Quentin de la Bedoyere, Author at Catholic Herald

Quentin de la Bedoyere

Japan shows us the worrying consequences of falling birth rates

January 10, 2019

This November the BBC reported on a dramatic study, published by The Lancet, which told us that falls in the fertility rate of nearly half of all countries have resulted in insufficient births per fertile woman to maintain their population. The information was described as a “huge surprise”. Not to Catholic Herald readers, of course,

Why they shouted ‘Heil Hitler’

December 06, 2018

In a village in Poland in 1942 you, as a member of a company of German soldiers, are raising your rifle at a crowd of women, children and the elderly. Your commander has given leave to any soldier not to take part in the massacre. Out of 500 soldiers only 15 choose to opt out:

Proving Hawking wrong

October 25, 2018

Stephen Hawking’s last book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, has just been published posthumously. We are not surprised to hear of his “profound realisation” that there is no afterlife or supreme being. It would appear that Hawking arrives at his negative conclusion primarily because of the lack of empirical evidence rather than negative argument.

Science and faith: Sometimes, looks really are everything

October 11, 2018

Some years ago I was leading a marketing project using large newspaper advertisements to solicit eager responses from readers. I consulted the experts, and I found that there was an established, comprehensive set of rules known to achieve the best results. It covered everything from choice of words to pictures to layout. It was emphasised

Science & faith: The Church’s turning point

September 27, 2018

It must be approaching 50 years since my eldest son accused me of not being like other fathers. His criticism was “Other fathers answer their children’s questions, you only ask me what I think.” I would maintain that my response was not a concealment of my ignorance but a belief that people should be encouraged

Science and faith: How not to be manipulated

August 30, 2018

No, I do not intend to write about Brexit, but I am interested in the decision-making process taken before the referendum. I wanted to make an intelligent choice, but all I got was conflicting opinions from soi-disant experts. In the end, and not until the day of voting, I made the choice which I thought

Science and faith: Nudges and the Nobel

August 09, 2018

The Benedictine asked his abbot for permission to smoke while he was praying. Not only was this refused but he was punished for even asking. His friend, the Jesuit, sought the same permission from his rector by asking if he might pray while he was smoking. He was congratulated for his devotion. It’s an old

Science and faith: Where bad hospitals go wrong

July 12, 2018

Four hundred and fifty-six people dead. That’s a large-scale tragedy. But that is the number of elderly people killed with opiate painkillers applied without medical need. It happened at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital over 12 years from the late 1980s. (The independent Gosport Report was published on June 20). Apparently two nurses reported their

Science and faith: The roots of life-long happiness

June 28, 2018

I dropped in on my old friend Denise for a cup of coffee. What I saw was a marvellous example of human nature. She was looking after her grandniece, a child under two. I simply watched. In between our conversation Denise, almost without a conscious thought, was constantly aware of the child. She was tempting

Science and faith: We can, but should we?

May 31, 2018

From time to time I describe in this column some new discoveries related to human life. They are often techniques that raise significant moral questions, and which have potential good and bad outcomes. I think it is important for Catholics to be aware of the broad picture and to be able to respond intelligently if

Science and faith: The manipulation that’s everywhere

May 09, 2018

It was the custom, and perhaps remains so today, to name the senior class at a Jesuit school as Rhetoric. This proclaimed the classical view that rhetorical skills were needed by anyone who intended to be of substance in the outside world. Indeed, I did much public speaking at school – followed by Speaker’s Corner

Science and faith: Did Jesus redeem the Neanderthals?

April 26, 2018

“Our results show that the paintings we dated are, by far, the oldest known cave art in the world, and were created at least 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa – therefore they must have been painted by Neanderthals.” So declared Science magazine earlier this year. This discovery in caves in

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