This year the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity, according to the ancient Julian Calendar by the Egyptian Copts, took place last week with great ceremony. It brought into focus the cultural changes moving over contemporary Egypt where the Copts – who are miaphysites of ancient standing – now in accord with most other…
The word ‘unprecedented’ has had many outings in the last three years, and media commentators reached for it again in relation to the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict was already a master of the unprecedented thanks to his surprise resignation in 2013. Some early coverage of his death was inclined to be lazy, clichéd…
The passing of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI marks an important milestone in the history of the Catholic Church, in large part because of his role as a writer and scholar. All his life Joseph Ratzinger was an intellectual figure, a continuing student of theology and philosophy. He once said that “his only real friends were…
As the new year begins I’m reminded that Charlton Heston was born 100 years ago. One of his first major roles was as Moses in Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments. Parting the Red Sea could be said to be starting at the top. He decided to play him as “a man much scarred…
The release of files for the 1990s and earlier in January previewed Archives and the making of history This year’s release was a poor year for anything not related to Northern Ireland and Arms decommissioning. The flood of 6,000 odd files relating to Northern Ireland affairs seriously unbalances the release of files in other departmental…
Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergey Rakhmaninov’s birth in 1873, the National Symphony Orchestra is scheduling a number of his works in late spring. These include his Paganini Rhapsody on May 5, Second Piano Concerto on May 12 and choral masterpiece The Bells, preceded by his tone poem The Isle of the Dead, on May…
Looking back over the Christmas programming I was on the lookout for something different, original and creative amidst the huge amount of repeats. Pick of the bunch for me was A Christmas Postcard: The History of the Nativity Story (Lyric FM Christmas week). Each morning there was a reflection with Scripture readings, dramatisation and music…
The gothic cathedrals of Europe are recognised as one of the glories of European art. Every year hundreds of thousands, in some cases even millions, visit such places as Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens, and Chartres – indeed the great rose window of Chartres is one of the wonders of human ingenuity in praise of…
A film year in review Gingerly we stepped out of Covid-19. We were hit with films that that were delayed – but not derailed – by the virus: Munich, Cyrano, Memoria, Cow. February brought A Journal for Jordan, The Eyes of Tammy Faye and a blockbuster, Jurassic World. I seemed to be watching these kinds…
TV & Radio Review 2022 I can still remember my unprintable language when I woke up on the morning of February 24 to hear that the long-dreaded Russian invasion of Ukraine had started. At the end of Newstalk Breakfast that day Cormac Smith, former advisor to the Ukrainian government, said “the fog of war has…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Aubrey Malone