In an address to the United Nations in 2006 in New York at a commission entitled, “Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”, the Vatican’s then Permanent Observer Monsignor Celestino Migliore argued that effective national and global counter-terrorism involves a delicate and principled series of strategies and responses. He said: “Terrorism is a cultural manifestation – in the sense of…
1. 100th Edition of the Thomas More Centre Newsletter It is hard to believe that we are into the second week of Advent 2025 and that this is our 100th edition of the Thomas More Centre newsletter. Huge thanks to so many of our readers for sending emails, texts and even in-person comments of appreciation…
The eminent Ratzinger scholar and theologian of culture Professor Tracey Rowland, in her 2019 book Portraits of Spiritual Nobility: Chivalry, Christendom, and Catholic Culture (Angelico Press, 2019), unfurls in a series of intimate miniatures her memories of and respect for those cultures, movements and people who exemplify “spiritual nobility”. These portraits are drawn from the epochal figures…
One of the first fiction books that I read as a child was written in what I thought then was seriously small grown-up fonts. The book was C.S. Lewis’ first in The Chronicles of Narnia series, the classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The book, first published in 1950, is 75 years old this year. HarperCollins…
Popes Benedict XVI, Francis and Leo XIV have all played a key role in the elevation of the great English convert Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890): in turn recognising him a beatus in 2010, a saint in 2019 and this month in declaring him a Doctor of the Church. Each pope refers to Newman’s luminous contributions of…
One of most striking points that Australian author and journalist Greg Sheridan makes in his recent book How Christians Can Succeed Today: Reclaiming the Genius of the Early Church (Allen & Unwin, 2025), which we featured in last week’s newsletter and discussed with him in recent weeks, is that the early Christians spearheaded the first revolution of the…
It has been widely acknowledged across an array of disciplines and political perspectives that a complex web of cracks has been widening across the fabric of what was once understood as Western liberal culture. It now doesn’t take an academic or a media pundit to observe this. Common sense bumps into this unravelling every day,…
There was a sense of festival and gratitude amongst the tables of over 140 people who came together to honour the “healing” evangelist St Luke on his vigil, and to celebrate the legacy of the revered bioethicist and public philosopher Nicholas Tonti-Filippini (1956-2014). It is impossible to imagine the debate about medical ethics and the life issues…
It is an eye-opening exercise to compare the overlap of time between the death of our great titular patron, St Thomas More (1478-1535) and the magnificent personality of Santa Madre Teresa or St Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582), who was born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada, one of three sisters and nine brothers. Both of these…
It was very refreshing to witness the considerable growth in numbers at the recent classical/liberal schools conference held in Adelaide last week. This was the fourth such conference and with over 90 attendees, it included board members, principals, parents and teachers from these new independent schools. The fact that these schools are beginning to flower around…