Today in the Catholic Church, and in some Anglican and Lutheran Churches as well, is the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. It originated in 1264 and is observed every year to celebrate what we call the Real Presence – Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity – of Christ in the elements of…
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The dark side of Dickens’ genius
Charles Dickens, who died 150 years ago, was loved for storytelling that embraced justice, compassion and redemption. He was also a brute to his loyal wife. The author of a new biography suggests that great holiness and artistic genius might both be sometimes driven by a divided personality. By A N Wilson in THE TABLET,…
Women and the post-Covid Church
By Tina Beattie in THE TABLET, 4 June 2020 A few weeks before lockdown, I was asked to contribute a short piece to the Christian magazine Reform, offering a Catholic perspective on the topic, “This is my body. Really?” The editor Steve Tomkins approached me recently, asking if I wanted to tweak my closing paragraph…
How Catholics can use this time without the Eucharist to grow closer to Christ
By Robert Flock in 'AMERICA, The Jesuit Review', 8 June 2020 In many places around the world, including my diocese in Bolivia, we are unable to celebrate the Mass and other sacraments in public due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools are closed and catechism classes are canceled. These activities are considered ill-advised and are often…
Homily, Trinity Sunday (A) 2020
The Gospel today contains one of the most familiar verses of the Bible. Over the years and still to this day, you will see someone at televised sporting events, especially in the USA, holding up a placard with a reference to this verse. It simply reads: John 3:16 This refers to verse 16 in chapter…
Johnson not fit for the task to come
From THE TABLET, 4 June 2020 Covid-19 and its aftermath Having fallen short so badly in their handling of the coronavirus crisis, which has left the United Kingdom with one of the highest death rates from the disease in the world, Boris Johnson and his chief policy adviser, Dominic Cummings, cannot be trusted with the…
Homily, Pentecost 2020 (A)
An Irish Jesuit, Fr. Michael Paul Gallagher, who died four years ago at the age of 76, used to give an introductory course to students of English literature in University College, Dublin. In one of his first lectures he would write these three intriguing words on the blackboard: “ha”, “aha”, and “ah”. Needless to say,…
Dr. Anthony Fauci: To keep churches safe, use masks, limit singing and wait to resume Communion
As states around the country begin to ease stay-at-home orders, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said churches should adopt “common sense” measures to protect worshippers and the wider community, like requiring masks, practicing social distancing and prohibiting singing. Regarding the distribution of Communion, he said, “I…
Dominic Cummings makes a mockery of his own coronavirus policy
By Clare Foges in THE TIMES, 25 May 2020 Didn’t you read the small print? Yes, the headline was “Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives.” But beneath it was a list of caveats in tiny letters: “*Unless you have the symptoms of coronavirus, and feel like leaving the city for some restorative countryside air,…
Homily, Seventh Sunday of Easter (A) 2020
In the Second World War famous poems were used to encrypt messages supporting resistance agents in occupied Europe for the secret Special Operations Executive. However this was found to be insecure because enemy cryptanalysts were able to locate the original from published sources. Leo Marks, an English writer and cryptographer who headed the codes office for the SOE countered this…
