I’m not a fan of reality TV shows, though a few years ago I saw some that had depth – where thoughtful adults went to a monastery, convent or retreat house for some time out or spiritual advancement. The latest manifestation of the sub-genre, Bad Habits, Holy Orders on Channel 5 (UK), started last…
Luther and the Tudors have been perennial subjects for the screen, writes Aubrey Malone The first film made about The Reformation was a 1928 silent one called Luther, directed by Hans Kyser. It was a short account of Martin Luther’s life with an American voiceover. Four years later Charles Laughton won an Oscar for…
Breathe (12A) The ‘jolly hockeysticks’ depiction of England that we’ve seen in films like Notting Hill gets a retro airing in this grace-under-pressure tale of a man afflicted with polio. He was the longest living ‘responaut’, i.e. a person depending on a machine to breathe. The main problem with the film from an ethical point of…
Forgiveness Remembers: A Journey into the heart of God by Paul Farren & Robert Miller, forewords by Bishop Richard Chartres and the late Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor (Instant Apostle, £6.99) This is a small book with a big – and important – message. Paul Farren is Administrator of St Eugene’s Cathedral in Derry, and his friend…
The Death of Stalin (15A) This hilarious black comedy puts one in mind of the Irving Berlin apothegm, “The world would not be in such a snarl/Had Marx been born Groucho instead of Karl”. The cast become cartoon figures as the politburo is transformed into a comedy of (t)errors. With the exception of Dr Strangelove, where Peter Bull was…
Ken Burns has a name for excellent historical documentaries and his current series The Vietnam War (RTÉ and BBC Four, Monday nights) is top notch. There’s a wealth of archive footage, much of it quite harrowing, along with interviews with those involved – ex-soldiers, bereaved parents, and Vietnamese civilians, all from both sides of the…
Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost my Faith and Found it Again Through Science by Mike McHargue (Hodder & Stoughton, £9.99) Christopher Moriarty An intense reading of the entire Bible, following a deeply traumatic incident in his life, led the Southern Baptist author Mike McHargue to a spell of atheism which lasted for two years.…
Wounds: A Memoir of Love & War by Fergal Keane (William Collins, £18.99) Fergal Keane is well-known as a foreign correspondent, especially for his coverage of Africa and Serbia. His main area of interest is war and its effect on those who have been caught up in it. In his latest book he looks closer to…
Catholic debate has revolved around a literal life-and-death issue since Pope Francis’ declaration last week that the death penalty is “contrary to the Gospel” and should be abolished. As usual, it’s always better to read the Pope’s own words in full – for example at en.radiovaticana.va – than to get embroiled in others’ comments, but…
Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life by Henri J. M. Nouwen, edited by Gabrielle Earnshaw, foreword by Brené Browne (Hodder & Stoughton, £10.99) Anthony Redmond Fr Henri Nouwen was one of the most prolific and important spiritual writers of the 20th Century. Since his unexpected death in 1996 his fame and influence as a spiritual writer…
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone
Peter Costello
Greg Daly