LIMERICK people have a favourable niche all their own in August’s Merriman Summer School 2010, spanning entertainment and the role of Catholicism in the city’s 20th development. But first a look at overarching themes and connectors in this annual forum that explores and reflects on “societal issues”.
This month’s Merriman is compacted to five days and takes place in Ennis from Wednesday August 18 to Sunday 22 for the question and rhetoric of Faith: Beyond Belief?
With registration based at GLOR from 5pm on Wednesday 17, tours, talks, panels and entertainment are betwixt and between Temple Gate Hotel and the Old Ground Hotel’s Banner Room over the following four days. See www.merriman.ie
According to the leas-chathaoirleach Máire Ní Neachtain, Limerick brothers David and Mick Hanly launch their storytelling and music piece, Well Actually…. at the school. Tread your way to the Banner Room on Saturday 21 for the noontime hour of reflections, song and entertainment by these notable achievers.
She also points to UCC PhD scholar Síle de Cléir, a teacher of Irish in UL, who has a 3pm slot in the Banner Room later on Saturday 21. She shares the panel with Prof. of Sociology at NUI Maynooth, Larry Taylor speaking on Landscapes of Faith and De Cléir herself takes the urban perspective, specific to Limerick’s growth between the establishment of Ardnacrusha and Vatican Council 2.
“I’ll be looking at Limerick city and the role that popular Catholic devotion, and how it contributed to the modernisation of the city. By 1960, the Redemptorist Confraternity had 10,000 members so devotion and rituals played a certain role in a sense of identity for Limerick people as well as a sense of place”.
Among the other 2010 speakers are Judge Catherine McGuinness, Fr Kevin Hegarty, Prof. Diarmuid Ferriter for the closing Merriman Lecture on Sunday 22, GLOR at 11am (UCD), Pádraic Conway (UCD), Michael McNamara, barrister, Gina Menzies, theologian, and humanist Ann James.
Further information: www.merriman.ie and for accommodation, see www.merriman.ie/scoileanna/2010/samhradh/loistin.en
