December 2021 Archives - Catholic Herald

December 2021

December 04, 2021

Leaders A lockdownless Christmas EU ruling over abortion harms us all The Father’s Christmas presence Diary – Lady Antonia Fraser Features Stop the horror – Put an end to sexual violence against Christian women, John Pontifex Elgar’s digital revelation– how The Dream of Gerontius sheds new light on English Catholic culture, Joanna Bullivant The ordeal ofCardinal Pell – The Ashes and Evelyn Waugh sustained

Monkish business

December 03, 2021

The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History by James G Clark Yale UP, £25, 689 pages ________ Apart from the Black Death plague pandemic of the 1340s, no event in the years between the Norman Conquest and the Civil War brought more of a sudden or far-reaching change to England’s social and religious life

Seeds of hope in a barren wasteland

December 03, 2021

The Vanishing: Faith, Loss, and the Twilight of Christianity in the Land of the Prophets by Janine di Giovanni PublicAffairs, £22.99, 272 pages ________ “This is a book about dying communities, but it is also about faith.” Janine di Giovanni has written a moving and insightful portrait of the Middle East’s shrinking Christian population, which

Liberalism as the great villain

December 03, 2021

Whatever Happened to Tradition?: History, Belonging and the Future of the West by Tim Stanley Bloomsbury, £20, 266 pages ________ In recent years, the “post-liberal” perspective has dominated religious thought and has also gained a foothold in political circles. The American Catholic journalist Sohrab Ahmari has recently brought such thinking to a wider audience. Now

Rich and strange, whether pastiche or homage

December 03, 2021

Lily: A Tale of Revenge by Rose Tremain Chatto & Windus, £18.99, 288 pages ________ Rose Tremain is a prolific and prize-winning author, the recipient of the Whitbread and the Orange Prize for Fiction, shortlisted for the Costa and Booker. She is also an unpredictable one. Her work ranges across time from the Restoration to

The flesh made word

December 03, 2021

Collected Poems Rowan Williams Carcanet, £15.99, 249 pages ________ The poetry of Rowan Williams is full of moments when the known world becomes translucent and lets in an unfamiliar light. Sometimes, this happens when watching someone – a child, perhaps – fall asleep. …sleepy yourself, impatient and resigned at once, and out of nowhere

Pole stars hit the right note

December 03, 2021

It sometimes seems like Poland has its own, peculiarly national, hotline to God. Why this should be, beyond the fact that it produces the occasional pope, is more a question for historians than music critics. But the Poles are undeniably and overwhelmingly devout, and it’s reflected in their music, which leans heavily these days toward

The genial prince who could stir Rome up

December 02, 2021

RIP Fra' Matthew Festing (1949-2021)