Counsels of Imperfection: Thinking through Catholic Social Teaching by Edward Hadas (Catholic University of America Press, $34.05/£36.50 paperback) Frank Litton This is not a propitious moment for Catholic social teaching (CST) in Ireland. Not only is there no serious conversation on the condition of our society and the future of our politics; if there were the…
A Zealous Priest: The Murder of Fr Michael Griffin 1920 by Pat O’Looney (Islemeen, Loughrea, Co Galway; €15.00 from Charlie Byrne’s Books in Galway and other outlets) This biography of Fr Michael Griffin includes a microscopic account of the circumstances surrounding his tragic death. It is written by Pat O’Looney a local historian, well known for…
The World of Books by the Books Editor Recently a friend of mine asked me what the visitation of the Black Death to Ireland at the end of the 1340s was like. He was wondering how it compared to the present Covid-19 infection. Actually, a very vivid record exists: it was first printed coincidently in…
While I knew she had been ill, news of Cork-born soprano Cara O’Sullivan’s death on January 26 – aged 59 – came as a shock. Cara possessed a wonderfully vibrant voice to match her vivacious personality and had a natural artistry in a wide-ranging repertoire from the baroque through the classical and romantic to the…
When it comes to the Church and religious matters it’s hard to find a perspective that’s different, new, unpredictable, fresh or unique. I got all of that on The Leap of Faith (RTÉ Radio One, Friday) when Michael Comyn interviewed Vincent Doyle who supports the children of priests through his initiative Coping International. His book…
The last hope filled messages of Daniel O’Leary Horizons of Hope: Unpublished Fragments of Love by Daniel O’Leary (Columba Books, €19.99/£17.99) The cosmos as revealed by modern science is one of the subjects that theologians avoid if they can. That vast expanse of time and change is just too difficult to fit into a religious scheme…
Mary Hayden: Irish historian and feminist, 1862-1942 by Joyce Padbury (Arlen House, €25). Felix M. Larkin The older among us may remember the textbook A short history of the Irish people from the earliest times to 1920, by Mary Hayden and George A. Moonan. First published in 1921, it moulded the ideas of a generation and was…
No More Time by Greg Delanty (Louisiana State University Press, $17.95/£16.50/€19.99; order from www.eurospangroup.com) “Merritt Island, Florida, was flooded in order to eradicate mosquitoes around the Kennedy Space Centre, destroying this sparrow’s only nesting ground.” The sparrow in question is the Dusky seaside sparrow. But this observation which introduces one of Greg Delanty’s poems sums it all…
The World of Books by the Books Editor Some weeks ago there was a certain amount of fuss both in Britain and in Ireland about the 60th anniversary of Coronation Street, which first went out on television on December 9, 1960. Bear in mind that the first broadcasts from Montrose only came a year later. So…
I was so taken with Wildlife (Netflix) I bought the book after seeing it. It’s written by Richard Ford, an author I wasn’t familiar with. It’s so beautifully written I went on a trawl for everything else by him afterwards. I urge you to check him out. He writes like Hemingway. I can think of…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone