Serenhedd James, Author at Catholic Herald

Serenhedd James

May 27, 2022

The God of Surprises strikes again; I am spending the summer term as Acting Head of Religious Studies & Liturgy at More House School, on the corner of Pont Street and Sloane Street, London. Founded by the Canonesses of St Augustine in 1952 with just three girls, it grew rapidly before passing into lay management

End of the road for St Benet’s Hall?

May 17, 2022

St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, looks set to close, writes Serenhedd James The optimism with which I wrote about the future of St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, in the February edition of the Catholic Herald was clearly misplaced. The Master, Professor Richard Cooper, has now written to students to say that the University Council decided on 9th May that

A glimpse of heaven at Sir John Soane’s Museum

May 02, 2022

Architectural Drawings: Hidden Masterpieces from Sir John Soane’s Museum by Dr Frances Sands Batsford Press, £35, 159 pages “We’ll make heaven a place on earth,” crooned the songstress Belinda Carlisle. I wonder whether she’s ever visited the Sir John Soane Museum, in the heart of London, where, for people like me, that process has already

Our Lady of The Windrush – a new icon goes on tour

April 02, 2022

As I passed through the huge central doors of Westminster Cathedral one sunny spring afternoon, I was struck by the lingering smell of incense; the building seems constantly prepared for worship. There are always people at prayer, but it is as if a bell might ring at any moment, and a priest emerge vested for

Friends reunited

March 30, 2022

Reorganising bookshelves leads to mixed blessings

Exhibition review: The World of Stonehenge

March 24, 2022

There is a certain apophatic quality to The World of Stonehenge at the British Museum, which is defined by the absence at its centre—not unlike a Polo, the mint with the hole. This applies figuratively, in the sense that what anyone actually knows about Stonehenge is still very limited, and literally in the case of the stones

A Seminary at War

March 07, 2022

Seminarian Julian Hayda explains how he and his brothers – who are taking to the frontline in Ukraine – are fulfilling their vocations to Holy Orders as stretcher bearers, firemen and relief workers