Culture

Lisbon notebook: What can we expect from WYD?

lisbon after a complicated road-trip, four days before the world youth day proceedings officially begin, i find myself in portugal’s capital...

Fervent faith in fiddles: Heinrich Biber's genius

heinrich biber, a 17th- century bohemian catholic, took the psalmist’s exhortation to “sing unto the lord a new song” further than most othe...

Reading Mr Chips

henry ‘chips’ channon, the diaries 1918-38 edited by simon heffer £35, 1024pp, hutchinson ________ alan clark, from close reading of the fir...

Pole stars hit the right note

it sometimes seems like poland has its own, peculiarly national, hotline to god. why this should be, beyond the fact that it produces the oc...

Faith calls for a conversion of heart, and Jesus shows us the way

the call to prayer involves our whole being. the moral aspects of our lives are not removed from our life of prayer. we can’t pray in one wo...

Fr Jeffrey Kirby C

H G Wells: A fascinating mix and still a big deal

the young hg wells: changing the world by claire tomalin   viking, £20, 272 pages  it’s hard to get a sense, 100 and more years on...

Benedict XVI warns of intolerant West in new book published posthumously

pope benedict xvi has had a book of essays published posthumously in which he defends the unique character of the mass and the catholic prie...

Pope names Archbishop Arthur Roche to Head Liturgy Congregation

pope francis has renewed the leadership of the congregation for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments (cdw), promoting the dic...

Let us praise God for putting beauty into sadness

when i was 14 i decided never to hurdle again after falling flat on my face at the county games and moving from first to last place wit...

Katherine Bennett

Discovering the Gothic foundations of Faith

i can’t quite put my finger on it. when  was  the moment i was converted? was it after a friend, whose virtues stood as a witness ...