A Quiet Space - A Short History of the Sanctuary (Veritas 2023)
A Quiet Space tells the story of the Sanctuary, a meditation centre for social change in the heart of Dublin.
The Sanctuary aims to answer a hunger in people for spirituality, meditation, creativity and community – the four pillars of the Sanctuary’s purpose and vision.
Those of all faiths and none are welcome at the Sanctuary and for more than twenty-five years this special place has been enriching the lives of all those who experience it.
All royalties from the sale of this book will go towards furthering the work of the Sanctuary.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in major bookstores
Finding Hope (Columba Books 2022)
Hope is needed in our daily lives now more than ever. Wars and the pandemic, along with the ongoing climate crisis, are affecting the lives of many people all over the world. In this difficult time, hope is the unifying force to carry us through the despair. To inspire others to find hope in their lives, Sr Stan reached out to a number of individuals to discover where they find hope.
As with her previous best seller Finding Peace (2021), Sr Stan posed the question “Where and how do you find hope in your daily life?”. Despite being a very personal question, public figures and private citizens responded in droves and the result is an authentic and beautiful book sure to inspire readers.
With contributions from: Charlie Bird, Mary Kenny, Cathy Kelly, Colum McCann, Tanaiste Micheál Martin, Orla Guerin, Mike Ryan, Éanna Ní Lamhna, Myles Dungan, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Collette O’Regan, Bryan Dobson, Mary Lou McDonald, Adi Roche, Dee Forbes….. and many more
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in major bookstores
Finding Peace (Columba Books 2021)
While the Covid-19 pandemic has been a challenging time, it has also offered an opportunity for individuals to open up to an inner world. A time to find out that there is a human need for something beyond the routine of everyday life. During this time, Sr Stan gathered writings from some well-known and some not so well-known people to understand how others bring peace into their lives every day.
“Where and how do you find peace in your daily life?” was the question posed to the contributors including TV presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, rugby player Johnny Sexton, singer Liam O’Maonlai, actor Tommy Tiernan and women’s health advocate Vicky Phelan among many others. Each individual had something different to offer, so the material here is diverse and wide-ranging. What is clear from all the contributions is that peace is about relationships and ultimately it is about love.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the Sanctuary, in particular the development of programmes for those who care for the most vulnerable in our society.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in major bookstores
The Sacred Life of Everything (Columba Books 2019)
This latest book by Sr. Stan and Síle Wall is a collection of meditations using poems, reflections and photographs that all stem from working together in the Sanctuary in Dublin. If you take the time to pay attention to the world around you, you can discover the sacred in the ordinary and mundane. Tapping into the everyday moments that can be precious and awe-inspiring, this book full of meditations, prayers and poems is designed to give you a greater sense of presence and inner peace.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in major bookstores
Awakening Inner Peace - A Little Book of Hours (Columba Books 2018)
This beautiful book from Sr Stan is the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern life, providing readers with short but inspiring prayers, poems and biblical quotes they can turn to whenever they need a quiet moment. Awakening Inner Peace: A Little Book of Hours is far from a traditional book of hours. It is made for readers to dip in and out of, finding the spiritual comfort they need at any time. Though the book is structured around the traditional monastic schedule of eight prayers a day for four weeks, these prayers are designed to be read at any time, by anyone who seeks a moment of peace and connection with God.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in major bookstores
Mindful Meditations for Every Day (Columba Press 2016)
Mindful Meditations for Every Day carries the reader through the calendar year, with daily meditations, mindfulness exercises and scripture for each month. The book can act both as a guide to the practice of mindfulness and as a source of daily inspiration.
This book is essential for any reader who wants to benefit from the wisdom and spiritual know-how of Sr. Stan.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores.
To Live from the Heart: Mindful Paths to the Sacred (Transworld 2015)
In To Live from the Heart: Mindful paths to the Sacred, Sister Stan reveals how prayer can play an important part in all our lives, lifting our spirits and offering us hope and support in good times and bad.
This comforting treasure of mindful meditations, prayers, proverbs and essays has helped to sustain Sister Stan through the years. In sharing them with us, she hopes they will nourish our souls, bring us peace on our journey through life and inspire us to live from the heart.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Seasons of Hope (Transworld, 2014)
The follow up to her bestselling Day by Day, offers words of wisdom to still the mind and calm the soul. Through verse and inspirational quotations from many enlightened figures, she offers us a chance to refocus our energies and step away from this frantic world and be open to new possibilities. Includes contributions from Michael Harding, Theo Dorgan, Peter McVerry and Ruairi McKiernan.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores.
Day by Day (Transworld, 2013)
This book offers words of wisdom that will inspire and comfort you on your journey through life. Thoughtful and reflective, it draws upon some of the most enlightened figures from both the past and the present as it gently guides you through your day.
Also included here are through-provoking contributions on a range of subjects, including mindfulness, gratitude, belonging, friendship and courage, from influential figures such as Abbot Mark Patrick Hederman, psychologist and founder of Headstong, Dr. Tony Bates, poet Brendan Kennelly, and producer/director Lelia Doolan, each helping Sister Stan to create an invaluable treasury for our times.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary shop and in bookstores
Sr. Stans Book of Inspirations (Columba Press 2013)
This little book of daily reflections is a book to have by your side, in your bag, in your pocket or at your bedside. Pick it up and put it down as you please. Read the reflections and aphorisms in your own way and your own time. Allow them to speak to your heart; to create a silence within you; to draw you ever more deeply into the journey of life. It is simply intended that this little book will bring you into a deeper part of your being.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
The Road Home, My Journey (Transworld, 2011)
Sr. Stan looks back on her early life in rural Ireland, and to the life-changing decision she made at the age of eighteen to become a nun. Reflecting on the many challenges she has met, we see how Stan has worked tirelessly to help establish vital voluntary groups, such as focus Ireland, Young Social Innovators, The Immigrant Council of Ireland and The Sanctuary Meditation Centre. Inspiring and thought-provoking, this fascinating memoir provides a unique insight into the life and work of one of the most influential social activists of our day.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Moments of Stillness (Transworld, 2009)
Sr. Stan draws upon her memories of childhood and the special memories of awareness and mystery which have nourished and enriched her life. As she offers simple reflections that help us focus on the many gifts and blessings that surround us each day, she enables us to connect with our inner world and the deep, nuturing silence that lies within.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Now is the Time - Spiritual Reflections, Expanded Edition (Townhouse, 2006)
This is a book for everyone; young or old, male or female, for those who are irreligious or plain disaffected as well as for the converted. Even people for whom a spiritual view of the world is a closed book should try opening this one.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Stillness through my Prayers (Townhouse, 2006)
Here, in this most straightforward of books, Sr. Stan shares simple, profound and calming prayers that she herself uses to help her achieve Stillness, that most elusive and treasured state of mind.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Gardening the Soul (Pocket Books, Townhouse 2003)
Sr. Stan looks to the earth that is so precious to our existence for inspiration throughout the year. Reflecting the garden's changing rhythms through the seasons, Gardening the Soul offers us a daily thought to keep us going as we face the challenges of modern life.
Available to purchase online, at the Sanctuary and in bookstores
Seasons of the Day (Townhouse, 2003)
This work is a modern interpretation of the classic Book of Hours, which was used to add structure to the day and provide a focus for prayers. Each day is split into eight hours and the days are collected into four-week cycles. Sister Stan has provided inspirational thoughts to go with each psalm, aimed at understanding and coping with the problems and stresses that modern life often brings. Her aim is to give this concept back to the reader.
Now is the Time (Townhouse, 1998)
In this text Sr. Stan reflects on the great themes of modern life – love, death, work, healing, our relationships with each other, and with the universe. Her philosophy is grounded in a Christian outlook, but looks beyond boundaries of any one faith or church to draw on the great spiritual traditions, on the poets and thinkers of East and West.
Bundle of Blessings (St. Pauls, 1999)
Here, Sr. Stan invites you to share her spiritual journey from her home in the beautiful area of Dingle in Co. Kerry, Ireland, to her work with the homeless in Dublin today. It also offers a simple method to help the individual develop a deeper relationship with God in everyday events.
Reaching out to Right Relationships (Veritas, 1998)
This book invites us to explore the beauty within us and around us and the possibilities and potential of the transforming power of God, of friends and relations, of the poor, of society, of nature and the earth, at work in each of us if we are attentive to it. It is about relationships and the intimate interplay between our relationship with society (how we relate to a perceive society, its structures and instruments, political, economic and social), our relationship with the earth (our concern for our environment), and our relationship with God (how we relate to our God, the God of our hearts, the God of our lives).
Spiritual Journeys (Veritas, 1997)
Today's world is characterised by the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, between the so-called able and those with disabilities. The streets of our big cities are populated by growing numbers of homeless, broken people. Faltering economies have engendered new forms of poverty which create fear in the hearts of the rich who are called to share. Even healthy, thriving economies fail to ensure equal distribution of resources. Spiritual Journeys is about bridging the ever-widening gap between the 'capable' and 'admirable' person and the broken, weak person in each one of us. It is about being healed by the poor and lonely.
Focus on Residential Child Care in Ireland (Focus Ireland, 1996)
Twenty-five years after the publication of the Kennedy Report, this study examines the current state of residential child care in Ireland. It finds that although there have been improvements in the system over the past 25 years, there are still serious problems facing child care today. The biggest of these problems is a lack of a coherency, integrated planning for all children whose families for one reason or another are unable to care for them.
Focus on Homelessness - A new look at housing policy (edited with John Blackwell) (Columba Press, 1998)
This book brings together the diverse views and experiences of people who make policy, who implement it, who analyse it and, most significantly, people who experience its effects. What becomes very clear is that those considerations which enrich and civilise everyday living environment, facilities for community life and personal development, for work and recreation must be acknowledged as basic to future housing policy.
Streetwise (Editor) (Glendale Press, 1987)
1987 was International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. A seminar “Streetwise, Children Out of Home in Ireland and Abroad was organised by Focus Point and UNICEF in Dublin at the beginning of that year. As a result of that seminar a national coalition of concerned groups and individuals got together to form the Streetwise Committee. One of the first things this committee did was to undertake research on the extent of youth homelessness in the country. This book contains the main findings of the Streetwise research. Coinciding with the start of this research, a report by a team of social workers in the Eastern Health Board was produced and therefore the Streetwise research focuses on everywhere outside Dublin.
But Where Can I Go? (Arlen House, 1985)
This is the first study ever carried out on homeless women in Ireland. It gives us the opportunity not only to consider the plight of women who are surviving without homes but to hear their own stories of family violence and rejection by society.
One Million Poor (Turoe Press, 1981)
This book gives evidence of the frightening extent of human misery extremes such as the plight of the homeless to the more hidden poverty of old people and those who lack decent living conditions both in rural and in urban Ireland. A disturbing book, written in a mood of controlled anger and concern for social justice, it points out that to date no comprehensive policy to eliminate poverty has been developed.
Who Should Care? (Turoe Press, 1980)
A group of people in Kilkenny were called together by Bishop Peter Birch to face the question "Who should care?" and this book tells how that first spark kindled enthusiasm and became an explosion of pioneering social services.