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A rallying cry to the Church by one of 20th century’s great intellectual converts: Elizabeth Anscombe’s iconic 1938 letter to the Catholic Herald
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A rallying cry to the Church by one of 20th century’s great intellectual converts: Elizabeth Anscombe’s iconic 1938 letter to the Catholic Herald
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A rallying cry to the Church by one of 20th century’s great intellectual converts: Elizabeth Anscombe’s iconic 1938 letter to the Catholic Herald
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Oleńka Hamilton

Swathes of women are involuntarily single and childless: Covid lockdowns and the ticking biological clock
January 11, 2024
‘I can’t believe you’re about to have your third baby and I haven’t even had my first,” said an old girlfriend wistfully over supper the other night. This was not the first time I’d noticed this, although no one really talks about it, that women, when they enter their mid-to-late 30s, suddenly become very starkly
Christmas traditions – and anti-traditions
December 01, 2023
Searching for a Barbie that can walk. We have a strict rule in our house, imposed by me about two weeks ago, that no one is allowed to talk about Christmas until after my birthday, which is on November 14 (yes, I share my birthday with the King). I am writing this on November 13,
Poland’s Catholics are not going to like their new government
October 19, 2023
Following the Polish elections last week, the assumption is that over the next few weeks a new government will form as a result of a coalition between three parties led by Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (Koalicja Obywatelska or “KO”), a so-called “centre right” party with a strong pro-EU stance and a socially liberal agenda.  KO
Poland is beginning to seem preferable to Britain in so many ways
September 27, 2023
I spent nearly a month in Poland this summer because my widowed, childless aunt died unexpectedly and left me and my mother with a mountain of “death-min” which we have still nowhere near dealt with.  The media and political classes present us with a confused portrait of what Poland is  really like. On the one
Finnish politician on trial for ‘hate speech’ for defending traditional marriage
August 31, 2023
Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen is on trial this week for “hate speech” and “ethnic agitation” after publicly sharing in 2019 her biblical, religious views on marriage as between one man and one woman.  Räsänen, 63, is being tried for violating Finland’s hate speech laws by using Bible verses to express her support for traditional marriage. 
A ‘new chapter’ for Ampleforth
August 31, 2023
Ampleforth headmaster Peter Roberts speaks to Oleńka Hamilton about his new mission I was looking forward to speaking to Peter Roberts, the new headmaster of Ampleforth. Having left The King’s School, Canterbury, just six years before he took over as headmaster, a position he held from 2011 until his retirement in 2022, I had heard
Catholic Herald Good Schools Guide 2023: Introduction
August 30, 2023
This year, having got more than the all-clear from Ofsted, Ampleforth is back in the top ten along with two new additions: girls’ school The Laurels and its brother school The Cedars. Based in South London’s Upper Norwood, near Croydon, on a large campus which they share with Oakwood prep school, both schools have impressed
Chaldean Patriarch says withdrawal of recognition of his role is climax of campaign to seize Church’s assets
August 08, 2023
The leader of Iraq’s largest Christian community has condemned a Presidential order overturning a decree which recognises him as Patriarch, calling the move “offensive” and the climax of a campaign to seize control of the Church’s assets.  Cardinal Louis Raphael I Sako said Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid’s decision to revoke his predecessor’s pronouncement acknowledging
Freedom on a good holiday
August 02, 2023
Spending time with family in a country where people are courteous and helpful. I haven’t travelled very adventurously in the past five or six years, partly because of Covid and partly due to being very much in the business of having babies. No one enjoys holidays with toddlers, not even the toddlers, so it is
Top EU official challenges COVID worship ban in unprecedented religious freedom case
July 31, 2023
A top EU official and former Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief has challenged the 2021 COVID restrictions on public worship at the European Court of Human Rights.  Bringing the potentially precedent-setting religious freedom case to the court in Strasbourg (ECHR) on July 28, Dr. Ján Figeľ stated that worship bans are “illiberal
Perhaps I should leave teaching to the trained professionals
July 03, 2023
I have sat in numerous hospital waiting rooms over the past few weeks trying to get to the bottom of why one of my children spends most of the night crying and complaining of leg pain. I had heard of these things called “growing pains”, but never realised they literally keep your child and indeed
Pope Francis appoints Stephen Wright as next Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle
June 14, 2023
Pope Francis has appointed Bishop Stephen Wright to be the next Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle.  Bishop Wright, 52, who has until now served as an auxiliary bishop of Birmingham, worked as a lawyer before his ordination and is Chairman of CAFOD’s trustees.  He succeeds Bishop Robert Byrne, who resigned in December 2022 after just
On marriage and lockdown
December 07, 2020
We are in the middle of a divorce pandemic, or so the law firms would like us to think. “It’s an extreme change of circumstances for spouses and any issues in the marriage have been compounded by lockdown,” said one family lawyer, who claimed divorce inquiries increased by 30 per cent over the summer after
The dangers of employer fertility packages
November 19, 2020
The so-called “queen of venture capitalists” Eileen Burbidge has said that companies in the UK should start offering fertility treatment to staff in the same way that they provide pension schemes. Burbidge is a rich and successful business woman with five children of her own. The youngest two of these were conceived through IVF in
On platonic parenting
November 07, 2020
In this brand new world of Covid, there has been a rise in something called “platonic parenting” or “co-parenting”. This when two people who are not married or even romantically attached decide to have a child together. “If you are single man or woman (regardless of your own sexual orientation) and you want to have
Millennial phone fear
October 14, 2020
Fewer and fewer young people are using the telephone to have conversations. Last month on Radio 4 Esther Ranzten, who founded the charity The Silver Line, a helpline offering friendship and advice to older people, urged us to speak on the telephone more. ”I would implore people who have friends, neighbours or family or who
On a slower pace of mothering
September 26, 2020
Now that nurseries have reopened, Olenka Hamilton has decided to keep her young daughter at home. Here’s why. When you feel powerless, as many of us do in the face of the gross ongoing assault on our freedoms by our government, gratitude is surely the answer. And there is something which has come out of
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