Catholic Church

Prize crossword 0573

cryptic across 5 place in colorado for vicar edward to retreat (6) 7 was blues’ chairman more roguish? (6) 9 he who helped kill sennacherib ...

How to … Spend Boxing Day

the correct term, of course, is st stephen’s day: we mark the first martyr of the early church, a reminder that the infant jesus, in his inf...

The Catholic Herald

Entertainment right down to the footnotes - the best books of 2018

i haven’t been able to shake patricia byrne’s the preacher and the prelate (merrion press, 258pp, £13.99/$24.99) from my mind since reading ...

Nine books that will lift your spirits

it is always a fascinating exercise to look back over the year and try to select the most memorable books reviewed. why this book and not th...

Francis Phillips

2018 was a good year to be a book reviewer. Here's why

not all book reviewers are as despondent and sore oppressed as the one depicted by orwell in a bleak essay. some of us, after years in the g...

Musical magic in Ludlow

anybody interested in english song will know the shropshire town of ludlow as the place where “lads in their hundreds ... come in for the fa...

The explosive and enigmatic stained glass of Harry Clarke

where the imagery of christmas is concerned, i am an old fogey. i like to be surrounded by cards bearing paintings of the holy family by old...

How to feast like a medieval Catholic

"good day, sir christmas, our king!” proclaims an english carol of the 15th century, welcoming the beginning of the christmas season, and te...

The hammer that laid Europe’s foundations

as europe passed the poignant milestone of november 11, it could have escaped no one’s attention what inspired the project to unite the cont...

How the Diocese of Shrewsbury is creating a springtime of vocations

spring can seem far off in these darkest days of our year. yet at christmas, the days are already imperceptibly growing longer and brighter....

Bishop Mark Davies