Life

Feasting does not have to be lavish to be festal

preparation is crucial to celebrating christmas well. but so often the kind of preparation most people mean only really adds pressure, and p...

Albert Robertson OP

Sins of a honey-toned broadcaster

confessions: life re-examined edward stourton penguin doubleday, £20, 304 pages edward stourton, the distinguished broadcaster from an emine...

Sir Nicholas Coleridge

The many parallels between the boxing ring and the spiritual life

martial arts, boxing and the catholic faith seem unlikely bedfellows. once again british heavyweight tyson “gypsy king” fury has retained hi...

Karl Gustel Warnberg

Did Dahl even like children?

roald dahl: teller of the unexpected matthew dennison head of zeus, £20, 264 pages perhaps my favourite roald dahl story – and one not, alas...

Alexander Larman

Benedict XVI: how my time as a humanitarian aid worker led me to his writings

in 2008 i returned to ireland after five years working around the world on international humanitarian programmes – in afghanistan, north kor...

Dualta Roughneen

Diary: by William Stirling James

i have been reading of the oscar schindler-like exploits of my friend and herald director brooks newmark, who has not only taken in a ukrain...

William Stirling James

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI under medical care as health takes sudden turn

vatican city, dec 28, 2022 the vatican confirmed wednesday that pope emeritus benedict xvi has experienced a sudden decline in his health, b...

Hannah Brockhaus

On the Third Day of Christmas: The Incarnation

on the feast of st john the evangelist, the great apostle of the incarnation, an extract from the third chapter of st athanasius’s great tre...

St Athanasius of Alexandria

Michael Hodgetts: distinguished recusant historian who oversaw the restoration of Harvington Hall

priest-holes – those small spaces in old english houses which sheltered mission priests in the dangerous days of the elizabethan persecution...

The Catholic Herald

On the First Day of Christmas: Bethlehem Bells

our correspondent may baldwin's account of christmas in the holy land - then a british protectorate under the terms of the league of nations...