There are very few bank robbery films about which I could say that my prevailing impression of them was one of quietness but No Ordinary Heist falls into that category. Having said that, the tension isn’t compromised on that account. Maybe it’s even amplified. Such quietness is a welcome relief from the flash-bang style usually…
I’m very pleased to note programmes that give us a sense of hope. I found one this week. Ireland’s Catholics: Signs of Hope (EWTN, Friday) was a timely report from Colm Flynn about the current situation as regards faith in Ireland, especially in relation to young people. We saw 60 of them at a eucharistic…
Robert St Leger SJ, by Thomas J Morrissey SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95 / £11.50) When one considers the huge number of Irish men who answered the call of a priestly vocation, over the last three centuries it is inevitable that most of them will now be either forgotten or little known. The author of…
Crumbs from the Pastor’s Table: Reflection on the Catholic Lectionary – Three Year Cycle, by ‘Fr Francis’ (Scholastic Publications, available through Amazon.ie, €20.53 + €3.99 postage.) We have lived to see the end of the great days of sermons. In the Central Catholic Library, on Dublin’s Merrion Square, there is one wall in the…
This has been the week that people of Irish culture, wherever they are in the world, celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Our government ministers have sped around the world to capitals where they think Ireland can achieve better things. Otherwise, it has become, especially at home, a sort of carnival, with Mock Bishops surrounded by red-bearded…
Love, War, and Diplomacy: The discovery of the Amarna Letters & the Bronze Age world they revealed, by Eric H. Cline (Princeton University Press, £30.00 / €39.95) Prof. Eric H. Cline is a leading North American archaeologist of Middle Eastern archaeology. He is the author of a previous widely admired book 1177 B. C.: The Year…
If you think the people who shot Veronica Guerin are bad,” a garda said after the heroic journalist was shot in 1996, “you should see what’s coming up now.” Evil spiralled through the decades. Spilt Milk is set a decade before 1996. We’re in the relatively early days of Ireland’s drug ‘culture.’ (I’ve always hated…
Sometimes you need an antidote to the darkness of war, and comedy will do for a while. One of the most charming shows on TV in recent weeks is Small Prophets (BBC Two, Monday) – it maintained its whimsical tone consistently up to last Monday’s satisfyingly dramatic final episode. It’s funny, quirky, warm, moving and…
Made in America: The dark history that led to Donald Trump, by Edward Stourton. (Torva /Transworld Penguin, £20.00 / €28.00) My country, ’tis of thee / Sweet land of liberty / Of thee I sing” – the anthem of which these are the opening words has been a staple of American popular culture since…
The Complete Francis of Assisi: His Life, The Complete Writings, and The Little Flowers, by Paul Sabatier and others (Paraclete Press, €38.50) Currently the remains of St Francis of Assisi are on display in the Italian hilltop town where he died on October 3, 1226, some 800 years ago. They are on view until March…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello