Irish Journal Book

Irish Catholicism is Böll's conception of the most heavenly Christianity: every man is left alone with his poverty, his prayer, and his bottle of whiskey.

"A cup of tea, at dawn, while standing shivering in the west wind, the isle of saints still hiding from the sun in the morning mist; here on this island, then, live the only people in Europe that never set out to conquer, although there were conquered several times, by Danes, Normans, Englishmen--all they sent out was priests, monks, missionaries who, by way of this strange detour via Ireland, brought the spirit of Thebaic asceticism to Europe; here, more than a thousand years ago, so far from the center of things, as if it had slipped way out into the Atlantic, lay the glowing heart of Europe..."