Austen Ivereigh

I attended last night a private screening in London of The Way a film starring Martin Sheen and written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez which opens September 30 in the U S Both Sheen and Estevez were on hand afterwards for a Q amp A with a largely Christian and highly appreciative audien

What matters more of course are the lives lost But it s always symbolic when an earthquake destroys — or in this case half destroys — a cathedral because there are few buildings more solid Reports suggest that the 150-year-old Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch has been sever

The document issued today download here by the Irish bishops From Crisis to Hope Working to achieve the Common Good is a sharp passionate and mostly stylish summons to Ireland to make a fresh start in the midst of its current crisis Ireland must resist the temptation to press the reset b

I posted last week on the British government s announcement that it intends to allow the registration of same-sex civil partnerships on religious premises if these are happy to allow it Currently they can bless before or after the registration but the registration itself must not take place in a

It s hard so far to see the tempest behind the first clouds and hastening winds But an announcement yesterday by the UK government that it intends to lift the ban on civil partnerships being celebrated in places of worship is set to unleash a storm which could well redefine the relationship betwee

According to the Church Times AN ldquo Ordinariate of Postulants rdquo has been set up by the diocese of Peru in the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone to host a growing number of Roman Catholic priests who are keen to join the Anglican Church In contrast to the situa shy tion in England wh

A potentially significant announcement yesterday by the Vatican an initiative known as the Courtyard of the Gentiles will launch in Paris on 24-25 March The idea came from Pope Benedict s address to the Curia over a year ago in December 2009 when he spoke of the first step of evangelization as

In the nineteenth century the Catholic Church got a reputation — not always fairly — for looking out on modernity from a fortress of medieval nostalgia fearing and despising what it did not always understand This was especially true of the embattled mid-nineteenth century papacy symbolized by

The news has broken today that the sole US manufacturer of a key drug used in lethal injections will cease production because authorities in Italy where the drug was to be made wanted a guarantee that it wouldn t be used to put inmates to death Hospira Inc of Lake Forest Ill had decided to swi

Archbishop Vincent Nichols concluding this morning s hugely long and solemn ordination Mass allowed himself an inpromptu remark This was an extraordinary moment he told a packed congregation of 2 000 at Westminster Cathedral adding This is how church history is made The liturgy was unexce