Catholic Church

Behind the scenes at the world’s most celebrated Passion Play

Every ten years, half the population of the small town of Oberammergau appears in the spectacular production

What Catholics lose when they leave the Church

Ex-Catholics never seem to propose any higher, truer teaching than the Catholic faith

Matthew Schmitz

A Renaissance painter of thrilling tactility

Lorenzo Lotto’s works rivalled the extravagance of his sitters

Why 'A Dance to the Music of Time' features little Catholicism but a lot of mumbo-jumbo

for many, myself among them, evelyn waugh, graham greene and anthony powell were the outstanding english novelists of the middle decades of ...

Diary of a city priest

st james’s, spanish place, is definitely my favourite church in london. its elegant vaults are reminiscent of a french gothic cathedral. its...

Fr Dominic Allain

How to.... Help the Holy Souls

the souls in purgatory are our brothers and sisters, and there are several simple ways we can help to lessen their sufferings and speed them...

The Catholic Herald

The scandal of China’s political bishop

cardinal joseph zen, emeritus of hong kong, was in rome earlier this month to hand-deliver a letter to pope francis about the escalating per...

Fr Raymond de Souza

Heretic of the week

nestorius (386-450) was born in germanicia in the roman province of syria – now kahramanmaraş, in turkey. he became a monk in a monastery in...

Charles Coulombe

Notes on a scandal

Last week, the Vatican dramatically blocked the US bishops’ proposals to tackle the crisis. What happens next?

Michael Warren Davis and Damian Thompson

Where piety and critical thinking meet

i live on both sides of a border. not a geographical one, but one which is often a dividing line between two groups. i was raised a conserva...

Fr Ronald Rolheiser