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From altar server to Hollywood actor

michael fassbender is remembering his days as an altar boy at prince of peace church in fossa, near killarney. “i was head altar boy, actual...

Gabrielle Donnelly

William Cash: Read between the lines in the manifestos

the three main party manifestos tell you surprisingly little about where the parties stand on issues of politics, conscience and faith – the...

William Cash

A milliner’s guide to wearing hats in church

the english summer season of weddings, christenings and royal ascot is now upon us. as a milliner, i often finds myself turning fashion agon...

Laura Cathcart

Fr Raymond J de Souza: Israel’s blessing and burden

president donald trump visited the western wall this week during his visit to israel. that was wholly unthinkable 50, 70 and 100 years ago. ...

Fr Raymond de Souza

IN PICTURES: Pope Francis receives US president Donald Trump in audience at the Vatican

The Vatican said it hoped for 'serene collaboration' with the US on a number of issues

Staff Reporter

Mary Kenny: The vocation that’s safe from robots

what hope for jobs in the future? which professions are likely to survive an era when robots and artificial intelligence will be taking over...

Mary Kenny

Comments of the week

don’t miss this chance to help the unborn sir – fifty years ago the abortion act was passed. since then more than eight million abortions ha...

The Catholic Herald

What’s inside this week’s magazine?

Take a look inside this week's Catholic Herald

Staff Reporter

A lonely alcoholic’s poetic quest for God

the victorian poet gerard manley hopkins alienated himself from practically all of his english contacts – including his family – by his deci...

Sam Hickford

Television: Lost girls sacrificed to liberal ideology

watching three girls (bbc one, tuesdays, 9pm), i kept thinking: “this is how people are.” not all people, thank god. but in a part of rochda...

Tim Stanley

Cinema: Robinson Crusoe meets Samuel Beckett

from the disney classics of my childhood to the banal but charming nonsense my two-year-old son likes to gawp at on the telly, i have always...

Will Gore

Music: Where the Brighton Festival went wrong

the brighton festival was once a go-to place for classical music. now it’s not, having succumbed to populism and a policy of handing over ar...

Michael White

Fine art: Flights of fancy on the Grand Canal

canaletto and the art of venice queen’s gallery, london, until nov 12 there’s a feast of canaletto just around the corner from buckingham pa...

David V Barrett

A ‘monstrous egotist’ searching for a lost paradise

miłosz: a biography by andrzej franaszek, translated by aleksandra parker and michael parker,harvard university press, £30 near the outset o...

Michael Duggan

Can artists thrive in the internet age?

move fast and break things by jonathan taplin, macmillan, £18.99 the problem with most books on culture, creativity and media trends is that...

Matt Thorne

Faith, whiskey and bad weather

jerusalem, jerusalem! by chilton williamson jr, chronicle, £20 if you are a catholic novelist writing today, how do you suggest a world wher...

Charlie Hegarty

Omnium Gatherum

pius xii wrote of our blessed mother: “let all christians, therefore, glory in being subjects of the virgin mother of god, who, while wieldi...

Fr John Zuhlsdorf

Word this week

the ascension of the lord acts 1:1-11; eph 1:17-23; mt 28:16-20 (year a) the ascension of the lord, as described in the scriptures, marks an...

Bishop David McGough

Lectio Divina

sixth sunday of easter: john 14:15-21 16 the eleven disciples went to the hill in galilee where jesus had told them to go. 17 when they saw ...

Mgr Anthony Abela

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