Francis Phillips, Author at Catholic Herald

Francis Phillips

An author who shows the real cost of salvation

August 23, 2019

In the way of regular on-line articles, I happened to read one a few weeks ago by a Dominican priest entitled “10 Catholic novels to take to the beach this summer.” Among predictable recommendations, such as Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O’Connor and GK Chesterton, as well as several authors I hadn’t heard of, I saw the

The Shroud of Turin cannot be dismissed so easily

August 23, 2019

I have been buoyed up by reading an article by KV Turley in the National Catholic Register for August 5, entitled “The Shroud of Turin: Latest Study Deepens Mystery.” Readers of my blogs may know that there is a full-length facsimile of the Holy Shroud in our small, rural parish church, to which I have

Don’t try to pigeonhole Cardinal Müller

August 22, 2019

I will not describe Cardinal Gerhard Müller, formerly prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as a “conservative” cardinal as it would be both offensive to him and play into the hands of those determined to politicise the faith. He is simply a fine, authoritative Catholic pastor and teacher, deeply conscious of

How can Christians help parents of children with disabilities?

August 12, 2019

I have been sent two books, one a parents’ resource and the other a parish resource, on the subject of Christian accompaniment of parents through the experience of a pre-birth diagnosis of possible disability. Because I Am, by Cristina Gangemi (Redemptorist Publications) includes reflections from parents in this situation and passages meditating on the life

Why did so many Germans follow Hitler in committing suicide?

August 12, 2019

Having recently blogged about Around the Year with the von Trapp Family, by Maria Augusta von Trapp, it led me to ponder just how vigorous the Catholic faith and culture was in Austria before the War. Von Trapp lovingly describes the way the family kept their Austrian religious customs alive after they had immigrated to

Books round up: Catholic gentlemen, Newman’s London, and the reality of heaven

August 08, 2019

Sam Guzman, founder and editor of The Catholic Gentleman blog, has written a robust challenge to the pessimistic view of modern men as either wimps, inferior in every respect to women, or as thugs and abusers. The Catholic Gentleman (Ignatius Press, 177pp, £13.95/$16.95) is a fine reminder of what true manhood is (or should be)

A zealous pastor of souls

August 05, 2019

For those of us who often feel overwhelmed by the number of worthwhile articles on the internet flowing from faithful pens that we do not have time to read, The Power of Truth by Gerhard Cardinal Muller (Ignatius) is a very useful volume. Mainly a collection of his recent essays in the US magazine First

The amazing miracles of Padre Pio

August 02, 2019

I have been sent a life-enhancing book – very necessary in the midst of our current political upheavals – by the indefatigable Frank M. Rega who has done so much to promote Catholic saints and mystics, such as St Padre Pio and St Francis of Assisi. It is Amazing Miracles of Padre Pio and the

The artist who shows the cost of Christian discipleship

July 29, 2019

I have just been reading On the Edge of Infinity, the recent biography of the Canadian icon painter and novelist, Michael D O’Brien, by Clemens Cavallini (Ignatius Press). What impresses me most forcefully about this book is not so much O’Brien’s creative output, which deserves separate critical assessment, but the evidence of a heroic Christian

The deep faith of the Von Trapp family

July 26, 2019

Last month we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart, beloved of Catholic devotional iconography (and traditional kitsch holy pictures). If the core of the Christian faith is the love of Christ, this Feast is a visible and liturgical reminder of it. In Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family (Sophia Institute Press), its

The Catholic poet who turned her suffering into verse

July 22, 2019

Having blogged recently on Dana Greene’s biography of the poet Elizabeth Jennings, I have been rather haunted by the image of an elderly shopping-bag lady, struggling to survive in a world that does not easily accommodate those who are different or eccentric, and living heroically through her poetry – the very opposite of what one

50 books every Catholic should read

July 19, 2019

We generally like to think we are better read than we actually are. I have been swiftly disabused of this particular illusion on reading Roy Peachey’s sparkling and erudite little volume: 50 Books for Life: A Concise guide to Catholic Literature (Second Spring/Angelico Press). Apart from the 19th-century English novel, I have huge gaps in

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