“It’s funny, I haven’t seen any outcry from ‘pro-life’ organisations about the treatment of children at the border,” observed author and columnist Jessica Valenti last week on her @jessicavalenti Twitter account. It was, she claimed, almost as though such organisations couldn’t care less about “actual babies”. Retweeted over 70,000 times, it’s worth reflecting on in…
With the increased popularity of podcasts, it’s worth noting the extensive archive of RTÉ Radio 1’s Documentary on One series. Last Saturday’s episode, ‘Sisters’, was Emma Decker’s engaging exploration of the lives of her grand aunts Sr Joe and Sr Gabrielle, who went to the US as teens to become nuns. They worked primarily with…
The Notebook Fr Bernard Healy Recently Bishop Ray Browne of Kerry launched a book that was banned by one of his predecessors. The book – Fr. Ferris’s Parish Histories: BallymacElligott, Ballyseedy, O’Brennan and Nohoval – was ready for printing in 1932, but Bishop Michael O’Brien put a stop to its publication. The eponymous Fr…
Christina Rossetti: Poetry, Ecology, Faith by Emma Mason (Oxford University Press, €30.00; available also as an ebook) John F. Deane The ever popular Christmas carol In the Bleak Mid-Winter was written by Christina Rossetti but holds its fame more from the musical setting by Gustav Holst than by the strength of the poem. Rossetti wrote a great…
The Faith Journey of the Déise People by Michael G. Olden (Diocese of Waterford & Lismore, €40.00 + €11.00 p&p; available from The Book Centre, 25 John Roberts Square, Waterford, tel: 051-873823, website@thebookcentre.ie) In the introduction to his new book Msgr Olden states that his aim is to provide a history of the diocese of Waterford…
Am I a Feminist? Are You? by Mary Kenny (New Island Books, €13.95) Those who can recall earlier manifestations of Mary Kenny might be daunted by a title so redolent of the #metoo generation and the fierce quarrels of the present day gender wars. But the present-day Mary is a person of great experience as well…
Brendan O’Regan: Irish Innovator, Visionary and Peacemaker by Brian O’Connell with Cian O’Carroll (Irish Academic Press, €34.99) Joe Carroll In the awful depression of the 1950s and early 1960s, Brendan O’Regan was a household name for his pioneering, job-creating work at Shannon Airport. What was happening at Shannon with its industrial zone, new town, duty-free shop,…
World of Books Some days I stand in front of the magazine racks in Easons and wonder if the great era of the general magazine is now over. Are they, so to speak, now dead in the water, killed off by television and the internet? Certainly they are not what they once were. The…
Pat O’Kelly Although this year commemorates the centenary of the death in Paris on March 25, 1918 of Claude-Achille Debussy, celebratory events here have, so far, been relatively low-key. The RTÉ NSO did bring us the composer’s Poème dansé – Jeux in February as part of its season and the recent Dublin International Piano…
Last weekend saw the welcome return of Sunday Morning Live on BBC One. It’s more magazine style than its alter ego The Big Questions but still features some weighty debates on topical religious, social or ethical issues. First up was timely discussion on youth mental health, especially in the context of exam stress and social…
Greg Daly
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello