I wrote about the weight of pain last week. It didn’t let up. Time (BBC One, Sunday) was a hard-hitting prison drama series that ended last weekend. This was its third series, from writer Jimmy McGovern, and it was marked as before by gritty realism, with a strong helping of empathic humanity. It made for…
One sad aspect of the reputations of both Padraic and Mary Colum is their neglect by Irish publishers. This is an old story, of course; the desire to only support the new seems unique in Europe, where most countries have well established series keeping their classic writers in print, not just in expensive academic editions,…
Mary and Padraic Colum: Lives and the Dream, by Margaret Kelleher (UCD Press, €25.00 / £21.50) I am one of those who for years has been curious about the lives of Padraic and Mary Colum: here at last is the book we have longed to have, the whole story of their lives told from…
Freedom of Speech in the Press in Times of Conflict: Historical Perspectives from Ireland and Europe, ed. by Richard C. Allen, Felix M. Larkin, Oliver O’Hanlon and Aoife Whelan (Peter Lang, in association with the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies, €49.40 / £36.45) Life is short, art is long: this book began its life…
A major milestone on the Irish Synodal Pathway was reached with the meeting of the National Synodal Assembly in Gormanston last Saturday, October 17. From October 2021 to May 2022, groups of parishioners all over Ireland sat round the table to share ideas on religion in a way many had never done before. Since I…
Mercy Sister in Nairobi says hunger is the worst in 40 years Children are being born disabled in Nairobi’s Mukuru slum because their mothers are going hungry during pregnancy, an Irish Mercy Sister has warned, as cuts to international aid push the community into its worst crisis in four decades. Sr Mary Killeen, who…
Delegates representing the Church in Ireland gathered to consider and vote on 35 proposals designed to guide the future of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The National Synod Assembly took place at the City North Hotel, Gormanston, Co. Meath, on Saturday, October 17, with over 300 nominated lay, clerical and religious voting representatives. Speaking to…
Jesus asked us for a plain answer: “All you need say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes, ‘No’ if you mean no.” After five years of planning and deliberation, delegates at Saturday’s National Synodal Assembly were essentially offered to vote “Yes, yes”, or “Yes”, or “Yes, but not now”: highly recommend, recommend, or requires further…
Growing up in suburban Dublin, I had no experience of the ritual of the ‘Stations’. Learning about this sacred and domestic Irish practice in later life, I have come to think of it as a fascinating aspect of our heritage. As most people know, the Stations were a quarterly ritual involving the priest coming to…
The secret of freedom is courage. So wrote the Greek historian, Thucydides. Is that why so few of us are truly free? Trapped by fear, despite God’s command not to be afraid? How heartening then to see a pensioner and a retired Christian Pastor from Tyrone stand up against injustice – and challenge bad law,…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Renata Steffens
Mary Kenny
Martina Purdy