Is it right to fear God? What is the difference between a destructive fear and a “holy trepidation”? An Advent homily by Fr Stephen Wang: Look around you at the chapel walls. Look at the […]
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Is it right to fear God?
Is it right to fear God? What is the difference between a destructive fear and a “holy trepidation”? An Advent homily by Fr Stephen Wang: Look around you at the chapel walls. Look at the […]
How to enter the reality of suffering without losing faith in God
Have you ever been in a situation where, to everyone outside, it looked like everything had fallen to pieces? A failed plan, a project or job fallen through, a serious illness, a financial loss, some […]
Catholics and Our Common Home: Caring for the Planet We Share
At last we are in fashion! Back in 1995 I wrote a CTS pamphlet entitled, Must Catholics be Green? It had seemed obvious to me for a long time that any sane person would want […]
World Mental Health Day: how can the Catholic Church offer pastoral support to those who need it?
Mental Health and the Christian response: personal reflections from a Catholic layperson: World Mental Health Day is coming this Saturday, 10th October. The theme this year is Dignity. Thinking about this from a Catholic perspective, […]
The meaning of marriage
I once saw an elderly couple being interviewed on television. It was the day of their fiftieth wedding anniversary. They were sat awkwardly beside each other on a lumpy sofa in their living room. Heavily […]
The power of prayer
The eighth film in the Sycamore programme is now available to view and download, on the topic “The power of prayer”. For information about how to use this film visit here. For more information about […]
Laudato Si’: a summary of Pope Francis’s sweeping eco-encyclical
Pope Francis’s encyclical Praised Be You: On the Care of Our Common Home is available in full here. A brief, ’10 things you need to know’ video by Fr James Martin is here. Humanum has produced a […]
A new Catholic catechism from the CTS
I’ve just written a catechism! It started life as a series of short articles about the Catholic faith, and gradually morphed into a more systematic presentation within a traditional catechetical structure. The full title is The […]
Sycamore: a new programme of evangelisation and catechesis for use in parishes, chaplaincies, schools and other settings
The Sycamore website has just been launched, and the first of ten videos uploaded. You can visit the site here. This information is from their WELCOME page: What is Sycamore? Sycamore is a new programme […]
Nuns on the Rise
In case you missed this on Thursday: The number of women entering convents in England and Wales has hit a 25 year high. From a low point of 7 in 2004, the numbers have steadily […]
The secret of happiness: switching to a standing desk, whatever they might think about you…
Wake up, World! Sitting all day is killing you. That’s why I switched to a standing desk, and you should, too. I’m paraphrasing Tom O’Donnell, who began his piece, “Wake up, America!” He switched recently, […]
Falling in love is not enough: the true meaning of marriage
I want you to imagine that you are on the top of Mount Nebo. This is where Moses is standing in the First Reading of the Mass today, surveying the Land that has been promised […]
The meaning of your baptism
I’m late posting this homily (from the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord ten days ago), but it might still interest anyone who is baptised!
Birdman
Every now and then a film comes along that changes your understanding of what a film can be. This was my experience in the Odeon Covent Garden last night. I spent most of the two […]
How to think, how to consume, how to give: three ‘new’ perspectives
I have read three unusual books recently, each one of them the sort that changes the way you see the world. The first was exceptionally intelligent, the second excitingly creative, the third deeply wise. The […]
Learning to speak God’s own language
The Feast of the Baptism of Jesus is a great way to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. It can tell us a lot about what it means to be part of a new […]
Religious difference and the responsibility of joy
Just recently, the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome dedicated a new building to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. He wrote an occasional letter entitled “Renunciation of the truth is lethal to faith”. The letter is set […]
Anselm Kiefer: earth, history, art, transcendence
I didn’t really want to see the Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the Royal Academy. All I knew about him was that his paintings are, generally, brown. Call me shallow, but if I have an hour […]
How dangerous is the internet?
It’s an intriguing and maybe alarming fact that often the very things that can do most good can also do most harm. Doctors make the best poisoners, and a ‘drug’ can either cure or kill. […]
Launch of the Religious Freedom in the World Report – 2014
The launch of the Religious Freedom in the World Report – 2014 was held this afternoon in the House of Lords. This event commenced with an exclusive video address by HRH The Prince of Wales, […]
