The poem begins with a recognition of the unbroken chain (slabhra) from the celtic Brigid to the abbess who built her own convent in Kildare, to a modern day Brigid taking care of her family, and through to the writer, the poet. Continue reading
Filed under Catholic church …
The Face of Irish Australian Literature
A review of two books, a disturbing one about Keneally’s literary career, and his unsentimental and searching novel on clerical abuse in the catholic church. And an invitation to read and review the Keneally novels you’ve not got around to….. Continue reading
Recalling Dorothy Day
The Pope named her with Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Thomas Merton as four great Americans. Continue reading
A word for the Brothers
Their schools were known for their tough discipline, but they deserve the country’s thanks. Continue reading
The Hermit Priest
A book about an Irish hermit and priest who spent 47 years in the West Australian desert and opened cross-cultural religious dialogue with indigenous Australians. Continue reading
The Multiple Identities of the Irish in Victoria
Irish-Australians call ourselves Irish Catholics, which is true culturally but our spiritual formation was not specifically Irish, but continental Catholicism. Continue reading
The ‘Best Choir in the Anglosphere’
Catherine Fitzpatrick, a convict’s wife, conductor of the first choir of an infant colony. Continue reading
Recalling Daniel Mannix
Morgan’s book, The Mannix Era, is richly personal. It is written with considerable charm and an acerbic wit. But to read it in 2019 is to be overwhelmed by its masculinist perspective. Continue reading
The Mannix Era
Dublin is known as a city of elevated gossip; this book is in one sense a vast compendium of elevated ecclesiastical gossip. Continue reading
Magdalen Restorative Justice Ex-Gratia Scheme
Magdalen Restorative Justice Ex-Gratia Scheme In 2013 the Government established an ex-gratia redress scheme for the benefit of women who were admitted to and worked in one of 12 ‘Magdalen’ institutions. The Government has now decided to apply the scheme to women who worked in the laundries in those 12 institutions but who were resident … Continue reading
