A Generation ago, JD Salinger wrote a novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which became immensely popular, as well as becoming required reading in most undergraduate literature programmes. It deserved both. It’s a great piece of literature.Here’s the image: A man is watching children playing in a rye field with an exuberance and delight that…
Comments on the margin By the book’s editor Changes are coming to Saudi Arabia, some of which may have interesting outcomes for all those interested in the past, present and possibly future of Christianity in the region. As is well known, the central desert of Arabia, where the capital Riyadh is located, is only part…
Our culture ‘despises the body’ – bishop Our modern culture claims to emphasise body over spirit, but it actually “despises the body”, Bishop Donal McKeown has said. While “modern ideology” says bodies are “just a thing to have fun with, to be altered as my fancy takes me”, the Church teaches that the body is…
I spent a fortnight driving round Germany earlier this summer, taking in many interesting spots in central and northern Germany. These included the birthplace of Bach (Eisenach, where Martin Luther also studied), Buchenwald (with the remains of the WWII concentration camp) and Weimar. In northern Germany, I saw Kiel and the nearby Kiel Canal (which…
The priest and artist Fr Marko Rupnik, accused of the physical and psychological abuse of numerous religious sisters, was dismissed from the Jesuits this month, according to the religious order. The Society of Jesus said in a June 15 statement Fr Rupnik was expelled due to his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience”. Fr Rupnik…
Change is always difficult, the new Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Paul Connell tells me. Whether it’s the substantial societal shifts the Church is facing, or the personal upheaval Bishop Connell himself experienced upon accepting his appointment to Ardagh and Clonmacnois, change is never easy – but it’s ripe with opportunity. Surprised Conscious that he’s…
June brings its quota of music festivals. Among these Dublin International Chamber Music brought a number of home and visiting artists to its various locations while the current Pipeworks Organ and Choral Festival opened at the National Concert Hall last Tuesday and continues at selected venues until Sunday next June 25 at St Michael’s Church…
Spectral Mansions: The Making of a Dublin Tenement, 1800-1914, by Timothy Murtagh (Four Courts Press for Dublin City Council with aid from the Heritage Council, €30.00/ £26.00) To those familiar only with the ever-rebuilding Dublin of today, there is in this book a strangely prophetic cartoon from a Dublin comic paper of July 1914, captioned…
Dear Editor, Corpus Christi processions have a tremendous impact in bolstering the Faith. These processions, with their vibrant display of faith and devotion, serve as a powerful testimony to the enduring strength and unity of the Catholic community. They provide a unique opportunity for believers to come together in prayer, adoration and celebration of the…
The Sunday Gospel, Deacon Greg Kandra Jer 20:10-13 Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35 Rom 5:12-15 Mt 10:26-33 How is your Ordinary Time going? After the intensity of Lent and the jubilation of Easter we may think this period is relatively uneventful, but think again. On the 12th Sunday of a time we call “ordinary,” we find ourselves…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Peter Costello