Letters

Dear Editor, I have just read the latest catechesis by our dear Pope Francis on your news site. ( See: ICN 9 April 2025 - Pope Francis reflects on how to be truly happy - https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/52120 ) Beginning with the words of Jesus from the Gospel of St Mark 10:17-22 in which a man runs up to Jesus and asks, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus reminds hi... Read More

This past week I have had the heartbreaking honour of planning, animating and leading the music for one of the most significant liturgies in my more than 40 years of music ministry: the funeral of my mother, Lenore Boyce-Robinson. Forgive me the more personal nature of this email, but I want to pay tribute to this warrior of a woman, that I was privileged to call my mother. She was one of the so-c... Read More

Re: ICN Viewpoint Ian Linden: Trump's Second Coming: Why and how did he win? Feb 3rd, 2025 Dear ICN, Honestly, Ian Linden's note on Trump's electoral victory is either wilfully blind or ignorantly so. The whole social engineering/identity politics of the Democrats was rejected wholesale by the USA electorate. 56% of Catholics voted for Trump. I am no cheerleader for him or anyone else, but the f... Read More

Dear Friends, I am writing on behalf of the Margaret Beaufort Association [MBA] to extend a personal invitation to you. As you may know, the Association was founded to create an extended community of prayer and support for "current and former students and lecturers, staff, friends, and benefactors who support the work of the Margaret Beaufort Institute." At its founding in 1993, the Institute was ... Read More

Creative Remembering - The nights closing in, and the weather cooling. It's the dying of the year, and we think today not only of the dead but of life just before death We think of those whose names we just read out, and apart from the tragedy of lives cut short, we are often shocked at what it must be like to live through those hours before their deaths, perhaps days, when their hopes die out. We... Read More

The Standing Committee of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER), an umbrella organisations representing 900 mainstream Jewish communities throughout Europe, met in the Grand Westin Hotel, Munich, to discuss important matters relating to faith, antisemitism, communal infrastructure, and policy. The Standing Committee include the Chief Rabbis of UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland. Senior rabbis fr... Read More

I strongly oppose assisted suicide. I would like to share my experience of living with a chronic illness. It has been 23 years since I was first diagnosed. The condition is managed well with medication, individuals have a normal life expectancy. However in 2022, I developed reactions to the newer brands because of toxicity levels. I wrote extensively about the newer brands and their side effects. ... Read More

The proposed Assisted Dying Bill to be introduced in Parliament tomorrow will radically change how we care for the sick and elderly. I have accompanied six people at the end of their lives to their deaths. Every death is different, but all valued a caring presence being with them on their final journey to a natural death. It was an immense and valued privilege. At one time people died within the f... Read More

In response to recent enquiries about materials used in the new Lectionary, Pierpaolo Finaldi, Publisher and CEO of the Catholic Truth Society writes: The Introduction to the Lectionary states: "Since, in liturgical celebrations the books too serve as signs and symbols of the sacred, care must be taken to ensure that they truly are worthy and beautiful." This means using the finest materials possi... Read More

Dear Editor, How sad it is that the new Lectionary is "exquisitely bound in padded leather", to quote the Catholic Truth Society, which is selling it at £695, which price no doubt reflects the luxuriousness of the product. The way the animals are treated to obtain their skins is far from luxurious, and is environmentally harmful. See: https://headlines.peta.org/urge-brands-stop-selling-leather/... Read More

As an academic I felt the least I could do was attend the memorial service of the former Chevening Scholar Dr Maysara Al-Rayes, murdered in Gaza by Israel on 5th November 2023. He won this prestigious British Government prize in 2019 for his excellence as a war trauma specialist. (See the announcement of his death here: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/in-memory-of-dr-maisara-alrayyes ). I was heartened to hea... Read More

Dear Editor, The early Catholic church seems to have had a very dynamic beginning; the acts of the apostles are filled with very interesting examples of how the Holy Spirit worked in partnership with them. For example telling Phillip to catch up with the Ethiopian eunuch's chariot and make that first African convert; or Annanias being instructed in a vision to visit Saul and pray for his healing. ... Read More

On the 26 August 2024, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, called on global leaders to drastically slash global greenhouse gas emissions and pursue a "fast and fair" phase out of fossil fuels. He was seeking to build momentum for action before the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan in November. He called for a "massive" increase in finance and support for vulnerable countrie... Read More

Dear ICN, I write to be sure you have noticed the remarkable start the new Government has made towards tacking the problems of the prisons - about which I continue to have a deep interest and concern. You may be aware that on 25th June the Prison Governors Association had written an open letter to all the political parties highlighting and explaining the prison crisis and asking all parties to pre... Read More