Notebook In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings there is a wonderful passage when the wizard Gandalf is face to face with Denethor, the ruler of Gondor. In the face of the threat of the evil Sauron, Denethor sees it as his task to defend his kingdom, and above all to keep the walls…
Nothing quite prepares you for the intensity of Holy Week lived in a religious community. Since I entered the Dominican novitiate in 2009, every Easter has been profoundly moving, with an emotion that is communal. Together the community experiences disorientation in this week: familiar timetables are altered, familiar statues are covered, and the Lord is…
Among the many photos from Ukraine to have had major global impact in recent days was one set of wedding photos. On March 6, Lesya Ivashchenko and Valeriy Filimonov were married outdoors on the outskirts of Kyiv. The bride held a bouquet and wore a veil, but there was no white dress: both Lesya and…
Picture the scene: the Hill of Tara in August 1843, and a huge crowd has gathered for the largest of Daniel O’Connell’s ‘Monster Meetings’ in support of repealing the Act of Union. The great man himself processed through the thronged masses accompanied by a harpist, but there were other harpists there that day – five…
Notebook On a June evening in 1963, as Pope John XXIII lay dying, a strange sight appeared in St Peter’s Square: the chief rabbi of Rome, with a crowd of Roman Jews, gathering with their Catholic fellow citizens to honour Pope John. During his papacy he had made several important gestures of friendship towards Judaism,…
Notebook Some weeks ago I watched a short American documentary about a remote part of the West of Ireland, filmed some time in the 80s. A packed church was shown, and an interview with the priest followed. The interviewer asked him some questions about his spiritual role, but he strikingly downplayed that aspect of his…
On Sunday last, the feast of Christ the King, I had the honour of celebrating the annual Mass for deceased members of the Dublin Fire Brigade. It was a pleasure also to welcome Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Alison Gilliland, to our church for the occasion, but it was far from the first encounter between the mayor…
Notebook Probably the best-loved poem written in the Irish language begins with the words ‘Messe ocus Pangur Bán’. In Robin Flower’s translation, the first stanza reads: “I and Pangur Bán my cat,/‘Tis a like task we are at:/Hunting mice is his delight,/Hunting words I sit all night.” It was probably written at some point in…
Notebook We’re all familiar with trade unions, organisations like SIPTU and ASTI, founded by workers in a particular sector, and designed to protect the rights and welfare of such workers. They play a vital role in society, and in modern times Popes have consistently made major pronouncements in their favour, most elaborately in Pope St…
Notebook Irish people of all stripes are aware, at least vaguely, of the achievements of the learned monks of early Christian Ireland. Comparatively few details of the monastery schools and scholars on the island of Ireland at this period are known, however, and we know a good deal more about the Irish intellectuals who rose…