This is an excerpt from my book The Mystery of the Magi. The wonderful Star of Bethlehem is one of the most enduring and endearing parts of the Christmas magi story. Carols and cards and Christmas storybooks all promote the magical mystery star that moved through the night sky, leading…

In just twelve short verses the gospel of Matthew records the visit of mysterious magi to pay homage to the child Jesus. The allure of mystical wizards from exotic lands captured the imagination of early Christians. Matthew’s short narrative was expanded and elaborated to the Christmas tale we hear today. …

Readers of a certain age might remember the silly TV show The Flying Nun…religious brothers and sisters who take flight are nothing new. When we lived in Wiltshire in England we learned the delightful story from the Middle Ages about Eilmer a Benedictine monk of Malmesbury Abbey who, in the…

Two quirks haunt human nature. They are connected in a sick symbiosis, feeding off each other like the proverbial snakes gorging in mutual cannibalism. One quirk is the desire for paradise. The second is the demands of paranoia. One is a sweet sickness and the other sour. The desire for…

I’ve got this theory that one of the great signs of authentic Christianity is comedy. I’m reading the letters of Flannery O’Connor at the moment and one of her great gifts is a razor sharp wit. She’s funny, and one of the reasons she’s funny is that she makes fun…

Let’s face it squarely. The Catholic Church is in crisis. The largest denomination in America is former Catholics. Numbers of priests, nuns and brothers have plummeted drastically. The priests we do have are old and ready to retire and to replace them we are importing priests from the developing world…

When faced with the new horrors confronting our world today one comes back time and again to ask “Why”? First of all we consider the enemy. Within the world there is an irrational rage that surges out into violence. …

If there is any literary film adaptation worth adding to one’s library it is the Granada TV version of Brideshead Revisited. It really is the most perfect screen adaptation of any novel ever. The scenes in Venice, Oxford and Brideshead capture the book sublimely, and each character is played to…

Thirty years ago I made a hitch hiking pilgrimage to Jerusalem from England, staying in Benedictine monasteries along the route. As I travelled East I experienced the deep rootedness of the monastic life. …