Freud?s troubled children

First it was parents, then social workers and teachers. Now it is clergy who have had accusations of child sexual abuse made against them, based solely on ?recovered? memories. But with psychologists still divided as to whether these recollections are genuine or not, how can a court investigating truth trust these shadows of the past?...

Ready to rock the boat

The new Primate of All Ireland was regarded as a ?safe pair of hands? to take over from the charismatic Robin Eames. But, says Chris Ryder, there are already indications in Alan Harper of a radicalism well attuned to the new Ireland that is rapidly emerging...

Brazil?s abortive society

In the first in a series focusing on the world?s largest Catholic country, we look at a situation in which 1 in 25 women has had an abortion, despite it being illegal, and around 600 women a year die in consequence. Those working alongside the poor say that if the Church is to help reduce these shocking statistics, it must change and turn its attention to care, facilities and, above all, education...

Bank manager to the world

With the imminent departure of the current World Bank boss, there is a golden chance to reinvigorate the institution as champion of those bypassed by globalisation. But can the American President, in whose gift is the choice of the new leader of the bank, take the necessary step?...

Literature as Scripture

This year?s Michael Ramsey Prize-winner for theological writing argues that literary writing from all the world?s diverse cultures carries us on a deepening journey towards understanding what it is to be part of Christ...

Lines from the margins

In her heyday in the 1940s the Catholic novelist Elizabeth Myers, who died 60 years ago this week, was well regarded and popular, her tales of working-class life providing much-needed inspiration to a world beleaguered by war...

Under pressure

Government plans to sanction the creation of human-animal embryos for research has much to do with the special interests of medical science, argues the head of Cambridge?s Science and Human Dimension Project. Despite the possibility of future beneficial therapies, public unease remains...

Breath of God

The season leading up to Pentecost Sunday can seem the most neglected of the year. One reason might be exhaustion after Easter; another might be fear of charismatic worship. But the Church needs the gifts of the Spirit, and the feast needs to be revitalised...

Truth, beauty and a good lawyer

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