Catholic Herald View, Author at Catholic Herald

Catholic Herald View

Mayors tackle climate and poverty at Vatican meeting

July 31, 2015

After decades of world leaders trying to set global goals to address climate change and extreme poverty, city mayors gathered at the Vatican last week to promise that they will take concerted action. The Pope spoke briefly to them in Spanish on Tuesday after more than 60 mayors attended a day-long workshop on modern slavery

Little Sisters seek to defy ruling

July 31, 2015

The Little Sisters of the Poor have asked the US Supreme Court for relief from being forced to comply with the federal contraceptive mandate or face heavy fines. Sister Loraine Marie Maguire said: “We hope the Supreme Court will hear our case and ensure that people from diverse faiths can freely follow God’s calling in

Catholics urged to fight the death penalty

July 31, 2015

The Catholic tradition “offers a unique perspective on crime and punishment, one grounded in mercy and healing, not punishment for its own sake”, two American bishops have said in a statement renewing the Church’s push to end the death penalty. “No matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human

Donor fatigue is ‘hampering’ efforts to help ISIS victims

July 31, 2015

Donor fatigue is hampering efforts to help Christian refugees fleeing ISIS, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem has said. Sounding dejected, Patriarch Fouad Twal said he identified with the humiliations faced by the refugees in Jordan who have gone from living a placid life in which they attended school, went to work and were able to

Polish bishops condemn IVF law

July 31, 2015

Polish bishops say they are “deeply disappointed” that a bill allowing state funding for in vitro fertilisation has been signed into law by outgoing president Bronisław Komorowski, despite a seven-year Church campaign to block it. Archbishop Henryk Hoser of Warsaw-Praga said the law “opens all doors to every possible abuse of human life. It’s a

Asia Bibi’s death sentence is put on hold

July 31, 2015

Asia Bibi, the Pakistani Christian who was sentenced to death for blasphemy, has had her execution temporarily suspended after the country’s supreme court agreed to hear her appeal. Mrs Bibi was arrested in 2009 after being involved in a dispute over a water bowl with a group of Muslim women she was working with. The

Omnium Gatherum

July 31, 2015

This week we celebrate the Transfiguration, when our Lord allowed something of His true splendor to shine through His (our) humanity for Peter, John and James. That’s an amazing grace! Have you ever wondered why some people receive amazing graces and others don’t? St Maximus Confessor (d 682) gives an interesting insight while he comments

The Eighteenth Sunday of the Year

July 31, 2015

EX 16:2-4; EPH 4:17 & 20-24; JN 6:24-35 (YEAR B) Grumbles and murmurings punctuated Israel’s progress to the promised land. At Meribah they had first complained of thirst. Later they would bemoan their hunger in the wilderness, complaining that Moses was leading them to their deaths. Too easily we accept grumbling as a part of

Briefly noted

July 31, 2015

50 Poems for My 50th by Sarah de Nordwall (Bard Press, £9.99). Spirited, provocative, tender and personal, these poems by the founder of the Bard School are a delight, reminding those with jaded appetites that the world is full of wonder and the task of poetry is to open our eyes to the mysterious beauty

The wunderkind who survived middle age

July 31, 2015

The Seed Collectors by Scarlett Thomas, Canongate, £14.99 ‘If you want a really good time, go into a church,” a character suggests two thirds through Scarlett Thomas’s new novel, The Seed Collectors. It’s not just the quality of the sermons that’s exciting this character, however, but also the transformative effects of a liquid produced by

The birth of the ‘patched up’ Bible

July 31, 2015

How the Bible Became Holy by michael l satlow, yale, £12.99 We now know a great deal about how, when and why specific biblical texts were composed. There is still much to learn about the mechanisms by which these texts acquired authority among the faithful, both Jewish and Christian. We sometimes assume that the various

This is what it’s like to be a despot’s daughter

July 31, 2015

Stalin’s Daughter by Rosemary Sullivan, Fourth ESTATE, £25 Svetlana Alliluyeva, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, not only had the courage to defect from Russia but also the ability to describe the experience of growing up in her father’s monstrous shadow. Her book, Twenty Letters to a Friend, published soon after her defection in 1967, became

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