Bloomsday is an ideal time to find the humor that springs forth in ‘Ulysses.’

A coroner in Northern Ireland ruled that a priest and nine lay Catholics who were shot dead by British troops almost 50 years ago were “entirely innocent” and their deaths were unjustified.

The Catholic bishop of Belfast urged politicians to be more careful about their language as the city was engulfed in nightly violence.

The two most recent selections by the Catholic Book Club couldn't have been more different: A look at Thomas Jefferson's quixotic attempt to rewrite the Bible, and Niall Williams's richly evocative novel about a small village in the west of Ireland.

Something has changed for the novelist John Banville in the last 15 years. In a twist worthy of his own byzantine fiction, Banville has adopted a new persona and writing style, and even—perhaps—a changed attitude toward “the Irish thing” he once derided.

Americans with Irish ancestry have always balanced patriotism with an appreciation of their roots. And their identity should include solidarity with today’s immigrants.