How to survive January, the secular season of penitence
January can be a penitential season like a compulsory Lent. We may have to give up going out for a pint (it may be too expensive when there is a looming tax bill and/or debts from over-spending at...
View ArticleMorning Catholic must-reads: 18/02/16
Cardinal George Pell has said he is willing to meet abuse victims as he prepares for a video-link appearance before a royal commission on abuse. Francis is flying back to Rome on a Aeromexico Boeing...
View ArticleTo lift Mother Angelica’s spirits we should pray to the Divine Infant
Raymond Arroyo’s riveting biography of Mother Angelica has vivid accounts of Mother’s all-time favourite devotion: praying to the Divine Infant. Her personal room in Alabama is reportedly full of...
View ArticleSt Thérèse of Lisieux’s ‘spiritual sister’ to be canonised
Pope Francis has authorised the canonisation of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, a writer and Carmelite nun described as the “sister in the Spirit” of St Thérèse of Lisieux. The Vatican announced that...
View Article‘Do not think holiness is not for us’: a profile of Fr Jacques Hamel
Fr Jacques Hamel, murdered yesterday by Islamist terrorists at the age of 85, has been called the first priest-martyr of Western Europe in the 21st century. But before his death, he insisted that...
View ArticleThe truth about Mother Teresa’s ‘atheism’
As is now well known, Mother Teresa of Calcutta suffered severe spiritual afflictions through much of her remarkable life: “This terrible sense of loss – this untold darkness – this loneliness – this...
View ArticleSpare a thought for Mother Teresa’s mother
Following the canonisation of Mother Teresa last Sunday, the CTS kindly sent me their booklet about her, written by Jim Gallagher. For £2.50 it contains a wealth of information about her, some of it...
View ArticleCatholic-Orthodox divisions on display at papal Mass
At a papal Mass focused on two female saints, the longing for Christian unity and the painful reality of Christian division were strong undertones. Celebrating Mass on the feast of St Thérèse of...
View ArticleDiocese opens sainthood cause for Ohio woman renowned for healing gifts
In the fall when the Diocese of Youngstown formally opened the sainthood cause for an Ohio woman known for her life of prayer and spiritual gifts, more than 1,000 people filled St Peter Church in...
View ArticleThe unseen Paul VI: an introvert who wore chains beneath his robes
Archbishop Rino Fisichella’s slim book I Met Paul VI (Gracewing) is not a personal memoir. Rather, it collects stories from those who knew Blessed Paul personally. Fisichella was the reporting judge in...
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