In these three books the Pontiff Emeritus continues to provide insights for the faithful, through a series of reflections. The most interesting of the three is perhaps learning to believe in which Benedict calls on all the faithful, especially those going through difficult moments in their life or belief, to continue their journal, with what…
Chronicles of an English town
Pam Rhodes will be familiar to many as the presenter for many years of Songs of Praise. One of the most genuinely popular religious programmes on television. But she is also the author of some five novels. This book however is the first in a new series, relating the chronicles of a small English town.…
A link to the Upper Room
Father Redmond will be familiar to many not only for his many; devotional books, but also for his musical compositions. "It is my hope," he writes "that this book will convey something of the continuity of the crowning act of providence, something of that witnessing appreciation and love" which some of the great spiritual figures…
Helping the family at prayer
The Family Prayer Book, Council for Marriage and the Family of the Irish Episcopal Conference (Veritas, €14.99 / €14.99 / £12.75)
The hope of healing and the charity of care
Caring for the Nation: A History of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, by Sr Eugene Nolan (Gill & Macmillan, €29.99 / £26.99)
What coalition costs us all
The Price of Power: Inside Ireland’s Crisis Coalition, by Pat Leahy (Penguin Ireland, €17.99 / £14.99; ebook €9.99)
A Canon of rich literature
Peter Costello profiles a forgotten novelist of Catholic Ireland
The World of Books
Mark Patrick Hederman, OSB has already given a wide ranging appreciation in this newspaper of some of the special qualities that characterised the late poet Seamus Heaney, whose passing has been greatly mourned. But there are other things too that might be said about Heaney from the point of view of the literary historian. …
Recent books in brief
Croagh Patrick: Irelandís Holy Mountain edited by Harry Hughes (Croagh Patrick Archaeological Committee, €14.95 / £12.70; Croagh Patrick Visitor Centre, Teach na Miasa, Murrisk, Co. Mayo; email: info@croagh-patrick.com) We are all familiar with the photographs of pilgrimages making their slow way up the slops of Croagh Patrick at the time of the annual pilgrimage. The…
The World of Books
Pyjamas are back in the news again. The reports that a welfare office in Damastown in north Dublin had posted a notice that its clients coming in for interviews were not to wear pyjamas aroused great comment, even though the topic had been well aired in the media when Maya Derrington’s street-smart film Pyjama Girls…