Ann Widdecombe, Author at Catholic Herald

Ann Widdecombe

If we cannot go to church, the Church can still come to us

March 26, 2020

Loved ones ill or even dying; fear everywhere; the healthy cowering at home; jobs on the scrapheap; nations in lockdown. I cannot think of a moment during my lifetime when the Church was needed more. And what does it do? It shuts its doors. It began with the announcement that the faithful should no longer

Giving up bread for Lent will be a nuisance – and that’s my penance

February 27, 2020

I have decided that the most exacting form of Lenten penance is something which is a darned nuisance. Going without may involve disappointment and trials of resolve but if it also involves an interruption to routine and a challenge to ingenuity then, because we live in an age of entitlement, it seems harder. In the

After Tafida, will courts finally listen to parents?

October 17, 2019

It must have come as quite a shock to the doctors in the Tafida Raqeeb case that a court was finally prepared to ignore their conviction that they knew better than the parents, and to allow this very sick child to be taken to Italy to a hospital that is happy to care for her.

Decorations are going up already. They’ll lose their charm by Christmas

October 10, 2019

The general election is under way, which means ’tis the season of knocking on doors and invading the homes of strangers. Of course we all hesitate: is that friendly offer of a good old British cuppa a gesture of sympathy or a cunning means to hold you up and stop you canvassing a few more

Can democracy survive without trust?

September 12, 2019

One of the hidden lessons from the Parable of the Good Samaritan is how we all benefit when there is trust between human beings. As we know, the Samaritan took the man who had fallen among thieves to an inn, paid the innkeeper and then said that if the sum was insufficient to cover the

Of course Christians disagree about politics

August 15, 2019

I am becoming increasingly resistant to those who claim a monopoly of Christian virtue for their politics and causes. It used to be “How can you be a Christian and a Conservative?” Now it is “How can you be a Christian and a Brexiteer?” That, of course, is merely the more moderately-phrased variation on the

Britons may as well be living in the Soviet Union

July 18, 2019

A Christian, Felix Ngole, has won a court action against Sheffield University which threw him off his social worker course because he had posted, on social media, the Church’s position on gay marriage. The dubious reasoning behind this draconian measure had been that he would not, as a social worker, be able to relate to gay people

Ann Widdecombe: I was branded a ‘vile’ bigot for opinions I don’t hold

June 13, 2019

Free speech in the UK is supposedly guaranteed under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The Act specifies that such a right is limited by “formalities, restrictions, conditions or penalties prescribed by law as may be necessary in a democratic society”. Yet the brutal truth is that in Britain today free speech is

To stop persecution, put conditions on aid

April 25, 2019

While the civilised world looks on in horror the Sultan of Brunei proclaims that homosexuals can be stoned. The cries of outrage and calls for a boycott resound. I share the outrage, but why just Brunei and why just homosexuals? Other countries have such terrible punishments and other countries persecute other minorities, yet we carry

Lenten etiquette can be its own penance

March 14, 2019

Lent is here again and for the first time in 25 years I have changed my penance, considering that a quarter of a century of drinking nothing but water for six and a half weeks a year is enough. I had also got to the stage of going on autopilot, so decided to liven up the

A culture of condemnation has replaced Christian forgiveness

February 21, 2019

What do Liam Neeson and Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia, have in common? They are both being punished and reviled for actions committed decades ago. They are not the only ones. The #MeToo movement seeks to pillory men not just for very serious sexual misbehaviour but also for trivial misdemeanors of decades ago.

When it comes to Christmas cards, Prince Charles should know better

December 13, 2018

I am becomingly increasingly hostile to the fashion for people putting images of themselves and families on Christmas cards. Even the royals now do it. Christmas is about the dawn of redemption and the child in the manger, not about ourselves. The overwhelming majority of cards now on sale are secular, but robins, snow, carol

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