Dear Editor, Aged 14 years, I was given my most memorable insight into the mystery of The Eucharist, based on the following words at The Offertory of the Mass: “By the mingling of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.”…
The Taoiseach: a century of political leadership, edited by Iain Dale (Swift Press, €23.99 / £20.00) This collection of essays about the sixteen men who have led Irish governments has the subtitle: “a century of political leadership”. The essays, however, demonstrate that leadership qualities were in short supply in independent Ireland. Of the sixteen,…
Factory life in Industrial Yarns Ltd Bray, 1958-98, by Kieran Devenish (Maynooth Studies in Local History / Four Courts Press, €12.95 / £13.50) Back in the early 1960s Dublin Opinion published a satirical cartoon of the then Taoiseach Seán Lemass cutting the ribbon at the opening of a new Irish factory devoted to the…
Mother died today. Or maybe it was yesterday. I don’t know.” With these chilling words, which open Albert Camus’ epochal 1942 novel L’Etranger, Camus enunciated a new style of writing, one that indexed the disaffected soul of his anti-hero Meursault, a man who can’t feel emotions the way the rest of us do. Meursault is…
Sudden Light, by Enda Wyley (Dedalus Press, €12.50 pb / €20 hb) Enda Wyley, recipient of the prestigious Lawrence O’Shaughnessy 2026 Poetry Prize in the US, has been described as a true poet whose poems are perpetually fresh, utterly scrutinised, marked by vigour and virtuosity, arriving on the page as accomplished things. Her new book,…
It might be a bit of a mixed metaphor to talk of sparks breathing, but I’ve found an example. Divine Sparks (RTÉ Radio 1, Friday) now has an hour to play with, compared to the half hour of its predecessors. This allows presenter Áine Lawlor to cover a wide variety of topics – allowing the…
Leo XIV has 1,300 special guests on Sunday: homeless people, refugees and other marginalised people. Among them was a transgender activist – an acquaintance of Pope Francis. Rome (KNA) A first for the Pope: according to media reports, Leo XIV will also receive five trans people for lunch on Sunday. The meeting in the Vatican…
Archbishop Farrell: Two-hundred years ago today, on the Feast of Saint Laurence O’Toole, this church was dedicated. It was dedicated in a time when courage was required to conceive and undertake a project such as this. While we may rightly marvel at the Dublin Catholics of that time, with Catholic Emancipation still a few years…
Breaking News On the Feast of St Lawrence O’Toole, the patron saint of the Dublin Archdiocese and the 200th anniversary of the building of the Pro-Cathedral, Pope Leo XIV has granted the city church the status of a full Cathedral. The announcement, which has been a closely guarded secret except to this paper, was announced…
“Parents, who value their current school ethos, should be sure to fill-in this short survey. Otherwise, the choice of future school provision will be made for them” Archbishop Eamon Martin has said. He was responding to a survey launched by the Department of Education and Youth which is seeking views from parents on the kind…
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan