Nature’s Way: A Sense of Beauty By Patrick O’Sullivan (Veritas, €7.99 / £6.80 pb) ”If spring came but once a century instead of once a year….what wonder and expectation there would be in all our hearts.” Longfellow’s words are the author’s inspiration as he awakens us to the beauties of nature which we usually take for…
Father John Kenyon: The Rebel Priest By Tim Boland (Published by the author, ISBN: 9781901370362; €20.00 / £17.50) This is a splendid biography of the mercurial Father John Kenyon, a patriotic priest who should be better known today than he is. Kenyon was born on May Day 1812 in Limerick city. He was educated locally, entered…
Precious Thoughts: Daily Readings from Thomas Merton By Fiona Gardner (Darton, Longman &Todd, €13.19 / £10.99 pb) Anthony Redmond Thomas Merton died in 1968 at the age of 53. He is perhaps more popular and relevant today than ever. He was not alone one of the great spiritual guides and mentors of the 20th…
Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley on the 2002 Boston sex-abuse scandal and what Ireland might learn A decade ago, the Boston clergy sexual abuse crisis engulfed the archdiocese. Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley was named Archbishop of Boston in 2003. He replaced Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in 2002. In 2010, when the Church in Ireland…
This year will be a time when the relationship between Church and State will have to find a new equilibrium following the rupture of 2011 which culminated in the Government’s decision to downgrade the State’s relationship with the Holy See. The publication of the Cloyne Report provoked considerable anger particularly because of the fact that…
A national lay initiative which grew out of the Government’s decision to close Ireland’s embassy to the Holy See is set to grow in 2012 with a high-profile public meeting with political leaders scheduled later this month beside the Dáil. The group Ireland Stand Up describes itself as ”one of several national lay initiatives…
Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte has said that the power of prayer has helped his family to carry on over the past year since his daughter Michaela was murdered while on honeymoon in Mauritius. Just days earlier, Michaela had married John McAreavey who was to discover his bride dead on January 10 in their…
An Irish Jesuit based in the Philippines for 30 years said the country needs action more than compassion as relief programmes there continue to deal with the devastation of flash flooding caused by a tropical storm. Typhoon Washi struck from December 16 to 18, ravaging the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on…
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed an Irish Franciscan missionary to lead a diocese of nearly 400,000 Catholics in Honduras. Fr Michael Lenihan, a native of Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, will head up the newly-formed Diocese of Le Ceiba in the Central American nation. He was ordained a member of the Franciscan Order (OFM) in 1980…
Pope picks US priest as new Irish Papal Nuncio Pope Benedict XVI has tapped New Yorker Msgr Charlie Brown to be the new Papal Nuncio to Ireland according to sources in the Department of Foreign Affairs. It is a significant move and the first native English-speaker to be appointed the Pope’s representative in Ireland since…
Peter Costello
Michael Kelly
Paul Keenan
Mags Gargan