It’s hard to believe Bob Dylan will be 80 on the 24th of this month. He’s ingested so many substances into that hard-travellin’ body of his over the years. There was a time I didn’t think he’d even make it to 50. To quote Kris Kristofferson, another singer-songwriter who has no right to be alive…
The issue of the homeless got something of extra profile when Covid-19 kicked off, with extra efforts being made to make sure they had shelter and protection. It showed we could move on the problem when there was enough motivation. On Times Radio Breakfast last Saturday morning presenter Jenny Kleeman covered an aspect of homelessness…
Maynooth: A College across Four Centuries edited by Salvador Ryan and John Paul Sheridan (Messenger Publications, €50.00/£40.00) This compilation of Maynoothiana has been prepared to celebrate the 225th anniversary of its foundation with a backward look or two at earlier events. It is the kind of book which the many thousands of those associated with Ireland’s…
Recently congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, US representative in Washington for Georgia’s 14 congressional district, a lady deep sunk in controversies of all kinds, raised a few more eye-brows by her reference to the “Anglo-Saxon heritage” on which “these United States” are raised. She is, of course, one of those who have in any case little…
Saint Ignatius of Loyola: A Convert’s Story by Patrick Corkery (Messenger Booklets, €4.95/£4.50) From this month through July 2022 the Society of Jesus celebrates an Ignation year. This marks the 500th anniversary of St Ignatius’ ‘conversion’. He had been struck down on the field of battle and was confined to his bed, recovering from a cannonball…
I have three main go-to programmes every weekend when it comes to religious affairs. All three are on radio and all three had plenty of interest last week. The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio One, Friday) was a particularly positive episode. The show featured an important interview with Catherine Wiley founder of the Catholic Grandparents Association.…
Following their honeymoon in Italy Veronica Dunne and Peter McCarthy settled into their home on Dublin’s Bushy Park Road. However, Ronnie’s commuting between Dublin and London to fulfil her Covent Garden contract became more difficult with the arrivals of son Peter in 1954 and daughter Veronica (Judy) in 1956. Ronnie’s farewell to the Royal Opera…
Life and Liturgy by Louis Bouyer (Sheed &Ward, revised edition, London 1978) When we gather to celebrate the Mass and receive the Eucharist, we are constituted as the people of God. We were not so beforehand, except in potential. This is what Pope Pius XI meant when he described the Mass as “the principal organ of…
The designation the other week by the United States of the massacres of Armenians in Asia Minor between 1915 and 1923 as genocide was an important step in satisfying the call for justice. But that particular passage of brutality was only one of many actions taken by the Ottoman Empire and the republican government of…
Art, Ireland, and the Irish Diaspora: Chicago, Dublin, New York 1893-1939, Culture, Connections, and Controversies by Éimear O’Connor (Irish Academic Press, €35.00/£35.00) First off it has to be said that this is a remarkable book, which will be read by anyone interested in the course of Irish culture since the Irish Revival in the 1890s down…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Ruadhán Jones