Some Occasional Writings 2003-2024, by J. Anthony Gaughan (Kingdom Books, €25.00 / £21.50) Reviews and occasional writings are exactly that, articles written to meet a specific occasion. And yet since the 18th century such pieces have provided some of the finest and most entertaining writing available. I relish and reread such collections as Graham…
The 2023/24 NSO subscription series drew to a close recently with a particularly satisfying performance at the National Concert Hall of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. The occasion, with highly agreeable soloists Miah Persson, soprano, Jennifer Johnston, mezzo, Valentyn Dytiuk, tenor and Evgeny Stavinsky, bass, also involved the National Symphony Chorus under Jaime Martín. The performance…
Q: If a Catholic couple gets married in the Church but later it emerges that one of them is suffering from a severe mental illness with psychotic episodes, can that marriage be declared invalid due to mental health issues? A: Yes, in principle severe mental illness can be a reason why a marriage might be declared null.…
Well, I think Mad World has to be my theme song this week. Maybe there’s nothing new under the sun, but previous generations would surely be mystified by some of last week’s goings on. One of the high-profile events of the week was a US presidential debate where an oldish guy, a convicted felon, debated…
Irish Dominican friars had a request for permission to film at Skellig Michael refused by the Office of Public Works (OPW). The Order is currently filming a series of videos for their YouTube channel to tell the story of Irish religious/historical places from the religious viewpoint. Fr Conor McDonough OP wrote on X on June…
Inga Kilian The mosaics by the controversial Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik in the French pilgrimage site of Lourdes will not be removed from the basilica for the time being. Although he is convinced that they will have to be removed one day, the Bishop of Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, told the French newspaper “La Croix” (Tuesday…
Peter Costello
Brendan O’Regan
Renata Steffens