Position Papers

As promised a few days ago, a new post on Michael's Substack -

As promised a few days ago, a new post on Michael's Substack Something has been stirring in France. This past Easter, 13,234 adults were baptised in French Catholic churches — three times the number in 2019. Teenage baptisms rose tenfold.

Is The Practice of Reading Doomed?

Since this article was published on Michael Kirke's Substack several weeks ago , surveys and reports continue to frighten us about the decrees in reading in nearly all segments of our population. The latest, in the past few days reported that children's reading has decreased dramatically. A few days ago the Irish times reported that the percentage of children who said they never read…...

Is The Practice of Reading Doomed? Since this article was published on Michael Kirke’s Substack several weeks ago , surveys and reports continue to frighten us about the decrees in reading in nearly all segments of our populat…

Ending or Beginning – Choices We Make

Richard John Neuhaus, founder and editor of First Things magazine, once wrote that there are writers whom you read because you have been told you must read them. Having done so, he said that they then become part of your history, along with foreign countries you have visited or great music you have heard. It was all part of the never-ending process called learning, “and a very good thing it is.” But then, he added, there are writers who catch you up short....

Ending or Beginning – Choices We Make Richard John Neuhaus, founder and editor of First Things magazine, once wrote that there are writers whom you read because you have been told you must read them. Having done so, he said t…

Fr. Walter Macken

I lost a friend of more than six decades last week - although lost is the wrong word, for he has gone to a far less troubled world. He was also more than a friend - he was a guide, confidant and often even a confessor. His name was Fr. Walter Macken, son of the well-known Irish novelist and playwright, Walter Macken, whose hugely popular historical fiction were international bestsellers in the second half of the twentieth century and are still in print today....

Fr. Walter Macken I lost a friend of more than six decades last week – although lost is the wrong word, for he has gone to a far less troubled world. He was also more than a friend – he was a guide, conf…

The Other Steubenville

The New Yorker is a world famous magazine, not least famous for the very quirky sense of humour of its very prolific team of cartoonists. But it is also famous for its long, very long, essays and articles. What it is not famous for is positive and sympathetic articles, long or otherwise about things Catholic. I’m not alleging it is anti-Catholic....

The Other Steubenville The New Yorker is a world famous magazine, not least famous for the very quirky sense of humour of its very prolific team of cartoonists. But it is also famous for its long, very long, essays and a…

Terrence Malick’s Spiritual Legacy

“There are two ways through life—the way of nature and the way of grace”. In Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, one of the protagonists offers us this reflection.In a way, all of Terrence Malick’s films are a reflection on this truth, each one of them an essay on one or other way—or both. We now await the release of what may well be his last film, a work on which we have little detailed information....

Terrence Malick’s Spiritual Legacy “There are two ways through life—the way of nature and the way of grace”. In Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, one of the protagonists offers us this reflection.In a way, all of Terrence Mal…

The folly of destroying an inheritance

In the February issue of the Irish-based magazine, Position Papers, a review of Vandalising Ireland by historian and writer Eoin Lenihan was published. It was a kind of ‘call to arms’ in defence of an authentic Irish identity and nationhood. We might wish him luck. As the reviewer, Dr Tim O’Sullivan, implied, the sometimes sneering reception of the book in the mainstream media spoke volumes about the kind of culture-war vandalism Lenihan was calling out....

The folly of destroying an inheritance In the February issue of the Irish-based magazine,  Position Papers, a review of Vandalising Ireland by historian and writer Eoin Lenihan was published. It was a kind of ‘call to arms’ in defe…

https://garvan.co/2026/01/30/stranger-things-and-the-new-jerusalem/

‘Stranger Things’ and the New Jerusalem The end times have come. No, not the Apocalypse. Just a popular culture phenomenon – Stranger Things. This is Netflix’s incredibly successful science fiction magnum opus. Scien…