Never a week goes by these days but there is heated discussion in Dublin or elsewhere across the country on the matter of housing provision, especially of an affordable and accessible kind. This is by no means a new problem, as two small exhibitions now on in Dublin well illustrate. The first is a display…
The Vatican and the Women Deacons, by Phyllis Zagano (Orbis Books, US$20.00 / €18.90; distributed in Ireland and Britain by Norwich Books and Music, 13a Hellesdon Park Road, Norwich; also available online directly from the Maryknoll Society site.) The role of women in the Church is one of the pressing matters of the day,…
A Collection of Songs About Love, Composed and performed by Cormac Buckley and others (Living Water Worship, price unstated) This disc contains some thirteen songs composed and performed by Cormac Buckley, who gets by with a little help from his friends. It is an Irish example of a kind of music found in North…
Winter Past: The Spirit of Hope, by John O’Brien (Multyfarnham Friary, €15.00) Fr John O’Brien will be a familiar writer to many readers; he is one of the Franciscans down in Multyfarnham Friary who pursue their vocations in an energetic way. This little book is very typical of his work, and all the…
The recent visit of President Donald Trump to Ireland passed off quite well, given the often uncertain nature of the president’s reactions to people and events. This was especially so of his courtesy call on President Connolly at Áras an Uachtaráin. But this call was marked by the presentation of various gifts to the visitor…
Changing to Be Faithful: Living Tradition in a Synodal Church, by Eamonn Conway, foreword by Cardinal Mario Grech (Messenger Publications, €14.95 / £12.95) This is a book written to enlighten the ordinary reader in the whole Synodal process and what it means for the Church, now and into the near future. In reading…
The Bayeux Tapestry, by Sue Brunning, Lloyd de Beer, Michael Lewis and Naomi Speakman (British Museum Publications, £40.00 / €46.50) Today there opens in the exhibition galleries of the British Museum in London a much anticipated exhibition of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a visual record of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 and the…
The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection, by Robert Farrar Capon (Modern Library, US$20.00 / €17.50) This has been a bad summer not just in Europe but also in North America. The lack of rain and the bleaching out of the vegetation has threatened food shortages for the coming winter. Such a summer underlines…
An Artist in Glass: Frances Biggs, a pamphlet by John Keating (gratis at Terenure College Chapel) Recently a funeral Mass took us to the chapel of Terenure College. The last time I was in the college was to attend a book launch of a history of the college itself by Prof. Fergus D’Arcy; that very…
Pathway to the Cosmos: The alignment of megalithic tombs in Ireland, Britain and Atlantic Europe, by Peigín Doyle (Wordwell in Association with the National Monuments Service, €10.00 / £8.99) The recent total eclipse of the sun, visible across a large swathe of Europe caused great excitement. It was certainly a rare lifetime event, but…