From the inside out

As the country?s prison population soars, consisting more often than not of re-offenders, a Catholic prison chaplain explains why incarceration in itself is not enough to discourage individuals from a life of crime. Support from the community into which they are released is crucial...

Challenge of forgiveness

The TV play Longford revives memories of the peer?s contentious campaign on behalf of the murderer Myra Hindley. The question, still pertinent today, is whether, in today?s victim-led culture, we can we be persuaded to forgive those who have harmed us...

America?s prisons in the dock

The United States incarcerates a higher proportion of its population than any other country, yet a report published recently reveals a system failing in its essential functions. With public opinion against forgiveness, what hope is there that it will make a difference? asks a Jesuit law professor...

A question of trust

Britain?s most senior soldier, Sir Richard Dannatt, fears that widespread disillusionment over the war in Iraq is damaging the delicate relationship between the armed forces, political leaders and the nation. If he is right the problem needs urgent attention...

The road from Ibiza

What is being done to help young people to develop their faith, and to contribute to the Church and the world? A twenty-something went to Birmingham to find out...

Is anybody there?

Christian theology has never quite resolved the question of how near or far are the souls of the departed, and what exactly we ask for when we pray for them on All Souls? Day...

Democracy under fire

The murder of a world-famous investigative reporter has cast a shadow over the Putin Government, but the reaction says as much about the state of modern Russia as do the theories about who was responsible...

Perfect freedom

This week?s opening prayer wrestles with the question of compulsion in the divine-human encounter. Daniel McCarthy reminds us of Christ?s teaching and example, that shows us how the road to liberty is through service...

Don?t keep it to yourself

On Mission Sunday we remember Christ?s command that we make disciples of all the nations. In an age that deems it offensive to preach the Gospel to non-believers, what does this mean for us?...

Dr John Durkan

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Boys will be boys

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