John Wyse Jackson Windharp: Poems of Ireland since 1916 edited by Niall MacMonagle (Penguin Ireland, £20.00hb) A plethora of poetry anthologies has appeared in Ireland over the last few years. This latest one takes as its starting point the date of our nation’s foundation myth, 1916. Its editor, a teacher and broadcaster, is an old hand at…
The Real Archbishop Mannix from the Sources by James Franklin, Gerald O. Nolan and Michael Gilchrist (Connorcourt Publishing, AUS$29.95) Twelve biographies of Archbishop Daniel Mannix have already been published. They range from the hagiographic to the critical. The authors justify this addition to the list on the grounds that it is an account of Mannix based…
Pope Benedict famously spoke of the internet as having moved from being a tool which people use to an environment in which they live, envisaging what he called the “digital continent” as a key front in the New Evangelisation. Among the more colourful attempts at online evangelisation is churchPOP.com, founded by Brantley Milligan in the…
Tidings of Comfort and Joy: A Christmas Feast of Faith and Fun by Pam Rhodes (Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99) Pam Rhodes will be familiar to many as the presenter of that ever popular BBC offering Songs of Praise. This selection of hymns, poems and thoughts was intended for Christmas, but then Christmas is not just…
Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: a brief biography by Fr Francesco Napolitano (Columba Press, €14.99) Padre Pio was canonised by Pope John Paul II on June 16, 2002, to the great delight of his many devotees around the world, especially here in Ireland. Francesco Forgione, the new saint, was born in the village of Pietrelcina, near…
Joy (12A) A few short years ago, Jennifer Lawrence was just another ‘wannabe’. Today, she’s one of Hollywood’s most high-profile (and sought-after) stars. How has she essayed such a seismic shift so suddenly, going from jobbing actress to prestigious A-lister? She isn’t quite sure herself. “It’s a bit like a job promotion,” she says. “You…
The ghosts of Lafcadio Hearn The Little Museum of Dublin has been running an exhibition devoted to Lafcadio Hearn, “the writer on Japan”, as the reference books once used to say. The revival of interest in Hearn in Ireland has been due to the enthusiasm of former ambassador Paul Murray, who through his biography of…
‘Despite all the talk of diverse views… there wasn’t much diversity’, writes Brendan O’Regan After a feast of music and drama over the holiday period it‘s back to troubling current affairs. The Big Questions returned to BBC 1 last Sunday morning. The audience discussed the new trend of free speech being stifled on college campuses.…
The Four Gospels: Following in the Footsteps of Jesus by Maurice Hogan SSC (Veritas, €14.99) This interesting book on the four Gospels seems to have grown directly out of the author’s own experiences. Fr Maurice Hogan is a Columban Father. After he was ordained, back in 1965, he went out to the Far East, working…
The poor, they say, we will always have with us. And it seems we’ll always have Rocky Balboa with us as well. How many incarnations has Sylvester Stallone’s ever-resilient pugilist had since his first appearance on our screens in 1976? In Creed he plays the mentor of a boxer called Apollo Creed whose father died…
Greg Daly
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello