Rich in Faith, Beauty and History: St Mary’s Church, Haddington Road, Dublin by Patrick Claffey (From the Parish Office, €5.00) Felix M. Larkin One of the ways we find God – or, more accurately perhaps, how He finds us – is through the art and architecture of places like St Mary’s, in Haddington Road, a lovely church whose art is…
The Shoemaker & His Daughter by Conor O’Clery (Doubleday 2018) Conor O’Clery was the Irish Times correspondent in Russia for many years. He married Zhanna Suvorov in Moscow in 1989. His new book reads describes “one ordinary family’s remarkable journey from Stalin’s Soviet Union to Putin’s Russia”. It records the travails of Zhanna’s extended family through the Russian…
Pat O’Kelly The ever-assiduous Madeleine Flanagan of ‘Classical-links’ in Claregalway keeps me informed of events in the West. Her latest missive draws my attention to this year’s Westport Festival of Chamber Music taking place over the weekend September 7-9. Founded in 2013 by violinist Catherine Leonard and pianist Hugh Tinney, they continue to guide…
The World of Books by the Books Editor In recent years a new sort of library movement has got under way across Europe, which promises well, because it is created and run by ordinary people and depends on neither commerce nor the state to function. This is the little library movement. I first came…
I’d need the full newspaper to do justice to all the media coverage of the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit, so I’ll stick to some of what stood out for me. First off, hats off to RTÉ’s religious programmes department and the outside broadcast units for the live coverage of last weekend’s…
An Astonishing Secret: The Love Story of Creation and the Wonder of You by Daniel O’Leary (Columba Press, €14.99) Anthony Redmond Fr Daniel O’Leary is a well-known Irish priest, author and speaker living in England. I have read a number of his books. He is a superb writer, deeply moving, inspirational and lyrical. In his latest…
A Walking Tour of Dublin Churches by Liam C. Martin (Veritas, €7.99) Artist Liam C. Martin was a very popular delineator of Dublin and other places, who died in1998. It is nice to see his little book back in print, for such a thing is much needed. Also available is a new Sightseeing Map of Dublin’s…
The Book of Kells: Official Guide by Bernard Meehan (Thames & Hudson, £12.95) Quite aside from all the changes that have overtaken Christianity in Ireland in recent decades, everyone still has to admit that the art of Early Christian Ireland – exemplified by the Ardagh Chalice, the Cross of Cong, the Derrynaflan hoard, and above all…
Pope Francis: A Man of his Word (PG) St Francis of Assisi travelled to the Holy Land 800 years ago to try and end a war. Today his successor is continuing that journey. Pope Francis – ‘Papa Francesco!’ to the crowds who swarm around him in his native Argentina – has made it his mission to continue the work of his…
While advance coverage of this week’s papal visit was largely negative, there was one programme at least that struck a positive note. True North: The Pope and I (BBC1, Wednesday) was an affectionate, sometimes whimsical look at the reaction of various people from Northern Ireland to the recent popes and especially to the 1979 visit…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone