Earlier in Mass when we sang The Gloria we referred to Jesus as ‘Lamb of God’; and just before we receive Holy Communion we will do so again, this time singing ‘Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world, have mercy on us … and grant us peace.’ The title Lamb of…
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My Advice to Harvey Weinstein
By Melanie Reid in THE TIMES, 18 January 2020 Harvey Weinstein on his Zimmer, shuffling from car to rape-trial courtroom, has been the lasting image of Hollywood’s 2020 awards season. I try to avoid it, but occasionally the TV news has ambushed me with his whey-faced “suffering”. (Oops. Apologies for the inverted commas. My finger…
The whole co-authoring drama looks bad
By (always good value) Michael Sean Winters in The National Catholic Reporter, 17 January 2020 Pope Francis is pictured with Archbishop Georg Gänswein, prefect of the papal household, during his general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican Jan. 15. (CNS/Paul Haring) Sunday night, I was distressed to realize there would be no fourth…
‘Little Women’ unwraps foibles of the human heart
by Christine Schenk in The National Catholic Reporter, 17 January 2019 Over the holidays I had the pleasure of taking my niece and two grandnieces to see the movie "Little Women." Directed by Greta Gerwig, the superb casting of the four March sisters includes Saoirse Ronan (Jo), whose breakout performance in "Lady Bird" (also directed…
Gaza “Open-Air Prison” say Bishops
by Madoc Cairns in THE TABLET, 16 January 2020 A group of Catholic bishops from Europe and North America have returned from their visit to the Holy Land, releasing a joint statement that highlights the “profound humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, which they claim has become an “open-air prison”. As part of this visit the bishops…
Homily, The Baptism of Our Lord (A)
It is generally understood that his baptism was the moment when Jesus became fully aware of his true identity – that is, who he truly was and what God was calling him to do. It may have taken some time for him to reach this conclusion but it appears that his baptism was THE moment,…
Walking with RJ
The church must face its own role in violence against women Jan 7, 2020 by Jamie Manson
by Jamie Manson in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 7 January 2020 Of all of the religious instruction classes that my mother took as a girl, one lesson in particular always seemed to stay with her: the day that the nun explained the church's teaching on divorce. A girl in the class asked the sister…
‘I Hear My Beloved’ – Cardinal Vincent Nichols Golden Jubilee Homily
Homily of Cardinal Nichols at his Golden Jubilee Mass, 21 December 2019 Year by year, and increasingly so, I love hearing the first Reading of our Mass today, from the Song of Songs. It is so full of emotion and of the language of love. I hear my Beloved. See how he comes leaping on…
People who sneer at tin-openers should can it
From Carol Midgley in THE TIMES, 6 January 2020 Sorry to dazzle you with sheer glamour but my first purchase of 2020 was a tin-opener. Quite a snazzy one, too: £8 and promising easy handling if I get arthritis, so there’s much to look forward to there. But people said: “Oh. You know that owning…
