The renowned American author Henry James gave advice to anyone seeking to write a novel or a play. There are three rules, he said: “Dramatise, dramatise, dramatise!” That is, make everything in fiction more extreme than in real life. Make the baddies badder and the goodies more heroic. Exaggerate every aspect of story and action.…
There are beautiful stained-glass windows behind the altar in our Church of All Saints in Ballymena, Co. Antrim. At the centre, way high up, is a very realistic depiction of the crucified Christ – a strong and vital young man hanging helpless on the cross, but looking out with such compassion. It is very compelling.…
Rising international sprinting star Rhasidat Adeleke, who came fourth in the 400-metre final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, has previously said she prays every day and her faith is important. The fastest woman in the 400-metre race in Irish history, Ms Adeleke, from Tallaght in Dublin, born to Nigerian parents, has broken…
You cannot will yourself to faithfulness, writes Bert Ghezzi I gave up ‘trying’ to pray daily many years ago. I discovered that if I did not build praying into my routine, then I routinely replaced it with lesser priorities. Willpower does not account for my faithfulness. My will is not strong enough to get me…
Brett Salkeld I don’t own a smartphone. Well, that’s not quite true. I have an old phone that could technically access the internet, but I have never set it up to do so. I use it to call my wife when I am traveling and, very occasionally, to text. I have taken a small handful…
At the weekend the Pope surprised a gathering of journalists in the Vatican by making an appeal to them for help, “not for money” he assured them, but to fight against disinformation and the denial of facts and reality. This appeal for help came as a prominent Cardinal in America heavily criticised the proposed Synod…
Radio Maria, Ireland’s only Catholic radio station, is set to expand its base by launching a northern studio. The radio station has been broadcasting from its studio in Dublin since it was established in Ireland in 2015. Now, it is launching a new northern studio in St Mary’s Church, Chapel Lane, Belfast, on Thursday, September…
The portrayal of priests and nuns in ‘The Woman in the Wall’ is unfair and unjust, writes David Quinn There was a time when Catholic priests and nuns were depicted as kindly, charitable figures. Think of Bing Crosby as Fr Charles ‘Chuck’ O’Malley in Going My Way, or the Fr Brown mysteries by GK Chesterton which…
David Mills An internationally best-selling novelist who might have won the Nobel Prize in literature, a patriotic Pole, a devout Catholic, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka was also an ardent anti-semite. And she is a model for us – not despite her bigotry but because of it. “Our feeling toward the Jews has not changed,” she wrote in…
The late Bishop emeritus of Clogher Liam MacDaid was remembered for his “wisdom and deep Faith” as well as his humour and ability to listen, his successor has said at his funeral. Bishop McDaid’s funeral Mass took place at St Macartan’s Cathedral in Monaghan on Saturday, August 26. The bishop died while on holiday in…
Mary Kenny
Nuala O’Loan
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones
David Quinn