Among the tributes to the late Jane Carty was one that struck a particular chord for me, “She helped young people fall in love – with music”. It was part of the death notice informing us of her passing on August 2 and funeral from St Patrick’s Church in Dublin’s Monkstown on August 11. She…
A History of the World in 500 Maps, Christian Grataloup and others (Thames & Hudson, £35.00/ €40.50) This is an interesting and unusual book. It was originally published in French a couple of years ago. Christian Grataloup is the overall editor; the introduction is by Patrick Boucheron; other associates were French academics; and the attractive cartography…
All Desire is a Desire for Being, Essential writings of René Girard selected by Cynthia L. Haven (Penguin Classics, £12.99pb/€15.50pb) Frank Litton We cannot get away from the ubiquity of violence in human affairs. The wars in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan – the list goes on and on. The slaughter of Jews during the Second World War…
Sacraments in a Synodal Church, by Noel O’Sullivan (Veritas, €19.99) This is a book intended to be very much of the moment. With many years of work in both primary and secondary education, Dr Noel O’Sullivan lectures in systematic theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. So, he knows how things are meant to work and also…
Walfrid: A Life of Faith, Community and Football, by Michael Connolly (Argyll Publishing, £20.00 /€24.00) This is an exciting account of the life of a man from the west of Ireland who has left a permanent mark on the history of modern Scotland. Dr Connolly dexterously explores the story which should fascinate everyone interested in the…
I’m not a great fan of sumptuous costume dramas – sometimes there is too much costume and not enough drama. I was inveigled, not entirely against my will, to watch several episodes of Downton Abbey (Netflix). I found it very contrived, predictable and cliched. And yet because some characters and plot lines were interesting, I…
Robert De Niro is 80 this week. The most acclaimed actor of his generation has been appearing in films with religious subtexts almost since he started out, most notably in the films he made with his Catholic friend from Little Italy, Martin Scorsese. Scorsese was a former altar boy who once studied to be a…
This week we conclude our ‘Summer Series’ with a final group, this time of five apostles, with very varied if obscure lives. James the Less The profusion of persons named James surrounding Jesus in the years of his public life led in time to a sense of confusion, which the writings of the Fathers…
The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland (NYOI) was founded in 1971 by the redoubtable Olive Smith, a woman of unusual vision when it came to getting young people involved in music. In her quest she was ably assisted by a number of similarly minded individuals not least Dublin-born violinist Hugh Maguire who at various times…
Going to Sunday Mass these days you can be demoralised by the lack of young people present. It’s great then to see young people enthused by their faith, and so it was on World Youth Day in Lisbon last weekend. So many of the events were impressive and I managed to follow many of them.…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone