Ringing in the old

A Pontifical High Mass in the Tridentine Rite was said in Westminster Cathedral last weekend for the first time in four decades. Its celebrant, a close ally of the Pope and an ambassador for the old liturgy, promised that further changes will be afoot...

Evil that men do

Are those who do bad things bad? Or are they part of a systemic iniquity? Analysis of the behaviour of guards at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo suggests that their actions are not random but part of an increasingly institutionalised wrongdoing...

One cheer for atheism

With their new-found militancy, atheists have inadvertently been batting for God by bringing religion back into the public arena. But the argument that theists should rely on focuses on religious experience...

The roar of Africa’s new literary lion

Lucy Lethbridge talks to the Jesuit priest and writer Uwem Akpan, who has created a sensation with his collection of short stories viewing life through the eyes of his continent’s dispossessed young people ...

Rest for weary Travellers

With the ruling of a High Court judge to stay their eviction from the largest encampment in Britain, Travellers in Essex are now looking to permanent homes thanks to the support of a nearby Catholic parish...

Gifts freely made

In order to allow the faithful to participate fully in the work of God, not only in the offering they make during the liturgy but in the whole of their Christian lives, God’s gift first incites their being cleansed of all that holds them back from reconciling and keeps them from freedom to praise...

A place for all

The case of a 13-year-old autistic boy banned from Mass by a priest in Minnesota has highlighted how far the faithful have yet to go in understanding the spiritual needs of disabled people. And autism in particular offers very difficult challenges to fellow worshippers ...

Trash in, trash out

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