Features Archive
I was born in Omagh, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland to Glaswegian parents Charles and Mary Boyle. My father was stationed there at the time in his role as Medical Officer to The Argyll and Southern Highlander Regiment. On leaving the army my…Read more
By Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Coordinator Father’s Day is the opportunity to give thanks for the gift of being a father and to reflect more deeply on the meaning of fatherhood. This year it will be bittersweet for my wife…Read more
By Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Coordinator, Diocese of WestminsterRead more
By Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Coordinator for the Diocese of Westminster - If we were looking for a jigsaw, in which the pieces and the overall image changes, then we would have the ideal analogy for marriage. In the time…Read more
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is heading for its third reading in Parliament. I am deeply concerned about the impact its passing into law would have on my regular ministry to dying people, of all religions and none, at St John’s…Read more
As the formal period of mourning for Pope Francis is now completed, the Cardinals gathered in Rome can now commence the Conclave that will elect his successor. All the Cardinals in Rome will celebrate a Mass ‘For the Election of a Pope’…Read more
By Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Co-Ordinator , Diocese of Westminster The British seem to specialize in unusual and offbeat radio programmes, one of which is the obituary oLast Word. Here the life of the person is summarized…Read more
Today the churches will be full. That may not be so every Sunday, but today is different. It is one of those key days, along with Ash Wednesday, when an instinct, lodged deeply in the human soul, finds expression. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,…Read more
Reflection In this holiest of weeks, our hearts turn naturally to the Holy Land, the land in which Christ died and rose for the redemption of humankind. Our hearts are deeply saddened to witness the immense suffering borne still by so many of its…Read more
The Most Reverend John Francis Sherrington, Archbishop-elect of Liverpool, was born in Leicester on 5 January 1958. Having grown up in a Catholic family with roots in Lancashire and nineteenth century Ireland, Archbishop-elect John Sherrington's…Read more
On the journey towards Easter, we have reached the Second Sunday in Lent. In a month’s time we shall move into Holy Week and during the Maundy Thursday Mass, as he does each year, the Cardinal will wash the feet of twelve Chelsea Pensioners –…Read more
The questions raised by the proposed Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill are highly complex; it is difficult to imagine the deeply personal experience of terminal illness, for patients and their families. Raising questions about the safety…Read more
Permanent Deacons from across the world gathered in Rome, between 20th – 23rd February, to celebrate the Jubilee of Deacons. Deacons came from the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Europe, with more than thirty representing the UK. Many came with…Read more
Ralph Fiennes is a great actor. At least in last autumn’s film, Conclave, in which he stars as the modest Cardinal Lawrence organising the election of a Pope. It’s an absorbing fast-moving thriller in which the intrigue and politicking among…Read more
By Deacon Roger Carr-Jones, Marriage and Family Life Cordinator, Diocese of Westminster Marriage Week provides a moment for couples to reflect upon, pray about and celebrate the quiet witness of married love. God is the author of marriage, which…Read more
I don’t remember when I first heard of St Thomas Aquinas. But I do remember roughly when he became important to me. I was aged eighteen or nineteen, studying philosophy and theology at university, and feeling rather at sea. There were a lot of…Read more