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…
My ignorance of the pigeon world was almost absolute before I saw Million Dollar Pigeons (15A), an unusual documentary about the high-flying world of pigeon fanciers. Gavin Fitzgerald’s film goes all over the world. We see those at the top of the sport in America, South Africa, China and even Thailand. He starts with a…
In the middle of head-wrecking controversies it’s welcome to come across a programme that front-loads positivity. The Leap of Faith (RTE, Friday) was well timed as the COP27 Climate Change Conference was drawing to a close. It was good to hear positivity and optimism in a new book The Parish as Oasis: An Introduction to…
by Frank Litton A force for good? Reflections on neutrality and the future of Irish defence. Dublin: Afri 2022, ISBN 0-9511178-3-5 (Afri can be reached at 8 New Cabra Road, Dublin7, DO7 T1W2; email: admin@afri.ie) War once more in Europe, once more slaughter, devastation, lives destroyed. Once more efforts to make sense of it all,…
Disciples of Courage: Ten Christian Lives that Inspire by Brendan Comerford SJ (Messenger Publications, €19.95/£18.95) November has long been a month devoted to recalling the dead and to celebrating their achievements. With the constant pursuit of novelty and celebrity these days, such as Halloween and the commercialisation of the Dia de los Muertos (the Mexican…
Life in Abundance: Attractiveness of the Catholic Way of Life, by Eamon Flanagan CM (Kolbe Publications, €10.00). This collection of essays and poems contains a large measure of wisdom and useful information. But this is not all for also at the outset the author provides an excellent reading-list for those who wish to pursue what…
It was another week of disturbing religious controversy, but I’ll start with something different. Philip Nolan was a familiar figure right through Covid times as he was a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). Now Director General of Science Foundation Ireland he was promoting Science Week on The Pat Kenny Show (Newstalk,…
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone
Breda O'Brien
Brendan O’Regan