Bernard Bergonzi RIP

In the Guardian obituary of Bernard Bergonzi, we read: 'In 1982 an essay by Bergonzi was included in Why I Am Still a Catholic, a collection edited by Peter Stanford. Bergonzi remained a lifelong practising Catholic, though of a distinctly liberal temperament. Occasionally describing himself as a “papist critic,” he was a man of the second Vatican council, and the winds of change that were blowing through the church in the 60s.'

David Lodge wrote: 'I always looked forward to these meetings because we had plenty to talk about: new books, our current projects, literary and academic gossip, and the state of the Catholic church. Bernard took a particular interest in my novels that dealt with this last subject, and wrote perceptively but not uncritically about them.'

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Gerard Manley Hopkins - The Leaden Echo & the Golden Echo.

Brutalist churches

Several churches feature in the A - Z of Brutalism by Jonathan Meades in yesterday's Guardian. Meades writes:

"Vatican II was a godsend to architects. The Roman Catholic church was a generous, adventurous patron, and its buildings were to be advertisements for the church's newfound modernity. With few functional demands to take into consideration, architects enjoyed carte blanche. God can, apparently, live anywhere – and in the 1960s, he shared the widespread taste for open-plan spaces and theatre-in-the-round."

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Scott Stapp - Jesus Was A Rockstar.