The Catholic Herald

The Vatican's trials: Pell's Redemption

Melanie McDonagh on how the Vatican Trial of the century highlights the injustice to Cardinal Pell

a couple of weeks ago, as the trial of cardinal becciu for corruption was announced in the vatican, my parish priest made an announcement ab...

Full Marx for the Dominican

Melanie McDonagh remembers left-leaning theologian Herbert McCabe

it’s 20 years ago this year that herbert mccabe died. he was one of the great dominicans of the 20th century, perhaps the most lucid and wit...

Fighting for victims

The new head of the CSSA, prosecutor Nazir Afzal, talks to Melanie McDonagh about low expectations, his faith and his passion for protecting the vulnerable

nazir afzal is the new head of the cssa, the church’s safeguarding body, a role he took on only recently. he’s a muslim: it was a widely wel...

A non-conformist life

Dorothy L Sayers found fulfilment in the life of the mind, if not in others, writes Melanie McDonagh

there are several ways in which “the lost tools of learning” – a paper she gave in 1947 – is typical of dorothy l sayers: there is the braci...

Holy Knights: Meeting the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Melanie McDonagh is impressed by the fundraising – and regalia – of the Order’s English lieutenancy

it was, i think, at westminster cathedral that i encountered the order of the holy sepulchre: it was the mantillas that did it for me. the k...

Searching for meaning

Melanie McDonagh reviews The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos, by Sohrab Ahmari

the unbroken thread: discovering the wisdom of tradition in an age of chaos by sohrab ahmari hodder & stoughton, £20 ________ ...

Hungary’s family values

Generous benefits for married couples and subsidised child care are helping to reverse population decline

hungary’s family policy is one of the most generous in europe but liberal opponents of the country’s controversial pm, viktor orban, don’t g...

The pursuit of truth, not bells and smells

The appeal of the Catholic Church to converts goes far beyond aesthetics, says Melanie McDonagh

when i told my literary agent friend that i wanted to write a book about converts to catholicism during the sixty heady years before the vat...

Getting Sin Right

Honest depictions of misdeeds and their repercussions happen so rarely, but the National Gallery got it right, says Melanie McDonagh

it’s rare to see an honest discussion of sin on canvas. and not just lust, which is what most people think of as sin, to the extent that the...

'Farewell great painter...' Why my favourite epitaph is in a Chiswick churchyard

graveyards are, for those of a sombre bent, a useful way of reflecting on mortality. and the older they are, the better, though there’s an a...

The nation saying yes to babies

one of the most striking policies of the government of hungary, under its controversial prime minister, viktor orbán, is that it encourages ...

What I found helpful about ‘mindfulness’

my only experience of buddhism was during a visit to bhutan years ago, to visit a friend who was doing voluntary work there. we travelled th...

The artist who saw the prophet Ezekiel in Peckham

the best known of blake’s works is that bit of his poem on milton which we know as jerusalem – the anthem of the women’s institute, the rauc...

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