Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

April 04, 2019

April 6 is the first day of the 56th season of the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Running until May 19 at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, California, it is the oldest of at least 62 similar festivals coast to coast. While most of these “Renfaires” are set in Elizabethan times, some

It’s too soon to celebrate Maryland’s assisted suicide vote

April 04, 2019

An assisted suicide bill was narrowly defeated in the Maryland Senate (pictured) last week, ensuring that the measure – which was passed by the House – will not become law, for now. The House bill had been passed three weeks earlier, on March 3, and the Senate defeated it on March 28. Senator Pamela Beidle

What we haven’t got right about sex

April 04, 2019

Several years ago, in the question-and-answer period after a public lecture, a rather disgruntled young man asked me a question that carried with it a bit of attitude: “You seem to write a lot about sex,” he said, “do you have a particular problem with it?” My lecture had been on God’s mercy and had

My ‘Scotland’s Shame’ speech provoked debate, but what changed?

April 04, 2019

Twenty years ago, in August 1999, I made a speech at the Edinburgh International Festival called “Scotland’s Shame” arguing that anti-Catholicism was a barrier to genuine pluralism. At the time it seemed to cause a bit of a stir. But looking back, it seems more like a storm in a teacup. There were many voices

Prize Crossword 0587

April 04, 2019

Cryptic across 1 Get old woman drink after all going round an OT peak (6) 4 Classes for actors with fringe experiences (6) 8 Gold lace many discarded at dance (5) 9 One of David’s warriors of note appearing in a version of Isaiah (7) 10 Neckwear Zulu granny starts to wear for blessing (7)

Mass readings

April 04, 2019

Ordinary Form Divine Office Week I Sunday, April 7: Fifth Sunday of Lent Is 43:16-21; Ps 126; Phil 3:8-14; Jn 8:1-11 Monday, April 8: Weekday of Lent Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; Ps 23; Jn 8:21-30 Tuesday, April 9: Weekday of Lent Nm 21:4-9; Ps 102; Jn 5:1-16 Wednesday, April 10: Weekday of Lent Dn

Heretic of the week: George King

April 04, 2019

George King (1919-1997) was born in Wellington, Shropshire. His family considered itself Christian, although his mother also claimed to be a psychic, clairvoyant and healer, and encouraged young George to develop his own talents of this kind. As he grew up, King explored all the various alternative spiritualities London had to offer – theosophy, spiritualism,

How to… Greet the Pope

April 04, 2019

During a visit to the Holy House in Loreto, Pope Francis was filmed repeatedly withdrawing his hand from pilgrims who kneeled to kiss his ring. The video, a minute in length, went viral with people all over the world wondering, perhaps, why Catholics persisted in a practice which was so obviously displeasing to the Pontiff.

Healing ministry for abuse survivors is suddenly in demand

April 04, 2019

Not without a certain trepidation, I have come to speak at a clergy convention in one of the dioceses of Pennsylvania which was the subject of the Grand Jury report last summer. Hundreds of priests in the state had been abusing minors and many of the older cases were simply covered up and the perpetrators

Priests need your prayers this Passiontide

April 04, 2019

Catholics journeying towards the New Jerusalem through the sacrament-season of Lent, our mysterious New Exodus, from this Sunday onward especially via the Roman Rite’s Extraordinary Form, begin to undergo severe liturgical kénosis, or emptying. Images are covered over to deprive the sense of sight, prayers are pruned from Mass. When the Triduum strikes, more and

Christ Himself becomes our way through sin’s wilderness

April 04, 2019

The Fifth Sunday of Lent Is 43:16-21; Phil 3:8-4; Jn 8:1-11 (Year C) ‘Thus says the Lord. No need to recall the past, no need to think of what was done before. See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it?” As we draw ever closer

A deadly path from Mexico to the Oval Office

April 04, 2019

The Border By Don Winslow, Harper Collins, 746pp, £20/$29 Sometimes, when reading a novel, it’s love at first page. I had that sensation about a decade ago with The Power of the Dog, Don Winslow’s brilliant, brutal crime thriller about the Mexican drug cartels. It told the story of the rapid expansion of the cross-border