Life is a Funny Business: A Very Personal Story by Alan Shatter (Poolbeg, €16.99) Peter Hegarty In a candid affecting book Alan Shatter takes us into the “deep recesses of my mind”. The deepest, darkest recess holds the memory of the cold December afternoon in 1965 when he returned home to find his mother Elaine dead on…
Lourdes: Oblates Youth Service recently return from a “brilliant pilgrimage” with 79 young volunteers.
Meath: Mullingar Eucharistic Adoration Committee from left John Menton, Margaret Hynes, Teresa Masterson, Fr Joseph Naikarakudy, Maeve Clifford, Eithne Cornally and Jerry Clifford.
The Belfast Jacobin: Samuel Neilson and the United Irishmen by Kenneth L. Dawson (Irish Academic Press, €22.99) Ian d’Alton This biography of one of the lesser-known founding members of the Society of United Irishmen is engaging, readable and impressively researched. The stories of United Irishmen like Tone, Drennan and Lord Edward Fitzgerald are well-known – but…
Scotland: Fr Francisco Liporace of Argentina of the Incarnate Word, with his Irish team: Fr Sean Bradley from Galway and Fr Nicholas Grace, Fr. Stephen Kennedy and Br. Paul Spaine from Dublin, on their recent parish mission at Barrhead in the Paisley diocese in Scotland, at St John the Evangelist RC Parish church.
Research on alienation Dear Editor, I am an Irish postgraduate student with a background in digital humanities. As a young person in Ireland I am deeply aware of the increasingly liberal slant both of Irish media and culture, and the degree to which contemporary culture is increasingly at odds with the values, lifestyle and sincerely held…
For 25 years worshippers in Shannon and Kilrush have attended the Matt Talbot Novena to pray for those who are suffering or have been affected by addiction. Matt Talbot grew up in poverty as his father was an alcoholic. He also began drinking heavily until he was 28, leaving his life in ruins. After taking…
Catholic choir members are being asked to sing in Jerusalem for Israel’s 70th anniversary in a celebration on May 14, the day Israel was declared a state. The 100 piece choir will sing Irish composer Cormac O’Duffy’s oratorio ‘Hear! O Israel’ at the Mount Scopus Amphitheatre overlooking the Judean desert. Mr O’Duffy has dreamt of…
The new Papal Nuncio, Jude Thaddeus Okolo, attended the memorial Mass of a devout Nigerian women in Drogheda, Louth. Fr Louis Illah of St Mary’s parish in Navan officiated the Mass of Mrs Celine Olienna Bridget Orji. It was attended by members of St Peter’s Church and the Nigerian community. Mrs Orji was very active…
The renowned pilgrimage shrine of Lough Derg in Co. Donegal is to have a new Prior, following the announcement of the Clogher Diocesan Changes by the Diocesan Administrator, Msgr Joseph McGuinness. Fr Laurence (La) Flynn, the present parish priest of Ballybay (Tullycorbet), Co. Monaghan, is to take over the role on October 1. He will…
