SPIRITED THINKING SINCE 1888
May 02, 2019
If Kate Smith’s statue falls, what about Margaret Sanger’s?
May 02, 2019
The past few years have witnessed in these United States an orgy of something once thought confined to revolutionary dictatorships: the mass removal of all statues deemed ideologically offensive to the regime. In our country, it began with the ongoing removal of Confederate statues and monuments – heedless of the fact that their erection had
Gene Wolfe: a Catholic from the far future
May 02, 2019
Gene Wolfe, who died last week at the age of 87, imagined vast, strange worlds in his fiction – and revealed them in flickering glimpses. His stories were slow revelations, indirect and incomplete. Readers learned the significance of their accumulating hints per speculum in aenigmate: through a glass, darkly. Wolfe, a veteran of the Korean
Could Catholic adoption agencies be declared illegal?
May 02, 2019
Yet another city’s Catholic adoption agencies were forced to shut down last week, this time in Pennsylvania, where a federal judge ruled that the City of Philadelphia can end its relationship with Catholic Social Services due to its refusal to place foster children with same-sex couples. The Philadelphia ruling follows a settlement in Michigan last
Prize Crossword 0591
May 02, 2019
Cryptic across 6 How the angel appeared to end Maria’s torment? (2,1,5) 8 Staggering move to gain influence (4) 9 Close, and familiar with Khrushchev’s comeback, it gets the sack (4) 10 Rate one that’s downloaded and recruit (8) 11 In rash poet’s a sane aphorist? One or the other! (12) 14 Chose in atlas,
How to be a practising mystic
May 02, 2019
“I’m a practising mystic.” A woman said that in one of my classes some years ago and it raised lots of eyebrows. I was teaching a class in mysticism and asked the students why the topic of mysticism interested them. Their responses varied. Some were simply intrigued by the concept; others were spiritual directors who
Sir Roger and the clash of cultures
May 02, 2019
I went last weekend to the inaugural Buckingham History Festival. It was held by the University of Buckingham, under the aegis of its vice-chancellor, Sir Anthony Seldon, and Professor John Adamson, director of the Humanities Research Institute, across its campus in the town. How unlike most modern universities this exemplary institution looks. Rather than the
Heretic of the Week: John Knox
May 02, 2019
John Knox (c 1512-1572) was born sometime between 1505 and 1515 in Haddington, Scotland. He is thought to have studied at either the University of St Andrews or Edinburgh, and was ordained a Catholic priest on Holy Saturday, 1536. This was a difficult time for Scotland. King James V was killed in battle against the
Mass readings
May 02, 2019
Ordinary Form Divine Office Week III Sunday, May 5: The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 5:27-32, 40B-41; Ps 30; Rev 5:11-14; Jn 21:1-19 Monday, May 6: Weekday of Easter Acts 6:8-15; Ps 119; Jn 6:22-29 Tuesday, May 7: Weekday of Easter Acts 7:51 – 8:1A; Ps 31; Jn 6:30-35 Wednesday, May 8: Weekday of Easter
How to… accompany the dying
May 02, 2019
Pope St John Paul II noted in an address in 2004 that “a man, even if seriously ill or disabled in the exercise of his highest functions, is and always will be a man”. Human dignity, in other words, is permanent and it belongs to the dying and healthy alike. There is no justification for
Christians who reject the empty tomb are the real myth-makers
May 02, 2019
As the Masses of Easter Octave come to an end, so do the daily Gospel proclamations of Jesus’s post-Resurrection appearances. For some reason this year I was struck as though for the first time by an apparent incongruity. Why does the first Gospel announcement of Resurrection centre on the empty tomb? Why on Easter Sunday
Beehives and the meaning of baptism
May 02, 2019
Last week, I was inspired by both the Exsultet, sung by the deacon during the Vigil of Easter with its imagery of bees, and the survival of the beehives atop the roof of the Notre-Dame Cathedral’s sacristy. These orderly little creatures, which have sparked the imaginations of Holy Church’s best writers through the centuries, supply
The honour of suffering humiliation
May 02, 2019
The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 5:27-32 & 40-41; Rev 5:11-14; Jn 21:1-19 (Year C) Christ is alive! He is our hope, and in a wonderful way he brings youth to our world. The very first words, then, that I would say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you
Most Popular
Donate
Please Donate

Having been unable to sell in churches for well over a year due to the pandemic, we are now inviting readers to support the Herald by investing in our future. We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values.

Please join us on our 130 year mission by supporting us. We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching. For more information from our chairman on contributing to the Herald Patron's Fund, click here

Make a Donation

Donors giving £500 or more will automatically become sponsor patrons of the Herald. This includes two complimentary print/digital gift subscriptions, invitations to Patron events, pilgrimages and dinners, and 6 gift subscriptions sent to priests, seminaries, Catholic schools, religious care homes and prison and university chaplaincies. Click here for more information on becoming a Patron Sponsor. Click here for more information about contributing to the Herald Patron's Fund