Slipping on the slope of progress

Legislators are trying to keep up with scientists who have found a way to make animal-human hybrid embryos for use in medical research. But is such use of animal and human material ethical? Here a leading geneticist and priest explains why she thinks scientists should indeed play God...

Coca nation

In two years President Evo Morales has made his mark on Bolivia, bolstering the lot of the indigenous people. But he has not always found favour with wealthy Bolivians, the Americans or the Church. And at the heart of many disputes lies an ancient bush...

Wedding bells no longer chime

With marriage rates dropping to their lowest levels since records began, the common experience of a vowed, committed relationship is fading, and marriage has become increasingly the preserve of the rich. Neither politicians nor churchmen have succeeded in ‘selling’ it to the younger generations...

God’s plan for the Jews

Last week in The Tablet, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP wrote of ‘The Jewish way of salvation’, and the distinct way in which Christians should proclaim their faith to Jews. Now a leading authority on interfaith dialogue responds...

Not pity – equality

The way we treat people with disabilities has changed profoundly, with an emphasis on justice and rights rather than sympathy and charity. It owes much to the veterans of the Vietnam War, says a specialist in disability law, but also to the Church’s ideas about love, based on the Holy Trinity...

Four kinds of joy

Inward joy cannot always be contained, but demands to be shown and expressed. The prayer for the third Sunday of Easter, Daniel McCarthy explains, evokes the Christian destiny, the nuptial joy of the lamb and the Church...

Water for ‘new plants’

All sacraments derive their primary meaning from baptism, long associated with Easter. Eastertide also serves as a time for strengthening the faith and fellowship of the whole parish...

Fasting and feasting

...