Martin Sheen, the star of The West Wing, is a complicated, ebullient tangle of philosophy, Catholicism, politics, altruism, and homespun wisdom. It's a disconcerting sight: The leader of the free world is, uh, combing his eyelashes with a small mascara applicator... Okay, so it's the make-believe leader of the free world. And it's not such a far-fetched notion that … [Read more...] about The Acting President
Catholicism
Sacred Mysteries
There are few men of the cloth world-wide who arouse the passion and interest that Chicago's Andrew Greeley does. Priest, sociologist, Irish historian, and best-selling novelist, Greeley is always controversial. In New York recently to promote his latest novel, Irish Gold, a romance mystery with historical overtones, he talked to Patricia Harty. "The Irish are the most … [Read more...] about Sacred Mysteries
Goodbye Columbus, Hello St. Brendan
By Abdon Moriarty Pallasch July August 1992
As the rest of America celebrates the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus arriving in the New World, Irish-Americans can boast that one of their own may have beat him by nearly 1,000 years. The idea that Irish monks in an ox-hide boat might have beaten the Conquistadors and the Vikings to America was largely relegated to Irish folklore before 1976. That year, British … [Read more...] about Goodbye Columbus, Hello St. Brendan