It’s nice to have classics in any art form but also refreshing to supplant them. Barbara Pym used to say that she read Jane Austen in the hope that “some of her genius might rub off on me”. But Philip Larkin (an old booster of Pym’s) famously remarked: “I’d prefer to pick up a new Pym…

Spectacular events have no lasting impact, says Bishop Donal McKeown.

In the United States, where I spent last weekend attending the Religious Education Congress sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, there is a special affection for Ireland. This is especially true when it comes to the Church. The history of Catholicism in North America and much of the English-speaking world is synonymous with Ireland.…

There are huge challenges facing this month’s Synod on the Family

Angel Guard by Ian Acheson (Lion Hudson €9.99 / £7.99)

In search of the ‘Celtic Church’

Cathal Barry takes a look at some heresies the Church denied during the first centuries

Paul Keenan visits the Chester Beatty Library

Film races to No.2 spot in US

We must be hopeful, even without positive signs