The Road to Silence: An Irish Spiritual Odyssey

'I had an image of Irish Catholicism as narrow, intolerant and regressive. Such adjectives were like skittles set in rows as I waited to knock them down. I would break out from all this, I told myself, I would have nothing to do with it, I proclaimed. My mind would be open and free. Yet, with equal fervour, I found it impossible to let Catholicism go.'

The Road to Silence tells the story of a personal journey made against the background of Irish Catholicism. Seán Dunne  grew up against a traditional background in Waterford in the 1960's, and his book includes a vivid memory of those years. Like many of his generation, he later rejected religion as a social structure. Yet he still felt the need to live within a spiritual dimension. His search takes place against many backgrounds: a Waterford suburb; the Trappist monastery of Mount Melleray; a monastic community in the heart of Paris; a Buddhist centre on the Beara peninsula, as he moved from narrow, authoritarian religion towards a richer Catholic spirituality. Written with great care and lyric grace, The Road to Silence  is a rare spiritual testament by an Irish poet and writer.