by Mark Faulkner in The National Catholic Reporter (USA), 23 June 2020 Standing at Land's End, the most westward tip of England, and gazing out over the Atlantic, I know that America is out there somewhere — beyond the grey and rain-streaked horizon. Despite the cold, watery gulf that separates us, we are not "Two peoples…
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Homily 12th Sunday of the Year (A) 2020
I couldn’t have been much older than about seven or eight when I first became aware and quite frightened of the prospect of going to hell. It was on a dark winter’s afternoon when Sr Mary of the Angels read out passages from the Old Testament of the Bible which left her class in no…
Homily, Corpus Christi (A) 2020
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…
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…
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