Back Issues / 2004

The basic problem for those of us who want greater collaboration in Europe is that we are being urged towards greater integration, without being sure that this is the direction in which we should be moving. The modern European ideal arose from a political tradition (Christian Democracy) which is dying, but which was once a vital force in all of the countries that formed the basis of the European Community: France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux. Christian Democrats wanted a broader political union, but began, prosaically, with coal and steel.

James Joyce is by far the most famous person ever to receive an Irish Jesuit education.   So pervasive was the Jesuit influence in his upbringing that nearly all of his studies, at primary, secondary and third level, were in institutions directed by the Society of Jesus. Jesuits appear in all of his writings.   It is, therefore, natural for a Jesuit journal to join the centenary celebrations of Bloomsday, even though his more exacting Jesuit teachers would have had no hesitation in reminding us that the events of 16 June 1904 are fiction, so we are commemorating something that never took place.

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