Patsy McGarry
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 20
- Latest publication
- Sep 27, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for Irish Times
- Top 5K sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 5, 2026
Latest articles
Beckett is bleak only to those with no sense of humour (opens the original)
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The works of Samuel Beckett are not for everyone. He presents a bleak, boring, meaningless world in which not a lot happens. For instance, this is the opening sentence of his novel Murphy: âThe sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.â Bleak and boring but what a great line â perfectly balanced, rhythmic. His most famous work, Waiting for Godot, was described by critic Vivian Mercier in a 1956 review for this newspaper as âa play in which nothing happens, twiceâ. It was mo
Called to the church: âI broke her heart but I felt I could do more for people by being a priestâ (opens the original)
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No one could accuse Fr Tiernan Burke of rushing into the priesthood or of doing so having little experience of the âoutsideâ world with its slings and arrows. Recently appointed to the parish in Cobh, the 41-year-old was one of just two priests ordained from the seminary at St Patrickâs College in Maynooth this year. The other was 30-year-old Fr Stephen Sherry of Clogher diocese, which covers mostly Co Monaghan. Ordained last May, Burke is the second-youngest priest in Cloyne; heâs a yea
Grandson of Roscommon emigrants and famous Catholic TV host beatified in Missouri (opens the original)
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The grandson of Roscommon emigrants who inspired an American actor to take the professional name Martin Sheen was beatified in the US city of St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday. Archbishop Fulton Sheen, grandson of John and Mary Fulton of Croghan, Co Roscommon, who emigrated to Illinois, was best known in the US for his radio and television broadcasts. Beginning in 1930 with his Sunday night radio programme The Catholic Hour on NBC, he became a household name, building an audience of millions of pe
I heard some terrific news the other day: âThe happiest men over 40 are 25lbs overweightâ (opens the original)
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I heard some terrific news the other day: âThe happiest men over 40 are 25lbs overweight.â So said Prof Arthur Brooks of the John F Kennedy school of government at Harvard University in the United States, more commonly known as the Harvard Kennedy School. He lectures on human happiness. Only in America! âItâs not because of the gentlemanly paunch. Itâs because they are relaxed about their lives,â he said. âIf youâre 61 and you have washboard abs, youâre making a big sacrifice f
âMy proposal was to stop Confirmationâ: Irelandâs ageing priests under pressure as numbers drop (opens the original)
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Fr Seamus Ahearne is turning 80 in November but shows no signs of slowing down and continues to serve in Greater Finglas Parish in north Dublin. âWeâve not fully amalgamated the three parishes here,â he says, referring to the St Caniceâs & St Margaretâs, The Annunciation and Rivermount parishes. This means âabout 70,000 people, with 22 schools and about 300 funerals in the yearâ. Many of the 70,000 residents âwould claim to be Catholicâ, particularly when it comes to funerals,
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