Long Life!

I like the Irish version of Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, ‘The Brook’:

‘For men may come, and men may go, but I go on for ever.’

It is a stream that is talking (The poem is a little surreal!).

Many Irish language magazines have come and gone since 1911, the year that the ‘little Irish sister’ of ‘The Sacred Heart Messenger’, ‘Timire an Chroí Ró-naofa’, was founded. However, that little Irish magazine is still with us. It is a Catholic magazine, of course. The Pope is mentioned in different parts of the magazine, but this is no surprise: it is a Jesuit magazine and the Pope is a Jesuit. But it is not a publication dedicated to spreading propaganda, trying to ram one particular religion down your throat. It emphasises action, not doctrine. A Korean nun writes about ‘The work of God up in the Andes’, for example. There is another article about ‘Age Action’, and another on Tearmann Éanna, a centre in South Conamara which promotes independent living.

A lot of other topics are covered: Irish history, sport, politics, poetry, a children’s story, education, book revues, a film review etc. There is even a recipe for lemon drizzle cake!

It is obvious that the contributors realise that they are writing for the general reader. Each article has a small vocabulary to help people whose Irish is rusty! The editor and his team have done a splendid job. The lay-out of the magazine is very eye-catching. If you can read ‘An bhfuil Gaeilge agat?’ you will be able to read ‘An Timire’ and your language and your life will be the better for it! You can get further information on www.timire.ie. ‘An Timire’ costs only €20/£15 per year by post. The price went up recently, but the number of pages has been increased to compensate!