Retired Missionaries and Faith in a Changing Society [Hardcover]

Retired Missionaries and Faith in a Changing Society offers a sociological study of the Irish missionary diaspora.

Carmel Gallagher is an Emeritus Research Fellow at Technological University Dublin, Ireland.

Retired Missionaries and Faith in a Changing Society?gives voices to women and men whose lives and experiences have been almost erased from public consciousness. It explores how the islands social and religious cultures first produced missionaries, but then changed so much that their contributions abroad continue to be overlooked. Most intriguingly, Gallagher argues that these retired missionaries have something fresh to say in the islands debates on social justice and the meaning of life. This is a fine sociological study that contributes to such debates. -?Gladys Ganiel, Queens University Belfast

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The cumulative experience and wisdom of more than a thousand years of life in overseas missionary work is scientifically distilled in this book, based on extensive interviews with a wide range of retired or semi-retired Catholic missionaries. Carmel Gallagher has demonstrated how, over the past fifty years, Irish religious sisters, priests and lay people have enriched their understanding of Catholic missionary work, and have put it into practice in their work in Africa, Asia and Latin America. ?Retired Missionaries and Faith in a Changing Society?is a valuable and interesting resource for both church and society in present-day Ireland.-?Donal Dorr, missionary theologian and author

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The Irish missionary movement could perhaps be described as Irelands most influential global project yet few people aged under 40 are aware of its extraordinary reach across continents and generations. Carmel Gallagher brings important and original insl3Î