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Francis Phillips

Francis Phillips reviews books for the Catholic Herald.

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• Colm Tóibín wants the Church to be beautiful and exotic. But she has to impart truth, too

  Thursday, September 9th, 2010

  Beauty left to itself becomes ugly and malevolent

• Peter Mandelson is not wise, old, or grumpy enough to be a national treasure

  Monday, September 6th, 2010

  Here are five simple criteria for anyone wishing to achieve national treasure status. Prince Philip makes it; Peter Mandelson and Stephen Fry do not

• What St Augustine would say to Clifford Longley about his Thought for the Day

  Monday, August 30th, 2010

  The author of Confessions would have found the attempt to separate religion and spirituality incomprehensible or misleading

• Anne Rice, come back to the Church. We need you

  Thursday, August 26th, 2010

  Writers, artists and poets can show the world that the Church is more than a vast committee meeting

• Talking about angels with an atheist is like admitting to a belief in aliens

  Monday, August 23rd, 2010

  I told him everyone had a guardian angel, and that they were ‘all around us at this moment’. For my atheist brother-in-law, this was too much

• Marriage-saving tips that David Cameron should know about

  Thursday, August 19th, 2010

  A leaflet by the Ruth Institute could help our country stave off misery and debt at the same time

• Is the concept of just war still valid?

  Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

  The memoirs of theologian Stanley Hauerwas make me think I could be a pacifist

• David is taking on Goliath in the battle over Proposition 8

  Monday, August 9th, 2010

  If Prop 8 is overturned the implications for American society will be grave indeed. Thankfully one organisation, the Ruth Institute, is putting up a fight

• Think kindly of Russell as he awaits a judgment

  Thursday, August 5th, 2010

  After 23 years in prison, Russell L Ford awaits a decision from the 11th federal circuit court in Atlanta

• ‘Joyous atheists’: the ultimate oxymoron?

  Monday, August 2nd, 2010

  The phrase strikes a tinny note against this Catholic’s lexical eardrum