The history of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” is a colorful one—though shorter than you think.
Music
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
‘Summer of Soul’ and the power of memory in Jesuit spirituality
A documentary about a Black music festival awakens us to God’s presence even amid our historical sins.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Amy Winehouse and the spirituality of a restless heart
The singer’s pain was rooted in a keen awareness of her heart’s yearning for love and meaning.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Our favorite pop culture stories are sacred to us. Have we lost the ability to critique them?
I wonder at the rage we seem to have at the ready when it comes to our favorite pieces of pop culture.
Posted inFaith, Features
Taizé, a musical monastic community, formed in response to a global crisis. Today, it faces new ones: climate change and sex abuse.
Today, in any given year, Taizé attracts tens of thousands of young people from around the world, who travel as pilgrims to this hilltop in France to meet one another, to sing and pray and to discuss what they feel are the most urgent issues of their time, from the climate emergency to refugees.
Posted inArts & Culture, Music
The (unofficial) Pope Francis Playlist
If you’re anything like me, Pope Francis’ recent visit to a record shop in Rome probably has you wondering: What might the vicar of Christ’s Spotify playlist look like?
Posted inArts & Culture, Interviews
The Bob Dylan Bible: In ‘Girl From the North Country,’ an Irish playwright takes inspiration from the prophet of folk
“Bob Dylan is in the tradition of great writers stretching back to the biblical prophets—there’s something in his songs that is so resonant that people will be trying to figure the songs out for generations.”
Posted inArts & Culture, News
Pope Francis’ music library contains nearly 2,000 CDs — including 25 by Elvis Presley
While the pope’s collection is mostly made up of classical music, it also includes a 25-disc collection of Elvis Presley’s Gospel songs.
Posted inFaith, Short Take
What makes for good liturgical music? St. Thomas Aquinas has 3 criteria for what works at Mass.
We need some criteria in deciding what music is best for Mass. St. Thomas Aquinas offers us three qualities that anything beautiful must have.
Posted inFaith, News
Pope Francis stopped by his favorite record store to say ‘hello’
Pope Francis took an evening ride in a white Fiat 500 to visit a record store he used to go to when in Rome as a cardinal.