Lent 2024 Archives - Catholic Herald

Lent 2024

‘God has undoubtedly decided to take over’: France’s continuing (and surprising) Catholic shift against secular progressivism

April 03, 2024

This year’s Easter Vigil was the busiest in years in France. Figures released last week by the bishops’ conference of France announced that 7,135 adults would receive the sacrament of baptism at the Easter Vigil. This is a 32 per cent increase on 2023 when 5,463 adults were baptised. This is an encouraging trend that

Westminster Cathedral forced to turn people away due to unprecedented numbers attending Easter Triduum

April 02, 2024

Staff at Westminster Cathedral were compelled to turn away people hoping to attend Mass due to reaching full capacity over the Easter weekend. Westminster Cathedral, which is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and has a capacity of 3,000 people, was unable to let any more people in for its

Letters: A morally tough choice for US Catholics (Biden v. Trump) doesn’t excuse them from need to vote in election

April 02, 2024

The common good Sir – We live in difficult times, and it is very hard to discern and make wise political decisions. I deeply disagree with Ken Craycraft’s suggestion (March 2024) that Catholics should consider not voting for either candidate in the forthcoming US presidential election. Dr Craycraft is right that it is a good

‘A tidal wave of truths’: Thomas Merton on the power of the Mass reliving the crucifixion

March 31, 2024

The Mass wields enormous power through its connection to Christ’s death on the cross, wrote Thomas Merton, the American Trappist monk, writer, theologian and mystic. “O my God, with what might You sometimes choose to teach a man’s soul Your immense lessons!” Merton wrote in his memoir the Seven Storey Mountain about his spiritual journey

Was the angel in the tomb the same ‘young man’ who ran away naked during Jesus’s arrest?

March 31, 2024

“On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement.” (Mark 16:5) Why does St Mark, alone among the evangelists, describe the angel in the tomb as a “young man in a white robe”? The only other time he refers to

In first Holy Week homily Pope urges Catholics not to be afraid of guilt

March 28, 2024

ROME – In his first major liturgy for Holy Week, Pope Francis offered an extended reflection on the spiritual underpinnings of so-called “Catholic guilt”, a by now almost notorious concept associated by many (especially critics of Catholicism) with an almost compulsive need to feel overly guilty for any perceived offense. He addressed the ancient tradition

Easter calls for lamb – ideally slow-roasted and served with sauce soubise

March 28, 2024

At Christmas, you may hesitate between turkey, beef, ham or goose, but at Easter it just has to be lamb. In the UK, lambs are slaughtered at six months or older, which makes them a very different animal from the small, light-coloured, milk-fed lambs of Greece and Italy. A leg can weigh between 4lb and

‘Lent with the Beloved Disciple’: How St John reveals Jesus’s cosmic relevance for our lives

March 27, 2024

Lent with the Beloved Disciple Michael Marshall Bloomsbury, £10.99, 208 pages Michael Marshall turns to the writer of the Gospel of St John in ‘Lent With the Beloved Disciple’, which Bloomsbury have published as their Lent Book for 2024. Marshall has served in various roles in the Church of England and further afield; he was