.  Alan McGuckian SJ spoke to Sean Mac Reamonn about the issue of authority in the Catholic Church, and he put it to him that the Catholic Church is not a democracy.

In   Mac Reamonn:   "Well actually, this thing..........................we need both."   Time:  7.18

5. Christmas - Eltin Griffin: Fr Eltin Griffin, a Carmelite priest, author, liturgist and well known retreat giver shares some reflections on Christmas with Marie Stuart RSM.

In   Stuart:  "Talk to me about.................................who came amongst us."  Time:  3.59
 
6. Dana - Reflections on Christmas:  It's 25 years since her Eurovision song contest win, but it's only six months since Dana returned to Ireland for the release of her commemorative album The Collection and her triumphant Anniversary tour which delighted armies of fans, young and old, throughout the country.  She's back in Ireland for the second  time this year.  Antoinette Harbourne talks to hr about her music and her Christmas celebrations.

In Harbourne: "You were here in Spring.......................holy Christmas."   Time:  5.24
 

Side Two:

1. Patti Black:  Mary Black, indeed all of the Black family are well known.  Their mother Patti was a singer in her own right.  In this interview she talks to Marie Stuart RSM about her husband Kevin and life in the Black household at a time when every Sunday night found her sitting room turned into a concert hall, with an all-star cast.

In  Black:  "Kevin was a violinist.........................that was years after."   Time:  10.10

2.  Pat Ingolsby:  Many of us are familiar with the witty, sensitive poems of Pat Ingolsby.  His poems embrace the ordinary and extraordinary events of day to day living.  His latest publication is not a collection of poems, but a collection of compiled articles aptly titled The Peculiar Sensation of Being Irish.
 
In Ingolsby:  "I've no time for..........................think about giving."   Time:  3.52

3. Christmas - John O'Donoghue:  Fr John O'Donoghue, theologian, philosopher, writer and poet, talks to Marie Stuart RSM about the meaning of Christmas.

In  Stuart: "What does Christmas......................the excitement of Christmas."  Time:  4.25

4.  Christmas Eve and Day, St Stephen's Day - Fr Dan Gallogly:  "The times they are a-changing", or so it would seem when it comes to the celebration of Christmas.  Folklorist Fr Dan Gallogly takes a walk down memory lane now with Kathleen Dooris RSM, recalling a Christmas season of bygone days.

In  Gallogly  "Christmas eve was......................protracted Christmas."   Time:  7.20

5.  President Clinton Business Delegation - Michele O'Leary:  Sr Michele O'Leary, a Mercy Sister from Pittsburgh was a member of the high-powered delegation that travelled to Ireland with President Clinton.  In the 1980's she initiated the Derry project, bringing small groups of unemployed people to Pittsburgh for training.  In 1989 she got involved on a much larger scale working in co-operation with the International Fund for Ireland.  In that year she founded the Ireland Institute of Pittsburgh aiming to promote mutual understanding and economic development in Ireland North and South.  Michele's father, a Corkman, would have stayed at home if he could have made a living her.  Now Michele is anxious to do all she can to help other Irish people.  She spoke to Marie Stuart RSM.

In O'Leary:  "Since 1989...........................some of the individuals."   Time:  7.33
 

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