Posts By Date - Catholic Herald

September 02, 2023

Q&A with Linda Sanders of the The Laurels and Oakwood Schools

September 02, 2023

What did you do prior to becoming headmistress of The Laurels and Oakwood and how long have you been in the role? I am the founding head of The Laurels School and have just been appointed Head of Oakwood Prep School. I have been in senior management for over 20 years and founded The Laurels

Pax Mongolica: Pope Francis praises the unifying legacy of Genghis Khan

September 02, 2023

ULAANBAATAR – Standing in a country that borders both Russia and China, Pope Francis on Saturday praised what he called Mongolia’s foreign policy of peace and prayed aloud that the “dark clouds of war” will be dispelled. Although the pontiff did not specifically mention Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, given the context the reference seemed

From Cheltenham to Ryedale: the highs and lows of the festival season

September 02, 2023

The Essex town of Thaxted has assorted claims to fame, but for the most part they relate to its medieval parish church: a building of cathedral-like magnificence which in the 20th century attracted interesting priests and still more interesting musicians. Gustav Holst was Thaxted’s organist during the early years of World War I, founding a

The Jesuit churches of Lancashire

September 02, 2023

Three churches in the county still remain under Jesuit control, but many more have been passed on to diocesan or other authorities. Lancashire was the most Catholic county in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. The reason for this was the solid phalanx of Catholic landowners in the county, particularly, but not exclusively, in

Living in fear of an oppressive regime

September 02, 2023

The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Party’s Tyranny Benedict Rogers Optimum Publishing, £18.99, 360 pages Part memoir and part exposé, Benedict Rogers’ The China Nexus is a com- mendable addition to an already vast literature on the lamentable record of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The title refers to the

Feast and Fast: Recipes to go with your Michaelmas Goose

September 02, 2023

Fr Albert Robertson OP prepares two dishes to accompany the Michaelmas goose at the end of September. After a short assignment to our house in Edinburgh, I have been moved to take up a new apostolate, and now live in our priory in Cambridge. After a little time in a guest room over the summer,

Small is beautiful: Pope Francis’s encouragement for Mongolian Catholics

September 02, 2023

ULAANBAATAR – On his second full day in Mongolia, Pope Francis met with pastors and missionaries who serve the country’s tiny Catholic flock, telling them not to be concerned with numbers and that God loves littleness. He also spoke at length of the Catholic Church’s contribution to social initiatives and the spread of values such

Pope Francis welcomed to Mongolia: Chinese Christians make perilous journey

September 02, 2023

ROME – A group of Chinese Catholics were so thrilled to see the Pope close to home that they invented excuses to make the trip to Mongolia, and remained worried that they might be discovered. One man who spoke on behalf of the group asked to remain anonymous for fear of government backlash after returning

Tolkien’s lessons of hope for humanity, fifty years after his death

September 02, 2023

JRR Tolkien died 50 years ago, on 2 September 1973. If you ask a fan of his work what they most struggle with in his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, they will um and ah but more often than not they will reluctantly nod at the songs. Across all the books (but featuring only