Joseph Shaw, Author at Catholic Herald

Joseph Shaw

Infiltration: an unconvincing tale of the Church’s enemies

June 13, 2019

Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Catholic Church from Within By Taylor Marshall Crisis Publications 224pp, £19.75/$24.95 In 1846, Pope Pius IX condemned schemes aiming at the destruction of the Papal States by Freemasons. In 1851, Mélanie Calvat, the seer of La Salette, sent an account of her visions to the pope, including the prediction

How Agatha Christie helped to save the Latin Mass

November 01, 2018

An unlikely intervention by England’s cultural luminaries rescued the Tridentine Mass from threatened extinction

How the Latin Mass was saved

November 01, 2018

On November 26, 1971, the front page of the Universe informed its readers as follows: As from this Sunday, the first in Advent, it is forbidden to offer Mass in the Tridentine rite anywhere in the world. In very special circumstances old or retired priests may apply to their own bishop for permission to use

Gregorian chant: the cultural front line of the new evangelisation

October 12, 2018

The cultural and artistic value of chant exercises a powerful attraction

Bishops no longer understand each other

April 05, 2018

In the 1973 film Catholics, Martin Sheen – playing a Jesuit come to bring a remote traditionalist monastery to heel – informs the abbot that Vatican IV has forbidden the Latin Mass and the Sacrament of Confession, except for mortal sins. Author Brian Moore’s dystopian vision has not come to pass, and one reason to

How observing the Ember Days can enhance your spiritual life

December 20, 2017

Ember days are a particularly ancient and rich part of the Church’s liturgical patrimony

Joseph Shaw: After the ‘liturgy wars’, a pluralistic truce?

August 31, 2017

Pope Francis’s recent address on the liturgy – about which he has hitherto said little – was striking for its conventionality. In almost every respect, the Pope’s speech hews to the official, post-Vatican II line. It emphasises the continuity of the post-conciliar reform with the efforts of Pius X and XII; it praises the reform

Want your parish to close? Set up a ‘crying room’

August 26, 2017

A parish that segregates people who had the temerity to produce children doesn’t deserve another generation of members

Abolish ‘crying rooms’ now

August 24, 2017

To many people disturbed by children making a noise during Mass, “crying rooms” must seem like an answer to prayer. The children can just go in there, and the problem is solved. Things look rather different from a parent’s perspective, however. If your noisy child goes into a crying room, with other noisy children, then

Why Cardinal Sarah’s liturgical ‘reconciliation’ plan won’t work

July 21, 2017

The cardinal's plan is well intentioned, but the new lectionary and calendar would be too confusing if applied to the Old Rite

50 years on, a fascinating glimpse of how liturgical reform became a juggernaut

May 25, 2017

Eucharisticum Mysterium, issued on May 25 1967, shows the conflict between innovation and tradition

The treatment of independent midwives is shameful

March 15, 2017

Independent midwives in Britain were effectively banned earlier this year when their insurance was deemed inadequate

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