My Initial Doubts

When I set out to become a Catholic last year, I didn’t know what to expect.

Despite my acceptance of the Christian story, metaphysics and ethics, joining the Catholic Church as an Irish person was a whole level above (hence why I procrastinated getting baptised for the entirety of 2024). In my head I knew that the journey to God was not an intellectual exercise, and you had to participate in the sacraments and the life of the church to go on that journey. Yet, my heart was still divided on the church: the scandals, the stories of repression, death and decay – was it all a broken ruin worth turning your back on, like they said? And yet, to remain outside the church’s walls was to remain, in some sense, unfinished, like a spiritual Peter Pan?

The fact that finding a place to be baptised proved difficult and that the church had no standardised process for adults seeking baptism only compounded my doubts in early 2025 when I went seeking baptism – maybe this was not the true church? Surely the true church would have a big massive neon sign outside and pull you in like a magnetic tractor beam? And not be so difficult to join? Not to mention that when I did find a place to get baptised in Rathfarnham, and attended my first mass on that dreary January Wednesday morning, I was the only one in the pews below sixty years old.

That morning, I sloped down the back and sat by myself in the pew; that way, if the inspiration struck, the option was there to simply run out of the church and never come back again. But as the mass began and the rag-tag choir rose, composed of two elderly gentlemen in the front row, my soul was put at ease. The two men started a ghostly chant, and then the other parishioners broke in behind them, and the lilting melody of those aged Irish voices, melted away the icy fears that gripped my heart. Their faith, quiet as it was on that dreary Wednesday morning, shone through and moved me to the point of tears. I found that the spirit still burnt brightly in that humble place, and I concluded though scarred and wounded, embattled and bruised; the church was alive and singing.

Finding Faith and Faithlessness

Each time in the Catholic Church when I have opened a door expecting ruins and decay, I have found green growths of life and deep joy instead. My journey into the Catholic faith and the sacraments began with tension and trepidation, facing great resistance that blocked the bigger picture, like tunnelling through a cave with only the light of a lamp in front of you. But as the year has gone on, that narrow tunnel opened up into wider and wider caverns, filled with beauty and treasures and gold and rubies and gems and many others who were emerging from their respective tunnels, led by their own lights, to discover the same.

Throughout the year, there has been great joy in getting to know those who tend the treasures of the Catholic tradition and those who are just discovering them alike: the exuberant peace of a difficult confession, the feeling of Christmas day when queuing for communion, and the sound of a missing piece, one did not know one was missing, clicking into place. I came to the conclusion, it is this church and this tradition that is the heart modern Ireland is missing.

But this is where things get complicated again…

The joys of participating in the sacraments are like a delicious meal one has tasted, and so naturally, one wants to share the meal with other people. But unfortunately, what you learn then pretty quickly when you do try and share what you have discovered with others is that most people in Ireland hate the Catholic Church and religion in general (including Catholics). It’s a somewhat paralysing experience at first to find yourself suddenly transformed into the villain or a villain apologist in the unseen drama of another’s mind, when only a moment ago you were a friend or an ally. Paranoia can take hold, and it feels like a great chasm has opened between oneself and friends and family and modern culture and that you must now withdraw or exist on the margins or disappear completely.

It’s like one of those mythological stories, an inversion of Tír na nÓg, where you only walked into another room and then returned, but for everyone else, you’ve travelled a great distance and now stand on the opposite side of a gorge (’It’s like I don’t even know you anymore’). This is very hard to experience. You return with your excited news of a God still living, but those eyes that have not glimpsed the treasures for themselves regard you with the same story you did the church only a moment ago: the scandals, the stories of repression, death and decay, and a broken ruin worth turning your back on…

In my experience, after realising the absurd gap between the secular worldview and the sacred or sacramental worldview which I was participating in, one can get a sort of ‘world sickness’. The feeling of world sickness comes from being a convert and lurching between the secular and the sacred worlds like a seasick sailor. The two are so different you could end up with a kind of schizophrenia or a double life as a secular person and a practising Catholic under the cover of darkness – how do you marry up the two worlds? Is it even possible?

At first frequently, I was ranting and raving at people, arguing about complex theology and metaphysics over brunch and generally alienating people. This confusion even resulted in some sin on my part: bitterness and enmity in my heart, which I had to confess. When I went to confession, the priest asked me quizzically,

“Do you have cause to be around people like this often?”

And I had to laugh.

“Father, it’s the entire world that I live in…”

“That’s the way it is these days,” he explained.

The Need for De-Secularisation

A lot of the time this year, I felt yoked to two ships that were travelling in opposite directions. But like a dog with a bone, desperately I’ve been trying to find a bridge across this chasm to somehow reunite these two worlds so that they might even understand and talk sensibly to each other. In these attempts, and through the insight of Dr Zachary Porcu, I started to understand that prior to even considering joining the church, I’d undergone a long period of ‘de-secularisation’.

Through studying philosophy and the history of ideas, I’d been given a totally new set of categories to understand reality and through these new categories I was able to start grasping the sacred worldview, piece by piece. The problem is when you transition to a new worldview how quickly you forget the old one (and those who got you there, hence why Jordan Peterson was so easily defamed). Importantly, this de-secularisation took me over ten years! And I’m a pretty quick learner!

The vast majority of people that are part of the secular culture have not undergone this autodidactic ‘pre-catechism’ and so are working with an entirely different set of modern categories that preclude the sacred or sacramental worldview. So, I’ve started to chill basically and recognise that helping people firstly see the categories that are guiding their thinking and the alternatives and why the alternatives might be better than the former is deep and slow work that requires patience, understanding and compassion.

And importantly, this understanding has given me a kind of quiet underlying confidence because every bit of my mind was once composed of that secular worldview, and through pursuing the truth, I shed it like a snake shedding skin. I feel like I’ve run through this whole video game already and have then come back to people who are only at the beginning. Despite the many difficulties and the upward slope, if you persevere, I know where it ends: beyond modernity, with the capacity to grasp both the secular and the sacred worldviews.

In the meantime, there are many who are further along on this trajectory, who experienced the Jordan Peterson wave, symbolic world, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis etc., and so have de-secularised their minds enough to return to a living faith. And throughout the year, I’ve met more and more of these people who are being drawn by the light of truth, goodness and beauty in the great tradition. What at first seemed like only a few droplets has quickly become a stream and even at times threatens to turn into a roaring river. These prodigal sons and daughters are taking on a new apostolic mission to help the secular cross over from the derelict secular worldview, like they were helped themselves, and building many flotilla’s and channels and groups around this shared aim.

In quiet moments of great joy for me personally, the light in my own eyes has sparked enough curiosity in others to go and see the treasures for themselves, and then I get the great pleasure of seeing the light in their own eyes. Like the fading ripples of a pool made still, my own purpose has crystallised throughout this year as a go-between in this great transition or advent of the sacred, a philosophical ferryman of sorts, worldview middle management, who can attempt to stand in the tension between the secular and the sacred and hold a space for those who might cross.

Conclusion

If we had eyes to see and we could look up, we would see the cosmic wheels turning; we’d see we are in the lurch at the moment, coming down off a four-hundred-year binge on materialism that, in many places, is not yet over. The end of modernity will not be brief or clean, and the goods of the world will go on and on, but honestly, they aren’t all that good anyway. In that sense, the old saying is true: not all that glitters is gold. But also by contrast, not all that doesn’t glitter is not gold.

Modernity, if you will allow me to be reductive, is a critical age and has spent a great deal of time and intellectual resources heaping coal on the Catholic Church to dim the shine of its treasures. Therefore, as modern people, we see only through a glass darkly, dimly apprehending the glory of spiritual realities with our atrophied intellectual vision, like a light at the end of a dark tunnel that can be easily dismissed as an illusion or trickery. But as the soot comes off the great tradition, more and more will see the gold glittering and be called forth to participate in the supper of the Lamb. So you know, all hands to the wheel.

For all the grand narratives abounding for your attention at this transitory moment – transhumanism and the political and economic utopias – my vote goes to this ‘return to the roots’ paradigm. Not necessarily to go full Amish (although they might be onto something), but to return to your tradition with your newly minted bifocal vision: to be able to see both the secular and the sacred worldviews and thus participate fully in the deep moral transformation that is required of us: “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Mathew 5:8), but also start to establish thriving post-secular christian communities, oriented around proper values like love, family, community - wouldn’t that be something?

In brief, I wasn’t sure about the Catholic church particularly in Ireland but after one year of investigation and participation I don’t have those doubts anymore. Sure there are difficulties, under staffing and short-comings, but in my experience if you are humble and willing to take on responsibility, those are gaps which young people are actually there to fill (i.e starting prayer groups, bringing other young people in, building communities etc) - in short, and you can imagine reading this in a John F Kennedy accent; “ask not what your parish can do for you, but of what you can do for your parish”.

The real question is, are you going to take my word for it? Or the secular story of decline and degeneration? Or are you going to go and see for yourself? Run the experiment: one year of ‘catholic-maxxing’ and let me know what you think.

I’m back with another podcast on the faith in Ireland/signs of renewal. This time I’m speaking with Robert Nugent from the Catholic Man YouTube channel.

In this podcast we discuss the resurgence of faith among young people, the importance of authentic community, and practical steps to renew the Catholic Church in Ireland. We also explore how the Holy Spirit is working silently amidst crises, the role of prayer groups, and innovative ways to foster faith in a modern context.

Key topics include:

• The rising interest in faith among Generation Z and the signs of renewal within the church

• The perceived crisis in the Catholic Church: challenges and signs of hope

• The role of community, prayer groups, and faith in action to foster spiritual growth

• Innovative approaches like faith-based pilgrimage walks and lay-led prayer groups

• The importance of spiritual mentorship, formation, and authentic friendship in faith development

• How Orthodox monastic traditions exemplify community and faith renewal in practice

• The need for modern digital strategies, such as QR codes and online faith formation, to connect with seekers

• The significance of sacramentally driven transformation—understanding theosis and spiritual purity

• Practical steps for integrating faith into everyday life: confession, prayer, humility, and community

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction and Personal Connections

02:32 The Resurgence of Faith Among Gen Z

07:16 The Role of Community in Faith Formation

11:51 Challenges in Engaging with the Church

11:56 Building Intentional Faith Communities

17:43 Learning from Other Faith Traditions

22:54 Building Community Through Faith

25:42 The Challenge of Faith Formation

27:47 Transformational Faith and Theosis

35:30 The Role of Sacraments in Transformation

41:20 The Importance of Humility in Faith

Best,

Mahon.

Howiyee!

There is a really cool event happening at Maynooth University this coming Saturday on 'Being Human in the Age of AI' (hosted by @ThomisticInstitute Ireland), and I wanted to share it with you in case you might be interested in joining us on the day?

Try peeping the lecture schedule:

• “I Compute, Therefore I Am”: The Distinctively Human in the Age of AI by Dr. Robert McNamara | 11:00 AM

• The AI Apocalypse Already Happened (and What You Can Do About It) by Mahon McCann | 2:30 PM

• Artificial Intelligence: A Theological Investigation by Fr. Ezra Sullivan, O.P. | 4:00 PM

The event is free to attend but you do need to register, though, to save your seat on the day, as numbers are limited 👇

https://thomisticinstitute.org/events/being-human-in-the-age-of-ai-symposium-ireland

Hopefully see you there!

Best,

Mahon.

In 2025, my friend Jacob, who’s been on the podcast numerous times, told me about his plans to host a summer Resonant Man retreat just outside London.

Unfortunately, couldn’t attend due to the timing but am super excited to join the ‘Summer Soulstice’ for the first time in 2026 at the beautiful Pitchcott Hill Farm.

It’s going to be a weekend of fun and festivities, and if you are a man and looking for a new adventure this summer, consider joining us the 19th to the 21st of June!

Save your spot

I will be hosting a martial arts workshop over the weekend, combining traditional Japanese Ninjutsu and Western Boxing, for a crash course in Celtic Ninja warrior training, and there are a bunch of other dynamite thinkers and speakers to look forward to!

If you might be interested but want to learn more, there will be a free info session this Thursday 8 pm Irish time 👇

Info session

Peace,

Mahon.

We are back with another explosive podcast conversation with Mr Jordan Bates:

Jordan is the Founder of Council of Kings. He’s a father, husband, co-founder of Apotheosis, men’s leadership coach, and the author of six books. Jordan has been immersed in transformational work for fifteen years and in Men’s Work for the past six years, training with respected leaders and organizations in the space. He is repeatedly humbled and honored to witness the depth, beauty, and power of this work—and to contribute to the formation of the God-led masculine leaders our world truly needs.

Join Jordan’s upcoming ‘Rise of the Kings’ programme (starts April 1st): https://councilofkings.co/rise-of-kings

In this podcast, we discuss the plight of young men in the modern age from unclear gender roles to pornography and technology. Then we discuss how to find your place in the world, the skills and virtues you need and Jordan’s model for becoming the man you could be. Finally, we discuss the ideal man (Christ) and how Jordan’s own journey from cradle Catholic to wandering nomad and back to the faith inspires his men’s work. Check it out 👇

Chapters:

00:00 Meet Jordan Bates

00:26 Why Mens Work

03:57 Modern Male Isolation

08:07 Purpose In A Meta Crisis

11:27 Service Over Introspection

14:07 Missing Rites Of Passage

16:09 Brotherhood And Retreats

19:39 Finding In Person Community

24:30 Christ As North Star

31:14 Hierarchy Of Values

33:30 Attention As Worship

35:14 Ora Turning Life To Prayer

36:41 Leaving Church Finding Mysticism

43:03 Family Life Brings Christ Back

47:00 Dogma Structure And Fire

52:48 Practices For Holy Spirit Experience

54:35 Mini Monasteries And Centering Prayer

59:24 Ritual Without Living Faith

01:02:30 Breaking Materialism With Soul Tech

01:06:51 Final Reflections And Outro

In this conversation, we explore the connections between the biblical concepts of heaven and earth and Platonic categories of form and matter, discussing how these ideas can be mapped onto contemporary understandings of reality. The dialogue emphasises the importance of symbolic language in conveying deeper truths and the challenges of communicating these concepts in a modern context. We also examine the nature of the soul, the influence of spirits, and the dynamics of agency in relation to higher patterns of existence.

Get the "Post-reductionist christianity" book: https://store.thesymbolicworld.com/products/post-reductionist-christianity-a-way-out-of-the-meaning-crisis

Chapters:

00:00 Exploring Heaven and Earth: A Comparative Analysis
09:47 The Role of Symbolic Language in Theology
17:52 Understanding Heaven: Bridging the Secular and the Sacred
25:08 Patterns of Influence: The Higher Powers in Culture
30:00 The War of Spirits in Technology
32:17 Divine and Unholy Spirits: A Duality
37:26 The Nature of Good and Evil Spirits
41:35 Agency and Patterns: The Human Condition
44:06 Understanding the Soul in a Christian Context

In this conversation, Paula shares her transformative journey from a typical Irish Catholic upbringing to a profound encounter with God that reshaped her faith. She discusses the struggles of returning to her roots after years abroad, the significance of confession, and her evolving understanding of the Catholic Church's teachings on women. Paula reflects on the challenges modern women face, the impact of feminism, and the importance of compassion in welcoming others into the faith.

Join Paula's Substack at: https://truthofthewomb.substack.com/

Chapters:

00:00 Journey of Faith: From Doubt to Belief
03:47 Cultural Influences: Exploring Spirituality Abroad
06:41 Encountering God: A Transformative Experience
09:47 Returning Home: Navigating Loss and Faith
13:00 Reconnecting with Catholicism: A Personal Journey
15:52 Confession: A Path to Healing and Renewal
18:49 Understanding the Church: A New Perspective
21:51 Feminism and Faith: Reconciling Beliefs
24:41 Natural Family Planning: The Church's Wisdom
27:46 Embracing the Catholic Faith: A New Identity
33:35 Misconceptions About Women in the Church
35:17 The Role of Women in Faith
38:37 Cultural Shifts and Women's Identity
40:14 Feminism and Women's Empowerment
43:26 Contraception and Its Impact on Women
46:28 Challenges for Women in the Catholic Church
49:37 Navigating Faith and Personal Struggles
53:31 Finding Community in the Catholic Faith
58:44 Opportunities for Growth in the Church

Want to support the creation of more podcasts and essays? Consider becoming a patron below 👇

Support

Fr Gavan Jennings is a priest of Opus Dei, the editor of the position papers, and a presenter at ⁨@ctmcatholic⁩.

In this conversation, we explore the evolving landscape of faith in Ireland, discussing the gradual decline of religious practice, the crisis of meaning in modern society, the importance of intellectual engagement in strengthening faith, the significance of personal relationships with God and the journey towards theosis, highlighting the role of laypeople in revitalising the Catholic Church and the joy that comes from living a life aligned with faith.

*We had some technical difficulties; hence, Fr Gavan's miraculous background change halfway through

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Father Gavan Jennings
00:56 The Decline of Faith in Ireland
04:09 Cultural Identity and Catholicism
10:08 The Importance of Personal Faith
15:36 Intellectual Challenges Facing the Church
18:14 The Role of Catholic Intellectuals
28:20 Faith and Reason: A Balanced Approach
32:33 The Intellectual Crisis in Catholicism
39:26 The Role of Philosophy in Faith
47:42 Revitalizing Faith in Modern Ireland
54:29 Theosis: The Goal of the Christian Life
01:00:50 The Path to Sanctity and Happiness

Want to support the mission of this channel? Please consider becoming a patron 👇

Support

2025 Reflections

Happy New Year!

I hope you’re feeling refreshed and positive and ready for another year of our ongoing civilisational collapse.

In 2025, we crossed some pretty cool milestones on YouTube:

• 1403 new subscribers ✅

• 200,000 views on the channel ✅

• 13,181 watch hours ✅

• 1 million impressions ✅

The most watched podcast of 2025 was with Fr Conor Mcdonagh:

The second most popular interview was with Mr Jordan Hall:

In total, we published:

• 16 Podcast interviews and 11 Essays

• The first six parts of the Plato’s Republic lecture series (the rest will be complete in the first half of 2026)

• And I featured on several other podcasts discussing topics from the meaning crisis to Plato and Catholicism in Ireland (Breaking Bread Catholic, Legion of Mary, Beyond the Fundamentals, SenseSpace Hub & The Logos Project)

What’s the plan for 2026?

Firstly… If you are in Dublin, or Ireland, you gotta come to the second Bridging the Gap course.

Join the course

It was a huge milestone in 2025 to launch the first Bridging the Gap course in Dublin, which aimed at getting participants beyond the meaning crisis.

The course brought together everything I’ve learnt over the last ten years of grappling with the meaning crisis and returning to a viable path of transcendence, and the feedback from participants who undertook the course was overwhelmingly positive.

There’s still a long way to go on this project, the rest of my life, I imagine, but a win is a win, and getting these ideas in front of a live audience was cathartic.

If you are based in Ireland, more particularly Dublin, and would like to attend the second course, then sign up below 👇

Join the course

In 2026 you can look forward to:

• Lectures 7-10 of the Plato’s Republic course

• The Second Bridging the Gap course in person and then potentially a Zoom option towards the end of the year for the online bro’s

• More podcasts and essays (of course), particularly focusing on the return of the sacred in the context of the AI and Internet age

• I also have to finish my PhD and get married, so there may be some lags in the content creation, but please understand, I’m only human?

The last podcast before a break over the Christmas!

More than delighted to be joined by Fr Columba Jordan for an unofficial Christmas special. Fr Columba is a Franciscan Friar of the renewal ( ⁨@cfr_franciscans⁩ ), and a presenter at Call To More ( ⁨@ctmcatholic⁩ ).

In this conversation, shares his journey as a Franciscan priest, challenges faced by young people in connecting with their faith, entering the dance with God, St Maximilian Kolbe and sacrifice and love, practical steps for encountering God, and the role of the internet and artificial intelligence in the return to faith.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Father Columba
02:56 Journey to the Priesthood
05:51 Engaging the Youth: Addressing Boredom in Faith
08:49 The Challenge of Familiarity in Faith
12:02 The Proposal of Faith: A Call to Verify
14:58 The Dance of Faith: Openness and Surrender
17:53 The Role of Entertainment in Worship
20:59 The Nature of Relationships and Vulnerability
24:01 Shame and Its Impact on Faith
26:55 The Journey of Growth and Transformation
34:29 The Decline of Irish Catholicism
36:19 Understanding God: Love and Justice
39:39 The Image of God and Its Impact
42:37 Living the Faith: A Personal Journey
45:49 The Risk of Faith
49:41 The Role of Doubt and Verification
52:39 Surrendering to God
56:12 The Power of Sacrifice
01:00:06 Every Action Matters
01:04:23 Practical Steps to Encounter God
01:07:39 Entering the Dance of Faith
01:10:24 The Role of Humility in Spiritual Growth
01:11:42 The Impact of Prayer and Community
01:12:10 The Intersection of Technology and Faith
01:18:49 AI and the Future of Humanity
01:25:06 The Internet as a Tool for Evangelization

Well, well, it’s that time of the year again for some shameless Christmas marketing!

This year I have some books that might tickle your fancy and, as per usual, am seeking any benevolent patrons who want to support the podcast!

Let’s go through the highlights 👇

Waiting For The Offo

Waiting For The Offo debuted on Amazon last week at #1 in tragicomedies and #2 in comedy-dramas, beating out Beckett’s original Waiting For Godot!!

Get the book

Get the book now

The Man with a Mirror Face (second edition!)

It’s been five years this Christmas since the launch of the collection of short stories ‘The Man with a Mirror Face’!

Get the book

Despite the best intentions, I only recently got around to rewriting some of the stories and creating a second edition with a new glossy cover this year…

If you, or your loved ones, are into short stories about drinking pints and serial killers, you can pick up a copy of the second edition below👇

Get your copy now

Finally, would you want to become a patron?!

I like to keep all the essays and podcasts free across Substack, YouTube, Spotify, etc., for people to enjoy. Unfortunately, the tools of content creation do cost mula and there are many monthly and annual rents to pay to our feudal tech lords, and so if you want to make a donation to help us out with the bills, please consider becoming a patron below👇

Become a Patron

Give a gift subscription

Or if you aren’t feeling a donation, simply sharing this Substack and encouraging others to get a free membership is also a big help!!

Share Raising the Cross

And there we go, shameless Christmas marketing over – wasn’t that bad, was it?

Best,

Mahon.

A fantastic in-person interview I had with Tony and Sheena of Net Ministries on their podcast, Breaking Bread Catholic, is out now and certainly worth sharing with you.

It was such a great opportunity to tell my story and weave in some of the philosophy around the meaning crisis and big picture changes taking place in science, technology, culture, etc., and hopefully offer some clarity.

A lot of the topics touched on feel like coming full circle, especially at a time when I’m putting together the bridging the gap course and beginning to take other people through a sort of programme for recovery from the meaning crisis.

Some rays of hope in our often otherwise trying times: the collapse of the tyranny of scientific materialism, the need to gain wisdom and return to what makes us human in the digital age, and people taking God and goodness seriously again.

Best,

Mahon.

The wait for Waiting For The Offo is over, and the book is now available on Amazon 👇👇👇👇

Get your copy now

The Story

The idea for ‘Waiting For The Offo’ came to me in a flash of inspiration while reading Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot with a crippling hangover from too many pints of Harp. The endless cynical gallows humour of the play reminded me of the conversations I’d taken part in just a few hours before on the session. It was a strange idea, that a play written in 1953, a perennial myth of nihilism and absurdity, would still be playing out in the lives of young Irish people today?

Austrian Psychologist and holocaust survivor Victor Frankl said, “When a man can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure”. Hedonism was the default solution to the Western meaning crisis in Dublin when I was growing up. Drinking and drugs and socialising all went hand in hand and offered a temporary relief to the dogged purposeless that marked our modern lives. Unfortunately, hedonism is a solution that leads to even greater desolation and hopelessness than before, and Waiting for The Offo is a story of several young people who become caught in the depths of that desperate cycle.

The session lifestyle is not quite alcoholism or a drug addiction but an addiction to the dramatic cycle of rising and falling, boom and bust, like a gambler who is hooked on losing more than winning. Nothing encapsulates this ritual of self-destruction more than waiting for the off-license to open on a Sunday morning. This moral dilemma, pushing past the edge of sobriety to go back into intoxication, consciousness to unconsciousness, night into day, in order to just keep partying, causes a pause for reflection.

It is this strange and liminal space which this play invites you to ponder, not quite sober, not quite drunk, not quite a session but still going - a place of stalled transformation, a rebellion against the march of time itself, seeking a liquid utopia. Waiting For The Offo is a secular purgatory, that ends when the liquor goes on sale once more, but never seems to quite hit the spot.

Read More

The Play

My own story with the session began in my early teens drinking in fields and before discos. However in my early twenties, graduated from university and confronted with the challenges of growing up and becoming an adult, the session monkey on my back started to feel heavier and heavier. By the time I wrote the play in 2018 during my creative writing MA in Belfast, I was already considering giving up and felt at some stage myself and the session would part ways - unfortunately, then I ended up writing about it for the next five years...

The play was accepted into the Dublin Fringe Festival 2020 and awarded the prize for the Fringe Lab Fifty. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of 120+ donors and Michael and Conan’s guidance, the play was ready for a debut performance. But of course, if you are familiar with history, or more than two years old, you will know that 2020 was also the year of something else, a certain global pandemic. The world was closed, and our hopes of a 2020 production went down in flames. The theatres shut, and we had plenty of time to ask ourselves, should we keep going with this play? Would there even be a point to it after 2020? What would the world look like then?

Throughout the pandemic and rejections from theatres we had lots of opportunities to quit on this play but quitting was never an option. We felt like the play had something to say about the session and the nihilism of the lives of young people in Dublin which was important and worth fighting for. In 2023, through an agreement with the New Theatre in Templebar and the tremendous support of the owner Anthony, we finally managed to actually stage the play for a week long run. Before the opening night the entire run was sold out (which I was told rarely happens) and everyone that say the play thought it was ‘surprisingly’ good. Here what people who saw the production had to say:

“This play has it all, except booze. There’s friendship, attempts at romance, crazed drug dealers. Not to mention deep existential conversations about life, direction etc...Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, Mahon McCann gives the idea a fun modern twist while retaining the existential philosophical nature of the idea.” @Dramatic Dublin

“It’s like watching your own life up there on the stage” @WildState

“We need rebels like McCann and McIvor. New voices making unconventional theatre in unconventional ways. Waiting for the Offo shows talent, passion and promise.” @The Arts Reviewer

“Big shout out to everyone involved with the play Waiting for The Offo, which I absolutely loved . I really appreciated that so much of the art I encountered from current Irish artists is grappling with the country’s intense alcohol intake. This play grappled hilariously and brilliantly.” @Abdi Nazemian, Stone wall and Lambda literary award-winning author.

Get your copy now

The Book

Unfortunately, despite the appetite for the story and the play, we did not get funding to take Waiting For The Offo on the road for a tour around Ireland. Essentially if you can’t get funding from the Arts Council for a tour, you are dead in the water, so the people who saw the first run of the play would be the only ones! It seemed a shame though when so many people liked the story and the play to let it go to waste and so after much wrangling and procrastination, I finally got the book together for Amazon. There the story and the play of Waiting For The Offo can live on as a book (albeit a book of a script) with additionally the writer’s and director’s notes on the production, as a cautionary monument to the hedonistic-nihilism of the early 2000’s and the 2010’s which many young meaning crisis’d people in the West found solace in.

Get your copy now

Hey There,

New podcast on deck 🚨

This was an unbelievable conversation with on his new ‘evolution of meaning’ series!!

Evolution of Meaning part 1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Learning-Process-Evolution-Meaning/dp/B0D88CV4GP

Evolution of Meaning part 2:https://www.amazon.com/Psyche-Symbolic-Learning-Evolution-Meaning/dp/B0FPV8M3Z8/

In this conversation, we explored the themes of meaning, the meaning crisis, and the evolution of meaning through various philosophical and cultural lenses. We discuss the impact of nihilism, the role of metamodernism, and the significance of complexity theory in providing a foundation for meaning. With a new foundation in place, we explore a modern path to transcendence, the hero’s journey and the sacred! Check it out 👇

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Evolution of Meaning
02:18 Understanding the Meaning Crisis
05:15 Philosophical Perspectives on Meaning
08:34 The Role of Transcendence in Meaning
11:31 Exploring Meaning in Life Literature
14:26 The Journey Towards Meaning
17:25 Complexity Theory and Meaning
20:42 Active Inference and Meaning
27:25 Understanding Surprise and World Models
29:32 The Complexity of Human Models
32:27 Cultural Evolution and Meaning Systems
34:09 Moral Development and Complexity
39:02 Human Learning as a Complexification Process
44:48 The Role of Egocentrism in Meaning Making
50:48 The Meaning Crisis and Anomie
53:30 Breaking Frames: The Role of Technology and Social Media
56:32 The Meta Frame: Embracing Chaos and Complexity
59:40 Transcendence and Awe: The Sacred in Frame Breaking
01:02:36 The Infinite Journey: Icons, Myths, and the Divine
01:06:28 Faith and the Hero’s Journey: Navigating Uncertainty
01:09:34 Learning and Meaning: The Evolution of Understanding

My new book Waiting For The Offo will be out next Monday 1/12/25!!!!

David Quinn, is a columnist for the Sunday Independent/Irish Catholic and Commentator on society, religion and politics since 1994.

Iona Institute Poll: https://ionainstitute.ie/big-revival-of-interest-in-religion-among-many-young-people-in-northern-ireland-says-new-poll/

In this conversation, David Quinn discusses the current state of Irish Catholicism, reflecting on its historical context and the evolving perspectives of younger generations towards religion. He emphasises the importance of religion in providing meaning, purpose, and community, especially in a society facing increasing secularisation. Quinn highlights signs of hope among younger people who are becoming more open to religion, suggesting a potential resurgence in religious engagement as they seek answers to life’s challenges.

Chapters:

00:00 The Evolution of Irish Catholicism

12:05 The Church’s Influence and Secularisation in Ireland

19:54 Generational Perspectives on Religion and Progress

24:40 Woke Ideology vs. Christianity: A Cultural Clash

32:25 The Crisis of Modernity and Mental Health

33:10 The Role of Religion in Society

34:11 Rediscovering the Great Tradition

35:01 Perceptions of Church vs. Christianity

37:53 Distinguishing Between Institution and Faith

40:12 Rationality and the Existence of God

42:31 The Shift from Default Theism to Atheism

44:40 The Changing Landscape of Belief

47:35 Materialism and Free Will

49:16 Transhumanism and the Future of Humanity

51:01 Demographic Shifts and Religion’s Role

55:47 Signs of Hope Among Younger Generations

Waiting For The Offo is coming out on 1/12/25!!!

Howiye!!

Very excited to announce that my stageplay Waiting For The Offo, preformed in 2023 for a sold-out run in the New Theatre Templebar, will be available on Amazon in Print and Digital on the 1/12/25!!!!

Book Summary

“Do you ever wonder why we do this to ourselves?”

It’s 7 am Sunday morning, the party started two nights ago, but Terry and Niall are still awake and trying to keep the sesh alive…

In this coming-of-age-late comedy-drama, Terry Joyce and Niall Freeman are two loveable session heads who can’t grow up. After a year abroad, Terry has returned home from exile on the continent to the familiar dull round of Irish parties. His best friend, Niall, a self-proclaimed session master, never left and supplements his Monday-Friday insurance sales job with an alter-ego as a weekend warrior.

Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s seminal piece Waiting For Godot (but set in Dublin), Waiting For The Offo follows these two estranged best friends as they face off against having no drink, old love interests, the local nut-case drug dealer, purposelessness, nihilism, psychedelics, and finally, each other.

This play deals with the perennial themes of hopelessness, friendship, mental health and coming of age in the confusion of the modern world. Awarded the Dublin Fringe Festival Fringe Lab Fifty in 2020 and debuting to a sold out audience in Templebar’s The New Theatre 2023, this dynamic new production will take you on a euphoric free-fall into the Dionysian world of the Dublin party scene; the good times we love, and the bad habits we don’t.

Reviews of the Play:

“This play has it all, except booze. There’s friendship, attempts at romance, crazed drug dealers. Not to mention deep existential conversations about life, direction etc...Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot, Mahon McCann gives the idea a fun modern twist while retaining the existential philosophical nature of the idea.” @Dramatic Dublin

“It’s like watching your own life up there on the stage” @WildState

“We need rebels like McCann and McIvor. New voices making unconventional theatre in unconventional ways. Waiting for the Offo shows talent, passion and promise.” @The Arts Reviewer

“Big shout out to everyone involved with the play Waiting for The Offo, which I absolutely loved . I really appreciated that so much of the art I encountered from current Irish artists is grappling with the country’s intense alcohol intake. This play grappled hilariously and brilliantly.” @Abdi Nazemian, Stone wall and Lambda literary award-winning author.

Coming soon!

Robert Freese converted to Catholicism in 2020 after 20 years of practicing and eventually teaching Vipassana meditation. He and his wife Gosia are volunteers in the Faustinium, the lay order of Saint Faustina who initiated the devotion to Divine Mercy.

In this conversation, Robert shares his profound journey from a secular upbringing in Texas to exploring Buddhism and eventually returning to Catholicism. He discusses the influence of his family background, the transformative power of meditation, and the importance of community in spiritual practices. Robert reflects on his experiences with Vipassana meditation, the challenges of balancing spiritual commitments with worldly responsibilities, and the ongoing quest for self-discovery and meaning in life. In this conversation, Robert Freese shares his profound journey of faith, detailing his experiences of encountering Jesus during meditation, the integration of his Buddhist practices with Catholicism, and the transformative power of suffering and grace. He reflects on the significance of communion, confession, and the importance of bringing one’s suffering to God, emphasising the deep connection between personal experiences and spiritual growth.

Chapters

00:00 Journey of Spiritual Exploration

10:11 The Shift to Buddhism

19:57 Deepening the Practice

29:49 Teaching and Transformation

39:57 Navigating Challenges in Spiritual Life

49:51 Encountering Jesus in Meditation

54:00 The Cross and Personal Suffering

58:08 Navigating Faith and Personal Crisis

01:01:22 The Journey to Catholicism

01:07:20 Integrating Buddhism and Catholicism

01:14:14 Desire, Suffering, and Spiritual Growth

01:20:50 The Role of Confession and Grace

Martin McManus is a Lukewarm Catholic to anti-Catholic psychology postgrad to schismatic traditionalist to now a normal Catholic devoted to Our Lady and working to help others back to their home, the Catholic Church.

In this conversation, Martin shares his profound journey from a lukewarm Catholic upbringing in Longford to a period of atheism influenced by modern psychology and prominent atheists. He discusses his struggles with nihilism and the eventual rediscovery of faith, sparked by the works of Jordan Peterson and his experiences in the mental health field. Martin emphasizes the importance of community and tradition in his return to Catholicism, particularly through the Legion of Mary, and advocates for sharing faith with love and understanding.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Martin’s Journey

02:39 Early Catholic Upbringing and Its Impact

05:34 Drifting Away from Faith and Academic Pursuits

08:27 Encountering Atheism and Intellectual Influences

11:12 The Shift Towards Seeking Meaning

13:56 Exploring Freedom and Reality

16:44 The Role of Jordan Peterson in Rediscovering Faith

19:42 The Paradox of Freedom and Responsibility

22:34 Finding Harmony in Faith and Reality

28:04 Awakening to Faith

30:20 Exploring Different Christian Denominations

32:04 The Search for Truth in Catholicism

35:09 Understanding the Magisterium

38:29 The Role of Doctrine and Tradition

40:49 Living Out the Faith in Modern Times

47:15 Engaging with the Legion of Mary

52:32 Encouragement for Faith Sharing

Particularly Plato’s analogy of the Sun, and the Divided Line from ‘The Republic’ to explain the un-hypothetical first principle of everything. After a quick re-cap of the Philosopher Kings, we discuss the change from politics to philosophy in the Republic book six. Plato’s analogy of the ship for the state, and why Philosophers know appearance from Reality and the three roles of the Good in Plato’s ethics, epistemology and ontology. Finally, the lecture summarises the dialectic process leading to the Form of the Good, emphasising its critical role in understanding reality and achieving a just society.

Chapters:

00:00 Plato’s Good and the Divided Line

00:26 Philosophers as Kings

02:39 The Analogy of the Ship

04:13 Corruption and Education

07:17 The Form of the Good

09:18 The Sun and the Divided Line

17:21 The Nature of Ultimate Reality

19:23 Conclusion and Next Steps

Chapters:

00:00 Philosopher Kings in Book Five of Republic

00:17 Overview of Book Five

01:02 The Concept of Philosopher Kings

02:21 Philosophy vs. Politics

02:59 The Nature of Philosophical Love

05:04 Plato’s Theory of Forms

13:48 Conclusion: Why Philosophers Should Be Kings

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