The Polish Society Yearbook 2018 Jaroslaw Plachecki (Polish Society, email: ips.dublin@gmail.com; post only, Polish House, 20 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, Ireland) The Irish Polish Society was established in Dublin in January 1979. The members were largely Poles who migrated from their country following World War II. The Society acquired its Centre – ‘Polish House’…
Earlier this month the National Concert Hall was the venue for a significant celebration – the 80th birthday of treasured pianist Veronica McSwiney. The occasion, promoted by Dublin International Piano Competition, found her in spectacular form, playing with her usual aplomb and communicating with her audience through the mastery of her musicianship. The evening was…
Irish Anglicanism 1969-2019: Essays to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland edited by Kenneth Milne & Paul Harron(Four Courts Press, €24.95) Robert Marshall In 1970, to mark the centenary of its disestablishment, a volume of essays edited by Fr Michael Hurley SJ was generously presented by 17 ecumenical essayists…
We’ve always had to put up with extremism and while it is fuelled nowadays by social media, it is not dependent on modern technology. Religious extremism is the worst of all, mimicking something that should be about love and dignity. The phenomenon is particularly evident in cults and in cultish behaviour sometimes found in mainstream…
Burned: The inside story of the ‘cash for ash’ scandal and Northern Ireland’s secretive new elite by Sam McBride (Merrion Press, €19.95) The scandal of Northern Ireland’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is one of bureaucratic failure, sloppy political oversight, and culpable procrastination, all leading to a colossal waste of public money. This book will…
Has Science Killed God? Faraday Papers on Science and Religion edited by Denis Alexander (SPCK, £19.99) Christopher Moriarty This is a truly amazing book. Written by a team of eminent scientists, who are also believers in the reality of the spiritual, it provides a great deal of comfort to people of faith who…
As we ease into the early days of 2020, with threats of global conflict and environmental disaster prominent in news and current affairs coverage so far, anything that gives us well-grounded hope is welcome. But good news doesn’t tend to get much prominence. The dilemmas and paradoxes surrounding these issues were aired in a leisurely…
Cinemas usually experience the celluloid equivalent of haemophilia at this time of year, either due to ritualistic hibernation, post-festive lethargy and/or the sedentary hangover of a Yuletide addiction to television. To draw patrons away from the sofas to which they seem to become almost surgically attached over the 12 days of Christmas – if not…
Dorothy Macardle by Leeann Lane (University College Dublin Press, €25.00) In this study the author sets out to explore Dorothy Macardle’s writings to reveal the development of her political thought and feminism. In so doing she has provided an excellent biography of her subject. Dorothy was born on March 7, 1889 in Dundalk, Co.…
Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Søren Kierkegaard by Clare Carlisle (Allen Lane, £25.00) Patrick Claffey This exploration of the tortured mind and faith of Kierkegaard is a challenging title with which to begin a fresh year of reading. Clare Carlisle opens her preface to this book on the philosopher with a reference…
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone