by Derek Scally. Published by Penguin Random House Ireland, 2021. Reviewed by Graeme Siddle

The title of this book by “a grappling Catholic” is immediately engaging for Aotearoa NZ Catholics who have been brought up with “Faith of Our Fathers” Catholicism. Scally writes of the trinity of Church, state and people. The first and larger part of the book covers “holy” Ireland, the clerical abuse scandal and the Magdalen laundries. For Tui Motu readers who are familiar with John Boyne’s novel A History of Loneliness, this is equally challenging reading.

The remaining section, beginning with the Synod of Thurles in August 1850, has much to offer and this was for me the more interesting. Scally uses his experience of post-war Germany to make comparisons of the way in which Ireland and Germany have dealt with their pasts.

Some of the key themes are: what the Irish choose to see, the meaning of blame and guilt, the Church/state complex of shame and control and the foundations of a new Catholicism.

I recommend this title for the reader in 21st-century Aotearoa who is interested in our own Catholic history, and the road ahead for the Church.

This book has an index — vital for the reader wanting to find and re-read some of Scally’s insights. 

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 264 October 2021: 25