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Article: The melancholy mood of English Catholics.(Opinion)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- September 24, 2004
- Author:
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I spent the month of July in London teaching a group of law students from Georgetown University and elsewhere. The mood of the Catholic church in Great Britain can be described as melancholy.
U.S. Catholics have always been deeply involved in the Catholic revival in England. The writings of Cardinal John Henry Newman, the poetry of Francis Thompson (especially "The Hound of Heaven"), the haunting poems of Jesuit Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins and the novels of Graham Green have had a profound impact on the spirituality of most Catholics in the English-speaking world.
It was consequently a bit disappointing to witness the gloom, even a certain malaise, in the ...