Ignatian Spirituality and Interreligious Dialogue: Reading Love’s Mystery by Michael Barnes SJ (Messenger Publications, €24.95/£22.95) In medieval times there was a curious contrast between pilgrims to Jerusalem – whose minds were fixed on the Christian experience – and travellers such as Marco Polo, who went beyond Jerusalem and encountered on their explorations a great range of…
Ballymacandy. The Story of an Ambush by Owen O’Shea (Merrion Press €14.95) Joe Carroll The first day of this month was the centenary of the IRA ambush at Ballymacandy of 12 RIC/Black and Tan policemen. It was a one-sided fight with 59 listed IRA men against the cycling policemen who were coming back from Tralee to…
Saints, Scholars, Heroes by Fr Éamon Flanagan CM (Kolbe Publications; ISBN: 9-780952-962724; €7.00+postage) This is a collection of poems about people, places and events and much more besides. They are written from a Christian and communitarian perspective, are immensely personal and are imbued with a Catholic sensibility. Fr Éamon Flanagan celebrates in verse Fr Eamon O’Hara…
Sometimes I have to leave the room when I think someone is going to give away crucial plot twists in a TV drama series, so have no fear that I’ll include spoilers this week. I’ve largely enjoyed the new crime drama series The Pact which finished on BBC One, Tuesday of last week. It was…
Great Music in Irish Houses had plans to celebrate its golden jubilee last year but these were scuppered in Covid-19’s unrelentingly treacherous seas. With Government restrictions on gatherings continuing, the commemorative programme could not be revisited meaning headaches for the festival’s artistic director, Ciara Higgins, and her assiduous team. However, Ms Higgins is nothing if…
Simone Weil for the Twenty-First Century by Eric O. Springsted (University of Notre Dame Press, US$35.00 pb/£25.00 pb) The Subversive Simone Weil: A life in five ideas by Robert Zaretsky (University of Chicago Press, US$20.00 hb/£16.00 hb) Frank Litton What theologians, philosophers, public intellectuals who hold centre-stage today will still be highly regarded and their work studied 80…
Naoibhein Ri Naomh Calum Cille/Nóibhéine Do Naomh Colm Cille/A Novena to Saint Columba by Fr Ross S. J. Crichton (Mungo Books/CTS, £3.95; ISBN 978-1-78469-658-0; bulk orders to Mungo Books, 6 Rob Roy Gardens, Kirkintilloch, Glasgow G661DQ) This little book marks a revival of the Mungo Books imprint, whose principal focus will be on publications of Scottish…
Life in Ireland: A Short History of a Long Time by Conor W. O’Brien (Merrion Press, €16.95/£15.99) Joe Carroll This potted history of plant and animal life in Ireland stretches over a long period – about 550 million years. So there is a lot of evolution to pack into 264 pages. The author, a lifelong enthusiast…
Sometimes media bias is a matter of what stories and issues are not covered. There was a rather muted coverage of last week’s third anniversary of the referendum for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. And what there was was almost entirely on the pro-choice side. For starters I couldn’t find any coverage on RTÉ…
Sepsis attacks more than 250,000 people in the UK every year and 60,000 of these people die. Starfish (Amazon) is the true story of a man who succumbed to it and survived. After a very traumatic period where he almost lost his sanity – and his wife – he came to terms with it. This…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone