Father John Kenyon: The Rebel Priest By Tim Boland (Published by the author, ISBN: 9781901370362; €20.00 / £17.50) This is a splendid biography of the mercurial Father John Kenyon, a patriotic priest who should be better known today than he is. Kenyon was born on May Day 1812 in Limerick city. He was educated locally, entered…
Precious Thoughts: Daily Readings from Thomas Merton By Fiona Gardner (Darton, Longman &Todd, €13.19 / £10.99 pb) Anthony Redmond Thomas Merton died in 1968 at the age of 53. He is perhaps more popular and relevant today than ever. He was not alone one of the great spiritual guides and mentors of the 20th…
Fr Liam Lawton’s journey in song reached a milestone in 2011. Paul Keenan reports Within any chosen path, to be able to describe oneself as ”busy” after 20 years can only be what’s called ‘a good complaint’. But busy is exactly what Fr Liam Lawton has continued to be through 2011, the 20th anniversary year…
South Dakota (PG) There are many controversial questions surrounding the subject of abortion. When does life begin, for instance. Or when can a foetus feel pain. Or has a woman who has been raped more of a ‘right’ to seek termination of a pregnancy than someone who has become pregnant by choice, or carelessness. The…
Looking back over the year, our regular reviewers have selected what, for them, was their personal book, or in some generous cases, books of the year Anthony Redmond A book that impressed me quite a lot this year was Unmasking God by Father Daniel O’Leary (Columba Press, €12.99 / £11.08), whose books are always a…
Rome: pagan days to papal centuries The Popes: A History By John Julius Norwich (Chatto & Windus, €33 / £25.00) Rome: A CulturalHistory By Robert Hughes (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, €33.00 / £25.00) Michael Collins The leading art critic, Robert Hughes, familiar to many for his history of his native Australia, has distilled his life-long passion…
If the Inquisition is Exhibit A in the case against religion and more specifically the Catholic Church, then the Crusades are probably Exhibit B. A few nights ago BBC 2 aired the first of a new three-part series about the Crusades kicking off with the First Crusade. I was hoping for a slightly more balanced…
Lyric FM Gloria Listeners to Sunday morning’s Lyric FM Gloria will instantly recognise Tim Thurston. His rich baritone voice and unusual name arrests anybody turning the dial and tuning in. The popular Sunday morning radio programme, which runs from 8am to 10am, had its beginnings in December 1996. It was a selection of Christmas…
Sending letters of love from Zambia Wexford’s Fr Fritz O’Kelly tells of life on the African Missions in a collection of letters now published in book form Dear friends, A word of encouragement from Helmut Kathower prompts me to attempt to write a newsletter to my friends this Christmas. He was a young German…
Christmas books for all tastes As always at this time of year we publish a selection of books suitable for all ages at Christmas Compiled by the Books’ Editor Keeping Christmas Well By Artemsia D’Ecca (Phaeton Publishing, €29.00 / £25.00) This is an amusing and seasonal book from a newish Irish publishing house…
