Francis Phillips, Author at Catholic Herald

Francis Phillips

November 15, 2019

Michael Ashcroft’s biography of Jacob Rees-Mogg (Biteback Publishing £20) makes for interesting reading. Although described as “unauthorised”, it is a shrewd yet sympathetic portrait of an intriguing politician, written by a major Conservative Party philanthropist and author with a special interest in courage (he is a collector of VC medals). Ashcroft gives two reasons for

Benedict XVI’s hope for Europe

November 15, 2019

Ignatius Press has reissued the then Cardinal Ratzinger’s book of 2007, entitled Western Culture. In this collection of conference papers, the Cardinal, now Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, analyses where he thinks Europe has lost its way: by “denying its religion and moral foundations” it has ushered in a “post-European technological-secular world.” Europe’s “identity, its culture

The triumph of love between a couple torn apart by the Third Reich

November 15, 2019

Watching the scenes on television these last few days of the collapse of the Berlin wall 30 years ago has been extraordinary and heart-warming. John Simpson, veteran BBC reporter, described it as an occasion of joy. Really there is no other word; we are so used to people fighting each other that it seemed a

Why the lives of the saints make excellent comics

November 15, 2019

All children love (or used to love) reading comics; pictures, action, strong story-line without too much tedious prose. I was always filching my brother’s copies of Eagle, as well as The Dandy and The Beano whenever I could find them. Once someone brought along a graphic version of Kafka’s The Trial to a session of

William Oddie: Dynamic, passionate and provocative

November 14, 2019

The recent death of William Oddie will be sad news for his many friends and former colleagues. A large personality in Catholic journalistic circles, his unmistakeable voice will be widely missed. Whether one agreed or disagreed with him, his articles were always compulsory reading both for their trenchant opinions and their vigour of expression. From

How the sacraments change lives

October 31, 2019

Rose Rea’s Spirit and Life: The Holy Sacraments of the Catholic Church (Sophia Institute Press, 256pp, £23/$29.95) is a beautifully produced book, with many superb illustrations of churches, chapels and liturgical occasions, suggesting that the Sophia Institute wishes to portray the beauty innate in the hidden glory of the sacramental life of the Church.

Newman’s warning about the future of the Church

October 29, 2019

Having read and blogged about Fr Guy Nicholls’ study of St John Henry Newman’s understanding of aesthetics, Unearthly Beauty (Gracewing), I was keen to ask him a few questions, such as what led him to write on this topic? Fr Guy tells me that “It is the fruit of many years of living in the

A vital document in defence of clerical celibacy

October 29, 2019

Reading in the news recently that the Amazon Synod has approved the ordination of married men in certain circumstances in remote areas, I was unsurprised but disheartened; unsurprised because such an approval has been mooted several times in relation to this Synod, and disheartened because this single item of news lays bare the whole thrust

The forgotten Brothers Grimm fairytale about Our Lady

October 23, 2019

I blogged recently about the Russian writer, Vasily Grossman’s sight of Raphael’s painting of The Sistine Madonna for the first time at an exhibition in Moscow in 1955, and how deeply this timeless depiction of maternal tenderness affected him; indeed, he linked it to all the suffering and wretchedness he had witnessed as a war

Struggling to raise your child in the faith? Try this book

October 22, 2019

Roy Peachey, whose earlier book on home-schooling I blogged about some time ago, has written another book fizzing with ideas, questions and thoughts on raising one’s children in the Faith. Titled Did Jesus go to School? And Other Questions about Parents, Children and Education (Redemptorist Publications), it is divided into three chapters: parents, children and

The painting of Our Lady that was stolen by the Nazis

October 22, 2019

Having recommended Vasily Grossman’s great novel Life and Fate to a friend, I have been slightly disconcerted to discover that this same friend has now read more of Grossman than I have – viz. Grossman’s collection titled The Road: Short Fiction and Essays, first published in a paperback translation in 2011. The friend urged me

The mystical revelations that show why we need to pray for priests

October 14, 2019

Saint John Henry Newman’s motto, Heart Speaks to Heart, is utterly characteristic of his realisation that love, symbolised by the heart, is the basis for true communication. Perhaps he was thinking of the empathetic form of authentic human communication, but he would have known from his own life of prayer that a loving friendship with

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