One of the things I like about England is the 50p pieces. There is a pleasant continuity to using coins with shapes and sizes similar to those in circulation when I was a boy growing up in Cork. There is something reassuring about such small things in life remaining constant, and in seeing my kids stash…
In spite of the sometimes overwhelming challenges, it is important for religious to retain joy and confidence, writes Andrew O’Connell I’m writing this week’s Notebook from St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford where a hundred or so religious from across the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois have gathered for a conference hosted by Bishop Francis Duffy…
One might expect a website called decentfilms.com to be a worthy if tedious exercise, but Steven D. Greydanus’ criticism has long been one of the jewels of the Catholic internet. Demonstrating a deep knowledge and understanding of both cinema and the Faith, the New Jersey diaconal candidate and film critic for The National Catholic Register…
Killers of the King: the men who dared to execute Charles I by Charles Spencer (Bloomsbury, £8.99pb) J. Anthony Gaughan A book by Princess Diana’s brother would be certain to be of wide interest. But in this account of the vengeance that pursued the men who ordered the death of Charles I he has found…
Soldiers of Christ: The Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar in Medieval Ireland ed. Martin Browne OSB and Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB (Four Courts Press, €50.00 hb) Ever since the controversy over The Da Vinci Code the Knights Templar have become a stock item in books from ‘alternative historians’ who have produced so many strange…
The Passion and the Cross by Ronald Rolheiser (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99 hb) Lent approaches, and many will be looking round for a book which will provide them with reading during the weeks to Good Friday and Easter. For readers of this paper, and for the many other publications where his columns are syndicated around…
‘Absorbing’ documentaries and welcome returns makes this week’s viewing ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘fascinating’, writes Brendan O’Regan With great hype and anticipation The X-Files returned to RTÉ 2 last Tuesday and Wednesday night after a 14-year gap, and as a long-time fan I wasn’t disappointed. The series featured many religious themes and plot lines over its nine-year run…
Point Break (12A) Patrick Swayze, who died of cancer at the age of 57 in 2009, was by all accounts a very nice guy. He had three major hits in a stop-go career: Ghost, Dirty Dancing and Point Break. They’ve now re-made the latter and given it the proverbial ‘big treatment’. It deals with a…
Mags Gargan visits the Living Water young adult Charismatic prayer group Every Wednesday night as the shops on Dublin’s nearby Grafton Street begin to close their shutters and office workers met up for after work drinks or dinner, a group of young people are gathering at St Teresa’s church, Clarendon Street for praise and worship.…
This columnist was feeling particularly run down this week. Perhaps it was the cumulative effect of the ‘January blues’ or the shock of my body having finally readjusted to a regular diet after all the Christmas excess. Having ascertained that it was probably a combination of both, I decided to take action. Let me explain.…
Greg Daly
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Mags Gargan
Cathal Barry