The Tablet - International Catholic weekly newspaper

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SPIRITUALITY

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Spirituality

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we reflect on Pax, the ancient sign restored to the liturgy four decades ago. There still remains a tension between liturgy and life: what this sign means beyond our place of worship Free

Results
of our Holy land survey

Overwhelming support for Church leaders? Christmas pilgrimage to the Holy Land is revealed in a major Tablet survey published just days before their departure. Free

Latest News

Senior cardinal vows ‘never again' over abuse tragedy at sombre vigil

Rebel demands are ‘basis for dialogue' says Schönborn

Egan regrets abuse apology

'Meaning of marriage forgotten'

Churches told to aid freeze victims

From the editor’s desk

Incentives for marriage Free

Should the Government regard stable marriage as better than all other forms of family structure, particularly single parenthood and unmarried partnerships? This is the first question brought up by the publication of an interim report of the Conservative ...

Peace begins in Bethlehem

Texts in full

The Church's moral obligation to victims of clerical sexual abuse
Speeches from this week's conference in Rome

This week in Rome bishops and religious superiors met at the first Vatican-backed symposium devoted to forging a global response to the crisis of clerical sexual abuse that has disgraced ...

Archbishop voices 'shame and sorrow' after priest's abuse trial
Longley to visit parishes 'damaged' by Walsh

Today, Tuesday 7 February, Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, has been convicted by a jury, following a 10-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent ...

Features

Go now to Bethlehem Free Della Shenton Most Christians long to reflect and pray where Christ was born, walked and taught; and where he died and rose again. Political realities stand in the way for many, but these are not an insurmountable barrier to an encounter with the ?Fifth Gospel?...	Parish that embraces the world Free Sue Gaisford Amid the wheatfields of Suffolk, East Anglia?s largest Catholic church is flourishing, buoyed by newcomers who are breathing fresh life into the faith community. It is a remarkable success story of integration...
Results of the vote for your favourite carol Free Elena Curti 1. O Holy Night 2. In the Bleak Midwinter 3. Once in Royal David's City... ...	Madonnas of an enigmatic artistMagdalen Evans The artist Marianne Stokes, who in 1907-08 painted the Madonna and Child reproduced on the cover of this issue, was unusual for her time in that a strong spirituality pervaded her works. In an age when religious painting was on the wane in Britain, she turned to the techniques and style of the early Italian masters for inspiration...

Give us the grace for joy As the prayers for the third and fourth Sundays in Advent and for Christmas Day show, our preparation to welcome the Incarnation of God requires the grace of the Word made flesh. Daniel McCarthy describes this gift that allows us, at our Lord?s Nativity, to express outwardly in joyful celebration what has already been received inwardly...	Midas comes to ChileColin Harding Demand for gold leaps at Christmas, and new global factors mean the price recently hit a 25-year-high. All this gives added incentives to mining companies, and construction work is to begin on a massive US$1.5 billion project in Latin America in the New Year. Local farmers and environmental groups, however, have pledged resistance ...
Vive la diff?renceFrank Cottrell Boyce Christmas comes to Lille as busloads of Brits chase something ?a little bit French?, while the city?s French citizens look for something ?un peu anglais?. Shopping as ever seems central to the season, but on the other side of La Manche the sense of panic and frenzy is missing...	When a fresh start is in orderMary Stephen Bell Inspired by a need to recover balance in their monastic lives, a community of Bernardine Cistercian nuns made a plea through The Tablet for a new home. As one of the sisters explains, it was a plea that led to a surprising discovery, and a new life...
Breeze that blows open the heartDaniel O?Leary A song, a dance, a prayer: there are occasions when the often difficult circumstances of our daily lives are transcended and we can glimpse the sacred impulse of our souls. These moments are tiny incarnations of heaven?s promise...	Waiting for GodMichael Symmons Roberts Advent is when we look forward to marking the time of the first coming. But it can also be when we reflect on the end of time itself ? the moment of the second coming, and of all the Christian story that lies between...
Happy Christmas from BaghdadAndrew White In the face of bombings and gunfire, the congregation of the Anglican Church in Baghdad, forced to worship in a government office, is concentrating on a simple Christmas ? of mutual support, prayer and survival ...	A time to consume It is too easy to indulge in wholesale condemnations of the materialism associated with Christmas but even in unbridled consumption are values to be embraced...
A lifetime of carollingDavid Willcocks One of Britain?s most celebrated conductors and arrangers reflects on the power that Christmas carols still hold...	Fair trade abroad and at homeRose Prince Have an ethical Christmas with our guide to giving small farmers a happy new year...

Columnists

Ann Wroe

?There seems, in the present state of the world, no getting away from religious conflict?

Tim Hames

?Party leaders, the military and the media are inclined to wash their hands of Iraq?

Books and arts

The wonder of perfect patterns Free
God’s Universe
Owen Gingerich

It is hardly surprising that an astronomer should want to write about religion. To study the heavens without being overwhelmed by their beauty, their vastness and the unimaginable ...

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