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…
The Best Catholics in the World: The Irish, the Church and the End of a Special Relationship by Derek Scally (Sandycove/Penguin Ireland, €20) Derek Scally is a journalist with The Irish Times, based in Germany for the last 20 years. His perspective on the subject of Catholicism in Ireland is shown in the dedication of the book…
Maynooth College reflects on Covid-19: New Realities in Uncertain Times Ed. Jeremy Corley, Neil Xavier O’Donoghue and Salvador Ryan, foreword by Archbishop Eamon Martin (Messenger Publications, €9.95/£8.95) I write this on a morning when queues are forming outside Penney’s department store as people seek madly to mark what many are bound to see as the end…
The other week I was writing in these pages about the cultural meaning of the advent of printing in North America, which began not with the English puritans but with the Spanish clergy. This focused my mind on the fact that the national myths of the USA, but not of Canada or Mexico, manage to…
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” This worrying phrase comes back to me every time I hear conspiracy theories being obsessed about in the media. And predictably such discussions are usually linked to obsessions about the ‘far right’. The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk) has been particularly guilty as charged…
Despite current restrictions on public gatherings, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra has been battling on at the National Concert Hall with Friday evening broadcasts on Lyric FM repeated on Sunday mornings on RTÉ television. These take place without an audience, which is less than satisfactory for the dedicated musicians but, at least, they are employed.…
Walking with Ignatius by Arturo Sosa SJ, in conversation with Dario Menor, prologue by Sr Jolanta Kafka RMI (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£19.95) In conversation with a respected journalist, the Superior General of the Jesuits provides some reflections that will provide, so to speak, a theme for the ‘Ignatius 500 Year’ we are facing into. The key idea is that…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone