We can expect the literary focus of 2022 to be the centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses: but an equally important milestone, especially for Christians, was the appearance of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land in 1922. This long poem burst upon the world with considerable fanfare, as Eliot’s biographer Richard Ellmann put it,…
Francis Brennan tells Ruadhán Jones about the excitement of Christmas and his faith Ever charming and chatty, the hotelier and popular TV personality Francis Brennan is also a man of sincere Faith, in his own mould. Well known for his meticulous attention to detail and his precise personal habits, he opened up on how his…
It has never been more important to stand up and defend our schools so our students can shape a better world, writes Philip McMaster In an era where it seems Catholic education is increasingly under attack, the forthcoming centenary of the foundation of St Joseph’s Grammar School in Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone represents a timely opportunity…
Personal Profile Sr Ursula Sharpe, recently elected congregational leader for the Medical Missionaries of Mary, has spent the entirety of her vocation dedicating her life to those on the margins. Whether in leadership or on the missions, she knows that her vocation must be about people. For a time, the Sharpe family was based in…
The View Advent and Christmas are meant to be seasons of hope and joy. Nonetheless, many people have found 2021 much more distressing than 2020, as our resilience has been tested by the ongoing strain of the pandemic and the restrictions that accompany it. We have seen our church-going friends give up going to Mass,…
Stress always threatens in the run-up to Christmas, but there are ways to manage it, writes Jason Osborne I recently wrote about preserving our Advent experience, but these days, it’s impossible not to run through some of the Christmas logistics early on in December, even just a little bit! With that in mind, December can be…
Mindful Living We are all called to live life to the full. That calls us to live beyond the limitations of the ego. Psychology teaches us that in the first part of our life we need to develop the ‘ego’, as part of our survival instinct. We need a healthy and balanced ego, which provides…
Missionary orders fear that a number of their foreign-born missionaries based in Ireland could have to leave next year due to “disruptive” delays in their visas being renewed by the Department of Justice. The ‘Minister of Religion visa’ has to be renewed every three years, but the process is taking up to 12 months, missionary…
The yearning for God can sometimes manifest itself in the most unlikely of ways, writes Maolsheachlann Ó Ceallaigh In 1982, the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden released their third album, The Number of the Beast. The album was hugely popular, entering the UK charts at number one and remaining there for two weeks. It…
The vast network of monasteries helped to lay the foundations of the welfare state we are now so familiar with by helping the poor in organised ways writes David Quinn Back in 1986 a movie called The Name of the Rose went on release internationally. It was based on the book of the same name…
Mary Kenny
Ruadhán Jones
Breda O'Brien
David Quinn