The Beast of Bethulia Park

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St. John Paul II wrote that in modern life, “the conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of life.” As the story unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear to Jenny and to Father Calvin, and to the reader, that Dr. Klein is systematically killing or culling his elderly patients, disguising his crimes with disgusting ease, empowered by a system that presumes that the “expert” is always right and is not to be questioned. The drugs are prescribed legally in a manner designed to make the patient appear worse, thereby enabling the ministering of stronger, deadlier drugs. After the patient is seen to deteriorate still further, the doctor offers his “expert” diagnosis that the patient’s condition is terminal and that the most humane course of action is to deprive the patient of fluids, condemning him or her to an agonizing death through dehydration. To that end Catholic journalist Simon P. Caldwell’s debut novel “The Beast of Bethulia Park” more than fits the bill for a holiday or beachtime read, featuring a young protagonist priest, a mysterious string of hospital deaths, a journalist juggling a very modern sort of relationship, and a couple of nefarious characters who may or may not be connected with a historical bit of 17th-century anti-papist terrorism. Journalist Simon Caldwell’s debut novel The Beast of Bethulia Park might just be the most believable thriller on our shelves this year. The book, due to published by Gracewing later this month, has been described as a “wonderful” psychological thriller underpinned by Catholic themes. It tells the story of a young and idealistic priest who is pitched into a dark world of sexual obsession, danger and death when he becomes embroiled in a campaign to unmask a murderous doctor.

The Beast of Bethulia Park - Caldwell, Simon Paul - AbeBooks The Beast of Bethulia Park - Caldwell, Simon Paul - AbeBooks

Her investigation into a series of deaths at the book’s eponymous hospital, which forms the basis of the plot, leads her into many quandaries. “The general public loved and trusted their doctors. They wanted to love them. News editors wanted to love them too,” she reflects as she probes medical records. The characters of the novel fumble their way in the dark, trying to discern the way forward, questioning themselves. Things are off kilter, but they aren’t quite sure why. The blessing of same-sex unions by Catholic bishops should surely be stopped immediately. Indeed, why has this not happened? Dr Klein is instantly discernible as a wrong ’un, with his snotty remarks to the hospital chaplain about the hospital “not being a religious playground”. Father Baines should have retorted that modern hospitals were invented by medieval monks.Her deeply traumatic past and thirst for vigilante justice aside, Emerald is the closest thing the novel has to a stand-in character for a general audience. Like many Brits, she pokes fun at faith – especially Christianity – but is not openly hostile to it. Entering Father Baines’ parish church, she undergoes a sublime-like experience that she does not quite have the vocabulary to fringe. “She was not touched by a sense of history like she had been at the well in North Wales. There was something more than that. There was something alive within that church, something present but unseen, something too beautiful to put into words, something ineffable, something holy – something like a burning bush.”

The Beast of Bethulia Park by Simon Caldwell | Waterstones

The Tafida Raqeeb Foundation (TRF) was formally launched on 22 March 2022 in London, United Kingdom. The Foundation believes that every child deserves a chance to live after any suffering from any form of neurological condition. The Foundation has been providing vital support to families when support is required. In The Beast of Bethulia Park, journalist Simon Caldwell delivers such a novel. A fast-paced modern mystery-play replete with stumbling heroes and bloodthirsty villains, one could easily recommend it to a friend seeking an engrossing read for a long-haul flight or a convalescence. The book, due to published by Gracewing later this month, has been described as a “wonderful” psychological thriller underpinned by Catholic themes. It tells the story of a young and idealist priest who is pitched into a dark world of sexual obsession, danger and death when he becomes embroiled in a campaign to unmask a murderous doctor. Do you remember, Tafida Raqeeb who in 2019 suffered from a sudden brain injury which left her fighting for her life. She was taken to Italy for further treatments. Further information can be found in www.tr-foundation.org.

Emerald finds Fr. Baines in the confessional and asks him, “So which is worse? Adultery, drug abuse or keeping quiet when you see others kill? You’d think being an accessory to murder is the easiest thing to avoid. But not in my job it ain’t. Does it make me a coward if I just carry on regardless?” Caldwell began his career on local newspapers and then spent over 10 years at the Daily Mail foreign desk. He brings a lively pacing to his first novel that speaks to those years of producing copy. At times his handling of the characters and the transitions between scenes feels a bit clumsy, but that is small criticism. We can only hope that there will soon be another Fr. Baines book to grab off the shelf when next passing through the airport. In brief and in sum, The Beast of Bethulia Park is a powerful fictional exposé of the culture of death. It lifts the lid on those who employ euphemisms to sugarcoat the killing and culling of innocent people, whether it be the reduction of the unborn child to the status of the depersonalized fetus or whether it be the disguising of the culling of the old and unwanted with cozy-sounding words like euthanasia. It is surely ironic that TCWfeels unable to print the offensive material which the school considered to be entirely appropriate for children aged 12 upwards. If you wish, you can read it in the archdiocesan press release here. This novel aptly summarises the grisly reality of euthanasia beyond public debates about “compassion” and “dignity”. On this earth and Caldwell’s fictional one, the beasts are roaming far beyond Bethulia Park.

Book Review: The Beast of Bethulia Park - CMQ

If you can’t make it, we will be recording the event which will be available after the day on our John Bradburne Memorial Society YouTube channel. Picture of the outdoor pool at Holywell, North Wales, which features in 'St Winefride's Well', chapter 20 of my own debut novel, The Beast of Bethulia Park ( https://amzn.eu/d/aJKwFC3) #writing #writers However, are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us. Green and those like him are not serving the interests of free speech and expression, but are imperilling it. Most of us are very wary of censorship but if we are going to avoid it authors and publishers have a duty to behave responsibly, especially when it involves children. This was an excellent read that was challenging subject matter but educational too, within the structure of a thriller that keeps you hooked from start to finish.Set in present-day England, the novel is both a wild romp that includes fistfights, love interests, and the pursuit of a pair of murderous doctors, and a careful study of human agents navigating the present-day moral landscape. We are excited about the Gala Dinner and our speakers. Please share and support our event and be a voice for these children. For more than 125 years, The Registerhas been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.

The Beast of Bethulia Park Lurking in the shadows: The Beast of Bethulia Park

The young journalist is repelled by the way that the nurses are flirting with the dashing young doctor, forgetful of the fact that they are in a courtroom, “the little coquettes, joking and laughing with him as he settled into their midst, batting their eyelashes and giggling playfully as he held court, those closest to him leaning into him with their breasts.” She is repelled but she is also feeling an uncomfortable attraction and is embarrassed when Klein glances up and catches her staring at him. At the center of the novel are two men and two women. Fr. Calvin Baines is a young, earnest, and naïve priest who becomes embroiled in a quest, together with nurse, Emerald Essien, and journalist, Jenny Bradshaigh, to unmask a prominent and powerful doctor, Dr. Reinhard Klein. Klein, who is at one with the spirit of the Nazi doctors, is both talented and intelligent, but believes he is working for the common good when he kills the old people in his care at Bethulia Park Hospital. In a post-coital conversation with Dr. Octavia Tarleton, his partner in both adultery and murder, Klein says that what he is doing is merciful. Mercy, Klein says, “needs, like so much else, to be redefined into something you can actually believe in. It needs to be purified for our century.” Church, Literary Converts, Wisdom and Innocence: A Life of G.K. Chesterton, Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile, Old Thunder: A Life of Hilaire Belloc, and Further Up & Further In: Understanding Narnia. Visit his I'll be on Radio Maria England's Just Life programme ( https://lnkd.in/eqVqabkN) to talk about The Beast of Bethulia Park ( https://amzn.eu/d/axOkard) and the '21st century Catholic novel' for an hour from 10am on Friday June 16. The programme will also feature some music mentioned in the book - so expect a bit of John Lennon and Glen Campbell. The archdiocese is, without any doubt, behaving responsibly in protecting the children in its schools from explicit descriptions of sexual, predominantly homosexual, activity. It has a legal obligation to do so. It must uphold the moral and theological precepts of the Catholic Church, which has always taught that sexual intercourse outside marriage between a man and a woman is sinful. It is what it exists to do under its status as a charity. It has behaved entirely as any independent observer would have expected.

The Foundation aims to support these children and will offer hope to as many of these children as possible and will bring together new treatments and rehabilitation facilities which are currently available in other countries but which are not available in the UK.