I’m very pleased to note programmes that give us a sense of hope. I found one this week. Ireland’s Catholics: Signs of Hope (EWTN, Friday) was a timely report from Colm Flynn about the current situation as regards faith in Ireland, especially in relation to young people. We saw 60 of them at a eucharistic…
Robert St Leger SJ, by Thomas J Morrissey SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95 / £11.50) When one considers the huge number of Irish men who answered the call of a priestly vocation, over the last three centuries it is inevitable that most of them will now be either forgotten or little known. The author of…
From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings: J.R.R. Tolkien’s works have achieved cult status. This year’s International Tolkien Reading Day on 25 March will focus on the “unexpected heroes”. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” – this unassuming sentence marked the beginning of a literary success story whose end remains unforeseeable to this day. The…
Crumbs from the Pastor’s Table: Reflection on the Catholic Lectionary – Three Year Cycle, by ‘Fr Francis’ (Scholastic Publications, available through Amazon.ie, €20.53 + €3.99 postage.) We have lived to see the end of the great days of sermons. In the Central Catholic Library, on Dublin’s Merrion Square, there is one wall in the…
This has been the week that people of Irish culture, wherever they are in the world, celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Our government ministers have sped around the world to capitals where they think Ireland can achieve better things. Otherwise, it has become, especially at home, a sort of carnival, with Mock Bishops surrounded by red-bearded…
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The discovery of the Amarna Letters & the Bronze Age world they revealed, by Eric H. Cline (Princeton University Press, £30.00 / €39.95) Prof. Eric H. Cline is a leading North American archaeologist of Middle Eastern archaeology. He is the author of a previous widely admired book 1177 B. C.: The Year…
A lovely question, posed by a child in first class in a local National School. We had chatted a while and when I was leaving, I asked if there were any questions – I wasn’t expecting but was very pleased by this one – “Will you say a prayer with us?” Not for us, but…
If you think the people who shot Veronica Guerin are bad,” a garda said after the heroic journalist was shot in 1996, “you should see what’s coming up now.” Evil spiralled through the decades. Spilt Milk is set a decade before 1996. We’re in the relatively early days of Ireland’s drug ‘culture.’ (I’ve always hated…
Sometimes you need an antidote to the darkness of war, and comedy will do for a while. One of the most charming shows on TV in recent weeks is Small Prophets (BBC Two, Monday) – it maintained its whimsical tone consistently up to last Monday’s satisfyingly dramatic final episode. It’s funny, quirky, warm, moving and…
According to the Gospel of John, in his final moment on the cross, Jesus declared: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). The words might also be translated: “It is fulfilled” or “It is accomplished.” Like the declaration of his thirst, the saying is brief but contains many layers of meaning. We can begin by asking a…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone