Books

The Story of Christian Art - From the Dawn of Time to the Present, by Fr Patrick van der Vorst. Publisher: Lion Books. With stunning reproductions of major artworks on nearly every page, this is a book that both informs the mind and nourishes the soul. From the haunting images in the catacombs to the sacred halls of Gothic cathedrals and the bustling streets of Renaissance Europe, The Story of Chr... Read More

The Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM) trained, placed and supported well over 2500 volunteer lay missionaries to work in Africa, Central and South America and Southeast Asia in a variety of roles in education, health and social services, diocesan and community development, including a number of people from the Diocese of Hallam. A recently published short history of VMM written by Martin Desforg... Read More

Image, an imprint of Penguin Random House Christian Publishing Group, in partnership with Libreria Editrice Vaticana (LEV), will publish the English edition of The Private Diary of Pope Francis by Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on 24 November 2026 in North America and in all formats. The Private Diary of Pope Francis is an extraordinary glimpse i... Read More

A Strange Way Home, by Mark Coleridge - Connor Court Publishing Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane in Australia has not had the media coverage in the UK - or political champions - of Cardinal George Pell and Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney. Pell, a climate change sceptic was a regular at London's neo - liberal Institute for Economic Affairs and a known critic of Pope Francis. Fisher, an eth... Read More

In the world of social ethics and political theology it is not often that two inspiring, thoughtful and fresh new books with wide relevance come along at the same time: Clemens Sedmak's superb new work: Enacting Mercy: Pope Francis and an Ethics of Institutions (Orbis) and Chris Shanahan's Life on the Breadline: Theology, Poverty and Politics in an Age of Austerity (SCM Press) are though two such ... Read More

For some reason, I had never read anything about or by St Thérèse of Lisieux until I read Fr Joseph Spence's Learning How to Love with St Therese. This was despite the fact that Pauline Sexton, my wonderful sponsor when I was welcomed into full communion with the Catholic Church in Maidstone in 1982, had a deep devotion to the saint, and that I later attended Mass at St Theresa's, Horn's Cross, ... Read More

The English version of Pope Leo XIV's book 'Freedom Under Grace: Reflections on the Spiritual Tradition That Formed Me,' has been released in the US, UK, Australia, and across the Commonwealth. 'Freedom Under Grace' brings together the Holy Father's reflections on the legacy of St Augustine that have shaped his spirituality and vision for the world. In addition to being the first-ever Pope from th... Read More

Catholic Prayers: A Prayer for Every Need, 700+ Authentic Prayers from Scripture, the Saints and the Church - for Healing, Protection, Strength, Family, Work and Every Season of Life. Published by Modern Life Press. This new Catholic prayer book, compiled by Thomas Cox at Modern Life Studio, brings together authentic prayers from the church, saints and Catholic teaching and I'd designed to be acc... Read More

A new book by Dr Sr Gemma Simmonds CJ - A Time to Reflect: Meditations Through The Year Based on Year B of the Catholic Lectionary has just been published by SPCK. This rich and accessible collection of reflections and prayers follows the Roman Catholic lectionary, covering Sundays and major feast days including Christmas, Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, the Annunciation, Ascension, and Corpus Christi. E... Read More

Justice and Truth Win Freedom - The fight against women and child sex slavery - ISBN: 9789403928876 A powerful story of one man's life-long fight for justice and freedom for thousands of sexually abused and trafficked women and children in the Philippine sex trade. Father Shay Cullen, 83, is an Irish missionary priest and a member of the Missionary Society of St Columban who founded the PREDA Foun... Read More

'The Answers Are There' by Libby Hoffman, Publisher: Blue Chair Press. This could have been written for a divided Britain in the 21st century. But it is the story of how people in Sierra Leone repaired their communities following the civil war (1991-2002, 50,000 dead) and Ebola (4,000 dead). The success rests in the belief that local inhabitants, and not national politicians, academics, NGO expert... Read More

How Catholics Encounter the Bible by Michael Peppard. Publisher: New York, Oxford University Press, 2025 ISBN 9780190948696 Michael Peppard is the American son of an Evangelical Protestant mother, who read her Bible every day, and a practising Catholic father who never opened the book but was satisfied with being able to say, "I know the stories." Perhaps to his own surprise, the author, now a C... Read More

If you find it difficult to imagine what it might be like to live in a war zone, I recommend this deeply moving book. In fact, I recommend it to anyone and everyone, with no ifs and no buts. It is inspirational. The heroes of this story are the ordinary people of Gaza, and particularly the members of the tiny Christian community (now shrunken to around a thousand people in the Catholic and larger... Read More

One of the greatest strengths of the Catholic Church is its diversity. Sadly far to often diversity becomes a source of division and conflict rather than joy and fellowship. Let us not forget the words in Corinthians Chapter 1 where we are reminded that we are all one body or indeed Psalm 133 which talks about dwelling in unity! Joanna Bogle has produced a wonderfully informative little book explo... Read More