Will Heaven

News from this week’s Catholic Herald (front page).
Pope Benedict XVI’s “extraordinary leadership” promises to advance co-operation between the United States and the Holy See, President Barack Obama told a delegation of American Catholic journalists last week.
The “round table” meeting was held at the White House in anticipation of the American President’s first meeting with the [...]

This column was originally published in the Catholic Herald
As I watched the results of the European elections last Sunday on the BBC, two parties caught my attention the most. Not the slowly imploding Labour Party, or even Cameron’s Conservatives, but primarily the BNP - which horrifyingly won two seats in the European Parliament - and [...]

This feature was originally published in The Catholic Herald.
When Sylvia Wright qualified as a state-registered nurse in 1959 she did not imagine that her career would lead to her to the depths of southern India. Nor did she think for a moment that it would bring her face to face with Prince Charles to collect [...]

This Notebook column was originally published in The Catholic Herald.
When secular heads turn silently towards Rome and listen, the Church reaches a new and important audience. On Easter Sunday, Pope Benedict achieved just this. His message – “that it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope” – contrasts with the gloom of the financial crisis. [...]

This Notebook column was first published in The Catholic Herald on 20th March, 2009.

Johann Hari, the fiercely Left-wing columnist, recently showed his true colours. An arch-secularist, he is best known for rants about anything from nuclear disarmament to how we should abandon the monarchy. But really, we now know, he’s a huge softie.

This article first appeared in the Catholic Herald on February 26, 2009.
Two weeks ago I walked around the market in Sderot, the sprawling Israeli town which has been a target for thousands of Hamas rockets. The place is filled with immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia, and the poverty is evident. I spoke [...]

I have an Op-ed in today’s Jerusalem Post on Catholic-Jewish relations. It examines the recent Williamson debacle and calls for renewed dialogue between Catholics and Jews, bearing in mind the threat of Iranian militant Islam. You can read it here, or below.

This review first appeared on CatholicHerald.co.uk on Feb 5, 2009

A lanky, open-mouthed boy from Mumbai’s slums has reached the final of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. How did he do it? The options flash up on screen: a) He was lucky b) He knew the answers c) He cheated or d) It is written. [...]

This Notebook originally appeared in the Catholic Herald on the 30th January, 2009
In April last year I wrote in this column: “The sooner the Church realises the potency of the internet, the better.” Despite a few official-looking websites and the odd priestly blogger, I felt the Catholic Church lacked an online presence – or even [...]

This news story first appeared in the Catholic Herald on 16th January, 2008
A Newcastle priest has been appointed the next bishop of his diocese, in a move which has taken local Catholics by surprise. Canon Seamus Cunningham will be ordained bishop and installed in St Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle, on Friday 20 March.