Rendering unto Caesar

A former adviser to Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor explains why he is struggling with recent approaches to some of the conflicts between Church and State. Indeed, it is the State that exhibits the very tolerance that should be at the heart of Christianity...

Solidarity of the shamrock

Irish migrants to Britain in the twentieth century tended to be hard-working, escaping from poverty and Catholic – just like Eastern Europeans today. And while some migrants flourish, others do not. This weekend sees a remarkable example of Irish philanthropy that few other groups can rival...

The cracks begin to show

Violence has flared again in the Paris suburbs, adding a new dimension to the troubles now besetting France. Although apparently unrelated to the recent wave of industrial unrest the rioting adds further pressure to France’s new president who has seen his opinion-poll ratings slump...

Poetry of the divine mystery

The few surviving icons of Mary painted before the eighth century tell their own story about the early Christians’ veneration of the Mother of God. In the first in our series for Advent, Wendy Beckett reflects on a work from Mount Sinai...

Flickering light of freedom

This week sees the beginning of the holiday of Hanukkah. For Jews this ‘Festival of Lights’ marks a victory over the forces that tried to impose one idolatrous religion on all peoples. Today it can be seen as celebrating the human right of religious freedom...

Future reclaimed

In 2004, the author reported from Cambodia that HIV and Aids threatened to overwhelm the country. In the run-up to World Aids Day today, he returned. Remarkably, he found that the circumstances of many people, and the situation nationally, had been transformed...

Cast away in Kampala

Following an evident lack of interest in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda by Britain’s Government and media, some are now asking if the institution founded on the back of the British Empire can survive...

Tablet Traveller: Retreats and Pilgrimages

Québec's shrines - Christian Syria - Carmelite spirituality...

Gifts offered back to God

Following on from our series on the Opening Prayer of the Mass, Daniel McCarthy returns with another series of liturgical guides, this time to the Prayers over the Gifts. The start of our Advent preparations for Christmas reflect the kindnesses of God that we honour...

Knocking at the door

Just as catechumens have begun listening to the Word of God as it ‘echoes down’ within them, so at Advent we all wait to welcome the Word made flesh into our lives more profoundly than ever. How we celebrate the Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens should reflect this time of hope...

Books of the Year

The Tablet's reviewers on the books that have inspired, informed and entertained them in 2007...

Weighing in over diet

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