Andy Hawes    In a Material World   In Lent we come to terms with our mortality. ‘Dust thou are and unto dust thou shalt return,’ we are told on Ash Wednesday. This is our physical reality. Or is it? [...]

Arthur Middleton’s final column and a tribute to Faith of Our Fathers   The original aim of New Directions was to give orthodox Anglicans opposed to the ideology of political correctness, the liberal agenda and the ordination of women a [...]

John Gayford explores a Sacrament of Healing in the Western Church   There are three holy oils (olive oil is traditional but other vegetable oils can now be used sacramentally). They are the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of [...]

Simon Cotton sees how the call and the cross were closely intertwined for the BVM   In the Middle Ages, the calendar changed year at the Annunciation. This was a frequent subject of the mediaeval artist, for example on a [...]

AKC, MLitt, FRHistS, Hon Fellow of St. Chad’s College Durham, Patron of the Society of King Charles the Martyr   Andy Hawes writes: Following the vote on the ordination of women in 1992, Arthur Middleton found himself drawn out of [...]

ART   Spain and the Hispanic World:  Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum and Library   Royal Academy, London,  until 10th April, 2023   This short exhibition opened at the end of January and will soon be over. Don’t waste [...]

Festus   It felt like time to give Martyn Percy a rest, then the Editor sends on an email. A former member of General Synod (who failed in their 2021 re-election attempt) has written in to take issue with this [...]

Christopher Smith   This time three years ago, I put in a rather jolly column using characters from Molesworth to take the mickey out of certain types on General Synod. The following month, my April column, written in mid-March, commented [...]

The sermon preached by Fr Barry Orford at the consecration of Bishop Paul Thomas   We come joyfully to Fr Paul’s Consecration as a Bishop in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And what better than to present him [...]

Thurifer   A degree of schoolboy amusement was to be had considering a list of Habsburg emperors. Werner the Pious, Albert the Rich, Rudolf the Kind, Albert the Wise were fairly staid but were followed by Rudolf the Tight Lipped, [...]