The Universal Soldier: lamenting the passing of protest songs

Mary Howell, from St David in Seion Catholic church in Harlech, reflects on the strength of the anti-war movement in the 1960s and its apparent weakness today.

Anti-Vietnam War protestors in Washington, D.C., November 27, 1965

In the 1960s when I was a teenager protest songs were common. Nuclear disarmament and anti-war sentiment gained momentum to guard against bile from dictators and their followers’ mouths. World War 2, the Holocaust and the awfulness of the testimonies were a living memory.

Two Poems by Saunders Lewis

As we begin Holy Week this year Tim Griffin, who attends Holy Cross Catholic church, Gellilydan when he is in North Wales, introduces two poems by Saunders Lewis, one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales. 

John Saunders Lewis, 1893 – 1985, left, photographed with D.J. Williams and Lewis Valentine.

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (4)

by Fr Ian

Punishment and Promise

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise by Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Chapter 3 of Genesis concludes with an account of God delivering his sentence on Adam and Eve - and the serpent.

The serpent is cursed by God to ‘go upon its belly’ and ‘eat dust for all the days of its life’. Eve learns that from now on she will experience great pain during childbirth, that her relationship with her husband will be contaminated by lust and a struggle for dominance. Adam is condemned to onerous and frustrating work which will often be largely fruitless. (Genesis 3:14-19).