Here’s a list of the cool Catholic stuff I saw on my two weeks in England and Italy: The site on Tower Hill where St Thomas More and St John Fisher were beheaded St Henry Walpole’s name carved by him in wall of the Salt Tower at the Tower of London Tyburn where the priests were hung drawn and quartered The relics of St Cuthbert Mayne The tombs of Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I and close by that of Mary Queen... Read more

Today is the memorial of St Etheldreda–a saint I have come to admire for, I suppose, not the best reasons. First of all I rather like her because of her name. Come now, St Etheldreda is a corker of a saint’s name you must admit. Then I like her because she was not only a Saxon queen, but also the founders of a great monastery. Next I like her because her body was incorruptible for hundreds of years. The shrine... Read more

There’s an amusing scene in the film Amadeus in which Mozart asks the rather dim witted Emperor if he likes the opera Mozart has just performed for the first time. The Emperor ponders for a moment and tries to pin down what he doesn’t like about the work and finally waves his hand dismissively and says, “It has too many notes.” I must confess that my first impression of Pope Francis’ new encyclical is much the same….”it has too many words”... Read more

Sorry no blogging for the last two weeks, but I’m now back in the USA after an utterly fantastic two weeks in England and Italy. Both weeks were more pilgrimage than vacation, but that’s what a true pilgrimage is: a holy vacation. I’ll be writing more later as it all continues to sink in but one of the greatest parts of the trip were the unexpected blessings and delightful meetings. Here are a few as a way of round up:... Read more

This latest visit to England has been full of mixed emotions. Visiting as a tourist for the first time has given me a glimpse of a wonderful country where I spent twenty five years of my life through a new lens, and of course I felt nostalgic for England. Who wouldn’t on a perfect June day in the Norfolk countryside? This was my first visit as a “working Catholic priest”. Before I have visited for family reasons. Therefore to celebrate... Read more

Here in Stratford-on-Avon some of us went to see Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta at the Swan . It was an excellent performance and one of the delights was to sit opposite a group of English schoolchildren and watch their faces. They were spellbound by the magic of the theater. The play itself reveals Marlowe’s rumbustious imagination with wickedness that is rollicking. Barabas the Jew is completely over the top in his Machiavellian devilry as he schemes to murder two young... Read more

  My article for Imaginative Conservative this week connects with my visit to England. It is an analysis of two films by Robert Bolt: Man for All Seasons and The Mission When church and state conspire together the state ultimately wins, for the church’s real power can never be of this world, and any true believer who is involved in the clash between secular and sacred power will have to face stark choices. The tensions and personal cost when this clash reaches a... Read more