Pat O’Kelly Two recent Dublin events marked significant occasions. The first brought the Irish première of James MacMillan’s Stabat Mater as the closing concert of New Music Dublin at the National Concert Hall. The second came with the retirement, after 42 years devoted service, of Prof. Gerard Gillen as organiste titulaire of the Pro-Cathedral.…
Jamie Cooks Italy by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph / Penguin, £26.00) Jamie Oliver is perhaps one of the most popular TV chefs of the moment. But he has moved from the costly ingredients and exotic notions to helping ordinary families make the most of what they can afford to cook at home, or have to eat at…
The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World by Bart D. Ehrman (One World, £20.00) Recently we have had several histories of early and medieval Christianity written from a very traditional Catholic point of view. These have in their way been very reassuring, but perhaps only by passing over darker passages in the…
Spoilt Rotten: Memoirs of Jack McKenna by Jack McKenna (North Kerry Literary Trust, €15.00; contact St. Johns Arts & Heritage Centre, The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry; tel: 068-22566) This autobiography, by a novice author as old as the century, is a valuable local history written from an urban perspective. For many years the author was in charge…
Pope John Paul II in Ireland: A Plea for Peace (12A) Did the 1979 visit of Pope John Paul II to our shores eventually impact on the Good Friday Agreement that saw “the force of argument”, as this fascinating documentary puts it, replacing “the argument of force”? Or as Seamus Heaney said, helped “hope and history rhyme”? It frames his visit in the context…
Soldiering Against Subversion: The Irish Defence Forces and internal security during the Troubles, 1969-1998 by Dan Harvey (Merrion Press, €19.99) Joe Carroll The role of the Defence Forces (the army, naval service, and air corps) in ensuring that the Troubles in Northern Ireland did not spill over into the Republic and undermine the stability of the…
A diocesan website from the other side of the world may not seem the most obvious place for Irish Catholics to find relevant and fruitful reading but angelusnews.com, the news website of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles can be just that. While local and American news are obviously major points of concentration for the news…
The Wife (15A) Glenn Close has been labouring away in the Hollywood vineyard for many moons now without too much to show for it. She’s been a bridesmaid at the annual Oscar ceremonies so often, ‘Close’ isn’t just her surname – it’s more like a career description. Some poor editorial decisions haven’t helped. In Fatal Attraction,…
I’ve reviewed some riveting TV dramas, but last week’s US Senate Committee hearings were up there with the best of them. I don’t know whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh or Dr Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth, or whether one or both were deceptive, delusional or mistaken, but I’m taken aback to hear people pronouncing…
How to Defend the Faith Without Raising your Voice: Civil responses to Catholic hot-button issues by Michael Kelly and Austen Ivereigh (Columba Press, €14.99) A couple of generations ago, one could have safely assumed that most Irish people shared a set of common values. Even if one didn’t necessarily fully subscribe to the Catholic worldview, the culture was…
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone
Greg Daly
Brendan O’Regan
David Quinn