Merrion Press 🔖has just published a new book byPatsy McGarry.
WELL, HOLY GOD My Life as an Irish,
Catholic, Agnostic Correspondent
Patsy McGarry
As the Religious Affairs
Correspondent of The Irish Times from 1997, Patsy McGarry reported on some of
the most troubling scandals to have rocked both Catholic and Protestant
Churches in the last few decades.
In Well, Holy God, he looks back not only on his time in journalism, recalling
some of the most distressing stories he has had to cover, but also his own
history with Catholicism and of a faith lost when the stark realities of
being part of that Church became apparent to him.
This book covers the gamut of his career, from the horrors of the various
clerical child sex abuse cases, the vilification of Bishop Eamonn Casey and
the muted reaction the Church of Ireland to the violence at Drumcree, to
the role of women in the Catholic Church and the tragedies of the Mother
and Baby Homes and the Magdalene laundries. Alongside accounts of such
seismic events, there are lighter anecdotes, including the perils of
travelling with a pope, some characters he’s met along the way and a look
at the good that those with a true calling can do.
Well, Holy God is a memoir brimming with
personality, charting the highs and lows of a truly fascinating career.
Paperback • €18.99 | £17.99 • 304 pages • 226
mm x 153 mm • 9781785374968
'I realised then I was being
told, through this woman, that the bishops could not restore Eamonn
Casey to full ministry because they had no idea what else might be
revealed from his past life to come back and haunt them should they do
so. Was I being manipulated by Bishop Drennan through this woman? Yes.
Was he justified in trying do so? Probably. It was indeed believable
that no one could know what else might be discovered from Bishop
Casey’s life...'
Merrion Press 🔖has just published a new book byPatsy McGarry.
WELL, HOLY GOD My Life as an Irish,
Catholic, Agnostic Correspondent
Patsy McGarry
As the Religious Affairs
Correspondent of The Irish Times from 1997, Patsy McGarry reported on some of
the most troubling scandals to have rocked both Catholic and Protestant
Churches in the last few decades.
In Well, Holy God, he looks back not only on his time in journalism, recalling
some of the most distressing stories he has had to cover, but also his own
history with Catholicism and of a faith lost when the stark realities of
being part of that Church became apparent to him.
This book covers the gamut of his career, from the horrors of the various
clerical child sex abuse cases, the vilification of Bishop Eamonn Casey and
the muted reaction the Church of Ireland to the violence at Drumcree, to
the role of women in the Catholic Church and the tragedies of the Mother
and Baby Homes and the Magdalene laundries. Alongside accounts of such
seismic events, there are lighter anecdotes, including the perils of
travelling with a pope, some characters he’s met along the way and a look
at the good that those with a true calling can do.
Well, Holy God is a memoir brimming with
personality, charting the highs and lows of a truly fascinating career.
Paperback • €18.99 | £17.99 • 304 pages • 226
mm x 153 mm • 9781785374968
'I realised then I was being
told, through this woman, that the bishops could not restore Eamonn
Casey to full ministry because they had no idea what else might be
revealed from his past life to come back and haunt them should they do
so. Was I being manipulated by Bishop Drennan through this woman? Yes.
Was he justified in trying do so? Probably. It was indeed believable
that no one could know what else might be discovered from Bishop
Casey’s life...'
Former IRA volunteer and ex-prisoner, spent 18 years in Long Kesh, 4 years on the blanket and no-wash/no work protests which led to the hunger strikes of the 80s. Completed PhD at Queens upon release from prison. Left the Republican Movement at the endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement, and went on to become a journalist. Co-founder of The Blanket, an online magazine that critically analyzed the Irish peace process. Lead researcher for the Belfast Project, an oral history of the Troubles.
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