The Hidden Ireland by Daniel Corkery (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon, $35.00 / €33.50 / £26.00; other editions widely available on line) This a reissue of a book by an established writer and patriot which was written a century ago, back in 1924, and issued in Dublin by an Irish publisher. It is a cultural landmark…
Letter from Rome Matthew Santucci In the 2024 edition of the “Annuario Pontificio”, or Pontifical Yearbook, released last week, Pope Francis reinstated the ancient, honorary pontifical title of “Patriarch of the West”, reversing Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 decision to suspend the title. This honorific designation has reappeared among the list of “historical titles” used to…
Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher called the stabbing of Orthodox Assyrian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Fr Isaac Royel “shocking and has caused distress to many in the community”. A 16-year-old boy stabbed and injured the two men at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Sydney on Monday night. The attacker was arrested on Tuesday, and…
Speculative Minds in Georgian Ireland: Novelty, Experiment and Widening Horizons Toby Barnard and Alison FitzGerald (Four Courts Press, €50.00 / £45.95) Looking back on the Ireland of the 18th Century it appears at first glance to be settled picture, but on closer examination is turns out to be something of a jigsaw puzzle, with a multitude…
Vanitha Nadaraj Thousands in Malaysia have paid tributes to an Irish missionary nun who pioneered girls’ education in her adopted country for decades. Sr Enda Ryan died on April 7 at the age of 96, according to her religious congregation, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM). FMM is an international Catholic religious order founded in…
The Crisis of Culture: Identity Politics and the Empire of Norms Translated by Cynthia Schoch and Trista Selous (Hurst, £20.00) I have promised myself that should I win the lottery, I would employ an ‘explainer’. There is so much about the modern world that I do not ‘get’. And it is not only TV advertisements and…
Notebook Like Ben Bulben, Fr John Carroll is a cherished landmark around Sligo! Like Ben Bulben, the shadow of his presence crosses county boundaries. For many years he was the chaplain in the town’s hospitals and continues to have a very active and pastoral presence to this day. It is impossible to put a number…
The sudden death of beloved priest and bishop-elect has united Scottish Catholics in grief, writes Ian Dunn I couldn’t believe it. A text came through Wednesday lunchtime. Fr Martin Chambers had died in his sleep the night before. He was just 59, fit and healthy, and was due to be installed as Scotland’s newest bishop…
All things considered; I believe that I grew up with a relatively healthy concept of God. The God of my youth, the God that I was catechised into, was not unduly punishing, arbitrary, or judgmental. Granted, he was omnipresent so that all of our sins were noticed and noted; but, at the end of the…
Few people have names more applicable to the way they lived than Amy Winehouse. How many hours did she spend in such establishments? She died at 27, thereby becoming a member of the ‘27 Club’, an ill-fated gathering of rock legends that also included people like Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Robert Johnson, Janis…
Peter Costello
Ian Dunn
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Aubrey Malone