Newman’s Oxford: The places and buildings associated with Saint John Henry Newman during his years in Oxford 1816-1846 by Fr Jerome Bertram FSA (Gracewing, £6.99) The canononisation of John Henry Newman will open the way to many more popular accounts of parts of his life. In this very appealing brochure Fr Jerome Bertram, a priest…
Modern Religious Architecture in Germany, Ireland and Beyond: Influence, Process and Afterlife since 1945 Lisa Godson & Kathleen James-Chakraborty (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, £44.95/$US80.00) This collection of 11 articles derives from a conference held in Newman House in Dublin back in 2014. Alas, for the general reader concerned with religious architecture it is written in the…
How should the Catholic Church respond when a pandemic breaks out? What is the correct pastoral response? What kind of pastoral response best fits with medical best practice? Are priests generally good at a time like this? What should we as individual Christians do? It’s hard to know at this stage whether ordinary people have…
Etty Hillesum, a young Jewish woman who had a deep sense of her spiritual nature, once wrote: ‘Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others.’ We all experience suffering at some stage in our lives. Yet, meditation helps…
Dark Waters (PG) There are two ways of looking at a film like this, which is based on fact. On the one hand you commend Todd Haynes for resisting the temptation to give it a ‘wow’ factor, i.e. the obligatory scene in the underground car park where the hero’s life is threatened. Or when he…
Like many others, I was deeply distressed to learn of the recent revelations concerning Jean Vanier. He was a person whom I much admired and about whom on numerous occasions I have written glowingly, so the news about him shook me deeply. What’s to be said about Jean Vanier in the light of these revelations?…
I was listening the other day to the radio and an Irish conductor was talking about being asked by Elmer Bernstein to work on the music for Martin Scorsese’s film The Age of Innocence. Things were not sounding as they should and the conductor was trying to listen intently to isolate the problem. Behind him…
Patricia Friel always had a want to help people. From her home town of Ramelton to where she lives now in Cavan, she has ended up having a positive impact in those close to home and in faraway lands. Now the executive director of Mary’s Meals in Ireland, she works full time at ensuring young…
A social media poll of over 700 people conducted by this paper has found 85% of people who voted are in favour of the Irish Church not cancelling Masses over coronavirus (Covid-19) fears. People were asked: “In parts of the world worst affected by coronavirus, Masses have been cancelled. Now that the virus has been…
Peter Costello
David Quinn
Aubrey Malone
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Bairbre Cahill
Chai Brady