The Catholic Herald, Author at Catholic Herald

The Catholic Herald

God and politics: Kate Forbes and Ron DeSantis

March 28, 2023

Nothing could better illustrate the difference between American elections and those in Britain – specifically Scotland – than the plight of Kate Forbes, a candidate to lead the Scottish National Party. Ms Forbes encountered more than the usual challenges in seeking to become Scotland’s First Minister. She is a member of the Free Church of

On Pilgrimage With: Sir Stephen Hough

March 15, 2023

Where would you go? Probably Assisi. I know what has become known as “the Franciscan spirit” is really a later, softer invention or adaptation, but God is still in it. Simplicity, humility, poetry – devotion with a smile and a sense of humour. And optimism too. Despite a radical rejection of riches (and even clothing)

Nélida Piñon 1937-2022: Brazilian writer of acclaim

March 14, 2023

While it might be said that Nélida Piñon was a Catholic writer, she was certainly not one set in the customary mould – or indeed in any mould at all. Certainly the faith of her Galician immigrant family influenced her work – many of her books were infused with themes of Christian mysticism and spirituality

Ten years on: Pope Francis needs our prayers

March 13, 2023

Ten years ago, Jorge Mario Bergoglio stood on the balcony of St Peter’s in Rome, and said simply to the waiting crowd, “Buono Sera”, and asked them to pray for him. It was the beginning of a pontificate very different from any other. The archbishop of Buonos Aires was to become the first pope to

Episode 39: The Latin Mass Life Raft with Dr Joseph Shaw

March 03, 2023

The guest for this 39th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, is Dr Joseph Shaw, the chairman of the Latin Mass Society and a former member of the Philosophy faculty at Oxford University. He tells Dr Gavin Ashenden that the reasons offered for the ongoing suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass just

Paul Johnson: Saluting a great man of letters

March 01, 2023

The death of Paul Johnson, the author, journalist, historian and editor is a loss not just to British letters and journalism and London social life, but to the Catholic Church. Throughout the vagaries of his long and varied career, his Catholicism was a constant, and he loved the Church, all the more because it is

Try giving up meat for Lent

March 01, 2023

The late Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, used to point out that religions should be wary of discarding their traditions, because they have a habit of coming back into fashion. There can be no better example than the tradition of giving up meat on Fridays. This was formerly the rule for Catholics, an easily understood and

Bishop Barron makes the faith attractive again

March 01, 2023

In the English speaking world, Christians are becoming fewer and fewer, and older and older. Certainly in the UK, census figures released last month showed that less than half the population identified themselves as Christian; for young people, the figure was barely one in three. The same phenomenon is evident in the US. As Stephen

Roche implements further Vatican crackdown on the Traditional Latin Mass: but why?

February 23, 2023

The dust is beginning to settle on the rescript of the motu proprio Traditiones Custodes which was issued in Rome on the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday, after Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was received in audience by the Holy Father. Diocesan bishops will no longer be given the agency and final authority over whether new parishes within their dioceses should be permitted to host celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).

Podcast 37: The New Puritans with Andrew Doyle

February 16, 2023

Andrew Doyle, the comedian, broadcaster and writer, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 37th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, to discuss the rise of new ideologies broadly described as “wokery”. Doyle, author of the 2022 book The New Puritans, compares the followers of destructive new ideologies with old school religious

Valentine’s Day diary from Ukraine

February 14, 2023

By Brooks Newmark I have ended up on February 14 in Odesa, an old port city on the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. My wife Lucy flew out from London to visit me a few days ago. Amazingly the Opera and Ballet Theatre House in Odesa has just reopened, so we are going to see La

Podcast 36: The Criminalisation of Prayer with Isabel Vaughan-Spruce

February 10, 2023

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce is the guest on this week’s episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. The pro-life counsellor was arrested and charged by police in December after she admitted to them that she “might be” praying silently in her head outside a closed abortion facility in Birmingham. The Crown Prosecution Services

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