| Truth about Catholic schools Free There are few areas of public debate so contaminated by prejudice and misrepresentation as the issue of faith schools, essentially church schools, Anglican and Catholic. The week in which anxious parents discovered the allocation of school places was ... | Britishness and other mysteries |
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Features
Vested with symbolism Free Keith F. PecklersWith reports circulating that the Pope has commissioned a set of vestments based on those worn by the first Medici pope, Leo X, a specialist in liturgy examines the significance of the sartorial choices of Benedict XVI, who is clearly keenly aware of the messages embedded in the garments’ use...
|  Make time to prayCardinal Basil HumeFriendship can only be sustained by regular contact and our relationship with God is no exception, according to the late Cardinal Basil Hume in this meditation for the fifth Sunday of Lent. He writes about the importance of prayer, the challenges it presents and how with perseverance it can become second nature.... |
 One law for men …Isabel de BertodanoAccording to the Archbishop of Canterbury, it is just a matter of time before aspects of sharia law are adopted in Britain. In the last of our series on religious law, we look at how sharia law works at the moment for Muslim men – and women... | Cleansed and inspiredDaniel McCarthyThe purpose of the rites of preparation for initiation at the Easter Vigil is to form and purify the ‘elect’, writes Daniel McCarthy, so that when they give their lives to the service of God and neighbour, they will also participate in divine life...
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Childhood callingMartin JakubasThe RCIA provides a model for the preparation of children who are seeking baptism, but the precise nature of the catechesis provided for a child must be thought about very carefully – and the whole community must be ready to play its part...
|  Straight talk on terrorTheo Hobson Michael Burleigh tells Theo Hobson about his new book Blood and Rage, which argues that Britain’s ‘salafi-jihadists’ are characterised by a colossal megalomania and an abysmal knowledge of their own religion... |
 Spare a prayerDominic Prince With Cheltenham Festival on the horizon, much of ecclesiastical Ireland is getting ready to head to Gloucestershire. And when it comes to tipping winners, Dominic Prince tips Fr John Byrne... |  Russians search for signs of springKonstantin Eggert That Dmitry Medvedev would be elected to succeed Vladimir Putin as President of Russia was a foregone conclusion. But how far he will be his own man is a much more open question... |
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Columnists
 Tim Hames'Early March 2008 might be seen as back to square nought for the Middle East'  Laurence Freeman'Stories are always better than sermons and the two rarely mix well'
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Books and arts
Reconnect the pulpit and the pew Free
Clericalism: the death of priesthood
George B. Wilson SJ
This book is not a comfortable read. But the author puts a name to convictions that have been growing inside me for some time. George Wilson, who has spent 34 years as a staff member ... |
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Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools?
Christopher Lamb
According to the chairman of governors at the Cardinal Vaughan School, west London, one ... Goodwin the scapegoat
Elena Curti
There was an old Sixties TV series, Branded, about a disgraced soldier that always began ... The pain of being a coeliac Catholic
Sr M, guest contributor
"Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn (him) her away" (John 6:37). Many readers will recognise ...
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