Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

September 04, 2020

Chinese doctor says she participated in ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Uyghurs

September 04, 2020

A Uyghur woman who worked as a doctor in China has told ITV News that she participated in forced abortions and sterilizations at the behest of the Chinese government.

The secrets of Oxburgh Hall: New finds at a house that kept the faith

September 04, 2020

2,000 artefacts shed light on the devotion of a recusant household

Oxburgh Hall: The ups and downs of a recusant Catholic family

September 04, 2020

The survival of the thousands of artefacts recently recovered from the attic of Oxburgh Hall is remarkable

Of course popes make mistakes. But the papacy isn’t an optional extra

September 04, 2020

This year being what it is, for my short summer break I decided to leave my parish in Nottingham to spend a few days in the far-distant land of Kent. So I went to Canterbury to do the St Augustine of Canterbury trail. First stop: a visit to the (newish) Shrine of St Augustine in

Europe is getting more secular – with some striking exceptions

September 04, 2020

The Global God Divide is the Pew Research Foundation’s new report on religion. Most of us, without reading a word of it, would probably guess quite correctly what it says. Europeans, and people in related Anglophone countries (Canada and Australia) are less religious than anywhere else. Poorer countries care more about God than rich ones.

Christians and the anti-racist marches: Two writers debate

September 04, 2020

Dear Matthew, I don’t usually sign open letters or participate in public demonstrations. I tend to think they are ineffective or incomplete forms of political activism. One has only to notice the lack of attention given to pro-life demonstrations by the corporate media. So why, you might ask, did I sign the recent open letter

‘People are looking for something to believe’: An interview with Larry Siedentop

September 04, 2020

For the political philosopher Larry Siedentop, “the only thing worse than religion is its absence”. And it’s the absence of religion right now that concerns him: specifically any understanding of Christianity. Because for him – and this is the argument of his most celebrated book, Inventing the Individual – it is Christianity that has formed

How parishioners have made outdoor masses work during lockdown

September 04, 2020

California’s second lockdown, like its first, has been unusually severe. But in recent months, outdoor church services have been introduced in some parishes, thanks to the help of creative-thinking volunteers. “I see the Eucharist as my weekly spiritual meal,” says John, a parishioner of St Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Brentwood, “and until now,

When the Church is under assault, turn to St Michael

September 04, 2020

As one of the Quarter Days of the medieval year, Michaelmas had important significance for rents, leases and employment. If you are preparing to return to school, university or the legal world, the name Michaelmas might still denominate your term. Otherwise, this once important feast has only a residual impact on the cultural landscape of

Adam, Eve and science: How to reconcile Church teaching and evolution

September 04, 2020

There are really two questions about the origins of the human race. First question: did we evolve from animal ancestors? In answer to that question, the Church says: 1. The first human bodies may have been the product of ordinary evolutionary processes. There is no Church teaching on the matter. Its resolution is left to

For Christians, the new politics is full of temptations

September 04, 2020

Social conservatives face a hard choice. Though often understood in terms of whether to support or oppose Donald Trump, the choice predates and will outlast him. It has been forced on social conservatives not by any candidate or election, but by the transformation of American law and society. In June, the Supreme Court extended antidiscrimination

In Wheeling-Charleston, making amends just got a lot easier

September 04, 2020

I’ve been on this beat for a good few years, and have seen a lot of things. It’s tough to get under my skin. Maybe it was because of all that, rather than despite it, that the announcement late last month of the Vatican’s rough halving of the amends proposed for Bishop Michael J Bransfield