Father Mychal Judge, An Authentic American Hero by Michael Ford (Paulist Press, £15.99) Anthony Redmond Fr Judge, an Irish American Franciscan, died in the attack on the World Trade Centre as he gave the Last Rites to a dying fireman. During the last weeks of his life, Fr Mychal Judge had been reading the biography…
One of the most interesting programmes shown over the Christmas period was the film Strange Occurrences in a Small Irish Village on RTÉ 1. This documentary told the story of Knock Shrine, mainly through interviews with some of the people involved in that parish. Parish priest Fr Richard Gibbons was a central focus of attention,…
A male friend of mine has been in a lot of contact with me online recently, we have a lot in common and we are both single. I think there is a spark there, yet when I suggested meeting up he said he was too busy, yet continues to stay in contact with me. I…
Around the baptistry in our church there are beautiful wrought iron railings depicting flowing waters. In the midst of the waves there is another symbol, a spiral. The spiral is a symbol of life and energy, of growth and change. It is about being drawn back to the centre, to a place of truth and…
Whoever said it was too late to send Christmas cards, forgot that Christmas doesn’t end until the feast of the Epiphany or the Three Wise Men on January 6th. Little Christmas is surrounded with tradition. As the official last day of Christmas, the tree is taken down, and the decorations are stored away for next…
Prostate cancer, a once largely silent disease that was often diagnosed in its more advanced stages has become increasingly identified and treated at an earlier phase in men today. A greater awareness of disease symptoms coupled with improvements in detection and diagnosis, as well as treatment options has led to a huge benefit in survival…
Fr Bryan Shortall Christian faith can rest with the youngest and oldest among us, Fr Bryan Shortall explains. Talk about ‘out of the mouths of babes’. I was over with some parishioners who had been recently bereaved and we were to plan the funeral liturgy. Naturally there was sadness in the household as they were…
So much of life, particularly today, constitutes an unconscious conspiracy against reading. Lack of time, the pressure of our jobs, and electronic technology, among other things, are more and more putting books out of reach and out of mind. There is never enough time to read. The upside of this is that when I do…
Secret of the powers that be This year saw the release of a backlog of files of various kinds going back to the 1920s. Many dealt with dismissals from the public service, the army, the guards, and the civil service generally. Most of these reveal little stories of incompetence and misbehaviour as often as not…
Secrets of the powers of that be Visitors to the national Museum are often astonished by the relics of early Christian Ireland that are on show there, from the Derrynaflan hoard and the Broighter boat, to the Ardagh Chalice and the Cross of Cong. But what many do not realise are the hazards of survival…
Brendan O’Regan
Wendy Grace
Bairbre Cahill
Erin Fox
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Peter Costello