‘Faithful Justice’ issue of Studies launched

The spring 2026 issue of Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Jesuits making a formal commitment to ‘a faith that does justice’, was launched on Tuesday 28 April in Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street, Dublin.

There were over thirty attendants at this event, which was held in the upstairs café of the bookshop, an increasingly popular venue for city centre book launches, readings, and discussions. Two guest speakers addressed the gathering – Dr Ethna Regan, theologian at Dublin City University, and Dr Michael Shortall, President of St Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth – both reflecting on the centrality of the dimension of justice in the contemporary church and commenting on the contributions to the issue of Studies.

The first six articles in this issue of Studies are based on papers given at a commemorative symposium held at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College, last November. The purpose of the symposium was to reflect on the fifty years since the Jesuits’ General Congregation, no. 32 (GC32), 1975, at which the Society defined its mission as ‘the service of faith, of which the promotion of justice is an absolute requirement’. Two of the organisers of the November symposium, Dr Kevin Hargaden of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and Dr Michael Kirwan SJ of the Loyola Institute, also delivered papers at it, which are now available in Studies.

Also addressing the launch in Books Upstairs were Dr Dermot Roantree, editor of Studies, and Dr Kirwan (pictured here).