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A papal rescue mission

pope francis will be greeted by large and enthusiastic crowds when he visits dublin to attend the 2018 world meeting of families (wmof). the...

Jon Anderson

Fr Raymond J de Souza: From bureaucrats to penitents

in this summer of shame, how should bishops speak about scandals of sexual predation in the clergy? there have been some remarkable failures...

Fr Raymond de Souza

‘Crinklies are blocking young talent’

shortly after chris bain was appointed cafod director in 2003, the charity experienced one of what he calls its “wobbles”. the aid agency ca...

Luke Coppen

Don’t sneer at these free spirits

my first reaction when i heard about the deaths of jay austin and lauren geoghegan was “what a pair of bananas”. they were killed while cycl...

Tim Stanley

Forgive us our trespasses

lord carey, the former archbishop of canterbury, brings credit on the church of england, but bishop peter hancock, who has criticised his be...

Ann Widdecombe

Freezing out marriage

in times gone by, mothers would hope to have their daughters “married off” by the age of 25, or, at most, 30. they had a disconcerting way o...

Mary Kenny

The holy rebels

above (top to bottom): thomas merton, dorothy day and daniel berrigan in 2017 jim forest published at play in the lions’ den , a biography o...

Danny Sullivan

Cardinal Nichols 'utterly ashamed' over Church abuse scandal

The cardinal said that 'as a Father in this House' he bore 'the direct responsibility' to protect the household from harm

Alex Defert

Comments of the week

letters should include a genuine postal or email address, phone number and the style or title of the writer. email: letters@catholicherald.c...

The Catholic Herald

Arts essay: Are almanacs about to make a comeback?

food and garden writer lia leendertz is about to release her almanac for 2019. an amazon bestseller, it claims to “revive the tradition of t...

Bonnie Lander Johnson

Music: Is Bach too boring for a biopic?

turning the lives of great composers into theatre is a dodgy task – remembering those 1950s films where grieg or schubert strike artistic po...

Michael White

Television: A thrilling whodunnit for fine art geeks

i think fake or fortune? (bbc one, sundays) could be the best television show ever made. it’s certainly better than the wire and definitely ...

Will Gore

The day monks flogged the King of England

king of the north wind by claudia gold, william collins, 397pp, £25 now that few schoolchildren study much history, and even fewer medieval ...

Allan Massie

The case for shutting down public schools

posh boys by robert verkaik, oneworld, 400pp, £16.99 in the first few pages of posh boys , robert verkaik manages, among other things, to gi...

Michael Duggan

Pope accepts Cardinal Wuerl's resignation as Archbishop of Washington

However, the cardinal will continue as Apostolic Administrator until a replacement is appointed

Staff Reporter

A Proustian tale of Buenos Aires

the estancia by martin cullen, adelphi, 400pp, £20 i was reminded of proust’s combray when reading martín cullen’s moving and detailed evoca...

Euan Cameron

A militant atheist businessman takes on the Faith

dangerous illusions by vitaly malkin, arcadia, 416pp, £25 why read a lavishly produced, glossy hardback book with the subtitle how religion ...

Charlie Hegarty

Omnium Gatherum

i celebrate as my onomastico , or “name day”, the feast of the beheading of john the baptist, august 29. “he must increase,” said the baptis...

Fr John Zuhlsdorf

Word this week

21st sunday of the year josh 24:1-2 & 15-18; eph 5:21-32; jn 6:60-69 (year b) “we have no intention of deserting the lord our god who br...

Bishop David McGough

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