Author: Fr. Michael Campion

The Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who died in February this year, had a film career that spanned over 50 years. Most of us may never have heard of him. However, some will be familiar with one of his roles, for which he is now best known, because of a You Tube video meme that sprang…

Leading Article in THE TIMES, 18 May 2019 The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. There are few more vulnerable than children suffering from serious mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism. That makes our report today into the way that some vulnerable children are…

By Maggie Ferguson in THE TABLET, 7 May 2019   Jean Vanier was a spiritual giant. Those who lived and worked with him spoke of his almost palpable holiness; many considered him a living saint. He was unmoved by such accolades. Profoundly humble, what he longed for was to help people to know and live…

This Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday because the Gospel and other Scripture readings for Mass use the image of a shepherd to describe God’s care of us. Christ is the Shepherd who risked everything to protect us and ensure that we have the best possible relationship with a loving God.…

The Gospel Reading for Mass today – John 21:1-19 - describes the first meeting between Peter and Jesus after the resurrection. The last time they had seen each other was when Jesus had been arrested and Peter betrayed him three times. In betraying Jesus, Peter was no different from Judas who also betrayed Jesus. Yet,…

By Nicola Woolcock, Education Correspondent, in THE TIMES, 3 May 2019 Being middle class is now seen as a sin rather than a virtue, the head of a private schools’ group said yesterday. Barnaby Lenon, the former headmaster of Harrow School, criticised the way in which parents were judged harshly for paying for their children’s education…

By Michael Sean Winters in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 29 April 2019 Somewhere out there is a cardinal who has excommunicated himself latae sententiae! That is the conclusion one draws from reading Gerard O'Connell's newly published The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Account of the Conclave that Changed History. We all have theories about what…

This Thursday will be the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance master who died on 2 May 1519. Perhaps best known for his painting The Mona Lisa, Leonardo is widely considered to be one of the greatest polymaths in human history, being an inventor, artist, musician, architect, engineer, anatomist,…

By Alice Thomson in THE TIMES, 24 April 2019 Greta Thunberg has been derided as a “millenarian weirdo”. The campaigning Swedish schoolgirl is being called out by middle-aged men on social media for her “monotone voice” and hounded for the “look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes” as if she were some bizarre cult leader.…

By David Smith in THE TIMES, 24 April 2019 A bit of a debate has been running on Twitter about the extent to which the vote to leave the European Union was driven by immigration. It is unresolved: most of the evidence suggests that immigration was a key factor, but far from the only one,…