Between Friends Book

Priest Roger Royle has been a constant companion to some women for nearly 20 years--the length of time he has been writing for women's magazines. For the last 10 he's been at Woman's Weekly, charged with providing spiritual yet topical comment for a multi-faith, increasingly secular audience. It is a challenge Royle has grasped as enthusiastically as a communion chalice, as this collection of his columns shows.In Between Friends, Royle's writing is organised under headings such as Times and Seasons, Difficulties and Dangers and Love and Acceptance. Whatever the heading, he is always encouraging and insightful as he engages with personal worries, public concerns and political correctness gone mad--such as the hymn publishers who substituted "Forward pilgrims" for "Onward Christian soldiers". Royle pulls no punches when addressing difficult topics like teenage pregnancy and divorce. Discussing the hoops the Church makes divorcees jump through, he has this to say: "Churches [should] have the courage to come out from behind their rules and regulations and focus their minds on God's love and forgiveness".Like many other commentators, Royle is at his most inspiring when writing autobiographically. In one column, he discusses the strength he drew from readers' letters after sharing his sorrow at the death of his epileptic nephew who drowned. In another, he is frank about the difference charity made to him and his brother when their father died young. You very much get the feeling you are being addressed by a wise, avuncular uncle when reading Between Friends. If only real blood relatives were all so wise! --Amanda CameronRead More