It was no fluke that the climax to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings – the destruction of the Ring on Mount Doom – took place, as Tolkien fans who pore over appendices will tell you, on March 25. March 25, writes Eleanor Parker at aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com, is “the single most significant date in salvation…
Despite seeing terrible suffering, children’s hospital chaplain Sr Julie Buckley has never lost faith in God, writes Mags Gargan Sr Julie Buckley SMR is head chaplain at the Children’s University Hospital, Temple Street in Dublin. Originally from Cork she started off her nursing training in the Richmond Hospital, in Dublin, before returning to Cork to…
A particularly early print deadline recently meant the number of hours’ sleep this columnist got the night previous fell well shy of the recommended amount. The amount of sleep needed to function the next day varies from person to person. While the average adult needs about eight hours of sleep each night, some people need…
Bad Queen Bess: Libels, Secret Histories, and the Politics of Publicity in the Reign of Elizabeth I by Peter Lake (Oxford University Press, £35.00) It is often remarked that in modern Britain all that children learn of history are the Tudors and the Nazis. This is meagre diet, but there are universal truths to be learned…
Shane O’Neill by Ciaran Brady (Irish Historical Association/UCD Press, €17.00) This is an account of a complex character who lived in a period when the fortunes of the leaders of Irish Clans could change frequently and sometimes with dire consequences. Shane O’Neill was born into the O’Neill Clan c. 1530. The O’Neills at that time presided over…
We must remember, “our bodies, yours and mine, at the final judgement, will be raised from the dead and reunited with our souls”, writes Andrew O’Connell The Paschal Triduum, culminating in the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil, is a beautiful and profound spiritual experience. At its heart is the stunning reality of the Resurrection of…
Brendan O’Regan reflects on a ‘heart-breaking’ documentary focusing on innocent lives lost in the crossfire of rebellion and wonders whether it was in good taste to air a programme on Judas on Good Friday. I’m not convinced that it was a great idea for BBC 1 to put the focus on Judas for Good Friday,…
Risen (12A) This elegiac re-enactment of the aftermath of the Resurrection in Judea in 33AD as experienced by a disaffected Roman soldier is in many ways reminiscent of Barabbas (1961), the story of the thief who reached a catharsis after believing he was responsible for the death of Jesus. The conversion of Clavius (Joseph Fiennes)…
From Christendom to Americanism and Beyond: The Long, Jagged Trail to a Postmodern Void by Thomas Storck (Angelico Press, £11.95pb) Donal Anthony Foley From Christendom to Americanism and Beyond is a collection of essays written by Thomas Storck, who is a member of the editorial board of The Chesterton Review. In the past Storck has taught history at Christendom…
I told Seán that he is the best hurler in the county the other day. When you live on the Isle of Wight, you can make such bold statements, safe in the knowledge that Seán and I are perhaps the only hurlers in this particular English county. There is a GAA club across the water…
Greg Daly
Mags Gargan
Cathal Barry
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone