Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

January 02, 2023

The many parallels between the boxing ring and the spiritual life

January 02, 2023

There are many parallels between the boxing ring and the spiritual life, including suffering and self-sacrifice, says Karl Gustel Wärnberg

A Protestant attempt to establish a version of Catholicism without the papacy in Rome

January 02, 2023

Nevin’s church in Rome offers a beautiful example of the ultimately doomed project of Anglo-American imperialism

Father Brown and the Mystery of Chesterton

January 02, 2023

Hugh Somerville Knapman on a new volume that delivers a daily dose of detective drama

Piero’s new-look Nativity

January 02, 2023

Hugh Kerr appreciates the National Gallery’s latest restoration

Long Christmas: Let’s keep the party going

January 02, 2023

The old ways have much to commend them, writes Gertrude Clark

The astronomy and astrology of the star of Bethlehem

January 02, 2023

'We saw his star in the East' and followed it thence

What Benedict XVI meant to me and my sisters

January 02, 2023

I was in our community chapel, just before Mass, when I received a message that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had died. My immediate reaction was a whispered “thank you” to him, for we have so much to be grateful to him for. Without him and without Anglicanorum Coetibus, his Apostolic Constitution that made it possible for groups of Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Holy See, we might not be here at all.

Benedict XVI: Compassion without compromise

January 02, 2023

Benedict's legacy feels as relevant as ever. In his spiritual testament, he said “Stand firm in the Faith! Do not be confused!” His was a clear, steady voice in a confusing and complex world. In times of darkness or trial it has always been gentle, quiet, assured voices that have kept me from breaking; his has been one of them. Compassion, even the type that strikes us like lightning, doesn’t need to compromise truth or reason, and Pope Benedict XVI showed us how.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas: Twelfth Cake revisited

January 02, 2023

Would it be Christmas without a Dickensian flourish? Pen Volger introduces the predecessor of the traditional Christmas cake, which was a Twelfth Night treat but could last the year with proper storage and serious restraint. There’s plenty of time to have a go at the modern recipe she provides, and have your own ready in

Did Dahl even like children?

January 02, 2023

Roald Dahl: Teller of the Unexpected Matthew Dennison Head of Zeus, £20, 264 pages Perhaps my favourite Roald Dahl story – and one not, alas, recounted by Matthew Dennison in his new biography of the author – comes in Kingsley Amis’s Memoirs. Amis encountered Dahl at an awkward 1970s literary party thrown by Tom Stoppard,

Defenders of the Faith: The British Monarchy, Religion and the Next Coronation

January 02, 2023

Catherine Pepinster Hodder and Stoughton, £25, 352 pages On October 11, 1521 Leo X con-ferred the title Fidei Defensor on Henry VIII for his pious refutation – in his book Asserto septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum – of the troublesome German’s radical “95 Theses”. When Henry’s marital requirements occasioned his own break with Rome, he