Two items last week captured a telling moment, a sign of the times as we head towards Christmas. Both items were on Morning Ireland (RTÉ Radio One, Tuesday). A report from the Mid-West Simon Community food bank service in Limerick, showed a strong demand. One woman had asked for porridge, with tears in her eyes…
World of Books This time of the year is the major occasion for people to buy books of all kinds, but especially for younger readers. There is fierce competition among the publishers, so it is easy to overlook interesting, even important books in the piled high melee. In these pages today we make some suggests for…
by John F. Deane Seamus Heaney famously said: “The biggest change in my lifetime has been the evaporation of the transcendent from all our discourse and our sense of human destiny.” Heaney was speaking out of a time when Christian faith was static, and had been static for centuries. Faith in Christ had only begun…
Voices from a Torrid Time by Séamus Connellan (Carlow Advertiser and Printing, Carlow; no price stated) This is a remarkable pictorial history of the revolutionary period from 1916 to 1923, leading to the emergence of the new Irish state. In more than 130 illustrations the author focuses on the major events in those years with…
Seven Voices of Joy by Lorcan Kenny (Veritas, €9.99) The Mindful Our Father by Thomas G. Casey SJ (Messenger Publications, €14.95) Lorcan Kenny is a priest of the diocese of Killaloe, where he has worked as a school chaplain for the last two decades. In another capacity he is also involved with a primary school…
The World Cup has been dominating the media for the last week or so, and even though a sporting event that might lift all spirits it has been dogged by controversies. Most media coverage I came across was critical of the governing body FIFA for not allowing LGBT supportive armbands being worn by players on…
Last month’s first visit to Ireland of the Chineke! Orchestra (I have yet to discover the reason for the exclamation mark), proved a highly rewarding occasion at the National Concert Hall. The orchestra is the brainchild of London-born musician Chi-chi Nwanoku, one of Europe’s principal double bass players and leader of Chineke!’s bass section. The…
The first great charity of this town: Belfast Charitable Society and its role in the developing city edited by Olwen Purdue (Irish Academic Press, €29.95/£24.99) The Belfast Charitable Society was established in 1752 for the purpose of raising funds to build a poorhouse and hospital for the poor of Belfast. The result was the building…
Religion & the Rise of Sport in England by Hugh McLeod (Oxford University Press, €34.00/£30.00) Prior to the World Cup which opened in Qatar on Sunday, letter which FIFA has sent to all 32 countries taking part asking them to “focus on the football” in Qatar rather than “every ideological and political battle that exists”,…
Maynooth College reflects on facing Life’s End Perspectives on Dying and Death edited by Jeremy Corley and others, with a foreword by Archbishop Farrell €14.95 /£12.95) This book represents, in my view, an interesting development in the teaching tradition of Maynooth, now of course a much larger and very different institution than it was back…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello