You won’t see a better action film all year than this aerial drama. It’s an unashamed ode to machismo and is dripping with characters from innumerable other like-minded vehicles but in the end it wins you over with its charm. I normally have problems with Tom Cruise in films like this. I’ve never bought into…
Dramas based on true stories can be fascinating, but mixing fiction and history can produce odd results. So it is with The Terror: Infamy (BBC Two, Fridays). The first series is still on repeat on RTÉ Two, Sunday nights, and is an absorbing but very grim story on the ill-fated expedition of Sir John Franklin…
Peace Apart: Lasting Impressions of C.S. Lewis by Bishop Fintan Monahan (Veritas, €9.99/£8.99) This little book is the third in a series in which Fintan Monahan, the bishop of Killaloe, is evoking writers who have been important to him, and whom he wishes to encourage others to take up and read. The previous two books…
Patrons of World Youth Day 2023 announced Pope St John Paul II and Blessed Carlo Acutis will be among the patrons of World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon. Cardinal Manuel Clemente, the Patriarch of Lisbon, unveiled the new patrons on May 18, the anniversary of the Polish pope’s birth. The 73-year-old cardinal said that the Virgin Mary…
Notebook The 24 April edition of Chicago Catholic (the Church paper in Chicago) carried news of clergy appointments that were to come into force this summer. Fourteen priests were appointed to new parishes with strange names, places like ‘St Pius X and St Leonard’, ‘St Agatha and St Martin de Porres’, ‘Ascension and St Edmund’.…
Laudato Si’ Week 2022, held from May 22-29, marks the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on creation care. It is a global Catholic celebration which unites us to listen and respond together to the cry of creation. It is also an opportunity to celebrate the progress that has been made in bringing Laudato…
Dear Editor, I find it unbelievable that media commentators and politicians are objecting to the words “clinically appropriate” in the constitution for the new National Maternity Hospital. Seriously, are we proposing that this State sponsored maternity hospital carry out ‘clinically inappropriate procedures’ even ones leading to fatal consequences? There is a word for deliberately killing…
The Loyola Institute at Trinity College Dublin marked 10 years since its founding with a ‘Festival of Theology’, May 19-22, which brought Irish and international theologians together to discuss theology and the university. There was a full house in the Synge Theatre, TCD, May 19, as the festival opened, with the speakers focusing on the…
Editor’s Comment Pope Francis is increasingly showing the signs of ageing, at least physically. The 85-year-old Pontiff has been increasingly moved around the Vatican in a wheelchair in recent weeks. He now regularly appears with a walking cane aimed at taking the weight off his knee which has been ailing him in recent months. According…
The Sunday Gospel The celebration of the Ascension of Jesus to heaven marks the definitive closure of his mission on earth. According to St Luke, over a period of 40 days the Risen Lord appeared to certain disciples in varied ways to prepare them for his final departure. The apostles were told that they would continue the…
Aubrey Malone
Brendan O’Regan
Peter Costello
Ruadhán Jones
Michael Kelly