In last Sunday’s Gospel we heard about St Peter professing his belief in Jesus as the ‘Son of the Living God’ and Jesus then appointing him to be the Rock on which he would build his Church. In St Matthew’s Gospel this is immediately followed, as we have just heard, with Jesus issuing the first…
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Trump or Biden? What’s a Catholic voter to do?
By Thomas Reece in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 28 August 2020 With the choice of Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, American Catholics are fighting over whether Biden can be called a Catholic politician. Connected to this question is another: "Can a Catholic vote for Biden?" There are at…
Don’t bet the house on working from home
By Ian Martin in THE TIMES, 28 August 2020 If you are working from home within an hour or two of central London and enjoying the garden, you are where you are thanks to a process of high-Victorian creative destruction and invention that created commuting, the concept of the office and the modern idea of…
Homily, 21st Sunday (A) 2020
We have just heard of Simon bar Jonah, to give his full name, professing his faith in Jesus as the ‘Son of the Living God’. This is then followed by Jesus giving Simon a new name – Peter, meaning ‘rock’ or ‘rocky’ in modern parlance – and explaining that on this belief the Church will…
Migrants crossing the Channel: Cruel Sea
Britain should offer asylum seekers a chance to lodge their claims in France Leading Article from THE TIMES, 21 August 2020 The discovery of the body of a Sudanese young man washed up on the shore at Sangatte is not just a tragedy but a predictable tragedy. The only surprise is that his is the…
Vaccinate the poor before the rich, the Pope says
From Ruth Gledhill in THE TABLET, 19 August 2020 Pope Francis has called for renewed action to combat the inequalities of the world which he says have been exacerbated by coronavirus. Speaking at his weekly general audience, the pope said: “The pandemic has exposed the plight of the poor and the great inequality that reigns…
Homily, the Assumption of Our Lady 2020
Our Gospel today features two women who are pregnant for the first time. The younger of the two, Mary, goes to visit the older, Elizabeth, who has been pregnant for about six months. What must it have been like then to be carrying a baby with none of the pre-natal and other medical support that…
Homily, 19th Sunday of the Year (A) 2020
In the Bible the greatest forces known to people were the power of the sea and earthquakes on land. These were regarded as the forces of darkness and evil and, thus, the enemy of God. When the sea became agitated and brewed up a storm, it appeared to people as if it had its very…
Who goes first? The ethics of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.
By Kevin W. Wildes and Warren von Eschenbach in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 4 August 2020 We are in the midst of a global health crisis that already has inflicted a significant humanitarian and economic toll on the United States. For now, we must try to contain the spread of Covid-19 through physical distancing and face-covering.…
Why Not To Worry
By Patrick Jephson in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 4 August 2020 "Fear God," said the engraving on the pulpit of the chapel in Ireland I was compelled to attend as a boy. My young and truant mind used this hour every Sunday to wander far and wide, but it would always return at some…
