|
Sign up to our Weekly Newsletter.
 |
|
David GibsonPresidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain are publicly grilled today by the massively popular pontiff of Protestant Evangelicalism – a deceptively genial inquisitor who, standing in the shoes of Billy Graham, could make or break either man’s candidature Free
From the editor’s desk
| Russia draws the line Free The current armed conflict in the Caucasus has a long history. The province of South Ossetia is sovereign Georgian territory, but it is also a Russian ethnic enclave where many Russian citizens live under the tacit protection of their mother country ... | Wisdom of experience |
|
Features
 When treasures become a burdenElena CurtiA much-loved church on the Wirral peninsula is due to close this weekend amid protests from parishioners. It is one of nearly 200 listed Catholic churches in the north-west where bishops faced with falling congregations and fewer priests are making difficult choices... | Glorious exchangesDaniel McCarthyWe may offer the sacrifice of our service and ourselves to God, says Daniel McCarthy, but as this week’s prayer makes clear, he was the initiator of the exchange, and he receives our offering with the intention of making us worthy to receive the supreme gift, that of himself...
|
 Northern lightsRichard AbbottThe Churches of St Joachim in Wick and St Anne in Thurso together make up the most northerly parish on the British mainland. Although located in a staunchly Protestant area they have succeeded in maintaining a Catholic presence for nearly 200 years... |  How faith got it right about AidsMartin PendergastAfter many years of secular scepticism about the role of faith groups in combating HIV/Aids, governments and non-religious NGOs are coming round to their ideas and understanding their vital importance in motivating local communities at ground level... |
Spread the green WordDavid BolsterIt is not enough for Christians to say that the environment is a problem for governments to solve – Creation is God’s gift and the faithful have a duty to look after it. Here, a vicar explains how much can be done at parish level to encourage its stewardship...
|  Turning swords into crossesDaryl Ann HardmanCaught in history between two oppressive empires, one atheist and one Muslim, Christian Georgia can lay claim to a tradition of religious tolerance – despite
important exceptions – right up to the present day, writes Daryl Ann Hardman... |
 Russia bites backIvor RobertsMoscow has acted brutally in Georgia. But when the United States and Britain backed the independence of Kosovo without UN approval, they paved the way for Russia’s ‘defence’ of South Ossetia, and for the current Western humiliation... |
|
|
Columnists
 Richard Rodriguez‘Martin Luther King’s speeches were informed by the cadence of the King James Bible’  Clifford Longley‘To say Newman was gay sounds as if we want to define him by a sin against chastity’
|
Books and arts
Three entwined siblings Free
House of Wits: an intimate portrait of the James family
Paul Fisher
In 1878, shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Alice James, "career invalid" - perhaps at the time the only career open to an intellectual woman in a male-dominated household ... |
|
|
|
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 ...
|
|
|
