Quentin de la Bedoyere, Author at Catholic Herald

Quentin de la Bedoyere

Science and faith: Lust and the case for nuance

June 22, 2017

‘Adultery in the heart is committed not only because a man looks in a certain way at a woman who is not his wife but precisely because he is looking at a woman that way. Even if he were to look that way at the woman who is his wife, he would be committing the

Science and faith: Prejudice is in our nature

June 01, 2017

I am a self-confessed racist. If you think that means I should not be writing in a Catholic magazine, I would remind you that you are a racist too. I discovered this descending some narrow stairs on the Tube. Coming up was a West Indian, so I stepped aside to let him pass. And I

Science and faith: The club that could extend your life

May 11, 2017

Yesterday I had a telephone call from Rupert (not his real name). I usually see him once a fortnight but recently he has been away suffering from bone marrow cancer. The news was good. Following courses of treatment he is now clear, although it is too early to confirm permanent recovery. Part of my pleasure

Science and faith: Five letters could change your life

April 20, 2017

Clergy, accountants, teachers, business managers, social workers, parents – that’s just the beginning of a long list of vocations whose job involves solving problems face to face. You would think that much of their training would be focused on how to do this best. But various studies have suggested that this is often not the

Science and faith: The Greek prophet of the Gospel

April 06, 2017

When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spoke to his fellow bishops on the subject of conscience and law in 1991, he referred to Socrates, the pagan, as being, in a certain respect, “the prophet of Jesus Christ”. So perhaps we should think about the part Socrates played in the history of human thought. He is not easy

Let’s be clear on conscience

March 09, 2017

In a recent letter to this magazine, Wilfred Jones, a younger, and clearly devout Catholic, describes his and his friends’ doubts about Pope Francis’s approach to Catholic teachings on human sexuality. Yes, it is messy. Many years ago I suggested that we would be helped by a computer program which, written correctly, would solve any

The degrading of marriage

February 16, 2017

Last week was Marriage Week. This is an international celebration promoted by the Marriage Foundation. The organisation refers to recent studies which give a picture of how we stand in this country. The news is not good. The United Kingdom has among the highest rates of family breakdown in the developed world. Nearly two thirds

When having a baby is dangerous

January 26, 2017

The Honourable Henry Thynn was born on December 30, 2016. His father was Lord Weymouth, but Lady Weymouth, 30 years old, did not give birth. That duty went to an unnamed American lady who, for a consideration, undertook to carry the baby to term. Apparently US laws on surrogacy are more secure than ours. I

The theology of New Year’s resolutions

January 05, 2017

Were you holier at the end of 2016 than at the beginning? And if not, perhaps this is the time to think a little about the theology of good resolutions. We recognise that we are at the epitome of faith and science: the interweaving of these two lies at the heart of human nature, because

The nuns who have doctors baffled

December 08, 2016

Doctors are unable to explain why a nun's brain fully invaded with Alzheimer's kept functioning at a high level

The nuns who have doctors baffled

December 08, 2016

What is the disease from which 30 million people suffer worldwide, and will increase to 130 million by 2050? In Britain, the number of sufferers will be around two million. No one fully understands the details of this disease, and there is no cure. It is an immensely costly disease for the state, and for

Pascal’s wager under the knife

November 17, 2016

Does God exist? It’s a fair question. I am not a betting man, but I can do the arithmetic of chance versus reward. And this is quite straightforward. I can decide that God exists and, if I’m right, I have the prospect of eternal happiness. If he does not exist, then I will return to

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