Mark Patrick Hederman: “I really like his cherishingly iconoclastic style.”
Richard Halperin: “The relevant feature . . . is the deep shadows of his humanity.”
Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D. “In Ireland at least, it is rare to find a poet who treats religious topics objectively yet sympathetically, and so it was something of a surprise to find by accident the collection of poetry by Tim Cunningham entitled Kyrie. These superbly crafted poems find their inspiration in Catholic culture, both Irish traditional and (in all its brokenness) modern. The poet interprets life in terms of Catholic liturgy and Catholic liturgy in terms of everyday life. They inspire and move the reader. Like all true art that expresses the universal in the particular, they will find an echo beyond the shores of Ireland.”
Richard Halperin: “The mad concept: assemble poems, 81 in total, each of which treats a single aspect of post-war urban Roman Catholic worship. By the book’s end, every molecule of dark Limerick churches as experienced by a child has been recollected. But these glints alone would not make Kyrie the tour-de-force that it is. The relevant feature of the book is the deep shadows of its humanity. People in church; the architecture and decor of churches; of objects used in worship . . . There isn’t a false note in any of this. Everything is poised, exactly, on the cusp of a smile, a tear and a scream. Above all, Kyrie is a series of poems about people’s lives.
“Before Kyrie, I often regretted the hours, days, years collectively that I spent kneeling in church for I was never quite sure what reasons. Thanks to this book, I can retroactively value the experience, lit up as it is by this man’s poetry. The clearer he writes, the more haunting the poem. I still can’t figure out how he does that.”
www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/bestbooks2o
St. Ignatius Press.
Part Two of “The Best Books I Read in 2008…” | Ignatius Press Authors, Editors, and Staff Fr. D. Vincent Twomey, S.V.D. holds both a Ph.D. in Theology and is Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland. A formal doctoral student under Joseph Ratzinger, Twomey is the author of several books, including Pope Benedict XVI: The Conscience of Our Age (A Theological Portrait), and his acclaimed study of the state of Irish Catholicism, The End of Irish Catholicism?
“In Ireland at least, it is rare to find a poet who treats religious topics objectively yet sympathetically, and so it was something of a surprise to find by accident the collection of poetry by Tim Cunningham entitled Kyrie. These superbly crafted poems find their inspiration in Catholic culture, both Irish traditional and (in all its brokenness) modern. The poet interprets life in terms of Catholic liturgy and Catholic liturgy in terms of everyday life. They inspire and move the reader. Like all true art that expresses the universal in the particular, they will find an echo beyond the shores of Ireland.”
