Derek Scally is the author of a new book titled The Best Catholics in the World. Though this squeezed the numbers of local Catholics, not even the penal laws brought about the end of public practice. *****City-dwelling Irish Catholics seem to have had a better penal era than their country cousins. It was in this period, historians say, that middle-class Irish Catholics, in their choice of reading material, began absorbing the “anxious severity” of British Catholics. The Best Catholics in the World by Derek Scally is published by Sandycove and is available from booksellers online

Source: The Irish Times March 20, 2021 06:00 UTC