The Best Catholics in the World: The Irish, the Church and the End of a Special Relationship

London: Penguin/Sandycove, 2021 9781844885268. Softcover. B-format paperback. First edtion. First printing. Number 001. VG. No annotations, inscriptions or highlighting. 8vo. 352 pages including endnotes and very detailed index.. Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards 2021. ."Brilliant, engaging and essential." Colm Toibin "At once intimate and epic, this is a landmark book." Fintan O'Toole. When Dubliner Derek Scally goes to Christmas Eve Mass on a visit home from Berlin, he finds more memories than congregants in the church where he was once an altar boy. Not for the first time, the collapse of the Catholic Church in Ireland brings to mind the fall of another powerful ideology - East German communism. The dwindling power of the Church in Ireland is undeniable. Scally sees that the Irish are dealing with just as great a shock to their sense of collective identity as the East Germans after the fall of Communism. So he embarks on a quest to unravel the tight hold the Church had on the Irish. He travels the length and breadth of Ireland and across Europe, going to Masses, novenas, shrines and seminaries, talking to those who have abandoned the Church and those who have held on, to survivors and campaigners, to writers and historians, to psychologists and many more. And he has probing and revealing encounters with Vatican officials, priests and the religious along the way.The Best Catholics in the World is the remarkable result of his three-year journey. With wit, wisdom and compassion Scally gives voice and definition to the murky and difficult questions that face a society coming to terms with its troubling past. It is both a lively personal odyssey and a resonant and gripping work of reporting that is a major contribution to the story of Ireland. Derek Scally has written for the Irish Times since 2000. He is based in Berlin. His first book, 'The Best Catholics in the World', was a number one bestseller and was shortlisted for Non-Fiction Book of the Year. "'Reflective, textured, insightful and original ... rich with history, interrogation and emotional intelligence." Diarmaid Ferriter, Irish Times.'An unblinking look at the collapse of the Church and Catholic deference in Ireland. Excellent and timely' John Banville, The Sunday Times. 'Remarkable ... Essential reading for anyone concerned about history and forgetting' Michael Harding. .