This was the question posed by presenter Ciara Kelly on Newstalk Breakfast last Friday. Her guests were journalist David Quinn of the Iona Institute, The Sunday Times and this paper, and Michael Nugent of Atheist Ireland – they have clashed in robust debate on many hot button topics over the years. We learned that they…
The Price of Truth: Titus Brandsma, Carmelite by Miguel Arribas, O. Carm Carmelite dia, US$23.85/£19.60/€23.50 “It was around six o’clock Monday evening, 19 January 1942, when two burly young men rang the doorbell of the Carmelite Priory in Nijmegen in Holland. The brother porter greeted the visitors and enquired, ‘how may I help you, gentlemen?’…
Curator for the NGI: Anne Hodge. This exhibition is organised in cooperation with the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. 16 July – 6 November 2022; Print Gallery | Admission free – no booking required An appreciation by Peter Costello The Print Room in the National Gallery is a shaded coign which in an almost retreat-like atmosphere creates a…
Frank Litton The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos by Sohrab Ahmari ( Hodder & Stoughton, €20.95/£17.95) I used to tell my students at the institution where I then taught that the purpose of their education was to equip them to engage in conversations. My role was to introduce…
“Come back tomorrow”: African Memories by David Costello OCD (Wheat Mark Publishing, Tucson, Arizona, USA, US$11.95; also available on Amazon in paperback and ebook) Over the years I have found the recollections of missionaries, and they come in a great many shapes and sizes, are always of interest. They cast a great deal of light…
The tragic figures for Irish abortions in 2021 were released recently but didn’t garner much interest on television and radio. Don’t frighten the horses? What got a little attention was the Minister for Health’s plans for ‘safe access zones’ around places providing abortion ‘services’. It would be more useful to have safe access zones in…
Hollywood was a hotbed of scandal both on and off the screen in the ‘Roaring’ twenties and tumescent thirties. It was a time of flux in the film industry. It cleaned itself up after 1934 when the Hays Code made a stern set of celluloid bans – no double beds (even for married couples), no…
Portal: Otherworldly Wonders of Ireland’s Bogs, Wetlands and Eskers text and photographs by Tina Claffey, foreword by Matthijs Schouten (Currach Books, €29.99/£25.99) This book came in hand during weeks in which California, the south of France, Spain, London and other places are being ravaged by fires, fires which are directly attributable to climate change promoted by…
A Short History of the Church of Ireland by Kenneth Milne (Messenger Publications, €12.95/£11.50) Dr Milne is well known to all those working in the areas of Church history in Ireland. This book at hand is the fifth edition of a book which has already served its purpose well by providing a little manual with…
Birth and the Irish: a miscellany edited by Salvador Ryan (Worldwell,€25.00/£22.00) Salvador Ryan is Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth. This new book completes a trilogy begun with Death and the Irish, (published in 2016 by Wordwell Books). The sequel, Marriage and the Irish, appeared in summer 2019. And now we are given…
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Aubrey Malone