Diverse experiences of an extraordinary year

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

When it comes to looking back on this challenging year and how our lives changed as a result of the pandemic, one slender collection will form a valuable part of that history.

Covid-19 in 2020 is a new book ‘as Gaeilge’ on 25 people’s experience of living with Covid-19 in Ireland, the US and mainland Europe. The contributors come from all walks of life and include a doctor, a garda, a musician, a poet, teachers, civil servants, journalists and members of the clergy, among others, explains co-editor, Bernie O’Connell.

Bernie, who is well known in Galway for his dedication to soccer and Gaelic games, is a former principal of Coláiste Iognáid (the Jes) in Galway City. His co-editor Frank Brady, is a Jesuit and an old friend from Frank’s brief period teaching in Galway many years ago – the two also worked in Irish college together, Bernie says.

Although born in Wicklow, Frank is an ex-student of the Jes and lived with his uncle, a judge in Galway, while at school here.

Now based in Portadown, he’s editor of the spirituality magazine An Timire and chaplain in Maghaberry Prison. He spent 40 years in Dublin, working in parishes and with drug addiction services.

The idea for this book emerged after a discussion between the two friends about the health of an older Jesuit, Fr Chonnla Ó Dúláine, who had spent 40 years teaching in Inis Mór and who was recuperating from Covid.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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